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08 Suzuki Boulevard S50 discussion forum:Dick Russ |
| Dick Russ |
| Dick Russ said 2008-09-27 14:28 |
| I am 70 years old, 5´11, weigh 210, a retired Aerospace engineer and in excellant health. Over the past 55 years I have owned a Whizzer,Cushman,James,a Mini-Bike,Honda Dream,Tomas Mo-Ped,Honda Rebel, Kawasaki W650, Suzuki Boulevard S40 and last week I bought a 2005 Suzuki Boulevard S50. The S50 is without a doubt the best motorcycle of all the two wheel vehicles I have owned but it also has some short comings that you might want to be aware. Due to the bike having dual carburetors, It is rather cold natured and requires several minutes (or miles) to warm up which requires using the choke longer to where it won´t spit and cough. Once warmed up (5 minutes or so)it runs great and has more power and excelleration available than most sane riders will ever need. The original seat is as hard a rock after about 30 minutes of riding and I would highly recommend a replacement better contoured gel type seat. I bought a Suzuki Gel (pillow type replacement) seat and it seems to be a major improvement in comfort. One area I would like to mention is the location of the pedals. It could be my build and age, but in my opinion as an engineer,the S50 pedal location is very uncomfortable and dangerous. Maybe for a shorter person the would be OK, but not for someone over 5´10. In the short two weeks of ownership, I have found it undesireable to ride more than a few blocks. As you approach a stop,I also found it difficult to transition my feet from the pedals to the pavement. In fact, I fell off of the bike at a stop when I couldn´t get my foot off of the pedal in time. I did find that as I approached a stop, if I placed my foot under the left pedal prior to stopping it became much easier to make a smooth stop; but this was rather awkward. I had heard that there was available a pedal relocation kit referred to as Forward Controls. I did some research (on the net) and found a kit for the Suzuki VS800 Intruder (which is the same as the Boulevard S50) made by MAPAM out of Italy. It is available from many distributors of after market parts here in the US fo a little over $400.00. I found mine through Bikertoys on eBay. I have to say that this kit is extremely well made with precision machined parts and very easy to install. The only problem I ran into was removing the original Suzuki pedal bolts that the internal hex head rounded off and I had to drill the bolts out. Other than that, the job went without a problem. MAPAM doesn´t provide anything but an installation drawing, but Bikertoys provided some instructions that made was very helpful during the installation. The best part of all of this is it made the S50 the best riding bike I have ever owned (or ridden). It became a totally different motorcycle. It is easier to get on,and the new location of the foot pedals, shifter and brakes make it a joy to ride. I find I have much more confidence now when riding the S50. It is easier to manuever in traffic and a ball to corner. If you are over 5´10, have a Suzuki S50 or contemplating buying a S50, I would highly recommend you consider the MAPAM forward control kit. It will make a good bike into a great bike. If you have any questions regarding the installation, I would be happy to pass on my experience.You may contact me at dickathome@cox.net. I hope this information will be helpful. D |
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