M109

[skippa1]

Not true....After 50 years of riding many bikes and mainly cruisers, all bikes will corner but it depends on the rider. Most cruisers are not the best cornering bikes but when ridden properly with an experienced rider they can keep up pretty well with most average riders on most bikes. The M109R has grunt to spare and although has a 240 rear tyre (same as V Rod and a few others) this bike can corner well especially using when using apex cornering. Just take a look on You Tube and the facts speak for themselves.
Suzuki M109R is an awesome cruiser bike and excellent value for money when you compare price, hp, torque, reliability, handling and available extras etc.

I don't need to look at YouTube. I've ridden one, also owned a V rod with 240 rear. M109 has plenty of torque as you say but no amount of apex cornering technique will ever see it keep up with a V rod let alone a lot of other cruisers on a good twisty ride. 50 years of riding doesn't mean anything other than you're old, I've ridden for 40 years and I'm old. I had a Victory Vegas that could out corner an M109 and that's saying something, I dragged the frame of the Victory all over the place, hardly needed a kick stand.

M109 = straight line cruiser that appeals to those that like the look of a feed bag on a horses head.

[Triplediamond]

I don't need to look at YouTube. I've ridden one, also owned a V rod with 240 rear. M109 has plenty of torque as you say but no amount of apex cornering technique will ever see it keep up with a V rod let alone a lot of other cruisers on a good twisty ride. 50 years of riding doesn't mean anything other than you're old, I've ridden for 40 years and I'm old. I had a Victory Vegas that could out corner an M109 and that's saying something, I dragged the frame of the Victory all over the place, hardly needed a kick stand.

M109 = straight line cruiser that appeals to those that like the look of a feed bag on a horses head.

HaHaHa...Well everyone has an opinion. Old has nothing to do with it! Experience counts. You’re only as old as the woman you feel! Ive probably ridden more bikes than you’ve had hot dinners. My last 5 bikes were brand new Harleys, Deuce, Fat Bob, Night Rod Special, Street Glide and Breakout. Breakout and V Rod had same back Tyres as 109 and didn’t handle any better than the 109’s I’ve ridden. Sad truth is that Harleys are hugely more expensive, don’t handle that well (except the Fat Bob) need more money spent on them to upgrade hp and most have less technology than most other bikes for the same money. I’ve ridden Harleys, Victory’s, Kawasaki’s, Hondas, Yamahas, KTMs, BMW, Triumphs and I’ve owned one of most of those over the years.
As far as the 109 is concerned it has much more hp and torque than a V Rod (unless you spend money upgrading) right out of the box and handles just as well in my opinion. Plus, the V Rod was so good they don’t even make them anymore... They didn’t sell well! lol. You can still buy a Suzuki M109R and there are many thousands of riders who agree with me. So you are out voted too! The latest models are pretty much sorted after years of manufacture. At the end of the day, bike handling and opinions come down to “the nut behind the bars”.

[240]

Yeah the comments here about bad handling are shit ,at real low speed and tight cornering ( I mean pushing with your feet moving out of your garage they are clumsy, thats all) aside from that they are great, any other issues are just shit riders ,full stop.if they can't handle the power of 109r they need to trade down to a vrod or thunderbird

[Navy Boy]

Cruiser bikes are the one genre that, so far at least, I've never quite gotten my head around. That is what characteristics about them do I like and not like and what sort of a cruiser bike would I like to have in my garage.

My H-D 48 has come closest thus far but the lack of any pillion provision has made it a bit too limiting for my liking - Still a cool little machine though...

So - I bought a 2009-model M109R2 over Xmas and have sold the H-D. It's a bit of a punt for me as I've only ridden a 109 once before and that was over a limited route. However thus far I'm finding it a real hoot of a thing. Yes the 240 rear tyre takes some getting used to and it doesn't take long before your heel becomes your built-in lean detector but what an engine! The thing just keeps on pulling right the way through to the 7500 redline, barely believable for such a large motor and far and away more grunty than the bigger engine H-Ds I've ridden in the past.

Thus far me likey - A lot. Is this the cruiser that I've been looking for all this time? I'm not sure but it's making a good start thus far.

[Navy Boy]

Here she is. I've just had a new front tyre fitted too which has sharpened the handling up a bit. Thus far me like - A lot

[Calix Lee]

Here she is. I've just had a new front tyre fitted too which has sharpened the handling up a bit. Thus far me like - A lot

She's indeed a classic beauty. Which front tyre did you end up getting?

[Navy Boy]

I've gone for a Metzler ME880 Marathon - So that it matches the rear hoop as well. It had a Shinko of some description on before which was well past its best. You could feel the difference after the first corner

[240]

Nice bike mate

[Navy Boy]

I've gone for a Metzler ME880 Marathon - So that it matches the rear hoop as well. It had a Shinko of some description on before which was well past its best. You could feel the difference after the first corner

So - A month or two in and I'm really enjoying the M109. It's certainly different to other bikes I've owned and riding it is still a bit of an occasion - Always a good thing for any bike IMHO.

The new front tyre has helped and the rear, thankfully, still has plenty of tread left on it. It'll be an expensive exercise when it comes to replacing it!

Fuel consumption seems to be anywhere between 15-17Km/litre so the 19 litre tank will give you the best part of 300Km range if you're careful. That's enough for the trips I'll be making with the bike.

The engine note, even with the huge standard pipes fitted, is lovely and not loud enough to be offensive though you can still hear it.

The brakes are not bad though the front stoppers are a bit wooden. They work well enough though.

All in all I just really enjoy riding it and I'll be looking to do some longer runs on Zebedee in the coming months. I'll try and pop some photos on here too.

If you are thinking of getting one I heartedly recommend it. It's different and has some real personality, something of a rarity on Japanese machines I've found

[Navy Boy]

Here we are just above Cloudy Bay this last weekend. Lovely day for it too.

Interestingly I've had a few occasions where the bike will start and zoom up to 2500-3000 Rpm before settling back down to its normal 1000Rpm idle speed. This when the engine is warm and all without touching the throttle.

Anyone else come across this? Thoughts on what it might be?

[Navy Boy]

So - A week or so back Mrs NB and I undertook a two-up trip on the 109 for the first time. Nothing too taxing, just a 110Km trip down to Tophouse and back which I thought would be a good route to try for a first two-up experience. Sadly the weather was a bit grubby on the way back but it gave us a good idea of the bike's two-up credentials.

The engine coped beautifully - As you'd expect. In fact there's very little difference in performance from riding solo and overtakes are easy. Suspension-wise I wound the rear preload up to max (Notch 7-out-of-7) and the ride was nice and controlled. As is often the case the ride quality was actually better than when riding solo and I didn't have any ground clearance issues though I was riding with that in mind throughout.

Fuel economy was just under 17Km/litre for the round trip. I was pleasantly surprised at this and this means a 300Km range from the 19 litre tank if you really had to squeeze things. Not too bad me thinks.

I'm also glad that I refitted the standard exhaust system. It sounds just right without being offensive and the performance is more than enough anyway. I certainly don't ever feel the need for more grunt!

Overall I'm quietly impressed. The sissy bar fitted to mine made a big difference in terms of pillion enjoyment and allowed us to strap a rolltop bag to the back with no issues.