Go to any motorcycle racing club, and you will surely see a fleet of Suzuki SV650 race bikes. The 650cc v-twin sport bike has been a mainstay for track enthusiasts and sport bikers alike for over two decades. The bike is an icon.
And yet, the venerable Suzuki SV650 finds itself under attack from all sides, no more so than by Suzuki’s Japanese rival Yamaha, which now has a two-pronged approach with its MT-07 and YZF-R7 offerings.
In broader strokes, the Suzuki SV650 finds that its home in the middleweight-twin category is becoming evermore crowded as well. Once the penthouse tenant of the establishment, bikes like the Aprilia RS 660 have moved in and begun taking up space.
The question then becomes: what is Suzuki going to do in order to keep the SV650 at the top of the pile? And the answer leads us to today’s rumor.
Seeing the reception of the Yamaha YZF-R7, and how the Iwata brand has been able to make the MT-07 into a more sport-focused machine, without breaking the bank, Suzuki is keen to get in on the action.
The formula would be simple, take the SV650 as it is now, put a full fairing on it, and upgrade its budget-spec pieces until the price tag goes too high.
One would expect that Suzuki would follow Yamaha’s playbook, finally putting upside down forks on the SV650, changing the riding position in the seat along with some clip-ons, and offering a parts catalog with track-focused pieces like a quickshifter.
It remains to be seen how quickly Suzuki can get its full-fairing response to the Yamaha R7 to market, though one would imagine that with the basics of the bike already in place, the development time could be quite short – maybe a year or two.
As such, we could see hints of a full fairing Suzuki SV650 as soon as the 2022 model year (though we’d predict something closer to 2023, especially given the strain on motorcycle supply chains right now).
The only real question though is why, after 20 years of being on the market, is Suzuki just now considering such an addition to the SV650 family? That is perhaps an entirely different topic altogether.
Source: Bothan Spies
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