It’s a project that has been underway for nearing a decade from Suzuki, the parallel-twin motor that has become oh-so-popular for manufacturers looking for an accessible medium-displacement offering. Patents have emerged to show a bit of progress from the 2013 Recursion prototype, and it’s looking promising!
A 700cc twin motor will give Suzuki the chance to update their hugely popular SV650 range, and Cycle World did a little bit of investigating about the motor unit itself.
If given a turbocharger, the 700cc motor could also lead the Japanese manufacturer to pack it into a sporty GSX-R package - and that would be spectacular. The only concerns would be the maintenance costs of a turbo going directly against the traditional benefits of an easy-going compact twin unit.
But, it’s been worked on for long enough. As mentioned the Recursion 588cc prototype was first seen in 2013, and in 2015 the XE7 700cc unit took over, with Suzuki focusing their R&D efforts here going forward. The layout of this motor is intriguing, with an airbox placed at the top and accessed under the saddle.
Parallel twins tend to be less complex to manufacture and more compact - opening doors for many uses (like the CP2 finding a home in many frames, the Kawasaki 650 unit, and more recently the Aprilia 660 twin), and if given a 270º crank can deliver a matching soundtrack and excitable V-twin-like power to the rear wheel.
When will we see a range of parallel twin Suzuki models hitting the showroom floors?
EICMA is just around the corner - taking place towards the end of November - and it’s unlikely the final concepts will be ready for release then. Maybe this time next year we’ll have some concrete release to look at!
Until then, new patent info simply shows good progress and what to expect.
