Two years ago I bought a 1990 Suzuki TS125R. Basically because it was for sale nearby at a very reasonable £750. The low price wasn't reflected in the mileage which was only 7000 miles but in the fact that it'd only do 50mph flat out. The engine made an odd stilted note but ran cleanly and quietly enough. Despite being only a 12hp stroker the motor was watercooled, fitted with a reed valve and AETC (exhaust control).
The trail guise, combined with a flash and still perfect bright yellow and blue paint job, made for a flash appearance, loads of suspension travel and a seat height up amongst the clouds (35 inches in reality). The reason for the good finish, I was later to find out from the past owner, was because the bike was written off and later cycle parts were fitted. I could find no sign of kinked frame or fork tubes, nor any handling idiosyncrasies, so the damage was probably only cosmetic. Luckily I have long legs and could get half my boots down, which was to the good as the initial feel was of a top heavy bike, albeit one that weighed less than 250lbs.
The performance was doleful, acceleration only up to that of a good fifty. There wasn't much to adjust but I put in a new spark plug and took the exhaust off to check for carbon build up but there wasn't any, a result of using synthetic oil. After much scratching of my head I decided to replace the airfilter before stripping the engine down, though as mentioned there were no nasty noises nor excess of oil smoke.
Twenty quid poorer for a new filter I was amazed as soon as I kicked the TS into life. The engine note was much harsher; sure enough once on the open road there was loads more acceleration, topping out at 75mph. There was a feeling of urgency but in reality I had trouble staying ahead of the GTi's. The engine felt like it was straining at the leash with loads more power to come if the motor was derestricted. The engine is rated at 22hp at 9500rpm outside the UK against 12 horses at the same revs in restricted form. Even worse, the UK version develops less torque at higher revs than the full power version.
This piece of pure bad design means that the motor needs its fair share of revs to run reasonably but never comes close to being arm wrenching in acceleration. The latter might be good news for a learner, but the former's an indictment of the design, making me wonder what the hell the reed valve, AETC and watercooling are doing. Had the engine been redesigned properly then it would make 12 horses at 5000 revs with bags of low rev torque and brilliant fuel economy.
Obviously, the motor was crying out to be derestricted but the local Suzuki dealer refused to help, saying the full power version wasn't legal for UK use and we couldn't have learners going around on 90mph machines, could we? I waved my full licence under his nose, gravely insulted to be mistaken for a spotty youth but he waved me away as he might an irritating insect.
Despite the limitations of the engine I found that the bike was enjoyable to ride through town and down the odd stretch of country road. The view afforded by the tall seat height, the light mass for chucking around, the long travel suspension absorbing massive bumps or pot-holes, and the surprising directional stability, all added up to a fun ride! I felt I could get away with murder, a feeling of liberation after too many fat cat fours.
The most disconcerting habit was the way the discs at each end locked up the wheels. Unnerving rates of retardation meant I was pulling up yards too soon. The long travel front forks bounced on their stops, threatening to throw me over the bars, the back wheel coming off the ground. Had I the inclination I could've become king of the stoppies! The howling rubber caused peds to leap in the air, clutch their hearts and contort their faces into a look of utmost horror.
Wheelies were not difficult, either, though sustaining them for a 100 yards down the High Street was hard going due to the acceleration running out. On the back wheel I found the TS well balanced and easy to control and I'd guess it would make for a useful trail bike. Not that I was going to explore that possibility, the idea of breaking a leg and/or ending up soaked through with mud and horse shit had the same kind of appeal as joining the Moonies.
After a couple of weeks I'd adapted to the brakes, no longer approached junctions with a locked up, screaming back wheel that gave the excellent Full Floater suspension a full work out. The TS didn't seem ideal for learners as it was all too easy to have the brakes and suspension working away madly against each other, turning the TS into a 70mph rocking horse. Even I, with years of experience, was caught out because everything happened so fast and their was so little mass to damp down the rabid machinations.
Maybe there was a little wear in the suspension, but two up really pressed both ends, which didn't impress my pillion who, after five minutes, was screaming at the minimal nature of the back half of the seat.....it was far too easy to slide off the back of the saddle on to the mudguard. The bike didn't weave or wobble but the steering became rather vague. The TS lost its abilities to absorb large bumps, twitching the forks in full blown death mode.
The pillion also complained about vibes through the pegs and managed to almost lose her right foot to the swinging arm when her shoe came off the peg! She screamed as her leg swung about all over the place and cursed me for buying a totally inappropriate bike. Brilliant for husbands trying to get away from the wife but I wouldn't buy one of these motorcycles if I was going to do lots of two-up riding.
The bike came with great big knobblies, but they worked well on the road, even when it was raining, and the wear rate would have the average miser leaping up and down in joy. He would've been distraught at the rate at which the chain was wearing out, not a function of the power but the stress and strain from the long travel rear suspension - I wouldn't expect more than 6000 miles! On the good side, the disc pads never seemed to wear out; on the bad side, fuel was an utterly pathetic 50 to 60mpg - given that only 12 horses were available I'd expect twice that! Such conspicuous consumption ain't on in these days of Green awareness.
TS125's can look like wrecks after a couple of years off-road abuse but mine was fine except for some rust on the matt black exhaust. At least it was only surface rust, the usual stroker coating of spent oil protecting the inside of the exhaust. The TS ain't the kind of bike to appeal to your average commuter, which means they've either been thrashed by learners or ruined by off-road work. They actually work well in the commuting role (as long as you have long legs), though they are not very cheap to run.
Modern strokers tend to be reliable as long as they are fed on good oil. Mine has done 11000 miles in two years with just the usual consumables without missing a beat. That's why I haven't tried to derestrict the engine, reliability counts for a lot in my book. A new TS125R costs about £2500 which is way over the top. It's a pity they don't bring in the Jap market TS200R which costs and weighs the same but gives 35 horses at 8500 revs. Wow, that must be fun!
Dale Graham