Suzuki Intruder M1800R

Ride an M1800 and you'll leave behind a trail of onlookers sore from rubber-necking. It's no wonder really, as the Suzuki is as outlandish and eye-catching as a Las Vegas casino. It simply can't be ignored. A neighbour of mine who witnesses just about every bike I bring home to test, a collection that's included exotica like MVs and Ducatis, is rarely moved to give them more than a passing glance, but when I rolled up on the Intruder he just about tripped over his own front door as he rushed out to get a better look.
It's not often I ride cruisers quite like this one, and it took me a while to appreciate the experience. Which is exactly how I'd describe spending time on the Suzuki; it's an experience, not just a ride. Fans of more nimble machinery need to be patient with the Intruder though. It's a very heavy and long bike that even the likes of Dougie Lampkin would have trouble winding through tighter sections of road. But provided you take your time and appreciate what the bike is all about, you'll discover that it's more manageable than you'd think. It just needs a different riding style to get the best from it. And as long as you take into account the typically poor ground clearance and capitalise on the other virtues the bike has, then you can make some decent progress.

The best aid to that progress is the Intruder's mighty 1800cc engine. It's certainly not short of power with 125bhp available, and you'd hardly call it peaky with a billiard table-flat torque curve that
peaks at a massive 118ft-lb. That's even more than a Hayabusa makes. And when you learn that all that stomp is produced at not much above tick over, then you'll start to realise just how damned easy it is to gain speed on this bike.



From a standstill, even bearing in mind it has to lug a lot of weight into motion, the Intruder is a rocket. And while bikes like GSX-RlOOOs are struggling to either maintain traction or hold a horizontal attitude, the Intruder simply blasts away towards the horizon. Once it's up to speed, adding more or regaining any that you lose, couldn't be much easier. That massive torque, which peaks at an extraordinarily low 3200rpm, means revving the big 1800 is pretty pointless. Instead it's best to calmly short-shift through the Five-speed box and proceed with the acceleration in a more relaxed and easy-going manner. Mind you, given the slow and heavy nature of the gearchange, which makes clutch-less gear-swapping unwise, that's an even bigger bonus.

The spread of horsepower, combined with the widely spaced ratios give the bike a huge speed range in the last two gears, and top gear is good enough to pull the Suzuki from as low as 20mph all the way to its estimated top speed of an 150mph. Now that's what I'd call flexible. A word or two of warning about the V-twin motor now though. It may be a lot less frantic to get the best from than smaller, multi-cylinder engines, but that doesn't mean to say it's slow in generating pace. Its low-rewing nature is still good enough to make viewing the speedo eye-watering at times. For instance when the hard-to-read tacho is registering 4000rpm in top gear, the bike is proceeding at a heady lOQmph. You're just as likely to get in trouble with the law on this bike as you can be on a pure sportsbike if you're not careful.

Another one of the aids to progress, or one that can contain it at least, is the Suzuki's excellent braking equipment. Pretty much lifted straight from the GSX-R1000 superbike, the four piston radial calipers haul the Intruder up smartly and given that they have an awful lot of weight to deal with they can't be described as anything other than highly impressive. With good support from the big forks too you're generally in good command of affairs if you need to slow down quickly. I say generally because if you try to stop in an emergency, then the combination of the low slung weight and raked out front end means less weight is transferred directly to the front tyre. That can make it push rather and risk locking it momentarily, rather than dig in and grip hard. As long as you're not ham-fisted though, you'll avoid any big drama.

Sitting at sustained higher speeds isn't too comfortable thanks to the naked nature of the bike. And with a limb-extending riding position more akin to Steve Redgrave's, you do tend to cop a lot of wind when you're on the move quickly. Though if you temper the pace then life's a lot more bearable and the seat in particular is very plush.
I really enjoyed my week with the Intruder, and though admittedly it wouldn't be my first choice of bike, I can still see its appeal. Because so many others have seen it as an appealing bike you'll have to move very quickly to find a new one left in dealers. Only ?5 of the limited edition R versions with their special paint jobs are coming to the UK. So if you want a laid-back bike with plenty of attitude that the whole world will seemingly admire you for, then you'll have to move quickly to snap one up... As long as you're not too shy and retiring, you'll be in for real a treat.