horsepower and 78 lb-ft of torque,
so first strike definitely goes to
the Suzuki on this one.
The Yamaha delivers its
torque in a much punchier
fashion compared to the Suzuki.
Around town, the Yamaha is a
more sensible proposal. The
low-down torque from the three-
cylinder motor means you can
afford to be a little lazy with your
shifts and just wind the throttle
on, greeted by strong drive until
about 6000 rpm. It's at this point
the Yamaha labors through a flat
spot until drive is restored in full
flight at around 7800 rpm, and
then you're off to the races.
By contrast, the Suzuki's signifi
-
cant power and torque advantage
gives a calmer engine character,
just without the early rpm torque
the Yamaha enjoys. The K5 mo
-
tor builds its power steadily and
doesn't suffer the flat spot issue
present on the Yamaha, and al
-
though the Yamaha has a revised
quickshifter, it's still not as smooth
as that on the Suzuki, which is
knife-through-butter stuff.
Speaking of electronics,
Suzuki's lack of them is actually
a nice surprise. We live in a time
when more is almost always bet
-
ter, but perhaps we're seeing a bit
of a turning point where instead of
having almost everything be elec-
tronically adjustable, the Suzuki
seems to have whittled down the
range of choice to things that truly
matter for a sport touring bike.
Yamaha has done an excep-
tional job making their electron-
ics as easy to use as possible via
the left-side joystick, and anyone
who's tried radar-adaptive cruise
control will attest to how good
it really is. But it's up to you if
VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P81
The rider leans a touch forward
from center on the Suzuki,
which takes some of the weight
off the rider's tailbone.
