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Back in the Suzuki "fold".
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Last Friday night I sold my 1986 Kawasaki ZL600 Eliminator. Saturday morning I purchased
a 2015 Suzuki Boulevard C/50/T with 1070 miles and 7 months left on the factory warranty. When I started riding again as an adult, my first bike was the GZ 250. Since then I've owned a Kawasaki Vulcan 500, 750, 900, and recently the ZL600. All great bikes, lots of fun to ride and very reliable transportation. The ZL600 was without a doubt the most responsive and adrenaline inducing ride of them all but it wasn't very comfy for my old bones and it just wouldn't carry anything but me without a lot of modifications for bags and such. The new ride is really nice. Big and plush by comparison with the ZL. No where near as fast or responsive but very easy to ride, very comfortable and the most stable of all the bikes I've had. It came with some nice saddle bags and a big seat for me and passenger backrest for anybody crazy enough to ride with me. :) We've had unusually warm dry weather here in Georgia this Fall, so I'm still riding most days with just a leather jacket and some gloves. I haven't broken out the heated gear yet but it's nearly that time of year for me. It was in the low 30's this morning, the coldest we've had so far, but it hit mid 60's by mid day. I will probably wire in my heated gear outlet this weekend. |
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Congrats.....Nice ride......I too came back to Suzuki after a Kawasaki 454,Honda 800 shadow & a 1100 Yamaha...........I went this past spring & bought a 05 Suzuki S83 1400 Boulevard.
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Both are really nice bikes. A little jealous, I admit. Still like my little GZ thumper for now.
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I managed to get the heated gear outlet and a battery tender plug wired in today. I also installed a nice coffee mug holder on the handlebars. I plan to ride up to Chattanooga in the morning and back tomorrow evening. Probably about 120 miles round trip. That will be my first trip of any distance, other than commuting to work, on this bike.
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Don't forget pics!! :) |
Sorry, I did forget to take pics. Ended the day with over 150 miles traveled. It was really
smokey out today. Lots of fires in the region. We haven't had any significant rain in 3+ months here in parts of the South. When I saw my sister today she showed me pictures from their home on Signal Mountain,TN. of some of the forest fires burning near their home. I rode back roads today but my wife drove on I-75 and said at one point she could see three separate fires burning near Dalton, Georgia. I checked my fuel mileage and got 49 mpg today. Not bad for an 800 cc bike with a 240lb rider. I've been getting about six mpg less around town just commuting to work and such. Nothing near what I used to get on the GZ though. :) |
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WW, yes, I think it's just right for me at this time. I am enjoying it. I have to admit that the
ZL600 was exhilarating to ride but the Boulevard fits my 6'1" -240 lb body a lot better. I was surprised at the handling difference between those two bikes, the ZL almost seemed to read my mind, just a little body lean and it responded so fast I sometimes just thought it was doing it on it's own. With the Boulevard I found myself swinging way out in the curves and I had to adjust a lot. It will ride the turns but I have to put a lot more effort and weight into it to get it to lean over. It really wants to come back up to the top if I don't put lean heavily into it, which is nice when you just want a relaxing ride but it does take more effort in the S-turns. |
Nice ride. I think the C50 is the more modern version of my VZ800. Sadly, my VZ800 has a hole in the engine case and I am not sure it will ever run again. I have yet to unmount the engine and pull it apart to see what happened in there. Such a pretty bike, I really miss riding it. Hmmmm...maybe a C50...
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The M-50 has different forks than the C-50 and handles very sweet in the twisties. The C050 is a little more of a relaxed touring bike with a bigger seat, floorboards and different bars too. The one I test rode a few years ago had the heel toe shifter and felt just right after 5 minutes of riding. I think a lot of riders overlook the C-50 in their search for a new ride because it is only 805cc's. It's HP to Weight ratio is pretty good too. Speaking of weight. Crash bars are pretty much a must have item if you drop it. I dropped Lynda's M-50 twice with the crash bars on it and it litterly rolled back up to vertical with little effort. The bike was stationary both times doing an oil change. Then I bought a bike lift after escaping any damage or scratches. |
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Maggie, sorry to hear about your bike. If you decide to move on to another ride the C50T is a
very nice bike and would be similar in size to what you were riding. WW, yes, my bike has the engine guards on it. I hope I never need them, :) The riding position is nice with the floor boards and larger seat. I installed a drivers backrest last night and rode it around a bit today and it helped with my comfort level. I've decided to add Barons Handlebar risers (Model# BA-7410-00)to move the handles up 1-3/4" and back 1-1/2", which should be just about right for me and not enough to require replacing any of the cables. Since Beth won't ride with me, I think I'll pull the passenger seat and install the trunk I once had mounted on my Vulcan 500. I will have to fabricate some mounting hardware but that shouldn't be a big deal since I've set up my son in law with a machine shop in a building behind my house. He loves to do custom work for people's bikes, and he'll help me make anything I need. |
WOW! A machine shop in your back yard. Awesome. :clap:
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Yes, it's nice to have all those machines available and a son-in-law who's really good at using them.
I decided to order a seat from Russell Day Long in California. It's supposed to be finished and back to me in February. I copied Russell's basic design years ago for my Vulcan 500 seat and although I couldn't compete with their stylish looks, the shape was super comfortable and I even rode it over 7 hours one day and reached my destination, helped unload my wife's car and went back out for another hour long ride. I hope the one I've ordered is equally comfortable. |
BB, I remember the 500 you had. It did serve you well.
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WW, yes, I actually regret selling it after the wreck. I restored it and sold it while I was still
in a wheelchair and bought a Vulcan 900 to replace it but I was never as pleased with the 900 as I was with the 500. I thought about going out and finding a 500 with low miles again but they stopped making them in 2009 so it would already be an 8 year old bike and I was tired of fooling with the chain and the choke in the Winter so I decided on the Suzuki with the shaft drive and fuel injection. I love that it starts right up even on cold days and I don't have to spend my time messing with the chain adjustments and cleaning and lube. So far I am very happy with the Suzuki C50T. But the seat was still just a factory seat and I've yet to find a factory seat that was designed for rider comfort. They are all designed to look good, period. Hopefully the one I've ordered will be comfortable and look good. :) |
FI and a shaft were a major concern for Lynda when she moved up to her M-50. She really disliked the GZ manual choke/enrichener and the shaft allowed her to go on a long trip without me to be there for chain maintenance. I do regret not keeping the M-50 for myself when Lynda hung up her helmet for the last time. The OEM seat was not to my liking but everything else was just peachy when I rode it.
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BB. Any updates on the new bike?
I have to say the C-50 was on the short list before I bought the Honda CTX700 but it lost out due to no ABS and a much larger price tag. I really thought ABS would be a wonderful feature after some coffee buds mentioned that ABS saved there bacon during some onroad issues in traffic and really bad weather. The CTX has been in my living room all winter waiting for upgrades to make it mine. At the present time my project is to wire up my LED driving lights to work as designed. The main feature is the dimable circut that cuts the full power to as much as 90% less to also operate with lo-beam. The wiring is as follows. |
Good luck with that!
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I can relate. The arthritis in my hands makes it tough for me to do some things on my bike that need strength or dexterity.
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I've had the Russell Day Long Seat on for several weeks now and I absolutely love it. I've only ridden about 2 hrs at one stretch so far but when I was done, I didn't have any leg or rear end fatigue and I just got off the bike and walked normally. What a great seat. My son in law fabricated a bracket so I could take the sissy bar OEM backrest and mount it on my drivers seat, it fits perfectly and it is very comfortable and gives me the back support I was missing on long rides. I'll try to snap some pics of the everything tomorrow and post them here.
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Was it worth the price? Yup, for sure. The new bike was actually useless to me before the Corbin. |
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seat pics
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Oh my!! That is a good looking seat. I've heard good things about their seats but never sat on one. Sort of soft and supportive. Thanks BB.
Before I go. Have you had the right side cover off below the seat. On Lynda's M-50 there was room to install a fuse block and 2 or 3 relays. |
There is room there, I hadn't thought of adding a fuse block, that's a good idea. I'm loving that seat, so comfortable. I can ride for hours without feeling the need to change feet position or move around in the seat. It is very comfortable. I went for the lowest cost seat they offered and I'm very happy with it. I modeled a seat I made based on their design several years ago and was very pleased with the comfort but my version didn't look anywhere near as nice as the one they made. I've had Mustang seats and they were definitely an improvement over OEM seating but not even in the same ball park as this one by Russell. I'd recommend it to anyone that rides for more than just commuter distances.
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Just a couple thoughts on the fuse block etc. You need a flat surface of some sort. I used a piece of plexiglass(it was handy) as a mounting surface and secured everything with 2 sided sticky tape. The plexi is easy to work with and is nonconductive in case there is a serious malfunction. Circuits for heated grips, Stebel air horn, heated grips, driving lights, 12 volt power point, and IIRC 2 more available fuses for future whatevers or a space for spare fuses that is handy.
I am presently working with a Blue Sea fuse block in the CTX which is very nice and well designed. Something that surprised me with the CTX is Honda has spare fuses attached to the OEM fuse panel cover. Pretty neat idea. That is an idea anyone could use with the help of a tiny piece of sticky tape on almost any bike. |
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