CYCLE NEWS CRUISER BUYERS GUIDE
than the rear, it feels like much more, as the front soaks bumps
far better than the rear. Again, the price of hefting that really huge
chunk of rubber out back. The whole package feels tight, but not
overly harsh—it's decidedly more sporty than plush.
The ergonomics are quite aggressive, yet an all-day ride will
leave a taller rider in pretty good shape. You sit slightly forward
in the saddle, with legs out front. While much of the rider's
weight rests on his backside, the firm saddle is plenty support-
ive enough to handle it. The downward-sloping rendition of fat
1.25-inch drag bars look odd at first, but they put your mitts in a
neutral position. A shorter tester told a different tale. An uncom-
fortable reach to the ground, due to a wide cross section; an
uncomfortable reach to pegs that are mounted too far forward,
leaving the rider to ride the front of the seat, though the bars
line up acceptably well.
What Do We Really ink?
The bottom line is this: if you like the slightly futuristic (still),
slightly plastic look, and want a high-performance cruiser, you'll
likely love this motorcycle. Unlike most categories of motor-
cycles, the bar hasn't moved much in the decade-plus since
this machine was first released. While style is an important
consideration, nobody gets between Suzuki and performance.
In fact, despite styling cues derived from a number of sources,
in the end the thing that shines through is uniquely Suzuki.
When I first rode the M109R at its inception, I couldn't
help but think that this futuristic machine was before its
time. The jury is still out on that, as it's never set the sales
charts on fire, but few big motorcycles do these days. But in
the evergreen world of cruisers, it's still a nice high-perfor-
mance outlier. CN
2019 SUZUKI M109R B.O.S.S. EDITION
The small flyscreen actually
does a decent job of cutting
the wind at high speeds.
