Motorcycle Test: 1997 Suzuki Marauder 800

Interstate 25, south of Santa Fe

The sun was already low on the post-daylight-savings-time horizon as we hustled down Interstate 25 through Albuquerque on our trip back to Los Angeles. We needed to cover some ground before dark, which provided us with an opportunity to find out a little about the Marauder's long-range comfort.

The raised drag bar puts the rider's upper body in an upright, slightly forward position, and with the relatively narrow 28.5-inch bar, the wind blast doesn't have much to push around. Even cruising at 80 mph during the extended stretches of interstate with a 75-mph speed limit, neither the rider nor the Marauder felt overtaxed. But let the speed get above 80 and only those with the strongest upper bodies will last for long. The rubber-mounted bar isolates the controls well enough to keep the tinglies at bay. The well-placed pegs put the rider in a reasonable riding position although they're too far forward to allow standing up to help absorb bumps. The Marauder felt noticeably roomier than the Intruder as the miles clicked by.

The Marauder's seat was a limiting factor on extended rides. The locking mechanism that secures the seat to the frame above the document compartment and helmet locks creates a hump of thin padding at the back of the seat about the size of a half-dollar. All of our testers found this bump uncomfortable over time. Those with an inseam of 32 inches or longer, however, began to loath the seat, which placed its thinnest padding in contact with their coccyx, their hiney's point of thinnest padding. By the end of the three-day, 1000-mile trip, we had a difficult time lasting the 128 miles to reserve. One editor, noting the dictionary definition of marauder as "one who raids for booty," said the seat had claimed his. Though it's broader and roomier than the Intruder saddle, the Marauder seat still leaves plenty of opportunity for improvement.

Pie Town, New Mexico

Southwestern night dropped down from the sky taking the temperature with it. As the low 50s turned to the low 40s, we were glad that the new under-seat location of the maintenance-free battery made it easy to hook up an electric vest. The Intruder's under-the-swingarm location would have hindered such last-minute, cold-fingered installations. The 250-watt charging system worked flawlessly under the additional load, and the new, smaller starter motor cranked the cold engine over while ice still covered the surface of puddles the next morning in Quemado, New Mexico. While warming up the engine, we realized that somewhere during our nighttime ride, the tool-kit cover fell off, and the tool kit followed it into the night. No one noticed and, fortunately, no one was hurt. We hope.

The Marauder's brakes work well, if unremarkably. A firm two-fingered squeeze was enough to pull the bike down from speed in most situations, but full-on panic stops benefited from all four fingers. The rear drum was predictable and not grabby.

Salt River Canyon, Arizona

While not a sport bike, the Marauder takes to the twisties with aplomb. Riding a relaxed pace, leaned over just short of dragging pegs, you can easily cruise away from cars. No fighter-jock gymnastics, just a dance with the corners. The engine's low-end torque pulled out of the slower corners without hesitation. We had so much fun we rode the canyon twice.

At every gas stop, restaurant and motel, at least one person looked over the Marauder. Those familiar with bikes wondered, "Marauder, who makes it?" Many expressed a fondness for the fork, the red paint, and the chrome. A couple, after gazing for a few minutes, said that they felt Suzuki had gone too far in making the Marauder shiny by chroming the side panels, which they would have preferred to be painted. A couple of editors echoed that opinion. The cylindrical toolbox behind the cylinders was another candidate for chrome removal. Strap a leather aftermarket tool case to the fork and clean up the look of the engine while assuring that your tools don't journey to oblivion.

The Marauder shows its low price in the plastic chrome on places like the headlight shell, the previously mentioned side covers, and the faux air-filter cover. The chunky headers could use a little more attention; perhaps with full-length, one-piece heat shields like some of the pretty ones available in the aftermarket. The stock pipe uses multiple small heat shields, which makes the pipe look cluttered and lumpy.

Interstate 10, somewhere east of Palm Springs, California

No unfaired motorcycle is pleasant to ride for 350 miles of interstate-highway drone. Toss in the uncomfortable seat and you have the recipe for six hours of cataloguing aches and pains. The Marauder participated willingly in all our boredom-breaking freeway antics, such as top-gear roll-on races and dodging the Botts dots (a challenge with the heavy steering).

Those of you who will be riding in the wide-open spaces of the West be forewarned: Extended riding at high speeds drops the Marauder's range considerably, once giving us as little as 105 miles before we needed to switch to the 0.8-gallon reserve.

We encountered 45-mph headwinds, gusting to 60, in the San Gorgonio Pass past the wind farms, their propellers whipping, as we left the Coachella Valley behind us. This powerful incentive helped us discover what the Marauder's handlebar risers were really for. Folding ourselves up dirttrack-style with our left hand gripping the risers, we were able to slip under much of the wind and stay with the flow of the 65-mph traffic without feeling too beat-up. Throughout our trip, the Marauder handled winds gracefully, the stiff frame allowing us to dial in more lean as the crosswinds increased.

Los Angeles Basin, Commuter Duty

The Marauder handles around-town tasks, garnering looks and dispatching traffic, with confidence. The bike's narrowness and low-speed stability make the Marauder an ideal weekday ride. Problems like the soft top end and the painful seat don't loom as large. In fact, the top end doesn't feel as weak closer to sea level, although a slight abruptness in throttle response became apparent. The Marauder developed the same grabby clutch in high-rpm launches that we noticed in the Intruder 1400 tested in this issue. Running the Marauder at the dragstrip exacerbated the problem.

Logging over 1200 miles in four days provided us with a crash course in the Marauder. The dragster styling coupled with decent performance and a low price tag suggest that this bike will establish a firm hold on the 800cc cruiser market. With the Suzuki bikini and chin fairings soon to become available and several aftermarket companies busily developing add-ons, expect to see the $5999 Marauder cutting a swath across territories near you.