The Cruiser Built For Riders Who Value Comfort Over Flash
Cruisers are a lifestyle choice, if you believe the marketing material from motorcycle manufacturers. And as a lifestyle choice, they are expected to be powerful, handle well, and, of course, look good. When you take a test ride, the major input you get is visual because you spend a lot more time looking at it and not enough time riding it. This is the way of the world, unless there is a dealer that will allow you to take a test ride so long that it covers multiple hours. As a result, the cruisers that look the best usually get purchased. But what do you do if looks aren’t your priority? Well, you get one of the underrated gems, honed over the years.
Middleweight Cruisers Prioritize Substance Over Style
Flagship motorcycles need to be great at everything because they are halo models and need to exhibit the manufacturer’s progress in all departments. You also end up paying a premium for them. Look at the middleweight segment, however, and you will find products that have more logic to them. The middleweight cruiser segment, in particular, has many products that often fly under the radar.
After all, there is an assumption that they are budget-constrained and therefore not very good. The truth couldn’t be farther from this. Take Suzuki, for example; it is not known as a cruiser manufacturer, and yet it has a couple of the best options in the market if you value value over everything else. And here is where we will find the cruiser built for riders who value comfort over flash.
The Suzuki Boulevard C50T Special Is The Cruiser Built For Riders Who Value Comfort Over Flash
Both of Suzuki’s cruisers have been around for two decades. The big Boulevard, the M109R, grabs headlines because of its impressive power figure that still makes Harleys sweat and value. The smaller Boulevard, the C50, often gets ignored because it doesn’t have the characteristics or features that draw attention. However, it is the kind of cruiser that has been engineered to be great for the long haul. The shaft drive, for example. These are zero-maintenance and only need to be looked at when the regular service comes up.
Then there’s the engine. It has all the modern features we expect from an engine today, like liquid cooling and fuel injection. And finally, as the Boulevard C50T Special, you get additional items like the bolt-on windshield, the pillion backrest, the extremely comfortable seat, and the soft luggage to make sure that long journeys are a joy. If you value comfort over flash, the Suzuki Boulevard C50T Special is a no-brainer.
The Value Pricing Strengthens Its Case As A Logical Choice
The Suzuki Boulevard C50T Special retails at $9,779. This is a sub-$10,000 price tag for a middleweight cruiser that displaces over 800 cc and has a V-twin engine. That might seem a little high compared to some of its modern competition, but you need to account for the fact that this is a product and a platform that has been on sale for two decades. As such, the ownership costs will be very low. Not only is it extremely reliable, but the shaft drive means there is zero effort between services, and pretty much nothing goes wrong with it if it is maintained as per the service schedule.
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The Proven V-Twin Engine Is Surprisingly Modern In Many Respects
Suzuki has always been a manufacturer that has put out some great engines in its two-wheeled products, and it is no different with the Boulevard C50T Special. This is a 45-degree, 805cc, V-twin with liquid cooling and an SOHC head with four valves per cylinder. It was engineered to compete with whatever Harley-Davidson had on sale at the time, but Suzuki went comprehensively ahead of what was on offer from the American manufacturer.
This is a wholly liquid-cooled engine despite its chrome and cooling fins. If you look at the power (52 horsepower at 6,000 RPM) and torque (51 pound-feet of torque at 3,200 RPM) peaks, they are extremely far apart, with the torque peak arriving very early in the rev range. This is a hallmark of an extremely flexible engine. It also allows the top gear to be very tall for comfortable highway cruising. Suzuki has equipped it with its SDTV technology.
That puts a second set of throttle valves in line with the cable-actuated ones operated by the twist grip. The secondary throttle valves are computer-controlled and help smooth out fueling, especially during on-off throttle transitions, and they also perform the role of a choke during cold starts. This is the only cruiser in its segment to support a drive shaft; the Honda Shadow occupies a space slightly below it.
A Retro Chassis Shows This Suzuki’s Age
While the Boulevard’s engine is quite modern, we cannot say the same about its chassis. This is a traditional double-cradle steel frame, which is fairly common in the segment. It has telescopic forks at the front, but at the rear, it has a relatively modern single shock hidden under the seat with seven-step preload adjustment. There is 5.5 inches of travel available at the front and a very reasonable 4.1 inches of travel at the rear.
This is more travel than is usually available on a twin-shock setup, which makes the Boulevard C50T Special extremely comfortable: you’ll no doubt get Harley comfort for less money here. What will make it uncomfortable are the brakes. At the front, there is a single disc with a two-piston floating caliper, and at the rear, a drum brake is present. This is an anachronism in this day and age. Spoke wheel rims are present with the 16- and 15-inch sizes, and the tires require tubes.
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Large Enough For Long-Distance Comfort
We aren’t going to compare a cruiser to a dedicated tourer, but within its constraints, this is one of the most comfortable cruisers you can find, thanks in part to its size. It is 98.4 inches long and 37.6 inches wide with a 65.2-inch wheelbase. The seat is a little higher than expected at 27.6 inches because of the monoshock under it, but this is also a very manageable height. Ground clearance stands at 5.5 inches. The fuel tank can hold 4.1 gallons, and it weighs 611 pounds wet.
No Modern Features To Speak Of
Suzuki hasn’t updated the Boulevard C50T Special at all since. It is one of the forgotten iconic cruisers that is still on sale today. Thus, the feature set is truly old-school: halogen lighting all around, and the turn signals even have amber covers on them instead of amber bulbs. There is a tank-mounted instrument cluster that is part analog, part digital, with an analog speedometer and a very interesting digital fuel gauge design.
The C50T Special has additions over the regular Boulevard C50. Those are a bolt-on windshield, a studded seat which is more comfortable for long stretches in the saddle, a pillion backrest, and saddlebags. We like that there are a lot of retro touches like the studs in the seat and luggage, the chrome all over, and the whitewall tires. There is nothing much to speak of as far as electronics are concerned, other than the fuel injection, ignition, and the digital gauges.
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A Very Interesting Mix Of Old And New Competitors
Coming to rivals, we start with the Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT, which also combines Japanese engineering with long-haul comfort. This is also a light tourer in exactly the same mold as the Boulevard C50T Special, engineered 20 years ago, hasn’t changed much since, and has the windshield, backrest, and saddlebags added. The only difference is that it chooses a belt final drive and not a shaft, has a higher-displacement engine, and it has a rear disc brake.
If you prefer a more modern product but still with the spirit of a vintage machine, then you could have a look at the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 Celestial. The two-tone colorway offers a lot of chrome, and it upgrades the very things that we’ve seen in the Kawasaki and Suzuki. It gets the bolt-on windshield, the pillion backrest, and a completely different touring seat that is far more comfortable than the stock seat. Soft luggage is an optional extra, though, and this is a lower-displacement machine that costs less. But it still feels premium and has standard ABS, which is a big bonus.
If you want to go completely modern, there is the Honda Rebel 1100T DCT that can do it all. You do have to pay around $2,000 more than the Suzuki, but what you get is a handlebar-mounted ‘Batwing’ style fairing, hard luggage, a five-inch TFT display with Bluetooth and navigation, and a six-speed automatic gearbox. In the Rebel’s case, you pay more to get more. It also has a modern frame that uses the engine as a stressed member, so not only does it have the highest power figure here, but it is also significantly lighter. You could opt for the six-speed manual and save some cash.
Source: Suzuki Cycles
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