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

Priyadarshan Bawikar    Photography: Kunal Khadse

That's fine, but how does that affect the way they ride?

While a cruiser posture might sound like a strange idea for a bike that produces such insane amounts of torque, all you have to do is ride the Intruder for a few kilometers to get a silly grin on your face that you'll struggle to wipe off for the next few hours after you've gotten off the bike. Every time you open the throttle, 160Nm of torque from the gargantuan 1.8-litre V-twin engine surges down the massive shaft drive to the rear wheel, making the massive 240-section back tyre squirm for a second before hurtling the bike down the road, with that short stroke V-twin engine roaring like how a Tyrannosaurus Rex would have (at least in your head), when going for the kill. Slowing the bike down is just as exciting a proposition, with every hard downshift sending a shockwave up the driveshaft that shakes the bike up, making it an experience akin to taming said prehistoric giant reptile. Being a cruiser means that the Intruder isn't really corner-happy, but it isn't inept at them by any means. With the fat front forks and twin massive 320mm brake discs with radially-mounted 4-piston calipers pinched straight from the company's line of litre-class supersports machines, the Intruder steers quite well and scraping pegs through corners is an absolute breeze.

But don?t think for one second that the MT-01 is any less exciting. The MT's upright posture and street-bike stance with a short wheelbase make it an absolutely awesome bike to ride through the twisties. The handling is nice and sharp and the 1.7-litre V-twin motor produces enough torque at any engine speed in any gear for the MT-01 to thunder its way out of a corner. Snap the throttle a little harder while doing so, and you can have the front wheel in the air really easily. Riding the MT-01 down the straights is nowhere as dramatic as the Intruder, but feeling each long stroke of the pistons really hammer down as the revs build, juddering the entire bike while doing can be quite an experience in itself. The MT-01's party-piece is the successful combination of sports-bike like handling and power-cruiser like pull. And then there are those little moments when the bike makes a sound like the rumbling of distant thunder when you pull away from a stop at low-revs, sending a little chill down your spine - the sort you feel when you look at ominous dark clouds on the horizon.