Suzuki has made little secret of the fact it’s working on a turbo twin-cylinder street bike derived from the 2013 Recursion concept. Now several new patents have been published that appear to show the production version’s frame and engine.
While the original Recursion concept, which appeared at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, had a single-cam parallel twin, the production bike will have a twin-cam engine. The near-production engine, dubbed XE7, was shown in Tokyo in 2015 and we’re expecting to see the final production bike at the 2017 Tokyo show.
For the single-cam, 588cc Recursion, Suzuki claimed 100hp and a whopping 74lbft of torque, peaking at just 4500rpm. No figures have been released regarding the twin-cam engine but it’s likely to be a similar capacity. It should also make a little more power.
The new patents show an engine that looks identical to the XE7 unit and as a result a new frame has been developed. The Recursion used an aluminium chassis and featured an unusual layout with the engine’s intercooler mounted under the rider’s seat. The XE7 motor has its intercooler mounted directly above the cylinder head. That makes for a much more compact overall package. The frame designed around it is a simple, tubular steel trellis.
The patent drawings still show the Recursion’s bodywork outline but that might not be an indication of the real bike’s styling. We’d certainly expect the production version to get a pillion seat, for a start. The single-sided swingarm also isn’t guaranteed to reach production. Unlike Kawasaki’s Ninja H2, the turbo Suzuki is intended to be affordable. A single-sided swingarm could add unnecessary costs with no real benefit.
Suzuki is eventually likely to fit the engine to multiple models. The engine should offer an impressive combination of power, torque and economy. It will also find it easier to meet next-generation emissions rules than similarly-powerful non-turbo engines.