| Suzuki TU250X |
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By Gabe Ets-Hokin Photos: Fonzie So if you’re like 11.2 percent of California’s workforce, you’ve been downsized and are now, like me, spending a great deal of time at home in your underwear watching Oprah. Not to worry: there’s a lot of that going around, and not only is the workforce shrinking, but so is everything else. With the motorcycle market, not only are sales of large-displacement bikes going down, but the few segments that are growing include small-displacement motos and scoots.  Why? Two words: Gas and credit. Spiking fuel prices in 2008 caused panicky SUV buyers to snap up scooters like cocktail weenies. And then, when the financial world realized Tracy probably wasn’t filled with million-dollar homes, the credit markets collapsed, and suddenly financing a big-bore motorcycle was like negotiating with the World Bank. Can a brother get just a little bike up here in this biznatch? That’s probably why I heard a surprising thunder of applause when Suzuki rolled its TU250X out on stage during its annual dealers show last year. Yes, it drowned out the new Boulevard M90 and the new 650 Gladius; it seems that dealers really like the low-priced bikes. What do you get for that overstretched Great Depression II dollar? The TU250X is a simple bike for simple times. But it is a new model, based on Suzuki’s dependable GZ250 cruiser-that-they-don’t-call-a-cruiser. Like the GZ, it has a basic tube-steel chassis with twin shocks out back and a larger-diameter than your average 250 front fork. Wheels are spoked, of course, in proper 18-inch sizes, with some skinny tube-type Cheng Shin tires ready to meet your traction needs. A front disc with a two-pot caliper should slow you down a lot better than the drum-equipped GZ. Styling is straight outta’ Birmingham, with a megaphone muffler, big chrome headlamp and instrument pod, and traditionally styled tank, sidecovers and fenders. The seat is low, at 30.3 inches, and the wet weight is low too, at 328 pounds. The biggest changes from the GZ are in the engine department, which looks nothing like that on a vintage British bike. For one thing, it’s not caked with oil and it’s pretty modern. It’s an air-cooled sohc motor with an oversquare bore. Nothing fancy, but it does get fuel-injection, unlike the GZ, and that, along with a bumped-up compression ratio (to 9.2:1) is good for a little more juice. “Little” being the operational word here: Motorcycle Consumer News subjected its dyno to the TU’s drum-warping 15.62 hp. What’s surprising, though, is how well it uses that power. Like a not-so-fair maiden, the TU knows how to exploits the talents it does possess, as brute power sure ain’t one of them. The motor starts quickly and easily, and the clutch and 5-speed gearbox are so easy to use I almost began to weep. I’m an MSF RiderCoach, you see, and my flat-footed colleagues would appreciate coaching with a bike like this. New riders these days really have trouble working clutches and gearboxes – nobody drives a stickshift car anymore, it seems – and the decades-old design of the Honda Rebel and Nighthawks we commonly work with have sent many a student home in defeat. A novice rider, or anyone who appreciates smooth shifting and not having carpal tunnel syndrome, will enjoy this bike for that reason alone. Another talent Susie TU has is its light weight and decent suspension. I’m not so heavy (yet), so I didn’t overload the soft springs (fat guys, you can adjust the shocks for preload), and I had a ball whipping through turns and drag-racing Dodge Caravans. The brakes work neatly, although you don’t really need them that often; the bike is so nimble, stable, and easy to toss around that you find yourself not slowing for most turns. Backroads are lots of fun, as is carving through rush-hour expressway traffic. Out on the open road it’s out of its element. 16 hp is a lot for a riding lawnmower, not so much when you’re trying to get around the cosmic sinkhole that is the L.A. basin. It gets up to 50 mph cheerily enough, but then you really have to work it, hitting redline before you shift, waiting for long downhill stretches to pass and making friends with delivery-truck drivers (Hi, Chet! Sorry about that mirror!). Wind protection is zero, and you can feel the blast slow you down over 65 mph. Speeds over 80 indicated have been theorized, given enough tailwind and a long enough straight. So, do you want one of these? I can imagine many ownership scenarios. Perhaps you live in a jurisdiction with functioning traffic enforcement. Or, you’re a new rider and you desire neither sportbike nor dual-sport nor cruiser. It’s possible you just want a cool little bike with charm and character in spades to bop around on. Maybe you live in Bangalore. Or, and we certainly don’t encourage this, so spare us the emails, but if there is a bike purpose-built for riding drunk outside Russia, this is it. Whatever your reason, the TU250X is a solid bargain at $3799. It’s not a California model for 2009, although I suspect it will be for 2010. At least I hope so: otherwise this whole article has been a colossal waste of time, as we are a California publication. Cash out your entire 401k for the down payment and you might be able to qualify for financing. |