After graduating from the MSF, I felt confident enough to purchase a bike with a little more weight and quite a bit more power. I wanted one with a sporty attitude yet I wanted something comfortable to ride on longer trips. I looked for easy maintenance and I didn't want to sacrifice safety. After researching, the only bike for me was the Suzuki Boulevard M50 with cast wheels, tubeless tires, forward controls, shaft drive, water-cooled, inverted fork, and electronic fuel injection. Great financing didn't hurt either. Now that I have owned it for one year and have put 8,000 miles on it I have gathered enough information to tell a little about my choice. Let me first say, I believe it is the best choice I could have made. When I first got it I was a little unsure about the size of it because it was more than double the size if the 250cc in the MSF, in power and weight. Power wasn't as much of an issue because of the break-in period (first 600 miles) I needed to take it easy any way. It seemed to feel a little loose in the corners but looking back I blame that on the new tires and lack of experience. As I became more familiar with it and began to build my skill level, I became more adventurous by riding on three lane highways and attacking curves on back roads. I have never required more power than what it can give and at the time of writing this review, I can say there is still power to spare with the skill level that I am at. My wife and I have a combined weight of 360lbs. plus saddlebags loaded the bike gives me confidence for highway riding (70mph) and still have plenty of power for passing. On the plus side, it gets better than expected gas mileage. I get an average of 54mpg. The highest mileage I get on a regular basis is 58mpg! I have ridden with friends and a few have filled their tanks twice by the time I made my first stop. As I mentioned before the power is great, for what it is. I have test rode the Yamaha Roadliner (1800cc) and I didn't feel mine was lacking anything on the top end although the low-end torque and how smooth the ride of the big Yamaha was did surprise me. Also my bike looks great! Mine is the pearl red and very often I get compliments on how it looks. It has a fat rear tire 170/80-15, the handling is good for a cruiser, and it is light enough to attack the corners unlike the before mentioned Yamaha. I find it fun to try to make the pegs drag, testing the bike and my skills at the same time. As far as speed goes let's just say it goes fast enough that my motto is, just because I could doesn't mean I should. There have been some things I wish were different about the bike. First of all there is very little after market support for it, partly because it is a new model and partly because it is a Suzuki. It is way easier to find parts for the other three Japanese manufactures. Secondly, my wife has complained about the passenger seat and rightfully so. Right now the only after market seat is by Corbin and it cost $700! Saddleman has plans for making a seat for it but it is not out yet. It will cost $350 and has saddle gel for rider and passenger. I was disappointed to hear Mustang will not make a seat for it. Another item is the brakes, they are sufficient but the M in M50 stands for Muscle - that being said I would like to see triple disks instead it has a single disk up front and a drum brake in back. I think it's a great bike and triple disks would make it even better! I keep my eye on new cruisers coming out and every once in a while I wonder if I should have bought something setup a little more for longer trips such as the Kawasaki Vulcan 900 but then I go back to mine because it is fun being sporty too and I would not give that up, especially since my wife will only let me have one bike.
Reliability
Quality
Performance
Comfort
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