Suzuki’s 2009 Boulevard M90/Intruder M1500 “Power Cruiser”

I tried-out the new Suzuki 1400cc Boulevard M90 power cruiser last week in Monterey, my first experience of that genre. It's a trip! Laid-back cruiser styling with the performance of a sport bike. Instead of sitting way back in the seat it cradles you to lean just the slightest bit forward. It felt somewhat awkward at first with my legs stretched out to rest on the foot pegs all the way up at the front tire and the hand grips well forward as well but, once on the road, I quickly got used to it. It corners phenomenally–lots of peg-scraping on the twisties in Big Sur. It's an exciting bike and a much more reasonable choice, in my opinion, than Suzuki's excessively muscular 1783 cc Boulevard M109R ($13,000+). The M90 is just under $10,000.  Women Riders Now will publish my detailed review of the bike soon. (Oh, and if you're looking for this bike outside of North America, the Boulevard M90 is called the Intruder M1500.)

Click to enlarge —   photos © Brian J. Nelson