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You would have thought that a bike that quickly became known as the ‘widow maker’ would put off a young, relatively inexperienced rider like myself, but it didn’t.

The scare stories made it more appealing, the rumours of power wheelies made it exciting, and the drone of a V-Twin with race pipes on full chat made it sound intoxicating. And so began a love affair with a bike that I can only describe as an Alfa Romeo on two wheels; brilliant when it works and a dog’s dinner when it doesn’t. Yes, it’s the legendary Suzuki TL1000S, or to be more precise TL1000SV, the original head-banging full power model.

My TL ownership began at a service station on the M25 in 2004, following a chat with the owner on eBay. I had placed a listing asking to part-ex my bargain Kawasaki ZX6R J1 that I had bought to get me to and from university for a bargain £2500 for a TL1000S. You read that right, a 4 year old bike with only 20,000 miles for £2500 from a dealer, but that is another story.

The TL had been my dream bike for many years, ever since its launch in 1997. It was the most powerful one litre V-twin of its time, kicking out 125bhp which was far more than its nearest rival the Ducati 916, the most famous motorbike of them all. The press raved about the engine, its effortless power wheelies, its fantastic handling, and its revolutionary rotary damper rear suspension that had been inspired by the world of Formula 1. It walked all over Ducati.

Unfortunately, the praise didn’t last long. Rumours of massive tankslappers on bumpy uneven roads began to circulate, people were getting hurt and the inevitable happened… a journalist was killed. Blame was attributed to the rotary damper. Only a teaspoon of oil was used, quickly resulting in the shock overheating when the going got tough and turning the bike into a giant pogo stick. It became known as the Widow Maker.

To address the problem Suzuki fitted an un-adjustable steering dampener, which helped the problem but also killed the handling. In later models, they also started reducing the power, but there is some debate as to whether this was to give its ‘bigger’ brother the fully faired TL1000R the edge, but in reality, the R was heavier and slower.

The problems didn’t stop there, however… the fuel tank leaked in warm weather, the frames cracked resulting in a mass recall for a new frame, the fuel injection was jerky, the electrics were next to useless, and the chain became too tight over bumps and had to be run slack.

You may now be wondering why the hell I wanted such a bike! Well, for me, it was a straightforward decision. I like the underdog, I liked the idea of owning a bike that nobody else wanted because it was too dangerous, and the reality was the bikes weren’t the problem. They just weren’t set up properly from the factory, and people weren’t respecting its limits. In addition, various aftermarket suspension options from Maxton were available, and other problems are easily fixed.

Waiting at the services on the M25 on a beautiful summer’s day, I could hear the bellowing sound of a v-twin with race pipes coming up the slip road towards me. It sounded fantastic! The red TL looked stunning in the sun, with its gold wheels, black menacing engine, and polished race pipes. The owner immediately jumped on the ZX6 and squealed with delight, “this is exactly what I want, I hate the TL, I want something easy and modern”.

Alarm bells should have, but didn’t ring. I knew the TL1000S was a marmite bike. I gave it a thorough going over (or so I thought) and carried out the usual checks. The engine purred away, all the electrics were working, and it revved freely. No leaks, no cracks, new frame, good chain, good tyres, comfy, sounds top… I never lusted after a bike so much.

We signed the paperwork as quickly as possible and he screamed away on the Kwack. I didn’t even look at him leave, although the ZX6r was a fantastic bike I just couldn’t get attached to it. I kitted up, swung my leg over the TL and fired it up.

It’s not like an inline four, as you sit there idling the whole bike vibrates and pulses with the engine beat, getting faster as you rev it. The riding position is more head down than the ZX6 but comfortable, and the whole bike feels very narrow. Good to go I let out the clutch and joined the M25.

I gave it a fistful, the bike jumped forward, the front went light, 100mph came up in seconds, and the sweetest sound was emitted from the pipes. The low-down torque was sublime, giving it more urgency than the Kwack, and it felt stronger at the top. Whether it was faster or not is debatable because of the ZX6’s screaming top end, but overtakes were effortless.

My joy was short-lived. The steering felt heavy, and the bike didn’t want to change direction. At first, I thought this was down to the massive stock steering dampener across the top yoke, but after moving lanes, the bike wobbled over the white lines. I pulled in at the next services and checked the tyres. They were both as flat as a pancake. The previous owner complained about the poor handling, I wonder why?

With both tyres pumped up, the bike was transformed and handled reasonably well on the bends once I had left the motorway, but as I began to gel with the bike, I noticed the various well-known problems. The bike felt rear heavy and pushed the front in fast bends making me run wide, the steering dampener removed any feel from the front end and reduced responsiveness, the rear shock crashed over bumps (a combination of too tight a chain and the rotary damper), and when riding through towns, the bike was horribly jerky on a part throttle. So jerky, in fact, it was like riding a bucking bronco! I could feel that if I pushed the bike too hard on a bumpy road, I’d be thrown skywards before I could say “Oh…”. I had some work to do…

My first task was to fix the jerky fuel injection. This was a simple case of setting up the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) properly, as Suzuki didn’t bother at the factory. It’s literally a 5-minute job and transforms the bike. Within seconds of riding, I could feel the bike was smooth as silk, there was still some transmission lash, but that’s v-twin charm.

Next on the list was to sort the handling. I read numerous forums, tech sites, and talked to various suspension specialists and quickly realized the bike was just poorly set up from the factory. It didn’t need money throwing at it, it just needed a few tweaks. I immediately dumped the steering dampener (I was told by various bikers I’d die), raised the forks through the yoke 5mm (told by various bikers I’d be even more dead) to put more weight on the front, tweaked the front and rear suspension settings, and dumped the 190 rear tyre for a 180 to speed up the steering.

I also adjusted the chain properly, as due to the alignment of the rear swingarm compared to the output shaft, if you adjust the chain as you would on any other bike, it would go bow tight over a bump and potentially lock the wheel or wreck the engine.

One last modification was to fit better brakes from the Hayabusa, Galfer wavy discs, and braided hoses to improve the spongy brakes. At low speed, they are average, but at higher speeds, they are superbly strong and two-finger braking is all that’s required.

The first ride after the tweaks was sublime. All the scare stories I had heard and read about the TL1000S just didn’t apply to the bike I was sat on. It tuned faster than the ZX6r, I could hit any apex I wanted by thought alone, and there was no hint of a tankslapper, even if I was ham-fisted and going hell for leather. That ride was one of the best I’ve ever had.

A couple of days later, I had it on the dyno, where…
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Ihab Salloum