TERRIBLE TWOS!
At the end of 1996, Suzuki was in a bit of a quandary… Sure, it’s GSX-R750 W-T SRAD was arguably the king of the 750 four-cylinder sportsbikes and was taking the fight to the likes of Honda’s supreme CBR900RR FireBlade, but on the outskirts, there was that little Ducati factory building beautiful race-replica V-twins such as the 916…
V-twins were winning hearts, minds and sales in the showrooms – not only with the 916, but with the SS and Monster series, too. Suzuki witnessed this, and fancied a piece of the action. Their approach was to make their V-twin more powerful, more technically advanced and, better still, a whole lot cheaper than the 916. In 1997 it looked like they’d hit the bull’s eye, delivering just what customers needed in the shape of the new TL1000S-V. First seen at the 1996 bike shows, the new sportsbike drew loads of attention and interest. Boasting a 98x 66mm, 996cc, 8v, 90-degree V-twin motor with Nippon Denso fuel-injection (the first ever digitally-fuelled Suzuki), it claimed to produce a highly impressive 125bhp (the best 916s only made 115bhp). A clever use of gears and chains to drive its cams kept the engine compact. The motor featured flat topped semi-slipper pistons, 40mm inlet, and 33mm exhaust valves with shim under bucket adjustment, cam activated auto de-compressors, a slipper clutch, and had no balance shaft.
The TL’s oval section alloy trellis frame maintained a balance of strength and light weight, and a novel F1-style rotary rear suspension arrangement saved vital space. It also turned out to be the bike’s Achilles’ heel. Essentially an oil-filled rectangular alloy chamber, with linked rotating vanes moving within it to control damping, and a separate spring mounted inside the right-hand side of the frame rails, the arrangement was unique to motorcycling. Up front, the fully adjustable 43mm inverted
