According to Japanese moto mag Young Machine, Suzuki is about to start production of the Recursion turbocharged sportbike.
Photos of the Recursion first started popping up during the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. Back then, the idea of forced induction making a comeback was almost too good to be true. Months later, after a Kawasaki H2R marketing program that dragged on all summer, culminating in its Intermot release, we know turbochargers and superchargers are back in style.
But despite the Recursion’s introduction as a concept bike, people wondered: Would Suzuki really build the bike? After all, the company has hardly been known for innovation in the past few years. They’ve been very slow to update their lineup in the years following the 2008 recession; their biggest hit is the V-Strom lineup right now. Almost everything else has changed very little in the last 10 years.
Not anymore! Young Machine magazine has a photo of what’s allegedly a production-ready Recursion on their cover. The 600 cc-class (it’s said to be 588 cc) is supposed to make 100 hp around 8,000 rpm. That sort of power is already available in the 600 cc class, but the Recursion should deliver it more quickly – peak torque of 74 ft-lb hits at 4,500 rpm. The bike weighs 174 kg, Suzuki says, so it should avoid the criticisms of excess weight that have been leveled at Kawasaki’s H2 and H2R supercharged sportbikes.
The styling is also interesting. Like the original concept, it only has a half-fairing, same as the H2 and H2R. Could this be the pattern going forward for turbocharged and supercharged bikes?
[…] Report: Suzuki about to produce Recursion turbo’d … – Young Machine reports Suzuki working on new 600 cc-class turbo bike…. […]
That half-fairing has suddenly taken on an old Katana-esque look. I’m not as infatuated with what I see here as I was standing up close an’ personal with the concept prototype. THAT was drool-worthy.
I think Suzuki is indeed aiming for ties to the old Katana line; they’ve renewed the trademark in the EU. I wish they would bring out a new version of the GS1100S Katana, similar to Honda’s CB1100. I think they would sell like mad if they brought out a bike with almost identical bodywork to the 1980 model, none of this “updated for 21st century” stuff. When you ride that Honda, it has all the goofy touches of an old UJM – long mirror stalks, chrome fenders and signals, etc. Katana fans (and there are a lot of them) would eat a new version of that bike right up.
If you’ve never done so, check out the Old Skool Suzuki and GS Resources sites. There are madmen at work on those places, doing insane things to motors that were built 30+ years ago. It’s the main reason I have yet to get rid of the 7/11 project bike in my sunporch. Every time I think about trading it in for some other smaller machine, I realize I’d essentially be doing the motorcycle equivalent of trading a late ’60s muscle car in for a Hyundai Accent.
I totally agree that if Suzuki re-intentions the Katana name (and the Gamma name has been renewed in the EU, as well), they’d do well to not stray too far from the roots that made the name famous. If they try to go the H2 route, I’m not sure they’ll be all that successful.
Restomodding old bikes would be something I’d really enjoy. Some people really do it right: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25852358&postcount=1232
Yawn. See 1983 XN85.