Suzuki TL1000R (1998-2004)

The Suzuki TL1000R has a truly awesome engine, producing a claimed 135bhp and though it revs another 1000rpm higher than the TL1000S, the Suzuki TL1000R still feels like it makes as much poke as a Ducati 916 can manage, by about 6000 revs. Sheer, liquid, adrenaline-pumping lunge and the fuel injection works better on the TL1000R than on the Suzuki TL1000S.

The Suzuki TL1000R features a frame based on the Suzuki GSX-R750 of the era, and it perhaps suffers from a short 1405mm wheelbase. Maybe the V-twin motor's poke would upset almost any chassis, but the TL1000R doesn't quite handle with the precision of say a Bimota SB8R, or Duke 916/996. When you push it, the Suzuki TL1000R gets loose at high speeds, and oversteers on slow corners.

The Suzuki TL1000R's full fairing is fairly wide, especially at the top half, so it keeps some windblast off the rider. The TL1000R pillion perch is a bit of joke, footpegs are too high and the upswept pipes makes panniers impossible to fit. You get a steering damper as standard on the Suzuki TL1000R though...which is nice.