Tested: 1994 - Suzuki Bravo

I had the opportunity to test brand new 1994 Suzuki Bravo in the middle 1994. The owner was one of my colleague (DS) that bought it new from the dealer. He asked me to test it because he was curious about the top speed of this motorbike.

On a beautiful weekend night, together with a group of my colleagues that used to do on the road motorbike test. At that time, i rode a Yamaha Champ that had been stock-tuned and could reach 140 km/h on the long road in Jakarta (Gatot Soebroto Rd). Yeah, is only a straight road between Palmerah and Kuningan intersection, with approximately 2.5 km in length with no traffic light. FYI, until now, we don't have any speed limit in our country, so it's legal to speed up to the max.

Then the time for me to test the bike was come. I checked the 2T oil level and put some of 2T oil directly to the gas, checked the tyres pressure. Finish with that small check routines, i was about ready to go.

I started the first gear and found out that this bike has similar peaky output to Suzuki Sprinter, which means this bike is reach the max output too fastfor the first gear. I did not push it too long and changed it to the second gear (up to 30 km/h ). I found out that the power (RPM) drop too much from the change from the first gear to the second gear. The second gear was pretty good, i could manage it up to 70 km/h. At the third gear, the power transfered smoothly and i could reach up to 100 km/h. At the top speed, i found out that the engine could do 120 km/h on half distance. The fact with this bike was it running too lean at the top speed and that's why i did not push it too much. My colleagues also did couple tests on this bike that night. We came with the conclussion of this bike:

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  The stock carburettor jetting might be not too be tuned for the top speed, it was running too lean at the top speed.
  
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  The engine itself was good performer, but the first gear was not build up for speed.
  
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  The Brake was amazingly worst compare to Yamaha's bike.
  
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  Stability is not that bad (up to 100 km/h).
  

My colleague was happy about the results, than he asked me what small modification could he do to improve the performance. I recommend him: Carburetor Jetting, Racing muffler, Disk Brake.

Two months after that test, he came back to me and showed me his bike. The bike had Suzuki Tornado GS muffler (still using the stock header), and it comes with the disk brake too. And he said he was happy with the bike after the modification. That modification made it run faster. I tested it back again in a short distance in Meruya, only about 600 metres straight road. That bike could reach up to 100 km/h in 500 metres, which signed a better power output and faster response. He told me that his jetting had been changed, he used #25 size for pilot jet, and many tests he had done, but the use of stock header made him accelerate better.

E-View: Suzuki RC 100, Sprinter and Bravo - Part 3

Specs of Suzuki RC100, Sprinter and Bravo

Extra pictures :

(will be updated soon)

E-View: Suzuki RC 100, Sprinter and Bravo - Part 2

There are three varieties of Suzuki RC100 using same design of frame and engine. They are:

• Suzuki RC100, the original version (1987-1994)
• Suzuki RC100 Sprinter (1989-1991)
• Suzuki Bravo, Facelifted. (1994-2002)

The original Suzuki RC100 was pretty similar to the Suzuki RC80, but the major difference is: RC100 using 4-speed transmission that gives better power output that could work on every road condition.

Suzuki RC100 was actually proposed to be a family bike and meant to be for city use, but in reality young generation really loves it. For that reason, Suzuki participated on many racing events in Sirkuit Ancol (Jakarta) with this bike (Late 80's). Suzuki RC100 did pretty well compared to the Yamaha Alfa at that time

Most of Indonesian racing teams realised that Suzuki RC100 has stability weaknesses on circuit track compared to Yamaha Alfa. By the late 80's, Suzuki released Suzuki Sprinter to solve the stability problem.

Suzuki Sprinter came with new front fork suspension that improves stability. This bike is the first underbone motorcycle that use a full length front suspension fork. The combination of RC100's speed and this type of suspension made Suzuki Sprinter beat Yamaha Alfa in most of racing events up to 1991. But soon as Yamaha Champ came out, Suzuki Sprinter struggled to be the winner because Yamaha Champ was using similar front fork suspension plus disk brake. When the era of 100cc 2-stroke racing was over, this bike still have place in the market, but not as a racing bike anymore. Believe it or not, Suzuki Sprinter history was ended as a reliable 'Pizza Delivery' bike in Jakarta.

Then Suzuki Bravo came out after the 100cc racing era was over. Suzuki Bravo was very similar to Suzuki RC100. Using same suspension, engine and frame as well.

The Suzuki RC100 engine's was still assembled in Indonesia up to year 2002, and had been using by two frame designs, which is Suzuki RC100's frame and Suzuki Tornado GX's frame.

The part 3 of this article will give you information about the specs.