Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1992 Suzuki VX800N The Suzuki VX800 has a style all its own - conse rvati ve yet distinguished. By Kit Palmer ha t is a VX800 , you ask ? T ha t, my friend, is a very good ques ion , because nob od y really seems to know! At fi rs t g la nce, S u zuk i's VX800 appears to be a cru iser wi th its shiny 45-degree V-twin engine, fairing-less bod y, separate circu lar tachometer and spee do meter, ch ro me ex haust p ipes a nd semi-kicked o ut front end. Bu t compare it to some real heavy-h ittin g, hon est-to-goodness cruisers on th e roa d toda y, like th e H arley-Davidson FXDC Dyn a G lide Custom, H onda Sha wdo ws, Ka wasaki Vu lca ns, Yamaha Viragos, or th e Suzuki Intruders, and su dden ly th e VX800 looks su bdued a nd pla in. W The li quid-cooled V-twin mo tor produ ces good power off the bo tto m and has a super-smoo th powerband. It's a m otor that's easy-to live wi th , da y in and day out . 22 No , th e VX isn 't a cru iser. But what is it? Ob viou sly it' s not a sport bike, or a spo r tster, no r ca n you ca ll it a stan dard street bike. Perhaps, so mewh ere in bet ween standa rd a nd cruiser fits th e Suzuki VX800. Bu t th ere just doe sn' t seem to be one word tha t fits th e VX. Well , wha tever you wa nt to ca ll it , the VX800 is Suzuki's a nswe r to the ultim at e in pra ctica bili ty and sim p licity. It 's a motorcycle that's designed to be ridden eve ry da y, o ne that requ ires very little maintena nce o r a tte ntion betw een out ings. Just fill 'er- up a nd go, day in and da y o u t. T ha t' s what the VX is a ll ab out. Co ns ta n t everyda y use is possible because of th e VX's self-adj us ting ca m chain ten sion ers and ma inten an ce-free dig ita l tran sisto rized (in other words compu terized ) igni tio n, a nd a sha ftdrive means not ha vin g to wo rry abo u t lubing or ad justing th e chain. And to to p tha t o ff, the VX has a l2 -month, unlimited m ileage warrant yI Not o nly is th e VX designed to req uire li ttl e mai nt en ance, it 's also bui lt to be co mforta ble. Wh at goo d is a n everyda y bike if you r bod y' hurts after five m iles? Pl us, the VX is reaso nably pr iced. It ca rries a suggested retai l price o f $4799. T he VX is pow ered by a 45-degree, V-tw in, liq uid-coo led , eig h t-va lve, SO HC, four-st rok e motor , p retty m uch th e sa me motor that is fo und in th e the VX's brother , the Suzu ki VS800 Int ru der , a m ore radi ca ll y s ty le d " chopper- like" cru iser. Th e motor used in bot h bikes originated in 1986 for the all -ne w (a t that tim e) 700cc Intruder. T he " ta rif-bea ting" 700cc Int ruder (the rest of the wo rld go t a 750cc mo de l) event ually g rew to 800cc in 1990, the same year tha t the first VX800 was released. A lo t o f em p hasis was ai med towards developing goo d low a nd m idrange to rq ue o u t o f the en g i ne (w h ic h ac t ua l ly is 805 cc ), w h ic h S u zu ki enginee rs di d; in fact, ac hieve. Although th e VX isn' t th e to rqu iest cru ise r-type m o torcycl e we've ever th ro wn a leg over, it does pull ad m ira bly o ff the bottom and co n ti n ues to do so through midrange befor e taperin g o ff not icea bl y as th e n eedl e a p roaches redline a t 8500 rp m o n th e tach om eter. Perh a ps th e mo tor 's best feature is its overa ll smooth performance. T he re is very little vibration to spea k of, w hi ch is trad iti onall y a nast y biprod uct o f bi g, two- cyl inder fourstro ke motors. Lon g sti n ts in th e sadd le won 't leave yo ur fing ertips a nd toes tin gling. T he VX is a very quiet mot orcycle, em itt ing a pl easant -to-the-ea r low , rumble not e from th e two ch ro me ex ha us t p ipes . It ' s n ot n ea rl y as 'boom ing' as a Harley. Our o nly co m p lai nt in th e mot or dep artmen t is ca rbur etion , which is handled by two 36m m Mikuni co n sta nt velocit y carburetors . T he VX we tested was a tad hard to sta rt a nd ra n a lit tle ro ugh a t low rp m. It was rea lly noticeabl e o n co ld mornings, espe ciall y if th e bike hadn't been run in a co u p le of days. With th e handlebar mounted choke lever full y a p p lied , it would so me times tak e a number of tr ies o n th e elec tric sta rte r button before th e mo to r would eventua lly coug h, pop and sp u tter to life. Even wh en wa rm , th e motor would sometimes stall whe n th e clutch lever was sudde nly pulled .in whi le coas ting to a stop. A Suzuki spo kesma n blamed th e ro ugh running engine on ultra-l ean carb uretor sett ings, add ing th at th e VX is jetted as lean as possible in order to help mak e it pass tig h tly con tro lled EPA em issio ns sta nda rds. H e assured us th at it 's easy to tune th e VX so it runs smoother bu t tha t sho u ld be don e by a qualified mech anic. Nevertheless, since th e carb uretion setti ng wasn 't pe rfect, o ur VX backfir ed quite o ften - mostl y while th e engine was warming up - whi ch perhaps exp la ins why a ll four of th e exha us t manifold flange bolts (two on eac h sid e) ca me loose. Luckily, th e tool kit (housed un der th e sea t) th at comes with the bik e has th e correct size hexhead wren ch , so we were able to mak e quick road sid e repairs. We have no reason to beli eve th is will be a reocur ring prob lem o nce th e carbs ar e tuned to sn uff. T he five-speed constant mesh transmi ssion and wet multi-plat e clutch do th eir respectiv e job s fla wlessl y. Clutch engageme nt a nd d isengagem ent is extremely smooth . T he re is very little lurching wh en th e clutch pl ates mak e co n tac t, o r vi ce ver sa , just su pe r smooth and positive ac tio n. One fin ger o n the clutch lever is a ll th at 's needed. Sh ifting is a lso pos itive. It tak es little effort o n the shi ft lever wh en clicking up through th e gea rs. Even downshifting is rem arkably smooth for a motorcycle w ith shaft-drive. Co mpared to many shaft-driven mo torcycles we've ri dden , th e VX downshifts easier tha n most. Little pr essure is needed on the shi ft lever to change gea rs, d ownshifting o r upshi ftin g. An in herent p roblem with th e shaf tdr ive desig n is the torq ue-effect when th e throttle is a p p l ied, especially at slow speeds. The nat ur al reaction is fo r th e back end to rise, which in mos t cases is just a minor a n no ya nce. But wh ile leaned over in a turn, well , th at 's a d ifferen t story. Luckil y, th at effect is h a rdl y n o ti cea b le o n th e VX , whether it's cruising in a stra ig h t lin e or lean ed o ver in a turn. S u zu ki a ttr ibu tes thi s acco mplish me nt to th e p lacem ent o f th e dr ive-sh aft p ivot po int in relatio nship to th e swi nga rm pi vot point. Suppo sed ly, th e close r these two poi nt s a re to each other, th e lesser th e tor q ue effect. As far as co m fort, th e VX fits the bill. T he sea ting po siti on is very neutra l a nd easy on th e lower back mu scl es. Th e h andl eb ar is o n ly slig h tly hi gh er th an m o st co n ventio na l-style street bik es, but not as swep t back as mo st cruisers. The sea ting position tends to lean th e rid er forward just slig h tly, as com pa red to th e' mo re straigh t u p a nd down, or leaned back posi tio n of full -on cruiser bik es.

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