I still own my TLR fter having purchased it from the original owner in 2006. Thought about selling it many times and even listed it but I've now decided it's part of the family. Named her the "yellow beast" makes me feel like a young hooligan again whenever I get on and that's enough to keep her around.
I loved my TLR. After I added a computer upgrade that made everything programmable and more powerful. I swapped out the rear sprocket to one that would give me a few miles-per-hour top-end increase. And I fully modified the airbox to remove all of the dampening in it. I loved riding this bike, and even got to race it at a track that is south of Ft. Worth TX. I also put D&D cans on it (manufactured in Ft Worth TX). They were about 1/4th of the weight of the standard cans, and you could hold it up and see all the way through it. It sounded like a true wonder!! I had to sell it after a couple of years because of a previous injury to my spine was causing me to slow my life down. it was the best, fastest, stable, comfortable SuperBike I ever owned. I still miss it.........
I miss both my TLRs, I was only 19 years old when I got my first one in NZ, RED then a 2001 yellow. used to get fuel and grown middle aged men would come and check it out, walk out of servo and fire it up, and it would just thump the ground. I felt like the richest kid in the world. Would do anything to ride with my Uncle and Dad again.
I got the itch again and got mine out of storage. Going to go over it piece by piece eventually. I am in the process of making it mechanically sound right now and I will be doing the TPS and TB sync this weekend. Already flashed the ECM and runs much better. Rear brakes don't really work unless you stomp on them, so I will be buying all new disks front and rear and braided lines for the brakes and clutch. I love the TLR. Mine has 13k on the clock, I bought it was 9k a few years ago.
Hey Jeff, so nice to read a positive review, Im a young older rider (70) who's had bikes since age 16 and my "flying pig" has a home for life. Yes they have a few quirks, but which performance bike doesn't? Anything with a bit of power needs to be treated carefully but they're great when you get to know them!
Loved my old blue/white TL-R, I fitted 'Fuel' after market exhausts which then sounded awesome!! I keep looking for another, before they start rising in price... Edit: So it’s 8 years since I made that above post and…I have just bought a mint 1999 TL-RX with 15k miles. Well pleased.
I had the S and R - sold the S after dialing in the R and then a nice lady tboned me which totaled my R. Got the original Hayabusa after that (yay, insurance money), which I missed and dialed and after ruling the world for five years, sold - no crashes, just lots of good memories. Still would buy and R today though. Twas a great ride.
Brings back great memories of my 1999 TL1000R. My TLR run was cut short by never ending electrical problems. Other than that, and some engine heat its a great machine to ride. It has a bit more flavor than any inline 4.
I had a ‘99 TLR too. Never had any problems with it. It was stolen, then recovered so I turned it into a track bike. A lot of work to ride that bike hard on the track but a lot of fun too!
I also had electrical problems when I purchased mine which cut the engine off while riding but was soon fixed and never had any issues since. The fuel pump wouldn’t kick in due to a faulty loom connection and it also had a faulty voltage regulator so the battery didn’t charge up during riding. I also had clutch slipping issues but just had it welded and it runs like a dream now.
I can remember riding with a co-worker who had one of these, it was a rocket ship in a striaght line, but i could out brake him and go faster in the turns, but as soon as the road straightend out he would motor past me. my bike was an ancient 2 valve air cooled 95 ducati 900cr with D&D carbon exhaust, K&N filter kit, and cut down rear mud guard, and yellow powder coated frame and wheels, with flames on the tank. He purchased the TL used and the dealer told him it weighed 483 lbs wet. so one day while we were at work we wanted to find out how much our bikes weighed so after work we filled the tanks up at the corner station and weighed our bikes on the shipping DEPT scale, and to his surprise it weighed 506lbs, he was shocked, my ducati weighed in at just 413lbs. i was literally biting my lip to keep from laughing LoL, and no matter where we went my old ducati always got the thumbs up from passersby and in traffic, but hey i did have that distinctive sound of the open multi-colored dry clutch and exhaust note. not to mention oil temperature gauge, LED illuminated mechanical oil pressure gauge, twin 3 in. blue led aluminum computer fans behind the oil cooler, a marshal led illuminated fuel pressure gauge, and led illuminated glass fuel filter. and custom switching panel . Neat Huh!
Just buy a HONDA VTR FIRESTORM and enjoy the machine as the Suzi is an engineering nightmare, I HEAR I am on the lookout for the after marketed bike just to see if I am missing something!:) If anybody out there has a TL please let me know what you think of this VTWIN baby:) Thank you for your time and patience.
Chris Martin yeah I’m going by dry weight. i thought you meant dry. I own a ZZR 1100 D2 it’s around 233 kilos dry and weighs a ton wet. I’m going to buy the TL1000R and I bet it feels much lighter. I’m hoping the TLR can perform like the ZZR on acceleration because nothing could touch it on the straights. nothing that gave it a challenge anyway😉 I had shorter gearing that helped lol.
What a poor review, I've litrally taken one of these home from the bike shop I'm helping out at and taking it back tomorrow, but this guy has missed so much about how it acts in the real world. It's an old bike now and I know they have electrical issues (hence I havnt personally purchased it) but the engine is fabulous on the road extremely well balanced, it's not lumpy like a carbed litre twin, and its revs just as happily as a four pot. The brakes suck next to modern standards so thank god for engine braking, and the clutch can be hard work in traffic due to first being pretty tall gearing wise. How ever it has so much more character than most modern bikes. It feels special even at normal speeds it just feels like a bike that wants to make the rider happy. Nothing like the modern day 200bhp computers that manufacturers are selling now. I'm so close to trading my 4c8 r1 against it. It really is that special. It's not the smoothest, fastest or most fuel efficient bike out there but it really does have character you cannot ignore
@@sp4msolo724 lol😂 I had a GSXR 750 SRAD and after 1 tank slapper that almost through me off i put one on. I don’t trust Suzuki’s for handling. I’ve had many Kawasaki’s without a steering damper and never got into trouble but Suzuki’s are a risk to life if you haven’t got a damper.
Those six pots were the worst thing Tokico ever got on the market. I own ZXRP1 and I got rid of them. The six pots ocasionaly got stuck pots which resulted in drag or and that's what happened to me, only like 2 pots per caliper worked so one I day I went through a corner quite a lot faster than I wanted. I got older Nissin four pots and although the performance is a bit worse, the Nissins work all the time the same, which is something you want from a brake, to know what's gonna happen when you want to slow down. After I cleaned the six pots they worked only about 300 miles, than it was risky to use them again. Smaller pots = easier to seize them with dirt.
I still own my TLR fter having purchased it from the original owner in 2006. Thought about selling it many times and even listed it but I've now decided it's part of the family. Named her the "yellow beast" makes me feel like a young hooligan again whenever I get on and that's enough to keep her around.
I loved my TLR. After I added a computer upgrade that made everything programmable and more powerful. I swapped out the rear sprocket to one that would give me a few miles-per-hour top-end increase. And I fully modified the airbox to remove all of the dampening in it. I loved riding this bike, and even got to race it at a track that is south of Ft. Worth TX. I also put D&D cans on it (manufactured in Ft Worth TX). They were about 1/4th of the weight of the standard cans, and you could hold it up and see all the way through it. It sounded like a true wonder!! I had to sell it after a couple of years because of a previous injury to my spine was causing me to slow my life down. it was the best, fastest, stable, comfortable SuperBike I ever owned. I still miss it.........
I miss both my TLRs, I was only 19 years old when I got my first one in NZ, RED then a 2001 yellow. used to get fuel and grown middle aged men would come and check it out, walk out of servo and fire it up, and it would just thump the ground. I felt like the richest kid in the world. Would do anything to ride with my Uncle and Dad again.
Oh dear. How can you do a review on a bike like this and forget to include the sound of it at some point?
I got the itch again and got mine out of storage. Going to go over it piece by piece eventually. I am in the process of making it mechanically sound right now and I will be doing the TPS and TB sync this weekend. Already flashed the ECM and runs much better. Rear brakes don't really work unless you stomp on them, so I will be buying all new disks front and rear and braided lines for the brakes and clutch. I love the TLR. Mine has 13k on the clock, I bought it was 9k a few years ago.
Hey Jeff, so nice to read a positive review, Im a young older rider (70) who's had bikes since age 16 and my "flying pig" has a home for life. Yes they have a few quirks, but which performance bike doesn't? Anything with a bit of power needs to be treated carefully but they're great when you get to know them!
Loved my old blue/white TL-R, I fitted 'Fuel' after market exhausts which then sounded awesome!! I keep looking for another, before they start rising in price...
Edit: So it’s 8 years since I made that above post and…I have just bought a mint 1999 TL-RX with 15k miles. Well pleased.
Nice!
I had the S and R - sold the S after dialing in the R and then a nice lady tboned me which totaled my R. Got the original Hayabusa after that (yay, insurance money), which I missed and dialed and after ruling the world for five years, sold - no crashes, just lots of good memories. Still would buy and R today though. Twas a great ride.
Brings back great memories of my 1999 TL1000R. My TLR run was cut short by never ending electrical problems. Other than that, and some engine heat its a great machine to ride. It has a bit more flavor than any inline 4.
I had a ‘99 TLR too. Never had any problems with it. It was stolen, then recovered so I turned it into a track bike. A lot of work to ride that bike hard on the track but a lot of fun too!
I also had electrical problems when I purchased mine which cut the engine off while riding but was soon fixed and never had any issues since. The fuel pump wouldn’t kick in due to a faulty loom connection and it also had a faulty voltage regulator so the battery didn’t charge up during riding. I also had clutch slipping issues but just had it welded and it runs like a dream now.
I agree with you regarding the flavour😉mines banana flavour I’m guessing yours was ether mint, strawberry or black jack😂. I’m gonna go with mint😉
The yellow is the fastest all R owners know that.
Mayo Luck he’ll yeah, I had a yellow , was soo seeet!
White and blue with red rims
I loved my 1998 TLR1000. best bike I ever owned.
“The steering damper is hardly necessary” who’s he trying to kid or kill😂
I can remember riding with a co-worker who had one of these, it was a rocket ship in a striaght line, but i could out brake him and go faster in the turns, but as soon as the road straightend out he would motor past me. my bike was an ancient 2 valve air cooled 95 ducati 900cr with D&D carbon exhaust, K&N filter kit, and cut down rear mud guard, and yellow powder coated frame and wheels, with flames on the tank. He purchased the TL used and the dealer told him it weighed 483 lbs wet. so one day while we were at work we wanted to find out how much our bikes weighed so after work we filled the tanks up at the corner station and weighed our bikes on the shipping DEPT scale, and to his surprise it weighed 506lbs, he was shocked, my ducati weighed in at just 413lbs. i was literally biting my lip to keep from laughing LoL, and no matter where we went my old ducati always got the thumbs up from passersby and in traffic, but hey i did have that distinctive sound of the open multi-colored dry clutch and exhaust note. not to mention oil temperature gauge, LED illuminated mechanical oil pressure gauge, twin 3 in. blue led aluminum computer fans behind the oil cooler, a marshal led illuminated fuel pressure gauge, and led illuminated glass fuel filter. and custom switching panel . Neat Huh!
That's funny , I have buddy with a tls1000 and I think he said it weighed close to 400 pounds lmao.
Nah not really!! The tl is way better than your Ducati any day
Just buy a HONDA VTR FIRESTORM and enjoy the machine as the Suzi is an engineering nightmare, I HEAR
I am on the lookout for the after marketed bike just to see if I am missing something!:)
If anybody out there has a TL please let me know what you think of this VTWIN baby:)
Thank you for your time and patience.
Yep another review where you can't hear the bloody exhaust note.
The TL had a crazy moto !! Huge torque punch... but weighed a ton !
Chris Martin 174kg is not heavy on a 1000
@@lillyandrews3788 The bike weighed over 500lbs thats 230kgs... how many TL 1000 have you ridden?
bikez.com/motorcycles/suzuki_tl_1000_r_1999.php
Chris Martin it weights 197 kg. where did you get 230 kg🤔
@@019208237 Your looking at dry weight with no gas, or any fluids. Obviously impossible to ride... wet weight that bike weighs a ton.
Chris Martin yeah I’m going by dry weight. i thought you meant dry. I own a ZZR 1100 D2 it’s around 233 kilos dry and weighs a ton wet. I’m going to buy the TL1000R and I bet it feels much lighter. I’m hoping the TLR can perform like the ZZR on acceleration because nothing could touch it on the straights. nothing that gave it a challenge anyway😉 I had shorter gearing that helped lol.
Great review👍
What a poor review, I've litrally taken one of these home from the bike shop I'm helping out at and taking it back tomorrow, but this guy has missed so much about how it acts in the real world. It's an old bike now and I know they have electrical issues (hence I havnt personally purchased it) but the engine is fabulous on the road extremely well balanced, it's not lumpy like a carbed litre twin, and its revs just as happily as a four pot. The brakes suck next to modern standards so thank god for engine braking, and the clutch can be hard work in traffic due to first being pretty tall gearing wise. How ever it has so much more character than most modern bikes. It feels special even at normal speeds it just feels like a bike that wants to make the rider happy. Nothing like the modern day 200bhp computers that manufacturers are selling now. I'm so close to trading my 4c8 r1 against it. It really is that special. It's not the smoothest, fastest or most fuel efficient bike out there but it really does have character you cannot ignore
@Alex Anning Thanks mate I enjoyed reading your review. I have just bought one😁
If you think it don't need a steering damper you haven't ridden it hard enough
True dat!
I took mine off.. Its back now
@@sp4msolo724 lol😂 I had a GSXR 750 SRAD and after 1 tank slapper that almost through me off i put one on. I don’t trust Suzuki’s for handling. I’ve had many Kawasaki’s without a steering damper and never got into trouble but Suzuki’s are a risk to life if you haven’t got a damper.
Those six pots were the worst thing Tokico ever got on the market. I own ZXRP1 and I got rid of them. The six pots ocasionaly got stuck pots which resulted in drag or and that's what happened to me, only like 2 pots per caliper worked so one I day I went through a corner quite a lot faster than I wanted. I got older Nissin four pots and although the performance is a bit worse, the Nissins work all the time the same, which is something you want from a brake, to know what's gonna happen when you want to slow down. After I cleaned the six pots they worked only about 300 miles, than it was risky to use them again. Smaller pots = easier to seize them with dirt.
amazing
Essa moto é um mito
too bad the rear suspension didn't work!... otherwise Yoshimura might have kept going with the bike!
I ride one and don’t notice any issues with the rear suspension even under hard acceleration . Maybe your light weight. I’m 95 kilos.
Widow Makee🏍️