At 4500 RPM I whack the throttle of Suzuki's M109R and the result is a melodious baritone trumpet. It's the type of sound a dinosaur might make in its death throws before it got on with something useful like becoming petroleum. Give the M109R's voracious appetite for fuel that makes the M109R the tyrannosaurus's natural enemy, though displaced from the late Cretaceous by 60-65 million years, give or take. In the present, however, the M109R is aiming to take a ferocious bite out of a more modern prey, the power cruiser market. How has this latest thunderous marauder gained the upper hand? By out evolving the competition of course Actually evolution isn't quite right, Suzuki has gone Jurassic Park and transplanted GSX-R DNA into this power-raptor.

Idling around town the M109R's strengths are well hidden by its custom inspired looks. It's a thirties deco steamer meets H.R. Giger; smooth curving lines, extensive lashings of chrome (though much of it is plastic to keep the weight down), arching pipes, brutish animal grace and a hint of disturbing alien sex appeal. The only out of place bit is the drooping and heavy looking headlight cowling that pounds it's way through the air ahead of the M109R's muscular body. The brake lever and cable-actuated clutch hang off the substantial tapered bar finished with 1-inch grips. Gigantic 240mm wide rear Dunlop 109 finishes the tail, hinting at the colossal torque and power on tap. The lines are powerful, squat, and low to the point of sinisterly hovering over ground, which the M109R's 694lbs threatens to crush at any moment. The M in M109 stands for "Marauder" in Suzuki's new the alphanumeric ontology of the Boulevard sub-brand, still there is no doubt the aggressive former nomenclature would fit by looks alone.

That this bike looks and sounds the part is uncontested; tinted Escalade windows roll down and fingers contorted into gangsta signs of approval emerge as you slide by, motorcycle cops pause from affairs of taxation and gape, and passing Harley riders concentrate on it so hard as to nearly forget to ride. Suzuki can put a big check by "target market" on their clipboard list.

At the lower RPMs it's all accompanied by a soundtrack of massive locomotive's pistons firing up and down. Massive is the operative term here; the 112mm pistons travel a 90.5mm stroke, and are some of the biggest in current automotive production Yes, automotive, not motorcycle. That this engine revs so easily to 7400 rpm

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