1971 Suzuki T250R Hustler - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article

Description

1971 Suzuki T250R Hustler - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article
Original, Vintage Magazine article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
250 Hustler
Suzuki has really tried with
this bike, and the effort surely
shows: the Hustler is
probably the finest motor-
cycle in the 250 street class.
PHOTOGRAPHY: LARRY WILLETT
r*
^^Bood things come to those who wait—and engineer, and
perfect, and bear down; and to those who are unsatisfied
with “good enough,” or “progressive enough.” The first thing you
notice about the T-250R Hustler is that, despite a noticeable soft-
ening in the 250cc street market, Suzuki has really tried with this
bike. And the result is probably the finest motorcycle in its class
(we say probably only because we haven’t as yet conducted a full-
scale Cycle comparison test of 250cc street machines). The Hustler
is magnificently finished, responsive to your slightest physical
tremor (it seems so delicate at times that it responds to your slight-
est mental tremor), light in weight and feel. In short, if a 250 offers
maximum communication between bike and rider, the Suzuki tries
to crawl inside your skin with you. You can almost ride it without
thinking—once you get used to dealing with an engine that makes
a lot of horsepower (somewhere between 33 and 36—US Suzuki is
as yet unclear on this point) over a necessarily narrow rpm spread,
and compensates for it with a transmission that is loaded with all
sorts of gears.
The question about horsepower has arisen because of the config-
uration of the exhaust pipes. The 1968 version of the 250 was
available with either up-swept, street-scrambler pipes or the more
conventional, and ultimately more practical, downsweeps. For
their own reasons, Suzuki sold the 250 with just downsweeps in
1969. The dealers hollered. If you can remember back to 1969, you
can recall that the street-scrambler rage was on. Riders thought
that tricky pipes and semi-knobby tires and cross-braced handle-
bars and a high-mounted front fender were what it took to dazzle
the neighborhood and each other. Besides, the legitimate on/off
road bikes had not as yet gotten themselves, and their partisans,
together.
So a dealer poll was conducted; the dealers wanted what they
could sell, and what they thought they could sell in 1970 was a
street-scrambler (a faint voice from General Motors: “Don’t give
them what they need; give them what they want”).
So the 250 came in street-scrambler trim in 1970. Whether or
not it was a sales success is at this point moot; from the point of
view (obviously) of the factory, it was not an engineering success.
High-pipe semi-dirt machines have to be equipped with spark-arres-
tors; the arrestors on the 1970s loaded up badly, damaging engine
performance beyond that already caused by the configuration of
the pipes.
So in 1971 Suzuki said the heli with it, and manufactured the
250 with the kind of pipes the bike needs, leaving the street-scram-
bler stuff in the capable hands (knobbies?) of the TS-25OR Savage.
And according to the factory, the new pipes are worth 4 horse-
power over the street-scrambler jobs of 1970, which means 36. The
American distributor only claims 33. It is a gracious plenty. The
Hustler is a jet.
Where does all that urge come from? From an engine that is the
most up-to-date street 250 around, fed through two Keihin VM26
carburetors and breathing through 6 ports, an engine that begins to
make authoritative pressure slightly above 6000 rpm and continues
to do so past the 8000 rpm power peak, that’s where.
Reliability and efficiency are aided by Suzuki’s CCI (crankcase-
cylinder injection) lubrication system, identical to last year’s Posi-
Force except for the name. In this lash-up, a dual-diaphragm (one
inlet, two outlets) oil pump is used; it’s shaft-driven off the kick-
start idler gear. One outlet supplies oil to the engine’s cylinders and
pistons and is controlled by throttle opening and engine speed. The
other outlet feeds oil under pressure to the outer crankshaft ball
bearings and to the connecting rod big end bearings. The center
crankshaft bearing is lubricated by splash from the transmission.
This lower oil supply system is not regulated by throttle opening,
and it is not adjustable; oil flow is metered in response to engine
speed alone. The system aids engine performance in a couple of
ways; first, critical bearings and rubbing surfaces receive lubrica-
tion uncut by gasoline; second, because of the positive feed to the
top-end of the engine, the pistons are almost seizure-proof, and can
be fitted tight to the cylinders, prolonging ring life and helps ring
sealing.
The engine needs its transmission’s six speeds in every environ-
ment. If you’re trying to blitz through the mountains, and are
interested in extracting maximum performance from those hard-
working fifteen cubic inches, your best bet is to keep the tach
needle quivering above 6500 rpm. It’s easy, once you get used to it;
your clutch-hand and shifter-foot begin to work by themselves
after a few miles. It’s tough to miss a gear; the engagement dogs
have been changed from flat-sided to Keystone-profiled this year,
and the result is a gearbox that feels like it almost shifts by itself.
The clutch is optional; if you want to use it, action is light, precise,
and sensitive. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter to the Hustler. It may
after a couple thousand miles, though.
You have to use the box on the freeway too. In sixth gear, an
indicated 70 mph corresponds to 5700 rpm—well below the point
the engine makes useful horsepower. Run into a headwind, or up
the slightest incline, or even past an oncoming truck, and the
speedometer needle fades towards 50 mph.
Why, you may wonder, has Suzuki, with all those speeds avail-
able, chosen to stack more gear on the bike than it can handle? The
answer is vibration control. Overgear any bike, especially a smail-
displacement two-stroke, make it work against a heavy load, and
vibration impulses smooth out. Earlier Suzuki 250 customers
found out what we mean when they reduced the size of the coun-
tershaft sprocket by one tooth—and grimaced as engine vibration
became intrusive.
On our test machine, vibration was noticeable but not bother-
some, even on the open road at a steady 75-80 mph—a pace, inci-
dentally, the Hustler can sustain until it runs out of gas. You have
a lot of time to think, feel, and pay attention when you're locked
into California’s freeway system, and we noticed several character-
istics of the Suzuki while so occupied. First, seating position is
excellent—better than the 350. The footpegs are mounted high, but
not uncomfortably so, and the handlebars are in exactly the right
place for anyone between 5'5" and 6'2". The narrowish tank per-
mits the rider to locate his upper legs in whatever position is com-
fortable. And except for a disconcerting whine coming from the
transmission in 5th and 6th gears, the bike is very quiet—exhaust
noise is behind you and intake noise (formerly a real problem on
the 500) is nothing more than a gentle murmur, thanks to a large,
flexible container under the seat that feeds filtered air to the two
carburetors.
There are, though, a few minor annoyances. The passenger grab-
strap surrounds the seat right where your tailbones are, and it gets
to you after a while. It can be removed; after all, a large, secure
metal rail loops up right behind the seat, and it ought to be enough
for anyone. And the seat itself is a little too firm; it could use more
primary-layer depth.
The Hustler sits as firmly on the highway as any 250cc, 325
pound motorcycle can be expected to—which is not as firmly as,
say, a 650, Crosswinds move it around slightly, and while the sus-
pension is perfect for a 250, you're aware of every condition that
the tires have to deal with. You’re not upset—just aware...
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