Suzuki T-350 II Rebel
In the broadening urban battle between cars
and motorcycles only the nimble have a chance.
The Suzuki Rebel has the best chance of all.
Suzuki’s newT-350 Rebel is an enlarged
and improved version of last year’s
T-305 Raider, which was an enlarged
and improved version of the X-6 Hust-
ler. The development process was not
always of equal gain on all fronts. At
first the bikes were fragile, then loud,
then vibrated. Suzuki seems to have
caught up on the ’70 models: our Rebel
was still awfully fast, and the niceties
were well seen to—finally.
The T-350 is a very important motor-
cycle in a very important group of
motorcycles: 350s are the last of the
lightweights. As we tested them, with
oil and a half tank of gas, they ranged in
weight from the Bridgestone’s 362
pounds to our Suzuki’s 325 pounds.
Using the factories’ claimed output fig-
ures, the power/weight ratios range
from the Suzuki’s 8.34 pounds/bhp to
the Honda CB-35O’s 10.0 pounds/bhp.
From these figures, one would presume
that the 350s are quick and agile. They
are. The Rebel is the nimblest of the lot.
New York City traffic is one long
super-agility test. Between the hard-
boiled taxi drivers with their rolling
yellow junk-heaps, and the unconscion-
ably fat city buses, a bike rider must
stay focused to survive. If you merely
roll along at traffic pace, they’ll get you.
You have to get away from the lights
before they do and swerve/panic-stop to
avoid colliding with those you must
pass. And the pedestrians have the
calculating nerve of bullfighters. A motor-
cycle horn is lost in the mind-numb-
ing din, and people pretend not to look
as they walk against the light. Through
it all, the bike rider must be doubly
alert to avoid killing or being killed.
In the cities’ hostile environment, the
350 is now the ultimate weapon. The
constant cut-and-thrust caused by traf-
fic lights is relieved only by 60 mph
jaunts on expressways. Lighter, lower-
powered machines are but moving tar-
gets; the bigger bikes are too cumber-
some. The Rebel’s 0-60 mph time of 6.1
sec. is better than that of most 650s and
it’ll stop and turn lots better.
And the T-350’s balance is excellent.
With most bikes, you’ll find a very
unstable period shortly before coming
to a stop and just as you’re getting
started. The T-35O’s center of gravity is
quite low and the seating position is
quite high in relation to the gas tank
and handlebars. You get the impression
that you’re sitting way up on top of the
bike, yet the removal does not diminish
the feeling of absolute control. The
transitional period between being sta-
tionary and moving, and vice versa, is
very smooth.
Suspension control is vastly superior
to that on the machine we tested last
year [Cycle, Dec. ’68]. The T-350
makes no pretense at being an off-road
bike, so no compromise is made with its
shocks and forks. It is meant to be a...