Suzuki TU250 - anyone seen/ride one?

Its in the silencer, in the front part, under that heat shield.
Its your standard honeycomb platinum cat, sort of looks like rolled up cardboard.
You have to destroy it getting it out.
The wires going to the exhaust are for the oxy sensor, not part of the catalytic converter.

You might get a slight boost in performance at some point in the rpm range, but I do not think its enough to notice.

It does make the exhaust sound a lot better though, and less prone to rust out. A LOT less prone to rust out.

Thanks for the reply, after doing a bit of researching and your information,seems like it is hardly worth the the effort.
I have been following the TU forum and found it very informative.

Have done 5000K on my TU now and am surprised how much I enjoy it.
I have a DR650 and thought doing a bit of road riding again would be enjoyable,friends thought I had gone a little soft in the head buying a 250,
a V Stom like they had was the go. I find a lot of modern bikes are like dancing with your sister.

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I got my new 2012 TU250X registered and licensed yesterday and rode down to Camden, NC for a family birthday party.



Tidewater Virginia is flat as flat can be, and route choices are plentiful... if you consider that 180° to our north, south and east is... er... liquidly unavailable. On the upside, we have a lot of cool bridges, tunnels and ferries. I'll be doing a lot of rides like yesterday.

With the 108 mile roundtrip, I took mostly flat, curvy, rural roads... and the Currituck-Knotts Island Ferry. There were several other riders and several large packs of bike riders also killing time waiting for the ferry... I was pleasantly surprised at the response to the bike.

The sports bike and BMW riders were genuinely enthusiastic about the TU250. I've de-stickered everything but the two tank Suzuki emblems, so I could see a lot of riders using deductive reasoning... single cylinder, air-cooled, etc. A few thought the bike was an older resto. Of course, everyone pretty much has an instantly positive response to the styling of the bike, and even the crotch-rocket riders understand the appeal of the 'slow bike fast' thing. Also, "325lbs wet" speaks volumes to most riders. Several of the sports bike riders knew the bike was the TU250, which surprised me, and the Hayabusa rider was funny; he asked the most questions and knew the bikes come out of the same factory in Toyokawa.

Another rider had a garage full of customized early Japanese CB's and GT's... I could see the wheels going 'round in his head.

For whatever reason, at least for yesterday, the Harley riders were non-responsive. I'm pretty sure one lady rider, a successful criminal law attorney, spent more on her Dyna Wide Glide pin-striping than I did not my bike. It was actually pretty rad.

The bike has a way of bringing out riders' earliest memories of riding and their earliest bikes. I had the longest conversation I've had in twenty years with a cousin: he talked extensively about his early 50cc and 90cc bikes.

I convoyed home in front of my wife and brother -- they both commented on the bike's ability to keep up with Route 168's 65mph+ traffic. No problem... can't wait til I get the 16T.

In the end, all the conversation wouldn't matter much if the bike wasn't fun to ride.

But this bike is fun. Oh, is it fun.

Welcome to the family just wait till you get the 16t it makes a world of a difference. And also waiting out the long long break in...

Nj Brett I know you mentioned that you put heavier oil in the forks did you keep it or go back to stock? They seem to always have construction going on around here and Some of the potholes and bumps I bottom out the front end. Was the heavier oil worth changing or should I just deal with it?

I tried thicker oil. It made the forks worse.
I added preload (washers), then I changed the oil to 5 weight and filled the forks up to where they were supposed to be.
The fork oil level in my bike was way below what the shop manual says.

With the changes, the forks are very nice.

Thicker oil makes things worse, because they make the damping go way up as a bump stop, the thicker the oil, the harder it gets.

Packa-adv Welcome to the forum, funny you brought up bike snobbery. I recently visited an old haunt of mine on my Tu. Haven't been there since my sport turing days & the TU literally broke the ice. Place is an Ice-house-burger joint that is frequented by several different riding groups. When I pulled in, there were two distinct groups. 1 Harley/cruiser riders& 2 Gold wingers. Before I took off my full face helment everyone thought I was a young rider, got laughs from the cruiser crowd. However sans lid I'm 60ish w/full white beard. This started numerous discussions about what everyone rode w/ they were young& what was I doing on this little bike. Pleaded my case that I was having the most fun in a long time with the TU250& 70+ mpg didn't hurt either.

Most people I talk to are interested in the TU, not that they would ever own one.
I usually give the talk, about why I like the bike so much.

I would say 95% of the riders I see are on huge very expensive bikes.

Yup, welcome Packa! I love my TU250 and intend to get it back from my son, once he has the money to buy a bigger bike. My main bike is now a Tiger 1050SE, but the Suzi is a cool bike. I too have experienced the H-D snob thing - but anyone who has a clue about the early Brit bikes etc recognize the styling and love to BS about it. Many are genuinely surprised that it's so modern.

Let the bike collecting begin...

I don't know outright that the HD'ers were snobs... at least on that day, they just weren't into the Tux.

Overall it's pretty amazing how positive the feedback is on the bike. I met a former neighbor this morning while running errands... He was comparing the bike to his KLR250! Despite their having so little in common, he loved the Tux.

I've ridden the bike 800 miles in two weeks... including a number of slab rides to work... and I'm so digging it. :)




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Its the newer Harley riders (or people that do not even own a motorcycle) that sometimes have attitudes about other bikes.
The real riders will not.

This is as true a statement as there ever was.

I just got to 16000 miles but what is the highest miles any ones has or have read? I was trying to find by doing google searches but wasn't having much luck on the tu.

16,000 miles? You could be the number one guy.

Pretty sure NJ-Brett is over 18k.

Nj posted at another thread about having 20000 that's what got me thinking about it.

I have 19,872 at the moment, but with the bigger front tire, the miles read slightly low.
I did 110 miles last Saturday, was a fantastic day and ride, the TU just purrs along. I hated to end the ride.

I have had NO issues with my bike at all.

ive got 8,000 and some change, and my only issues have been my own fault.
the TU really does seem to be trouble free

I'm a few hundred miles shy of 15,000 miles on my 2011. Actually, I will have had it exactly 2 years to the day next Monday.

I was hoping to do 10,000 miles a year when I first got it. But sadly, I'm mostly a commuter and errand runner. Only done a couple of leisurely weekend rides where one normally really piles on the miles!