VTR1000.ORG

never heard it before, on the upside there is a great hill climbing event on the continent called ' The Widow Maker' where all sorts of wierd and wonderfull mx, custom , oddball bikes climb up varying slopes of a hill.
relevence?? most rely on grunt and power delivery to get anywhere near the top.

take it either way

I think the widowmaker was the suzuki TL, not the storm. Got their bikes mixed up i fink.

Yup, its the TL thats the widow maker...soop's right again....

TL - another twin, another story!

yep its the beast of a tl , that earned the name ,WIDOWMAKER''.... and i have one,,, a pure 130 bhp v twin beastie

Iirc it's the nick name given to the TL1000S which was the first model in the TL range brought out by Suzuki.

The reason it gained that tittle was because the TLS in standard form went into violent tank slapping mode when accelerating hard with alleged fatal incidences Apparently if you were on the heavy side the bike behaved itself, but if you were a lightweight then you were in trouble

So Suzuki tried to gain back public confidence in the TL1000 by introducing the modified TL1000R, although surprisingly still retaining that rotary rear suspension idea, but it was a little to late, people still remembered the widow maker the TLS and sales suffered for it

So I take it Lee you have the TLS, which in my opinion looks better than the TLR

Chris.

All as Sirch (Chris) said above is true. The later ones apparently behaved themselves better because they covered/masked the tank slapping problem by fitting a steering damper as standard (and probably giving a years subscription to Dunkin' Donuts too if you weighed less than ten stone)!

I nearly bought one but went with the VTR instead!!!!!!

I'm doing a bike maintenance course at my local college, and the head instructor said the same thing. One of the other instructors refused a go on my Storm as he thought it would be too much a handful - and he's riding a 'Blade with a 16" front wheel and no steering damper!

I can only assume that the Storm's been tarred with the same brush as the TL, as I think the Storm's a very easy bike to ride quickly.

cupasoop wrote:I think the widowmaker was the suzuki TL, not the storm. Got their bikes mixed up i fink.

Yep I think that is right (well that what I eard anyway), the TL is the widowmaker not the VTR, the TL has approx 20BHP more ooomph add aftermarket cans and bobs your uncle, aunts your paramedic.

I've nver heard fo the VTR's Firestorm or SP-1 / SP-2 being referred to as 'Widow Makers'

However I have heard of the TL1000 being referred to as the 'Widow Maker' by many people.

Although, Having read a number of articles on the web about them, it would 'appear' that it may have just been bad press and suspicion of the rotary damper that caused it.

I've included a couple of links below for anyone interested.

Widow Maker 1

&

Widow Maker 2

Graeme.

The reason it gained that tittle was because the TLS in standard form went into violent tank slapping mode when accelerating hard with alleged fatal incidences

This is very true, the funny thing is, riding a TLS now isn't scary at all not after riding GSXR1000s and especially the C1H ZX10R. It just shows how times move on so quickly!

Suzuki also re-called the TLS to have the damper fitted too

Mmmm...I always thought that the TL1000 was known as the "Ditchfinder".
Or was that the early GSXR 750......?
Aw forget it I'm confused again...
...or am I?

Ive just got hold of a TL 1000S.

TBH until you've ridden one its a bit daft passing comment. That bike was killed by the press imo.

Sure, the VTR is better in some respects. The build quality speaks volumes and the finish is better. Its possibly a more 'flexible' bike to use.

Ive not had a spot of bother with the rotary damper on the tiller. I would'nt say its the best set up but its defo not the worst. I find the TL's riding position comfier, the fuel range is that bit better and the engine. Well the engine. Mid range is similar to the storm but at the top end the TL would cream it. Simple. Acceleration wise the TL wins everytime its soooo much quicker.

Horses for courses I suppose. They are both good bikes, both V2's, but very different in some respects. Im glad Ive tried something different

The TL is an underated bike IMO.

Somewhere (back a year or so) someone put in a link to a vid where some guys (think Shakey B was one of em) rode a storm and a TL back from France. Think it was Magnecour. Good vid and shows both bikes off well (good and bad bits).

Yep. Its a cracking vid.

VTR1000 FireStorm, TL1000R and Ducati 916BP. TBH the TL and VTR are well outclassed by the Duke, but they aint half shifting... bejeebus! (with inevitable consequence...)

Nice 1980's dayglo leathers too.

Clicky