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• Suzuki Intruder: the first Japan chopper

11 photos

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The Intruder has been around for a quarter of a century and was the first Japanese chopper to try to break the hegemony of the USA. Here the baby and his midwives: Presentation of the 1400s 1986 in Japan.

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Predecessor: Suzuki Madura 1200, with a water-cooled V4 it was a flop.

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Offshoot: VX 800, the Truden twin in the all-rounder chassis.

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VS 750 – the original Intruder. In the beginning it was also available with a flat handlebar (photo). The high deer antlers met with more approval in the long run.

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Back to the origins again – pure purism: a lonely speedometer, cables and trains tidied up, a real chopper.

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Generation change – M 1800 R Intruder, has nothing in common with the VS..

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Intruder 1400: With 1360 cc (67 hp) it had the thickest cylinders at the time. Brakes and chassis were weak, but that didn’t matter.

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Question of style: Design can be debated. In any case, this didn’t catch on.

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Picture of an engine: The twin ran smoothly and robust, only the carburetor adjustment was difficult.

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Intruder 600: It was supposed to compete with the Yamaha XV 535 from 1995 – but it didn’t work.

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Custom cult – the simplicity of the Suzuki quickly learned to appreciate the conversion scene. The radical hip flask comes from Thunderbike.

Final: 25 years of Suzuki Intruder

Suzuki Intruder: the first Japan chopper

It was a quarter of a century ago that Suzuki brought the first real Japan chopper. But with 750 cubic meters, the little Intruder could not yet wobble on the Harley throne. But only a year later, the big 1400 sister came…

D.he story of the hare and hedgehog of the motorcycle world, of the American original and the Japanese copy, goes back much further than just a quarter of a century. But 1986, which the world has saved as the Chernobyl year, begins its most important chapter. Its headline: VS 750 GL Intruder. The "intruder" was a puristic chopper with little plastic but a lot of chrome, with spoked wheels and a bulky-looking V-Zwei that was openly displayed thanks to a water cooler that was well hidden between the frame tubes. After all, the engine had 55 hp, a refreshing Boller sound and – that was the main thing – the Harley-typical cylinder angle of 45 degrees. "Sounds like a stone age, doesn’t it?", asked MOTORRAD at the time. After all, the Japanese had previously hung technically complex four-cylinder engines in chassis that were often hopelessly overwhelmed. And had to be laughed at for it. But they learned quickly. Because in reality the 750 with the cardan shaft running in the swing arm was anything but a Fred-Feuerstein-Mobil. It was a neatly executed attack on Harley’s entry-level Sportster range. Just one year later, Suzuki reloaded and attacked the US Big Twins with the new VS 1400.

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Final: 25 years of Suzuki Intruder
Suzuki Intruder: the first Japan chopper

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Picture of an engine: The twin ran smoothly and robust, only the carburetor adjustment was difficult.

But now, no more adulation, an anniversary can also be an occasion for critical tones. So many Truden annoyed their soon numerous owners with sometimes lousy chrome quality on the exhaust and rims as well as screws that rusted ugly quickly. The chassis relied on short spring travel and was therefore rock hard; The pretty little lamp was more shade than headlights at night, the lean angle always that of those who think differently, i.e. those who drive straight ahead, and the step bench quickly tended to compost itself because it regularly soaks up with water when it rains and its driver likes to soak in afterwards brought wet panties.

But today we know that all of this could hardly diminish the love for the faithful aunt. Loyal also because the large V-Twin with its three valves and initially only four gears revealed real stamina qualities: the engine was almost impossible to break. Not even if, like the test colleagues at the time, you tried very hard and fought the good Trude in the endurance test into the scorching heat of the North African desert and back. Her fat twin let it go.

Their uniqueness, their purism and their reliability are probably the main reasons why the VS is still a loyal 600, 750, 800, and above all 1400, with meetings, in clubs and internet forums (www.vl1500.de) Delighted fan base. Finally, I would like to quote once again MOTORRAD from the early days of the Intruder 1986: "With the Intruder, Suzuki can boast of being the first acceptable replacement for a Harley-Davidson. Sure, it’s a copy (…). But a good one." And that is still true today. So: Happy Birthday, old aunt.

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