Suzuki Boulevard C109r
SUZUKI BOULEVARD C109R
CW RIDING IMPRESSION
A little Gixxer performance for the big-cruiser crowd
PAUL DEAN
"THIS IS THE closest thing to a Harley-Davidson Suzuki has ever built." That statement was delivered to the assembled motorcycle press by Mel Harris, VP of American Suzuki's Motorcycle and ATV Division, during the introduction of his employer's new C109R and C109RT Boulevard cruisers. It was an unexpected admission by a company that, like its three Japanese competitors, has long denied that its cruisers have been modeled after H-D's Big Twins-even though all along, those bikes obviously were intended to tap into the same formula that had brought Harley its unprecedented success.
But despite Harris' claim, "THIS newest Suzuki actually is more like the big-inch cruisers from Kawasaki and Honda than those from The Motor Company. Park a C 109R, a Vulcan 2000 and a VTX1 800 side by side and, if you're more than a few feet away, you may have to squint and stare to tell them apart. There are some detectable visual differ ences, but it wouldn't be hard to convince most people that all three rolled off the same assembly line. Suzuki calls the C1O9R a "classic cruiser" that "expresses a certain time less, familiar image." But even the bike's press materials acknowledge that such a styling approach can result in a lack of individuality, and that the C1O9R "is not designed to look different."
Hey, you gotta admire the company for its honesty.
-Suzuki has instead chosen to differentiate the Cl 09R (and the Cl O9RT-the very same bike equipped with windshield, bags, passenger backrest and studded seat) from the competi tion through the character of its engine. For the most part, the liquid-cooled, dohc, 109-inch V-Twin is the same dual-plug, four-valve-per cylinder motor used in the M1O9R, Suzuki's power-cruiser-popular for its drag-bike-like styling and class-leading acceleration. For the more-sedate C-model, the engine has revised intake-cam timing, more flywheel inertia and a 2mm-smaller throttle body, all intended to provide smoother cruising and improved low-end and midrange performance.
That strategy seems to have worked. The C19OR pulls harder from lower revs than the M1O9R, though it's still not quite as stout in that regard as the Vulcan 2000 or Yamaha's Roadliner/Raider duo. In the upper half of the rpm range, though, the C1O9R would annihilate those other three-and any other V-Twin cruiser, for that matter, except for the M1O9R. Suzuki credits much of that stellar performance to the cylinder-head and combustion-chamber design, which on both Mand C-models borrows heavily from the GSX-R sportbike line.
In addition to offering surprising top-end performance, the 109 radiates very little actual engine vibration, remaining silky smooth whether tooling around town or cruising the open road. Rubber engine mounts, staggered crankpins and a counterbalancer account for that absence of mechanical shaking. But any time the C109 is accelerating, its big Vee hammers out such huge, throbbing power pulses that every one of the bike's rubber-mounted com ponents-handlebar, gas tank, instruments, headlight and, in fact, the entire engineshudders almost violently in sync with each combustion event. The good news is that rather than being annoying, "THIS is joyous behavior to anyone fond of the visceral qualities of big V-Twins. Attribute most of that charac ter to the mammoth bangs that push on the 112mm (4.4-inch) pistons, which Suzuki claims are the "largest of any gasoline engine running on the ground." The engineers also experimented with different rubber compounds in the C model's engine mounts until they found the one that transmitted the most vigorous and satisfying V-Twin power pulses to the rider. To say that they succeeded would be an understatement.
They weren't as successful with the exhaust note. Blame the staggered crankpins, which fool the 54-degree V-Twin into thinking it's a 90-degree Vee with perfect primary balance; problem is, they also transform the exhaust sound from the usual deep, soulful boom into a tinny, hollow splutter, most noticeably at lower rpm. The note livens up quite a bit at higher revs, but it never matches the emotive symphony played by single-crankpin V-Twins like the aforementioned Harleys, Kawasakis and Yamahas.
Whether you like that music or not, you listen to it in an ergonomic setting best described as "wide." The handle bar has a wide, sweptback "buckhorn" bend; the seat is a wide, supportive, stepped saddle; the gas tank is a wide, 5-gallon teardrop; rider boots rest atop wide, long footboards. Once again, the overall feel and comfort level are much like those of the C1O9R's Japanese competitors, with the Suzuki possibly holding a slight edge in all-day riding pleasure. But also like those competing bikes, the C1O9R is an exceptionally big motorcycle, with
a 69.1-inch wheelbase and a claimed dry weight just a cheeseburger and fries short of 800 pounds.
Toss in fat, 16-inch tires (a 240mmwide rear and a 150mm front), a 32degree steering-head angle and 5. 1 inches of trail, and you have a bike that is far from flickable. The CIO9R han dles surprisingly well for such a bruis er of a cruiser and has decent cornering clearance; but the 240 rear tire offers a noticeable resistance to leaning, and only the wide handlebar makes it rela tively easy to initiate a corner and hold the desired banking angle.
If you do happen to whistle into a corner a bit too quickly or need to make a sudden stop, you'll find the big Boulevard has excellent brakes. It's fitted with Suzuki's Combined Braking System in which both of the rear-caliper pistons and the center piston in each of the two front threepiston calipers are activated by the rear-brake pedal; the front-brake lever operates only the two outer pistons in both front calipers.
All of "THIS adds up to a big, conîfy cruiser that in most ways is typical of the breed. But while the C1O9R won't stand out in a crowd, it could, if the rider so desires, run away from it. And in the end, that will be this bike's calling card.
