The Suzuki VanVan is finally coming to North America! But …

Suzuki is finally importing the VanVan to North America after 40 years. But sadly, it is not listed in the Canadian 2017 lineup, at least not yet.

Yesterday, Suzuki announced the funky VanVan 200 would be headed to the US market. It’s a move that many have been waiting on for years — maybe even decades. Although the VanVan has been in Suzuki’s lineup in one form or other since the 1970s, it’s never been sold in the US or Canada.

What is a VanVan anyway? It’s a retro-styled scrambler, with oversized fat tires (18-inch front wheel, 14-inch rear). Although the bike looks like a dual-sport, the tires are street-biased.The current version is powered by the same engine as the DR200, an air-cooled single-cylinder that’s been in Suzuki’s lineup virtually unchanged since the 1980s. Unlike the long-running DR200, the VanVan has EFI, and there appears to be an oil cooler as well — handy for the urban environments this bike is designed for.

The seat height is a low 770 mm, wet weight is 128 kg, and there’s a disc brake up front and a drum in rear. All in all, it’s a real throwback, except for the pricing, which is $4,599 in the US. That’s $400 more than the DR200 in that market, and considering the R&D for the VanVan ought to be long paid for, no doubt some customers will complain. Others will happily throw a leg over the seat and head off to a coffee house, while their fellow hipsters continue to struggle to rebuild their vintage CB200. Despite the price tag, there is a market for this sort of bike; the Yamaha SR400 is living proof.

But, the SR400 still hasn’t made it to Canada, and there’s no guarantee the VanVan 200 will either. Our small market means we often don’t see niche machines like, this, although there’s always hope until Suzuki officially says no …

GALLERY

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