Suzuki Motorcycles

About Suzuki

Suzuki Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan, which specializes in manufacturing automobiles, four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines.

In 1909, Michio Suzuki (1887–1982) founded the Suzuki Loom Works in the small seacoast village of Hamamatsu, Japan. He was making looms, did some cars for a short time, faced cotton market collapse in 1951 and so he came to new products.

Suzuki's first two-wheel ingenuity came in the form a bicycle fitted with a motor called, the "Power Free." Designed to be inexpensive and simple to build and maintain, the 1952 Power Free featured a 36 cc, one horsepower, two-stroke engine. An unprecedented feature was the double-sprocket gear system, enabling the rider to either pedal with the engine assisting, pedal without engine assist, or simply disconnect the pedals and run on engine power alone. The system was so ingenious that the patent office of the new democratic government granted Suzuki a financial subsidy to continue research in motorcycle engineering, and so was born Suzuki Motor Corporation.

In 1953, The Diamond Free is introduced and features double-sprocket wheel mechanism and two-speed transmission. That year Suzuki scored the first of many racing victories when the tiny 60 cc "Diamond Free" won its class in the Mount Fuji Hill Climb.

By 1954, Suzuki had officially changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. S mark was adopted as corporate emblem in 1958.

In 1955 the Colleda COX debuts, a 125cc bike equipped with a steel frame. It features a 4-stroke OHV single-cylinder engine with three-speed transmission.

Using MZ’s technology (Ernst Degner defected to the west while racing for MZ in the Swedish Grand Prix, and he took knowledge of Walter Kaaden’s expansion chamber designs), Suzuki wins the newly created 50cc class in the World Championship. The company will win the class every year until ’67, and win the 125cc class twice in that period, too.

The T20 is released in 1965 (aka Super 6, X-6, Hustler). This two-stroke, street-going Twin is one of the fastest bikes in its class. The ‘6’ in its name(s) refers to its six-speed gearbox. The T500 ‘Titan’ (1968) is an air-cooled parallel-Twin two-stroke.

In 1971 the GT750 2-stroke surprises people with its three-cylinder liquid-cooled engine. In North America, it’s nicknamed the Water Buffalo; in the UK they call them Kettles. Also the TM400A motocrosser goes into production, a 396cc bike designed for 500cc motocross races.

With the GS750, Suzuki finally builds a 4-stroke, four-cylinder road bike in 1976.

The 779cc DR-BIG, dated by 1990, has the largest single-cylinder engine in living memory. The much-loved 16-valve, 1156cc air/oil-cooled Bandit 1200 appears on the scene in 1995.

In 1996 Suzuki calls the new GSX-R750 the ‘turning-point model’ thanks to its twin-spar frame instead of the older double-cradle frame. The engine is also redesigned and featured 3-piece crankcases, chrome-plated cylinders and a side-mount cam chain as well as Suzuki Ram Air Direct (SRAD) system.

Moto blog

Max Biaggi loses the plot . . and very nearly his teeth !

I’ve just got back from Donington Park and the second round of the World Superbike championship. The racing was exciting, going off without a hitch, and the weather was unseasonably kind, but the meeting will be remembered by those in the fairly close knit WSB paddock for reasons other than the temperature or the race results. It’ll be remembered by most, especially those who witnessed it, as the meeting where Max Biaggi finally lost his already feeble grip on reality.

New ÖHLINS products for GSX-R600 & GSX-R750

ÖHLINS Racing has completed final testing and is now ready to launch a complete range of suspension upgrade kits for the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 and GSX-R750 The GSX-R600 comes equipped with Big Piston Forks (BPF) as standard but Öhlins recommends fitting its NIX30 fork kit or pressurised system.  Aside from the perfermance improvements, these systems are much quicker and more simple to adjust with compression damping on the left fork leg and rebound on the right. The Öhlins TTX36 rear shock is the perfect accompaniment for the GSX-R600 and 750 and uses MotoGP developed Twin Tube technology, improving feedback by utilising positive pressure on both the compression and rebound stroke of the shock. The forks and shock can be interchanged between the 2011 GSX-R 600 & 750.

Behind the scenes in Qatar

Just because you have the name Jorge Lorenzo on your screen and you've won a world championship doesn't mean you'll get an easy time at scrutineering. In Qatar the technical inspection staff made the factory Yamaha mechanics remove bodywork and unbolt some electrical components in order to get a better look at the guts of the 2011 M1. Everything was in order of course but what a great opportunity for the scrutineers to exercise their power and have a poke around the most high tech Yamaha on the planet.

Japan Needs Your Help

By now, we’ve all seen pictures and video of the devastation in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and the ensuing tsunamis. Japan, of course, has contributed much to motorcycling, with the Big Four of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, as well as tire manufacturer Bridgestone, helmet companies Arai and Shoei and many other motorcycle industry stalwarts all coming from the Land of the Rising Sun. Jon Bekefy and Greg Hatton, two motorcycle enthusiasts, industry employees  and above all, humanitarians, have set up a fundraising campaign benefiting the Red Cross for relief efforts in Japan.

Old boys up front and where are the new 600 Gixers?

As I’ve been gagging for the new race season to kick off so it was almost a pleasure getting up at stupid 0 clock to watch the World Superbike Championship  opener at Phillip Island last weekend. I have to say Messrs Burnicle and Whitham were on form although I was disappointed there were none of the usual verbal attacks on each other that always add to the entertainment.    I’m sure they will put things right soon but the world superbike regulars must have been disheartened that Moto GP veterans nailed five of the six available rostrum slots.

Hang-On Arcade Game Creator Honored

If you grew up in the ’80s and spent some a lot of time in arcades, you’re probably familiar with the game “Hang-On”. Released in 1985 by Sega Enterprises, motorcycle racing game  “Hang-On” broke ground by using a motorcycle-shaped seat as a controller. Players raced a virtual motorcycle on a track, leaning on the plastic motorcycle to steer the in-game bike.

Ducati vs. Honda vs. Suzuki: MotoGP porn

For all you lovers of perfectly welded titanium, amazingly machined aluminium and lovingly crafted fasteners; this blog's for you. These pics were shot at the Sepang MotoGP tests where the bikes were presumably being warmed up, ready for action. Take a look at that Suzuki, it's a work of art.

Ultimate Trackbike 2: Dunlop's GSX-R1000

Occasionally, some seriously trick bikes with a decent pedigree come up for sale on eBay. Here's the first in a small series of bikes that we've dug up for sale on eBay now. Queston is, which one would make the ultimate track bike?

Haslam's first WSB win immortalised in paint

Titled 'Winning Start' this limited edition print illustrates Leon Haslam taking his first ever WSB win. Phillip Island, 2010 will forever be marked as an important race for Haslam, in his first race with Alstare Suzuki the Briton converted a career-first WSB pole position in to his first ever World championship race victory. Only 250 of the prints by Isle of Man artist Alan Perkin are available.

Inside Look at the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 [video]

Suzuki boasts that the GSX-R600 has long been America’s top selling sportbike, so when it undergoes a major overhaul everybody takes notice. For 2011 the GSX-R600 underwent a plethora of big changes, all of which resulted in a weight loss of about 20 pounds. Helping this middleweight supersport shed pounds is a new frame, a 41mm Show Big Piston Fork, radially mounted Brembo monoblock brake calipers, as well as smaller axles and wheel hubs.