I was a skinny bugger in the 60s 70s and 80s never had a problem that i can remember...mind you porky buggers where not that thick on the ground back then, but then there was no preoccupation with food either.
Me too, but like you said people weren't so preoccupied with food in the 70's and 80's (you must be a little older than me ).
Saying the rider A is a stone heavier than rider B is all well and good but it would have been interesting to see the ratio of the weight on the front wheel against the weight on the back wheel with both riders. I had a GPZ 750 and two up you could see 140 no wobbles or anything. One up as soon as it got to 120 you were all over the place. I later found out the likely cause was due to too much weight on the front tyre contact patch.
Yeah....The Suzuki TL1000S is another story….you are bumbling along listening to the V-Twin thump and enjoying the ride doing about 60 through the national speed limits twisty. Everything is going great. You see a corner and you need to start muscling her now to go around that bend. Now this is where things go wrong (most of the time) without any warning. You are left with your ass hanging off feeling like you are fighting a fire breathing dragon for your dear life. The TL goes into this wobble which completely messes up your corner. You have gone wide and you are still fighting to make her complete the bend (preferably with me still on the bike). You kick up debris and dust on the wrong side of the road and after feeling like an eternal you managed to bring her back to the right side of the road. You desperately find a place to park to check you haven’t shat in your pants and there is still some dignity left in you. I had these moments one too many times. I weigh around 11-12 stones and my TL had Bitubo rear and K-Tech front internals. Even with those upgrades and setups, I could never get her to handle properly. Whereas my mate who weighs close to 16 stones find the bike handles reasonably ok. Maybe a different spring might have made things better for me. Even after all the above….I love the TL. The bike is full of character. It’s a great motor but very poorly let down on the handling department. It’s a love or hate relationship with that bike and I loved her. If I had the space and disposable income….I can surely see myself having a TL in my garage. Most people after the ride and when they reach home they feel as if they had a satisfying ride. Me….I park her up with the big grin and say….thank god we both made it home alive. Good old days…
I had a mate with a TL, he was a little over 13 stone, he had heard the talk of wayward handling but thought he was heavy enough for it not to affect him. Coming back from the GP at Donnington a bunch of us were having a blat down the A5 towards Towcester. At well over the ton he had exactly the sort of wobbly moment you describe in your post , we pulled in Jack Hills Cafe for a coffee, he smoked several cigs & asked if I wanted to swap bikes for the rest of the way home , funny enough I declined! He sold it shortly afterwards & bought a RSV Mille, nuff said!
You made a wise choice Things can go terribly terribly wrong with that bike But if you ever get the chance....take her for a gentle spin. You never know....you might end up loving that torque monster
I have ridden a couple of bikes with that engine, a Cagiva Raptor (remember them?) and I bought a 'doer upper' SV1000S which is basically the same motor with better (sort of) handling, the motor is nice but not as good as either the RSV Aprillia or the KTM Superduke V twins IMHO.
Yes the Raptor . My brother in law had one and it was good fun. Atleast I didn't have to tip toe like I used to do on the TLS
