Suzuki VX800

The VX800 looked immaculate despite being nearly three years and 9000 miles old. Garaged during winter, only ridden in the sun by a born-again poseur - an old rhyme but one in this particular case that came without any apparent riddles. Two grand for cash, the newly bankrupt owner demanded. After the shortest of blasts I didn't have the heart to demur. Love at first sight and all that stuff.

The beefy, 805cc, watercooled vee-twin engine had its roots in the Intruder customs but didn't seem to suffer any from its lack of sporty specification. Many might think 60 horses from 800cc pretty pathetic but the go-go juices peak at a mere 6500rpm. Backed up by 55ft-lb of torque 1000 revs lower down the range. A five speed gearbox was mated with a shaft drive that was eons ahead of the junk fitted to BMW's, and the like, but not quite the slick shifter found on chain driven Suzukis. Nothing to worry about, though, just a comment on how well this particular manufacturer makes gearboxes in their more sporting models.

So this was grunt city. The machine was also very narrow, lacking the top heavy feel of many fours. It was a bike that could be leapt on and quickly become used to its ways. Neutrality in its steering was immediately inspiring and within a quarter of an hour of purchase I was pushing the bike hard through my favourite Wiltshire back lanes. It certainly needed a bit of muscle, but had a similar steady feel to a well set-up Norton Commando. The chassis was burdened with an excess of mass (nearly 500lbs fully tanked up) and a peculiarly long wheelbase. Added up to some effort on the bars but resulted in a very sure-footed feel. It all depends on what you like and what you're used to - those into flighty race replicas would soon be complaining, with both the heavy handling and the lack of top end.

Overall performance was no better than a sixties Triumph Bonneville (which weighed a 100lbs less), though the Suzuki had more low end grunt and didn't churn out the vibration, even if I could always feel the mill working through the combustion process. The bike felt best in the 75 to 95mph speed range - perfectly suited, that is, to UK road speeds. The front end felt a bit loose above the ton and the engine had a rather plaintive note. 120mph on the clock was possible, probably 110mph in real life.

This all sounds reasonable enough, even jolly good fun. Where the engine really lost out was on economy. Or lack thereof. The really strange thing was that even the mildest of throttle work didn't really improve its frugality compared to using all the torque and power all the time - 45mpg compared with 40mpg. The four gallon tank capacity barely seemed sufficient for serious riding but was better than the comfort afforded by the seat. The latter began to rub into my thighs after about 80 miles and went rock hard 40 miles later. Ouch!

I couldn't blame the riding position for this - bars and pegs were perfectly matched for sensible riding, taking a lot of weight off my backside. The suspension wasn't exactly plush but it took out most of shocks but could rumble over closely spaced mild bumps. Either wear to the foam or plain bad design of the saddle let the side down. Placing a pullover between self and saddle did wonders for my comfort, though the concave shape of the seat meant it was extremely difficult to move around to find a plusher perch. My short of leg pillion had no problems but some six foot babe would doubtless soon be cursing. Unluckily, I don't know any women with legs up to their armpits so never tested this theory but if any female readers want to volunteer...

A spate of wet weather had me wondering how the Avons would react (having fallen off on similar tyres before) but with a little attention to the rate of throttle opening the bike rumbled along quite securely. For such a pose vehicle, the mudguarding was surprisingly good - along with the long, narrow radiator, most of the muck was kept off the engine. Twin rear shocks, that never annoyed me, were also to the good with regards to the lack of linkages to wear, tear apart and service. I added gaiters to the forks to keep them in their pristine state as I had no intention of locking the bike away over the winter.

The one area where the Suzuki was a bit lacking was in its braking. A disc at each end, 9000 miles of wear had the pads almost down to the metal. I assume they were original. There was a lot of rattling, the odd squeal, and not a lot of braking from 80mph plus speeds. I would've preferred a drum rear brake, the calipers already becoming a little gummed up and not wanting to liberate the pads. WD40 solved that PDQ.

A new set of EBC pads all round got rid of all the odd noises. If I'd waited much longer they would have broken through to the metal with the inevitable score marks in the discs. The new pads were much more predictable in the wet but didn't add that much extra retardation from high speeds. Two thousand miles later the front brake went very spongy. Goodridge hose and new brake fluid were added, got rid of the disconnected feel and would make the tyre squeal at low speeds if I put in a full power grip on the lever. High speed retardation was still marginal, especially when going for it in the faster curves. If the forks showed any sign of wear then I would look around for a complete, twin disc front end replacement.

I managed to nick the finish on the front wheel whilst playing around with the brake; in no time at all alloy corrosion had spread all over the place. Low quality alloy kept in check by a high tech finish, but it does boggle the mind a little when you think how essential the wheels are and the way the Japanese insist on cost-cutting even when they sell bikes at prime prices. Do alloy wheels suffer from aluminium stress-aging? Don't know, only time will tell!

Some 17,400 miles into the game, the front light blew. I was 50 miles from home at the time, not amused when pilot, main and dip beams went down. I followed a car most of the way back, wasn't stopped by the cops. Turned out to be a loose wire in the headlamp shell. All was well for a couple of weeks until the fuses started to blow, went as quickly as I could put them in. Went to the local dealer who diagnosed a faulty rectifier; told me I'd better get it fixed fast before the ignition was ruined as well. He quoted silly money, I bought a used unit from the breakers for forty notes.

For a month or so the problem went away, then I had hassles with the battery draining off overnight. I really wasn't sure how far the bike would take me without cutting out. This was extremely annoying, spoilt the great sense of fun I had when using the Suzuki. It was probably one of the alternator coils burning out, but I began to lose interest in it; didn't clean the bike every week. By the time 20,000 miles were done it was looking slightly sorry for itself and draining the battery within 70 miles. A quick clean up and trawl around the dealers - three grand trade-in on a new 1200 Bandit.

The big Suzuki is another world. Splendidly fast and full of torque but I'm not too keen on the handling, although the bike weighs about the same it is much more top heavy in feel. I'll get used to it! The VX's full of character, a bike to keep for a long time...if you can find one without any electrical problems. I may well buy another, newer, example.

Charlie Hopkins