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Suzuki T250 road test (Tekniikan Maailma 5/1971, Finland).
Click to enlarge.
Normally the Finnish magazine Tekiikan Maailma had been
quite alert when testing and presenting new motorcycle models.
Therefor it felt a bit strange to find a road test of a T250-II
in a issue that came out in late winter/early spring of '71.
Even the journalist (Tapio Sunell) told in the article that
the new model had already been presented. The test ride was
made a year too late! Another suspicious detail was the milage
of the bike, Mr. Sunell told in the article that the test unit
had obviously been very hard ridden by previous test riders.
Still, when you look at the picture of the speedo (I don't think
you can see that in the web version), there's only 3,1 kilometres
on the meter! Did the importer of the bike loosen the meter
wire so that the bike would remain ”brand new”? Perhaps
the picture's bike simply wasn't the bikethat was used as a
test ride.
Anyway, the article (six pages) was quite interesting. I don't
even try to translate it all, but I can try to reproduce some
details of it.
To start with, Mr. Sunell reminded that only five years earlier
28 hp was a great figure for a 250 cc motorcycle. ”Today
Suzuki can put 5 hp more in its advertising boards”, he
says. He was impressed by the amount of power. Sunell spent
almost half of the article in comparing the T250 to the old
T20. The gear ratios and the primary reduction ratio were dfferent,
the compression ratio increased to 7,5 :1 and the carburetor
to 26 mm. The result of the changes were that the T20's successor,
T250, gave 13,8% more power and 9,3% more torque. Both models
had a six-speed gearbox and Posiforce lubricating system.
The clutch wasn't operating like it should and the clutch cable
was dry. The rear brake didn't have any bite. Mr. Sunell didn't
blame Suzuki, he believed the hard use a s a test bike was the
reason for the problems. He also thought that the rear dampers
were too soft, something that all test rides in the sixties
and early seventies seem to complain about. On the other hand,
Sunell thought that the rear suspension was great. The fuel
tank was obviously too small (12 litres), especially when the
bike used as much as 8,5 liter per 100 kilometers.
Mr. Sunell liked the bike a lot. The powerful engine and the
well-balanced overall gearing made the bike really quick motorcycle
that was fun to ride.
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