Suzuki To Build Big-Bore Cross-Breed
SUZUKI TO BUILD BIG-BORE CROSS-BREED
ROUNDUP
SALES OF SUZUKI’S HALFfaired TL1000S may be flagging, but we haven’t seen the last of the S-bike’s fuelinjected 90-degree V-Twin. Not by a longshot. The revvy liquidcooled powerplant may soon find its way into a BMW R1 150GStype all-arounder. Word has it an Open-class super-standard-think SV650S on steroids-is also in the works.
Remember KTM's Munich showbike, the LC8 Adventure? As it turns out, the Austrian bike-maker was reaeally onto
something. More than a concept bike, the half-faired, semiknobbed V-Twin hinted at a new direction for on-road motorcycling-and not just for the folks from Matighofen. Urban enduros, anyone?
Suzuki has been on the scene for some time, of course, supplying TL-S engines to Cagiva for its Navigator (replacement for the Ducatimotored Gran Canyon)and
Miguel Angel Galluzzi-penned Raptor 1000. Of course, neither bike is sold stateside. Wonder why? Now you know.
In TL-S trim, the 996cc Vmotor makes more than 110 horsepower at its rear wheel. That’s a full one-third more than BMW’s 134cc-bigger Boxer and 27 bhp up on Triumph’s newly redone 955cc Tiger Triple. Hot stuff, indeed. Factor in a suitably stiff twin-spar aluminum frame, big-tube conventional cartridge fork, single-shock rear end, triple-disc brakes and low-profile radiais mounted on 18-inch front/17-inch rear cast-alu-
minum wheels, and Suzuki has a backroad winner in the making.
American Suzuki neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a machine. “BMW has made a lot of headway with that type of bike,” said a company spokesman. “Interest would be limited, but I wouldn’t count it out. It depends on the bike’s performance. When we first heard about the SV650, not knowing its performance, everyone was extremely skeptical. Look at it now: It’s re-created the whole middleweight Twins market.”
Germany’s respected Motorrad magazine reports that the so-called “TL-E” will make its show-circuit debut this fall. Price? Certainly under $10,000. As for the hoped-for SV1000S, we’ll have to wait and see. “The TL engine is a great powerplant,” added the spokesman.
“It has a lot of potential.”
Matthew Miles
