Damper dilemmas
Our own Mr Bolas isn’t the first to swap the TL1000S’ errant rotary damper for a more ‘normal’ unit. Back in the late 1990s, the TL’S rotary damper was blamed for the bike’s handling woes. Suzuki went for the rotary shock design because a V-twin makes exhaust routing of the rear cylinder difficult. The rotary damper was similar to that used on F1 cars then and now and it split the springing and damping functions of a traditional shock, enabling the TL to have a short wheelbase and dissipate heat better.
In practice, the Kayabamade shock struggled to deal with high internal working pressures and the unit itself was described as ‘non-serviceable’, perhaps this is why Andy’s is creaking! The exhaust being close to the shock (not so on the TL1000R) also caused overheating, which the design was supposed to cure. But other influences also conspired against the rotary damper – namely the short wheelbase and no steering damper which made the bike lively at the time and also cemented its reputation as a flawed motorcycle: in 1997 there were two infamous cases of fatalities on TL1000S machines. Back in the day Performoto manufactured a steering-damper kit for the bike and Maxton did a £650 fork and shock mod kit that replaced the rotary damper with a conventional one, but it was still a flighty beast, possibly because of the sheer torque from the motor. Many heavier riders didn’t seem to complain as much. Suzuki themselves fitted a steering damper on all 1998 models and did a recall to fit the damper on 1997 models too.