Every time I start up the Suzuki ER185 there’s a huge cloud of pollutants for the first five minutes. This with the oil pump on its minimum settings. Once fully warmed up the cloud does dissipate and only the most perverse environmentalist objects to the remaining haze. The bike has always done this, ever since I bought it four years ago. On testing it I’d assumed the worst and demanded £150 off the price as the rings were obviously on the way out. They weren't really, so it was a good bargaining point.
The ER had an easy life as a commuter and very occasional weekend trailster. The owner was one of those perverts who spent each Sunday morning cleaning and polishing his steed. The Suzuki came to me in quite good shape, its finish has resisted months of neglect and my own immature attempts at off-road riding. A tough old dear, this one!
As soon as I bought the bike it was flung into the daily commute. My main complaint was the front drum brake, which whilst ideal for slow trail work wasn’t up to the cut and thrust of dealing with mad cagers. Fade was its major liability and I often had to corkscrew the bars to avoid hitting fast moving cars. Arriving at work I was shaken up by the near death experiences and it took a good hour for my hands to stop shaking. I could see my boss watching me spill a cup of coffee over my work, writing me off as some kind of degenerate druggie!
Going home all I could do was ride at slow speeds and keep my eyes on the traffic. I took the wheel out and wasn’t that surprised to see the shoes down to the rivets. Even with new shoes, once bedded in, I had lots of hassle pulling up in time, but in real emergencies could find the extra muscle to smoke both brakes.
The rear drum could be stomped harshly enough to lock up the wheel, the off-road tyre losing its grip on the tarmac, throwing the bike into a surprisingly controllable slide. It didn’t take me long to realise I could get away with murder, do slides that on a proper road bike would leave me eating dirt.
Blipping in the rush of power whilst halfway through a slide had an interesting effect on the handling. With a little aid from my body, I could lurch upright:at ninety degrease to my original direction and tear off down gaps in traffic. A bit of fish-tailing from the back end would often cause heart palpitations but I always got the better of the beast. So controllable was the way the tyres slid that ended up riding speedway style through im-probable gaps in traffic. I always ended up very high after doing the five miles to work!
For town work comfort was very good, with a plush seat, compliant suspension and an upright riding position. The indicator switches were so vague that I usually used hand-signals, the horn was a useless squeak and the lights were only up to bicycle standards, but these were all minor irritants in town.
On the open road the ER was less happy. Top speed was about 80mph but that hid the fact that lots of furious action on the gearbox was needed to keep speeds above 65mph when there was a hill or strong wind to fight against. Also, there were lots of numbing vibes when the engine was thrashed through the gears. Obviously, the tall and wide handlebars were less than comfortable above 60mph and I even had pains in my legs after half an hour of high speed abuse. Luckily, I had a nice Kawasaki four sitting in my garage so out of town excursions were generally limited.
The ER wasn't the most economical of beasts, doing about 60mpg in town work and around 40mpg when thrashed on motorways or off road. Riding very slowly would give 70mpg but it didn’t seem worth the hassle. The oil tank needed a pint every week, although oil leaks were completely absent despite taking the head and cylinder off a few times for a decoke and using old gaskets in the reassembly. Handling at speed was a little vague at the front end but it didn’t turn up any nasty wobbles, the riding position putting a lot of weight over the front wheel, aiding stability. The tyres squirmed around a bit and occasionally slid about but the non-standard shocks and taut frontend helped to keep the Suzuki under control. I've certainly ridden pure road bikes that’ve been a lot more frightening.
Suspension travel was a touch on the short side for off-road work, with the bash plate snagging on the larger boulders or fallen trees. It would pop wheelies without too much arm strain, skid along muddy tracks and scream over rocky sections, frightening the wild life and making horses bolt.
As a novice off-road user I found the ER easy to control, with the ever available opportunity of using minimal revs on the more frightening sections. One time, I ended up on this track that wound its way around a huge mountain. No space to turn around, the track ending up with a sheer drop to my right, filling me full of terrible visions of breaking my leg in the middle of nowhere. I was down to about 5mph in the end, pathetic I know but one false move would've finished me off. I was thankful for the agility and stability of the Suzuki, it taking about half an hour to get on to a safer track.
Most all of the components are well tucked in, so falling off at low speeds is just a matter of kicking myself clear of the bike, a trick I quickly perfected after having the exhaust land on my thigh the first time I came off on mud. I was so enraged that I flipped the ER off my body with super-human muscle power!
Despite various accidents the chassis has proved itself as tough, the only real irritant being a quick wear chain that needs constant adjustment (a new chain and sprocket set every 7500 miles). The engine was also strong, with a decoke needed every 5000 miles and sod all attention until the piston and rings need replacing after about 12000 miles of misuse. I’d been lucky to find a spare cylinder and piston, the bore lasting about 25000 miles. The bike had done 14000 miles when I bought it, now has 45000 miles on the clock. The gearbox oil was changed every 1250 miles, which has left the change reasonable, even if a first time rider would probably be blitzed by false neutrals.
The tyres last for yonks whilst the chassis bearings have all been replaced the once. The matt black exhaust is still original but had to be patched several times and is just about on its last legs. As is the seat, which is cracked and soaks up the water.
Any ER that has been used hard off-road will be in a very, very sad state. I only hit the dirt about once a month and then jet-wash the bike straight off. Those used for pure commuting last well and can be picked up for £200 to £500, depending purely on mileage and condition rather than age. The ER185's a fun commuter, OK off road but only for masochists on the open road!
M.W.