Last year, the all-new Suzuki RM-Z250 walked away as our clear-cut shootout winner (April '07). Its first-year performance delivered a blow to the other contenders in the class with its aluminum-framed jump into the scene. Suzuki revved up the development team again for 2008 and made some big changes to the yellow screamer.
With an impromptu introduction at Los Angeles County Raceway (www.crcmx.com) the 2008 RM-Z showed us exactly what it was made of. LACR has gone through some changes lately, inheriting a deep mining pit and the high-speed uphills and downhills that come with it. When we first dropped into the pit we knew the '08 RM-Z was a new beast.
Last year, the RM-Z was the torque king of the Lites class. It had enough bottom and midrange grunt that you could short-shift it all day long. The powerband didn't stretch to the moon, but the sheer bottom-end pulling power of the Suzook motor was mind-blowing enough to put it ahead of the class. For 2008, Suzuki has taken a quantum leap in the other direction. Now, the RM-Z feels soft downtown and comes on stronger and more linear as high as you want to go. The mid-top boost is insane. Riders who love that top-end yank will instantly fall in love. If you're expecting a small change in the motor department, you'll be disappointed. The RM-Z is radically changed and its motor barely resembles the '07. According to Suzuki, internal modifications to the left side of the exhaust port and new carburetor features (things called "bat wing type guide plates") are responsible for the newly found power surge. It seems what they gained on top, they lost on the bottom.
Carburetion on our test bike was touchy in our first couple of days. We tinkered with our fuel screw as we went from track to track and never really had a solid off-idle response as we wanted. A needle and some other jetting changes may be in store for our shootout, and we'll have the best settings included there. Right out of the box, however, the RM-Z was cleanest at the midpoint and stayed that way until the end of the pull-which we never really found.
Suzuki has quickly entered the alloy-frame tuning game and, even though we felt the '07 was a fine handling machine, chassis upgrades are plentiful for '08. Numerous locations on the frame have either been lightened and thinned down for more flex, or beefed up and strengthened for more rigidity. Ridden back to back with our Long Haul '07 RM-Z, the new model feels more solid and responsive in general. Cornering is still supreme on the Suzuki and straight-line stability is solid as well. We're excited to put it up with third- and fourth-generation frames from the other brands in our shootout.
Suspension complaints are about the only negative things we hear about the handling of last year's bike. Most of this had to do with the fork bottoming too easily. For '08, Suzuki added some valving and internal changes to the fork to keep the front end up in the stroke on hard landings and high-speed jump faces. Our issues with last year's bike were minimal and we're equally impressed with the new model.
The RM-Z still has the grunt but with a bit on top now, too.
Shifting woes have reared their ugly heads in our RM-Z250 over the past year. Our Long Haul bike has had neutral-hitting scary moments and is difficult to shift at times. Suzuki added judder springs to the clutch and redesigned the shift lever and clutch cable bracket to improve the feel. We're not quite convinced this solved the problem, and at least one of our testers felt the new '08 wasn't shifting well. Another thing to watch for in our shootout? You bet it is.
Fit and finish is improved as more bolts come with integrated washers and there is more aluminum and less cast steel used throughout. Also, Suzuki added some cool bling-factor with gold axle blocks and chain, anodized fork caps and a cool, new dust seal on the head-tube bearing.