The Suzuki TC timeline
The TC suffix was used, almost it would appear, at random, for bikes that might or might not have off-road aspirations and credentials yet didn’t seem to fit anywhere else in Suzuki’s range.
Several references suggest the name seems to first appear circa 1967 with the TC120, yet that’s a couple of years before the Stinger from which the bike borrows so much. What is established is that the trail cat was pensioned off in 1971.
The following year saw the launch of the super-cute TC90, which lasted until 1972 as a single-cylinder trail bike. With the aforementioned TC125 and TC185 running 1973-1977 and 1974-1977 respectively, it’s surely apparent that the TC legend equates to single-cylinder trail bike, surely? Well, yes and no. Keen not to lose out on the late 1960s trail bike craze, the road-going T20, aka Super 6, was offered in off-road guise with high pipes, etc., as the TC250 X6 Scrambler 1967-1968.
Across the same two model years the T200 Invader received similar treatment to become the TC200 Stingray. To complete the confusion, the divine T305 Raider got a similar cosmetic makeover to become the TC305 Laredo. All the single cylinder machines featured the dual range high/low transmission, but the twin cylinder 200, 250 and 305 retained their standard, single range set up.