MT-01 vs. Suzuki Intruder - A Tale of Two Twins

Priyadarshan Bawikar    Photography: Kunal Khadse

What about their V-twin engines?

At first glance, it might seem that the Intruder and the MT-01 have very similar engines, but nothing could be further than the truth. They are both V-twins and have about the same cubic capacity, 1783cc on the Intruder and 1670cc on the MT-01. But one of these engines is a rumbling low-revving long-stroke mill while the other is a big-bore short-stroke motor that revs as high as the moon. And here is where we get to the real twist in our tale. If you expected the street-bike to wade into battle with the revvy short-stroke engine, you'd be dead wrong. It is in fact our power cruiser, the Intruder that comes with this engine configured with a short(er) 90.5mm stroke for its massive 112.0mm wide pistons, while the MT-01 packs a long 113.0mm stroke for its narrower 97.0mm pistons. This difference in character shows drastically in the power outputs. The Intruder makes significantly more power than the MT-01 (129 PS vs. 89 PS), but surprisingly manages to trump the Yamaha even in terms of torque (160Nm vs. 150Nm) despite its shorter stroke.