FEW bikes of the modern era have lived such a long and successful life as the Suzuki SV650. The combination of a plucky V-twin engine, a capable chassis, made the little sports bike from Suzuki an instant hit.
Sadly, for the likeable SV, its days may just be numbered, as Suzuki has filed some patents that show a mid-sized parallel-twin engine that could force the SV650 out to pasture. In truth, the SV650 has lost some ground to its rivals recently, with the Yamaha MT-07 stealing much of the SV’s glory in recent years with its innovative CP2 engine – the time is definitely right for a refresh.
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The new engine bears a striking resemblance to the unit seen in the Recursion concept seen back in 2013, although in these patents the engine is normally aspirated – the Recursion was turbocharged with an intercooler. The engine is reported to have been codenamed the EX7, hinting that the new unit will be landing in the 700cc segment.
As with any patent, there is no official confirmation of performance, although it’d seem sensible that the engine would be on par with the other protagonists in the sector – the Yamaha MT-07 and Kawasaki Z650. If that’s the case we’d expect it to have power of around 60-75bhp and torque figures of around 50-60lb-ft.
The final conundrum is what bikes Suzuki will use the engine in, and to answer that we don’t have to look extremely far. With pretty much all manufacturers looking to platform production (where multiple models share common engines and other components), it’s safe to assume the new engine will power everything from nakeds, tourers, and maybe Suzuki will revive the spirit if the SV650 with a mid-weight sports bike! For any official confirmation though, we’ll have to wait and see.
