Suzuki - Innovation in Motocycling1 <-- Bikeintro Motorcycles

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Suzuki - Innovation in Motocycling1

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Suzuki is one of the world’s “Big Four” motorcycle makers, offering a complete range of advanced street, off-road and race-winning machines. Globally, Suzuki is among the dozen top automakers, and sells more models than ever stateside. Inventor of the four-wheel ATV, Suzuki is dramatically expanding its QuadRunner lineup, and soon a new factory in Rome, GA, will manufacture them in the U.S. For boating enthusiasts, Suzuki serves up a wide array of outboard motors, many of them featuring electronic fuel injection and four-stroke power.

American Suzuki Motor Corporation is everywhere, on two wheels, four wheels and on the water. To help serve millions of customers nationwide, there are six corporate offices, staffed by hundreds of sales, technical, accessory and distribution staff. Across the country, there are more than 1,600 independently owned Suzuki dealerships. And the number is still growing.

For 2002, Suzuki model highlights will include a new sedan and wagon; a new “adventure-touring” motorcycle, plus updated RM motocross bikes; the all-new Vinson and Eiger sport-utility ATVs, and an all-new Z400 performance ATV; and the new, lightweight DF140 outboard with a fuel-injected four-stroke, four-cylinder power plant.

Once again, Suzuki is continuing to build on its long, proud history.

Suzuki wasn’t always the Motor Corporation. In 1909, Michio Suzuki founded the Suzuki Loom Company in the small seacoast village of Hamamatsu, Japan. Business boomed as Suzuki built weaving looms for Japan’s giant silk industry. Suzuki’s only desire was to build better, more user-friendly looms. For the first 30 years of the company’s existence, its focus was on the development and production of these exceptionally complex machines.

Despite the success of his looms, Suzuki realized his company had to diversify and he began to look at other products. Based on consumer demand, he decided that building a small car would be the most practical new venture. The project began in 1937, and within two years Suzuki had completed several compact prototype cars. These first Suzuki motor vehicles were powered by a then-innovative, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, four-cylinder engine. It featured a cast aluminum crankcase and gearbox and generated 13 horsepower from a displacement of less than 800cc.

With the onset of World War II, production plans for Suzuki’s new vehicles were halted when the government declared civilian passenger cars a “non-essential commodity.” At the conclusion of the war, Suzuki went back to producing looms. Loom production was given a boost when the U.S. government approved the shipping of cotton to Japan. Suzuki’s fortunes brightened as orders began to increase from domestic textile manufacturers. But the joy was short-lived as the cotton market collapsed in 1951.

The Motor Corporation

Faced with this colossal challenge, Suzuki’s thoughts went back to motor vehicles. After the war, the Japanese had a great need for affordable, reliable personal transportation. A number of firms began offering “clip-on” gas-powered engines that could be attached to the typical bicycle. Suzuki’s first two-wheel effort came in the form of a motorized bicycle called, the “Power Free.” Designed to be inexpensive and simple to build and

maintain, the 1952 Power Free featured a 36cc 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.

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In 1953, Suzuki scored the first of countless racing victories when the tiny 60cc “Diamond Free” won its class in the Mount Fuji Hill Climb.

By 1954, Suzuki was producing 6,000 motorcycles per month and had officially changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. Following the success of its first motorcycles, Suzuki created an even more successful automobile: the 1955 “Suzulight.” Suzuki showcased its penchant for innovation from the beginning. The Suzulight included front-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering — features common on cars half a century later.

More Racing Success

While Suzuki was just starting up the compact SUV craze, its roadracing motorcycles had already earned a winning reputation at the highest levels of racing.

In 1986, Suzuki originated the mass-production repli-racer Superbike with its revolutionary GSX-R750. Never before had a bike so racy been offered to so many riders. The first GSX-R was distinguished by its full fairing, a then-unusual square-tube aluminum frame, and design features that made the Suzuki by far the lightest bike in its class. This signature Suzuki motorcycle, backed by an outstanding contingency program that paid riders for results, became the omnipresent club racing machine. Many of the best American riders of the last 15 years honed their skills on GSX-Rs and some rode to championships and Daytona glory.

A young, fearless Kevin Schwantz won the Daytona 200-miler in 1988 and numerous other Superbike races on GSX-Rs prepared by Yoshimura R&D. Jamie James added to the Superbike championship tally with a title win in 1989. And Suzuki started its longtime ownership of the near-stock AMA 750cc Supersport Series. Since 1996, Suzuki has won every 750cc SS title, and virtually every race.

More GSX-Rs followed the original 750; an 1100, then a 600. New versions appeared year after year, and some proved nearly as revolutionary as the first. In 1996, Suzuki unveiled an all-new 750 with a liquid-cooled engine and twin-spar aluminum frame. Lighter than some of its competitors by 40-plus pounds, the new GSX-R ruled Supersport racing. With the help of Aussie Mat Mladin, this GSX-R claimed back-to-back AMA Superbike Championships in 1999 and 2000. If that wasn’t enough, the smallest GSX-R won its share of AMA 600cc Supersport races, and a championship in 1998. Under the care of Team Valvoline Suzuki, the big 1100 won a long string of WERA National Endurance Championships.

In 2001, Mladin and Yoshimura debuted yet another new low-mass GSX-R750 at Daytona, and easily won the event. The year also saw the debut of the outrageous GSX-R1000, featuring class-leading horsepower packed into a ridiculously light 375-pound motorcycle. Like the 750 before it, the new 1000 won various bike-of-the-year honors worldwide.

While the GSX-Rs collected most of Suzuki’s road racing trophies, other notable wins came around the world. Schwantz, who cut his racing teeth on GSX-Rs, went on to numerous 500cc Grand Prix victories, and won the World Championship on his Suzuki RGV500 in 1993. Kenny Roberts Jr. joined Team Suzuki in 1999 and won a slew of races on his Suzuki V-four before winning his first 500cc World Championship during the 2000 season.

Suzuki once again was on top of the pinnacle of all motorcycle racing. And, back home in America, Angelle became the first woman to win the NHRA Pro Stock Bike title that same year. In 2001, she surpassed the famous Shirley Muldowney in NHRA victories, becoming the most successful woman on the drag strip ever.

Off the pavement, Suzuki saw increasing success as well. In the mid-1990s, under the guidance of Roger DeCoster (now motocross team manager), Suzuki claimed 125cc AMA East and West Coast Supercross Championships. DeCoster watched over the pro-class rise of teen phenom Travis Pastrana, who scored a 125cc Supercross Championship in 2000, and went on to win the AMA 125cc Outdoor National Championship, too. In 1999, South African Greg Albertyn won the AMA 250cc Outdoor National Championship. Before coming to the States, “Albee” had won the 250cc World Motocross Championship for Suzuki. Frenchman Mickael Pichon recaptured that biggest of motocross crowns onboard a factory Suzuki in 2001. To date, among all classes, Suzuki has won more than two dozen World Motocross Championships.

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The Suzuki Tradition Continues

What was once a small group of dedicated engineers, designing the world’s finest weaving machinery, has today grown into a worldwide company of almost 15,000 people, who create and distribute products in more than 190 nations. Worldwide, Suzuki sells nearly 1.8 million vehicles a year, surpassing the sales of such renowned marques as BMW, Mercedes and Saab. Suzuki motorcycles are the first choice of more than 2 million riders every year. And global sales of Suzuki outboards continue to grow.

Throughout the new millennium, on two wheels, four wheels, and on the water, Suzuki aims to continue its tradition of technological trailblazing, and appealing to customers who demand unique design, value, reliability and superior engineering.

Original info location Suzuki homepage.

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