History of Suzuki Motorcycles / Speed Enthusiasts

Hey, welcome to Moto Network and today we're going to talk about history of Suzuki motorcycles. Suzuki is another company from four major Japanese companies to produce motorcycles varying from cruisers and dual sport motorcycles to the legendary GSX-R family. So let's get down to it. From its foundation in 1952, when Suzuki produced its first motorcycle, the company had gone through a series of ups and downs. But just as Yamaha company, Suzuki never started as an automotive company. Instead, it began in 1909, when Michio Suzuki founded Suzuki Loom Works in Hamamatsu, Japan. About 10 years later, the company was incorporated and capitalized with Michio Suzuki as the president. Right before the war, Suzuki tried to deviate from loom production to manufacturing of small cars. However, the government declared civilian cars as a non-essential commodity in 1937. After the World War II, the plant had to shut down due to severe war damage and In late 40s, Suzuki stock appeared on Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka stock exchanges. In 1952, Suzuki created its first two-wheel motorized vehicle. The Power Free model was essentially a bicycle with a small displacement engine. It wasn't up until 1953 when Suzuki introduced its first 60cc motorcycle that featured double sprocket mechanism and two-speed transmission. This motorcycle gained enough attention to influence the company leadership to change the name to Since then, Suzuki's primary market was the production of motorcycles and the civilian passenger vehicles. In 1955, Suzuki introduced Kolita COX, which was a 125cc four-stroke single-cylinder motorcycle with a steel frame and three-speed transmission, as well as Kolita ST, which was a two-stroke version of COX. In 1959, Suzuki introduced Kolita CELTWIN, which was a 125cc two-cylinder two-stroke motorcycle. However, not everything went well for Suzuki, as later the same year, on September 26, 1959, the assembly line got totally destroyed by Typhoon Vera, which currently remains the strongest and the deadliest typhoon to ever struck Japan. 1960s became important decade for Suzuki as it entered Grand Prix racing under the name of Kolita in 1960, and then a year later under the brand name Suzuki in 125 and 250cc classes. In 1963, Mitsuo Ito makes history as the first Japanese rider to win the Isle of Men, which led to subsequent victories of Suzuki in riders and manufacturers championships. The same year, U.S. Suzuki Motor Corporation was opened in Los Angeles. In 1967, Suzuki Company decided to expand its production by opening the first assembly plant outside Japan, creating Tai Suzuki Corporation Ltd. The next year, Suzuki decided to withdraw from the World Grand Prix due to changes in the FIM rules despite the fact that they won 1967 season. It wasn't until 1970 when Joel Robert won 250cc World Motocross Championship for Suzuki. This is the first year after a three-year break. In 1971, the GT750 two-stroke surprises people with its three-cylinder liquid-cooled engine. In North America, it's nicknamed the Water Buffalo, in the U.K. the Column Cattles. Although the bike is quite advanced in many ways and inspires a line of smaller, air-cooled triples like GT380 and GT550, it's clear that pollution control legislation will limit the use of two-strokes as street motorcycles. In 1974, the RE5 is the first Japanese motorcycle with a rotary engine. It costs fortune to develop, and while not bad, it's a commercial disaster. After two years, the company abandons the project, and there are rumors that tooling was dumped into the sea so that Suzuki managers would never have to see it again. The same year, RM125 introduces production version of the works machine RA75, on which Gaston Reyer won 125cc World Motocross GP Championship. From 1975 to 1984, Suzuki dominates this class 10 years in a row with Gaston Reyer, Akira Watanabe, Harry Everts, Eric Geboers, and Michel Rinaldi. In 1976, Suzuki introduced its GS750 and GS400, which were the first four-stroke machines from Suzuki in over 20 years. Pops Yoshimura enters the GS750 for the first time in the AMA Superbike series, wins at Laguna Seca Raceway. Two years later, Suzuki introduced its first leader bike, GS1000E. The same year, a Yoshimura GS1000, ridden by Californians Mike Baldwin and Wes Cooley, wins the first Suzuka 8-hour endurance road race. In 1981, German designer Hans A. Muth uses the motive of a samurai sword to create the original GSX-1100S Katana, a motorcycle that typifies Suzuki. The next year, Italian Franco Inchini, riding a Roberto Gallina Racing Team RG Gamma motorcycle, takes the Grand Prix Championship in 500cc class. Suzuki wins the manufacturer's title for the seventh consecutive year. In 1985, Suzuki released their race-inspired replica, the RG500 Gamma. It featured the same square four-cylinder layout as the factory Grand Prix bikes. Other racy features are the square tube aluminum frame and removable cassette-type transmission. Also, the new GSX-R750 had arrived, which became the most important new motorcycle of the decade. In fact, the bike was so successful that in 1989, Jamie James wins the AMA Superbike Championship on the GSX-R750. A year later, in 1986, Suzuki launches the new GSX-R1100 In 1991, the 779cc DR-Big has the largest single-cylinder engine in living memory. A year later, the GSX-R750 switched to water-cooling from oil-cooling, which resulted in increased weight. In 1993, Kevin Schwantz, in a race against Wayne Rainey, pulled a victory for Suzuki in 500cc World Championship. However, it didn't leave him victorious. I'd rather not win in this way, he said, referring to the career-ending injury of his arch-rival, Wayne Rainey. In 1996, Suzuki updated their GSX-R750. They called the new Gixxer the Turning Point model, thanks to its twin-spar frame instead of the older double-cradle frame. The engine was also redesigned and featured three-piece crankcases, chrome-plated cylinders, and a side-mount cam chain, as well as a Suzuki Ram Air Direct. In 1998, Suzuki introduced the legendary Hayabusa, The 1299cc sport bike became the fastest production motorcycle in 99-2000 model years. It immediately won claims as the world's fastest production motorcycle with a top speed of 188-194 mph or 303-312 kmh. Besides its speed, the Hayabusa has been lauded by many reviewers for its all-around performance, and that it does not drastically compromise other qualities like handling, comfort, reliability, noise, fuel consumption, or price in pursuit of a single function. In 1999, Matt Mladen wins the AMA Superbike Championship, beginning a run of unprecedented dominance. Mladen will win five more times, and Suzuki will win eight of the next nine titles. With sport bikes getting more and more sharp-edged, the company is one of the first to recognize what might be called the semi-sport market as opposed to the super-sport market. The SV650 featured an aluminum alloy truss frame and a liquid-cooled 90-degree V-twin dual overhead cam four-valve engine. In 2001, based on the compact GSX-R750, the GSX-R1000 is powered by a liquid-cooled dual overhead cam 16-valve four-cylinder 988cc engine, which features narrow-angled valves and downdraft individual throttle body fuel injection. In 2005, Suzuki's original four-stroke motocrosser, the RMZ450, is equipped with a four-stroke 449cc engine, which features the Suzuki Advanced Sump System. The same year, Troy Courser gives Suzuki his first and only so far World Superbike Championship. In 2008, Hayabusa-related naked bike is introduced. Powered by a 1340cc Hayabusa engine, the B-King is Suzuki's flagship big naked bike. Suzuki says it has top-ranked power output in the naked category. From 2009 to early 2011, Suzuki decides not to import any sport bikes to America due to economic downturn. In racing, the team was sponsored by Rizla since 2006 and was known as Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Team. On November 18, 2011, however, Suzuki announced that the GP racing was suspended, partly due to natural disasters and recession, until 2014. In 2012, 1,000,000 commemorative edition GSX-R1000 model celebrates 1,000,000 motorcycles produced in the Suzuki GSX-R series since 1985. The following year, 50th anniversary special edition GSX-R1000 model celebrates Suzuki's 1963 entry into the U.S. motorcycle market. In late 2014, after two-year suspension since 2012, Suzuki announced that Suzuki factory team is coming back to MotoGP 2015 racing season. In November 2015, Suzuki finally revealed its all-new GSX-R1000 that was meant to directly compete with already existing 2015 Yamaha R1 and Ducati 1299 Panigale. 6th generation GSX-R1000 is also the highest specced ever, with multi-mode traction control, rider modes, ABS, ride-by-wire throttle, bi-directional quickshifter, no new engine and all-new chassis inspired directly by MotoGP race bike. Also, the updated GSX-R600 will be presented to the public in March 2016. The bike will feature updated chassis and engine. According to Suzuki, there won't be a lot of variations of the bike since Suzuki is aiming to offer the purest riding experience that it can provide to its customers. If you liked today's video, make sure to smack that like button, give us thumbs up and subscribe to MotoNetwork for more moto content. Also, you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, links in the description. Until then, see you next time!