Finally I get to ride a Suzuki TS250 – I’ve now sampled all four of the 70s Japanese quarter-litre trail bikes.
Each has their pros and cons but I can now genuinely see why Suzuki’s offering proved to be so commercially successful – ease of access springs readily to mind. All four of the quartet were eminently viable machines but Honda’s XL250 can feel a little top-heavy, Yamaha’s DT250 is almost too refined, and the Kawasaki F11’s fuelling isn’t as smooth as the Suzuki’s. None of this is nit-picking, yet having finally thrown a leg over the Hamamatsu offering, I now have the relevant data to construct a reasonable critique of the period quartet. Yes, of course they were all improved during their lifespans yet, in actuality, their essential DNA never really changed that much.
Our test bike is from David Payne’s garage and as I’ve come to realise, it’s yet another example of a ‘restorer’s reference’. Sitting on a common in rural Hertfordshire the M-plate bike has already attracted a few passers-by, several of whom have commented on it. Red and chrome are always good bedfellows and with all that satin-finished alloy there’s little argument – this trail machine is loving the camera.
By the time this model was in the dealer’s showrooms (1974) Suzuki had pretty much sorted the learner-legal 250 trial
