Duc Hunter? Low Mile And Stock 1998 Suzuki TL1000R

Duc Hunter?  Low Mile And Stock 1998 Suzuki TL1000R

This is one of those bikes that reminds me why I’m a loyal Suzuki fan.  Of the big four Japanese companies, Suzuki seems to be the one company that comes out of left field with bikes every now and then.  The original Katana would be one, the RGV250SP (VJ23) is one and I think the TLR was one as well.  Was the end game of this bike to see if it  could replace the GSXR series?  Sounds crazy but why introduce a racey V twin that directly competes with your own race based inline four?  Ducati was winning plenty of  races so I can see why Suzuki thought about going Duc hunting.

Suzuki must have got their answer quickly as they only raced the TL1000R for a season here in the U.S.  Ah, to only have been a fly on the wall to hear the reasoning for  building the TLR and the quick decision to pull the racing plug.  I believe Steve Creviers Yoshimura TL1000R is still on display at their HQ in California.

Being an RGV250 guy I’ve seen countless conversions trying to make the ultimate RGV500 replica.  Very few use the TLR fairing but I believe it is the closest thing to an RGV500 fairing Suzuki ever produced.  My recipe for a RGV500 rep:   TLR fairing, a VJ23 tail, a VJ22 tank combined with a VJ22 chassis with the gull arm and a RG500 engine for go.

Enough dreaming, here is the info on the bike at hand:

1998 Suzuki TL1000R in excellent stock condition.  Never modified – still has the reflectors on it.  It looks pretty much brand new and has always been garaged.  Whenever I would ride it anywhere people would be amazed when they asked about it’s age. Aprox 4,700 miles or so.

Only has two issues:  There is a small crack near the bottom of the left side fairing.  It’s about 2 inches long but not noticeable since it lays flat and it is so low near the ground.  It wasn’t dropped, the previous owner was slowly turning into a driveway and got too close to the curb.  The second issue is that if you look hard enough at the gas tank you can see a little moisture staining that happened when the previous owner had the wrong cover on it for couple of weeks.  It is only noticeable if you look for it.  Sorry, I don’t have pictures of either since it currently is in storage.  Will try to add more pictures before the end of the auction.  Other than that, all it needs is a rear tire.

We’ve had TLR’s here with lower miles but I thought this was a good representation of an over 10 year old TLR that has low miles, is still stock and overall excellent condition.  The auction only has a couple of days remaining and so far no bidders with a starting price of $4,200.  Yes, that is higher than book but this bike has all the right attributes to fetch a decent price.  I’m just not sure how many people are searching for a nice TLR.  .

IK