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Ha ha, one of my old bikes made the list of "8 of the most dangerous bikes..."

GAJ

GAJ

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Geoff
"8 OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MOTORCYCLES EVER MADE"

8 Of The Most Dangerous Motorcycles Ever Made - SlashGear

Motorcycles are inherently risky machines, but the history of motorbikes is littered with particularly dangerous models. Here are some of the scariest.
www.slashgear.com

Their comments are spot on for my 1997 TLS I bought new but the "free" steering damper helped keep me from selling it after one OMFG monster tankslapper moment.

Ohlins, Lindemann Engineering, Power Commander, 185/55-17 rear pretty much "fixed" everything on it though, to the tune of almost 2 grand IIRC in pre 2000 dollars.

I think the bike was 8 grand new.

Loved it then tired of it as it was "too much" for the tight bumpy twisties around here so it sat.

Sold it to a BARFER in San Diego after I got my 2006 DRZ400SM and it was a better bike for riding around here.

Had a total of four bikes when I owned the TL but it was indeed a great bike with all the mods, (Convertibars were the final mod which are in the attached photo. The fairing support metal bracket system had to be removed to accommodate them).

Terrible range and MPG though.
 

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  • 1997 TL 1000s.jpg
    1997 TL 1000s.jpg
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I got two or had two. Only 1 remains the TL1000s and yeah it humbled me at Laguna in T11.
The Gamma wrecked me at Sears in T1 before there was any chicane and was near destroyed.

That H2 750... oh my.

A lot I have no clue on, but fun article.
 
Want danger? Try getting a 600+ lb with crap brakes1948 Indian Chief out of shape on the way to Pozo while passing some slow-ass Harley guy right before the downhill S curves. Puckered asshole clamping the seat is the only reason I stayed on...
 
My O3 V, Anniversary Paint, made my vision go tunnel, on occasion.
Dragging parts, chasing around Berryessa,
THE best Screaming Eagle V-rod part ever, a $.75 grommet that relocated the temp probe, while losing the air cleaner snorkel/cover.
First day bringing it home, one of those north wind blasters, crossing the causeway, solid wheels,
That Dangerous.

Which model of the V-Max? a few years inbetween, one had sprockets, the other had a driveshaft?
 
Old motorcycles were dangerous? Reassuring that there weren’t any 21century bikes other than the V Max and I would hope Yamaha refined it. Did anybody, budman excepted, expect their 2 stroke street bike to handle?
 
The TL has such an interesting history. It was developed to take advantage of the new larger displacement that the V-twins were awarded to compete against the in-line fours. They hired Steve Crevier to pilot it, with dismal results. Meanwhile, Matt and Aaron were flying around on their trusty GSXR 750's.
Ironically, Ducati pushed for the rule change but Honda took the most advantage of it by putting Nikki Hayden on the RC51 that he won the title on.
The TL was considered a flop as a race bike but found a cult-like following later in the classifieds.
It wasn't until Suzuki decided to re-gift that powerplant to the ADV guys and the successful Big V-Strom was born.
 
Last edited:
Blankpage said:
I had two. Certainly not a good track bike but they’re reputation was greatly exaggerated.
Click to expand...
The head-shake/steering damper thing was their first stumble outta the gate....but yeah, it was nowhere near as severe as the magazines made it out to be.
 
gixxerjeff said:
The head-shake/steering damper thing was their first stumble outta the gate....but yeah, it was nowhere near as severe as the magazines made it out to be.
Click to expand...
It happened only once to me before the steering damper recall but it was eye opening.
 
gixxerjeff said:
The head-shake/steering damper thing was their first stumble outta the gate....but yeah, it was nowhere near as severe as the magazines made it out to be.
Click to expand...
Severe enough to have me highsiding breaking my scapula and cracking a couple ribs. That was after they did the recall and threw on a shitty steering dampner. :(
 
I got a tankslapper on my old gsxr750 that was bad enough to warp the front rim. It can happen to a lot of bikes.

At times with different bikes when I’ve been going down a grade I take my hands off the bars and hit the right bar end with my palm to gauge the response. On several bikes the bars will start to oscillate back and forth and pick up speed quick if you don’t grab the bars to dampen it. It’s the nature of motorcycle front end geometry.
 
I loved my 97 TLS! Only had one monster slapper and that was from landing a wheelie ham-fistedly. It wasn't great on very bumpy, twisty back roads but was so much fun. All the drama in the media at the time was massively overdone....people just weren't used to lightweight, 120+hp twins with 23.5 rake. I'd only had two stroke race bikes beforehand and it felt like a giant, supersonic bus to me, especially when it hit 6k.

Mine had carbon Remus cans, which it utterly blew to pieces inside a year. Agree, appalling MPG - I got 60 miles out of a tank once. It used to intermittently turn into a TL500S when it rained too, which was the most arse-clenching thing about it.
 
I once saw a guy with a V Max. Apparently he didn’t think it was powerful enough so he put a supercharger on it. Hopefully the guy lived.
 
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