Suzuki TL1000R
Why are prices of the fat and frumpy TL1000R rising? Could we see a revival of a Suzuki sports V-twin?
Can it really be the case that the previously much-maligned Suzuki TL1000R is undergoing something of a renaissance? If you don’t believe me, then check the prices: what the heck is going on? They are starting to look stronger than its sisterbike the TL1000S! Thing is, the S model (£7999 in February 1997) should be the cool one. It was 1997’s wild and wayward child, it was the bad-boy. It was powerful (125bhp) and it had a fierce image, sadly thanks to some tragic accidents. So-much-so, it needed to be tamed with a steering damper, which was a recall item for later in that model year.
The TL1000R (£8514 in January 1998) just looked and seemed ‘safer’. It was wide, almost like a four; it had a beefier ally beam frame and while it had the almost wasp-like tail of the-then current GSX-R750 SRAD the changes and words ‘V-twin Superbike’ emblazoned on the fairing, Suzuki weren’t fooling anyone. Despite what went before with all the bad press, Suzuki knew they had a monster motor – people even slot these things into Ducati 916 trellis frames. Suzuki then gave the R a more solid braced swingarm and then talked of taking the thing World Superbike racing. It was all BS: sure, the Yoshimura team in AMA ran it for one season, before switching to the GSX-R, and the motor did win a World Superbike Race in the hands of Anthony Gobert in the Bimota SB8R in 2000, but it was always a road bike…
TL1000RS had the same sort of geometry as the Yamaha YZF-R1 of the time (wheelbase 1395mm 23-degree rake) but then every TL1000R came with a steering damper. The bike was also around 10 kilos heavier, but it did have 10bhp more than the S thanks to mapping changes, cams and twin-injectors. Chassis changes were important too – as the TL1000S’S rotary damper and separate shock spring came in for a lot of stick with all the incidents that occurred, including a tragic death. The R had a temperature compensator, which saw the oil in the damper move through smaller holes as it increased in temperature.
Some people clearly loved this V-twin Suzuki superbike, which was deleted in 2003 but was still sold up until 2004 in the UK. Eight years back, you could find these out there for less than £2000. Today they start at £3250 and head north to £4500-£5000 for low milers, with the S model still down around £2500… strange! Perhaps people are starting to see the allure of this big V-twin?