When it comes to the four Japanese manufacturers at INTERMOT, Suzuki is looking more and more like it slept in late on test day. Both Honda and Yamaha have been pushing the ball forward, releasing some interesting, albeit not inspiring, motorcycles to the market. Those bikes were fresh at least, and showed some life going on in the motorcycle departments of those companies.
Then there is Kawasaki, which brought out an all-new Ninja ZX-10R superbike in the middle of the recession, and today at INTERMOT they debuted the game-changing Kawasaki Ninja H2R hyperbike. That is a tough act to follow.
To its credit, the 2015 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT is a welcomed addition to Suzuki’s lineup, however other models like the Suzuki GSX-S1000 and Suzuki GSX-S1000F, makes us think that Suzuki is afraid to build anything truly new and inspiring again. Need further proof? Take the 2015 Suzuki GSX-R1000.
For the 2015 model year, Suzuki’s superbike finally gets anti-locking brakes, a standard feature for quite some time now from other manufacturers. The bike still hasn’t been updated with traction control, which makes for cute adds about the TC system being built into the throttle, but ignores the fact that the market is leaving Suzuki behind in the dust.
The big news for the GSX-R line at INTERMOT is that the GSX-R1000 will get race replica graphics…from the MotoGP bike that hasn’t turned a single racing lap yet.
To its credit, Suzuki is re-entering the MotoGP Championship next season, with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales riding the Suzuki GSX-RR race bike. Suzuki has positioned its GP program to overlap development for a new sport bike family. Hopefully this is the last year we will see “bold new graphics” announced from a company that used to dominated the superbike segment.
Source: Suzuki
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