In my area there is a 1981 Suzuki TS185 for sale with 7000 miles. It seems to be in decent shape, and its in my price range. I want to buy it. Real bad like. BUT I can't justify getting another bike that I can't take out of town. I have to be at least able to maintain 50-55 pretty much indefinately. Is this bike too small? No freeway, just low traffic 2 lane highways and back roads.
She'd be buzzing pretty good to keep that speed, unless you can gear the hell out of it. I have a Suz 250 2 stroke twin that could do that all day long but it has a six speed.
Fun little bikes!! I miss mine... You may expecting a lot from a TS185 to run a sustained 55 for extended rides. It''ll probably do it, but at the cost of your comfort and possibly reliability of the bike.
Oh phooey. That thread ended much more abruptly than I had hoped. I suppose if I geared it a tall enough to be comfortable on the highway it won't be of too much use off road?
It is NOT a highway bike That said, it will do 55 to 60 for long stretches, HOWEVER, you MUST not keep the throttle at maximum rpm all the time....hold back some. You MUST also frequently vary the throttle for a VARIETY of rpms....don't let it sit at one rpm, droning along for miles. Do NOT disconnect the suzuki factory oil injection!....Premix will KILL the bike. My 1971 TS185 is still in very good shape.....probably because I have not really ridden it in the last 25 years....ha See 'ya, spo
No experience with the Suzuki, but I had a 1974 KS125 Kawasaki enduro that I used to run at 55-60 mph while commuting 30 miles to school years ago. It held up to it just fine, even with standard gearing, but it was winding out at about 6500 rpm doing it. Don't think I'd have wanted to do that for hundreds of miles, but if a 125 could handle it seems a 185 certainly could.
This is all correct. I will also add that the 185 was my personal favorite of all of that "enduro" bike line at the time from Suzuki. It was much lighter than a 250 yet made enough torque to be a fun playbike. It's cruising speed will likely depend a great deal on your weight also. I will say an average sized guy /girl could cruise very nicely at 50 though.
