I recently got my M1 motorcycle license, and so I’ve decided to review the motorcycle I just bought: a Suzuki Boulevard S40.
Exciting, yes?
I loooooved riding out in the dunes. But, we don’t go out much anymore, and I really missed it because riding bikes was such a huge part of my life.
Enter: Motorcycles.
For those of you looking or interested in getting a motorcycle, (1) getting the license is way easier than you’d think, and (2) bikes are like tattoos (or bras)—you really have to shop around and try out every bike to be sure you get the one you want.
What we got:
My boyfriend wound up with a Suzuki Boulevard C50 (805cc engine), which is a solid middle-power bike. (Training bikes at the classes are about 250cc, and high-powered bikes are in the 1500+cc range—way more get-up-and-go).
He has since added floor pads, highway bars, bags, a seat rest, and a phone holder. He is utterly in love with his bike.
My choices were torn between the Honda Rebel (super popular model) and the Suzuki Boulevard S40.
The Decision-Making Process:
Rebel vs Boulevard S40
I really wanted the Rebel because I rode a lower-powered (250cc) version of this one in the safety course I took (Pacific Safety Center), and loved it. It was thin, light, and comfortable for me. I don’t, personally, like weighty bikes. I’m only 5’3”. I want to feel like I could truly maneuver my bike in an emergency, if needed. Thus, the Rebel and S40 were my top choices.
So why not just go with the bike I knew I would love? Well, I sat on the higher powered Rebel, a 500cc, which was around the engine size range I wanted to start out with. Friends with more experience riding bikes told me that it would be smarter to start with a lower-to-mid-range powered bike to start, and move up in engine power as I became more experienced. They are still alive after riding for years, so I trust their judgment.
However, the Rebel 250 I rode in the class felt different than the 250 because of mechanical placement differences. When I sat on the 500 (above), the box for the clutch, or something, hit my ankle/calf when my legs were on the pegs. While I could probably have gotten used to it, it was enough of an irritant that I was sure I would obsess over it. Like trying not to think about an itch on your back.
Back to the Boulevard S40
I wasn’t looking for a Suzuki, not out of brand snobbery, I just didn’t even think about it because I didn’t realize they had a competitor for the Rebel. When I found out they did, I sat on one and WOW. It felt great.
I mean, look at this:
The handle bars hearken back to my ATV days – they’re both narrower than most bikes, and they’re closer to me, the rider, which is great for a shorter person. The bike also only weighs 381lbs. It’s super light, and there’s no discomfort either when at a stop and my feet are down, or when they’re up on the pegs. This is important, because it was the main reason I ended up choosing this bike, rather than the Rebel 500.
Now, my S40 is a 650cc engine, so it has more power than the Rebel, although just the one cylinder, and it was about $1000 or so cheaper. That was also a factor, because saving money on the price means more money left over to get accessories.
I truly intended to buy used off Craigslist. I’d been looking for two weeks straight and found some very promising bikes. But, I realized that without sitting on them and trying them out, it would take a lot longer to find a bike I trusted to buy used than from a store which would have the means to warranty it and repair it when needed.
I sat on both bikes several times in a weekend at two different shops, and slept on the decision. I ended up choosing the S40, and I’m still happy with my decision, although the bike is not perfect.
Boulevard S40 – The Pros:
I love that the bike wants to go, that it has a great off-the-line power, and it just feels like it wants to go fast. In that sense, with the low speed torque (it has 1 cylinder, but it really packs a wallop), I feel like I’m riding my ATV.
Now, I am not in the habit of naming inanimate objects, such as vehicles. However, the group I’m with does, and so I’ve finally settled on a name for my bike, although it appears my group will forever have a different name, due to its tendency to backfire when slowing down using lower gears. My name for it is “Dyson.” Not the vacuum cleaner, but rather a werewolf character from the show Lost Girl.
My bike is lean, fast, rough around the edges, and has barely-subdued power begging to be let loose. There is nothing feminine about my bike, either from its ride to its look, and I quite dig that. My group, however, calls my bike “toots” because it backfires fairly frequently. Honestly, it sounds more like gunfire to me than “toots”, but c’est la vie
If the bike had a throatier sound, I might’ve gone with Heimdall, because he’s a BAMF.
The Cons:
Now that I’ve had a chance to ride it for a week, I can see that there are some downsides to the bike, and those downsides have taught me what I’ll be looking for in my next bike (because there will always be a next bike—it’s like getting a tattoo, you rarely ever stop at just 1).
The S40 has some noticeable drawbacks:
(1) there’s no gas gauge and only gets about 70 miles per tank (about average for an ATV, I didn’t realize how annoying this would be for a street bike).
(2) there’s no trip odometer (which would be helpful in dealing with the lack of a gas gauge), and
(3) the forks require a second key to lock/unlock, and it’s a funky shape.
I’m looking into some bicycle trip meters than can estimate your distance per trip based on the revolutions of your tire, and hopefully that will help me with determining my tank’s range, as my tank is quite a bit smaller than my BF’s bike (but my bike is also much lighter, so it kind of evens out).
You’ll notice that I didn’t mention the fact that it’s not fuel injected as being a downside. This is primarily because it’s not a downside to me. I come from a long history of ATVs, so having to use a choke to warm up the bike is nothing new, nor is having a ‘reserve’ tank feature for when you’re low on gas.
So, there you have it. My new bike, “Dyson.”
UPDATE: 2018
A few weeks after this post, I ended up trading Dyson in for Eve, a 2018 Kawasaki Vulcan S because she had all the bells and whistles (like Eve from Wall-e). WAY smoother ride, about 170 miles to the tank, and an all digital display that shows my clock, fuel level, gear, eco mode, speed, and an easy-to-choose option list of Trip A, Trip B, odometer, and range to empty. She’s a smooth ride and upgraded bags from Quinn’s old Harley are awesome.
Thanks for reading!
