#suzuki

The Suzuki SV650X, a retro-ish cafe racer version of the SV650, is coming to the U.S., along with some minor updates to the regular SV. The SV650X has actually been available in other markets as a 2018 model, but the extra wait gives U.S. consumers a new black and white color scheme and upgraded brakes.

In other news, we mostly knew about a couple of weeks ago if not longer, excitement in the Suzuki encampment revolved around the 2020 Suzuki Katana. A design three years in the making by Italian designer Rodolfo Frascoli, the new bike’s cutting-edge bodywork (there was a lot of swordplay and big drums in Suzuki’s hip video) looks like it’s built on top of mostly the preexisting GSX-S1000.

Okay, the days are getting shorter, and the temperatures are staying lower. Perhaps even the leaves have started to turn in your neighborhood. That’s great news! Why? Because the Model Year 2019 show season is kicking off today in Cologne, Germany, at the bi-annual Intermot convention. That’s right, in even-numbered years, we don’t have to wait until the EICMA show in November to begin seeing what all the international motorcycle manufacturers have up their collective sleeves. While your actual riding season may be drawing to a close, we hope to keep you daydreaming about motorcycles with a list of new temptations.

We’re less than a week from the official introduction, but Suzuki has released the first look at the new Katana in its latest teaser video.

By now, hopefully you’ve already read our street installation of this two-part test. If not, STOP! Please do check it out because it outlines and dissects each and every bike in great detail, and it very well might answer a slew of questions you might have that aren’t addressed here, in the off-road portion of the shootout.

Since Sachsenring, Marc Marquez had grown weary hearing about how great the Ducati is, how great Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo are, how they’ve been making a chump out of him since August. Marc Marquez, despite his calm exterior, is a fiercely competitive young man. Today, with no pressure and no real incentive other than pride, he went out and beat Dovizioso in front of his home fans, assuring them that he may be many things, but one of them is not a chump.

Suzuki has released yet another teaser for what is expected to be a brand new Katana model. This is actually the third video, with the first one released Sept 5 and the second last week. The first two didn’t show much, beside confirm the bike has something to do with a sword, but the latest video offers the first look at the 2019 Suzuki Katana’s fuel tank.

Suzuki released a video teasing a new motorcycle debuting at Intermot, and all indications suggest it will be a brand new Katana.

On a humid and hazy southern California morning our cast of misfits began to stir to life from all stretches of the LA basin. Showers were had (by some), coffee was made and consumed, gear was donned. We seven fortunate souls set out on what would be our first true challenge of the next 72 hours, the first gauntlet that our machines would be subjected to, weekday traffic in Los Angeles with a destination of none other than Starbucks. The unofficial meeting place of adventure riders the world over, yet, for so many, the journey’s end before it ever even begins.

This week you might notice Motorcycle.com being a little quieter than usual. The reason is because most of the MO staff are out riding in our Sorta Annual Big Adventure Bike Shootout. For 2018, we’ve gathered seven of the biggest and baddest adventure machines out there. The plan? To put them through their paces on both the pavement and the dirt. To prove we’re serious about the dirt part, each of the contenders here comes to us with wire wheels, except for one, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Pardon me for a moment while I take you down memory lane. The year was 2007. I was racing my beloved Suzuki SV650 at the Barber Vintage Festival in Alabama, with intentions of going further east afterward and tackling the high banks at Daytona International Speedway with the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA). The Barber round was great – I had some decent finishes to my name, and better yet, I came away from the event in one piece and with so many happy memories. Meanwhile, one kind competitor even agreed to take my SV to Florida!

Suzuki has released its 2019 line-up for motocross, dual-sport, off-road, and youth models. The most news-worthy new models are the in the RM-Z and DR-Z families with the RM-Z250 motocrosser and all-new DR-Z50 youth model. Suzuki has said it focuses on the fundamental performance elements of run, turn, and stop when it comes to the RM-Z line and have been hyperfocused on advancing the 250’s turn capabilities while bringing over technology from the revamped 2018 RM-Z450 to create what Suzuki calls the Winning Balance. The all-new DR-Z50 adds a new youth motorcycle to the market that’s easy and convenient for youngsters to sink their teeth into.

Niccolò Canepa is a bit of a journeyman in the racing scene. With stints in both MotoGP, Moto2, World Superbike, Superstock 1000, and Supersport 600, the Italian has now found a home in the Endurance World Championship, where he’s riding the factory GMT94 Yamaha R1. In this video, you can see why Canepa has raced in virtually all of the top-tier classes the world has to offer. In this practice session for the Suzuka 8 Hours, Canepa takes you on board as he slices and dices his way past lesser riders – all of whom would likely smoke the biggest hotshot at your local trackday.

If your name is not Marc Marquez, Round Nine of the 2018 MotoGP championship at the legendary Sachsenring in eastern Germany could not arrive at a worse moment. Bad enough that he put his hands on the throat of the 2018 title last time out in Assen, inserting 41 points between himself and Valentino Rossi, but to do so on the way to Germany, where he hasn’t lost since, like, grade school, is a little much, if you ask me.

Here in Southern California, where the MO staff call home, we’re experiencing the first summer heat wave of 2018. Temperatures are soaring well past 100ºF all over the state and air conditioning units are working overtime to keep the masses cool. So when we came upon this video, we knew we had to share. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on a Suzuki GSX-R1000…snow bike.