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KHI = 295B Yen ($2.8B USD)
Yamaha = 594B Yen (5.5B USD)
Suzuki = 1.83T Yen ($17B USD)
Honda = 5.27T Yen ($54B USD)
Suzuki Automotive side sucked out a huge portion from the motorsport side when they went bankrupt a few years ago
The Amateur and Contingency program used to be huge but decisions in the last 15 years gutted the program. from what ive heard funding from the program was diverted to pay for large contracts certain factory riders.
The 250 specifically is also relatively underpowered. even with standard mods such as pipe, piston, cams fuel, the bike only catches up to the stock power of the KTM
The 450 in my eyes, the biggest issue is the weight and unbalanced suspension. e-start for me is a non factor
what i believe to be reality, is that Suzuki Motors USA has little to no capital for testing and development leaving the showroom bikes a mess, they cant support many riders at the top level and therefore have little exposure to the public and every shootout blows the bikes out of the water.
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I said that about marine engines making much more profit than Motocross bikes, and I bet I'm awfully close to being correct. Suzuki is on a tear in the marine world, and has been for the better part of the last decade. Their only concern in the marine world is figuring out how to manufacture enough engines. On the other hand MX bikes are like a stepping stone to Suzuki's other products. They clearly don't value the contribution of the MX market as much as they do the marine guys.
Maybe 40 years was an exaggeration. And the copper washers are probably sold in India, not Bolivia.
Ten fun facts about Suzuki
Fact 1
Michio Suzuki founded the company of Suzuki in a small Japanese coastal village in the year 1920 and it was initially involved in the manufacture of looms.
Fact 2
The first project to build a small Suzuki car was in 1937, with the first motorbike and first series car coming in 1952 and 1955 respectively.
Fact 3
Suzuki’s first passenger car was manufactured in 1955 and was called the 360 cc Suzulight.
Fact 4
Suzuki manufactures sharp and modest automobiles and today produces more cars than other popular car brands like Mercedes and BMW.
Fact 5
With its roots in the looms business, Suzuki today employees more than 15, 000 people and people from 170 countries in the world have access to this trusted car brand.
Fact 6
Osamu Suzuki has been at the helm of the company for the past 30 years, that’s about 20 years after he actually joined. The company was founded by his wife’s grandfather.
Fact 7
The famed and inherently familiar Hayabusa is one of the world’s fastest two-wheelers and is known to ride at a maximum speed of 300 km/h or 186 mph.
Fact 8
With their business partnership beginning in 1981, General Motors remains Suzuki’s biggest shareholder with a 3% stake at the moment with the original share in the company being 20% before Suzuki bought it in 2006 from General Motors.
Fact 9
Suzuki came into the Indian automobile quite early into the scene in the 1980s and now Maruti Suzuki India Ltd unit is Suzuki’s biggest market outside Japan, selling cars to half the Indian nation.
Fact 10
Suzuki Motor Corp is a part of the coveted list of ten of the globe’s biggest car manufacturers
If you beat them they can say “Well, ya know, I was riding this Suzuki”.
Win, win! Genius! Kidding aside, at pretty much any level that bike is just fine. If they had E start I would buy one.
Pit Row
Suzuki marine recently moved into the 3rd-largest repower manufacturer by market share. (You are correct about Mercury and Yamaha being tough competitors - they are #1 and #2.)
Suzuki Marine in the US has been growing by double digits for 6 or 7 years now. For fiscal 2018, they exceeded 20% sales growth.
My point about them being "on a tear" was to illustrate how much more important the marine market is to them when compared to MX. Say what you may about the quality or relative power of the units, but Suzuki is clearly doing something right with marine engines. They are selling more than they can make, which is a problem the MX guys can't exactly complain about right now.
Hold onto your hats n glasses for the coming threads lol
I'll give an unbiased and uncompensated opinion with no skin in the game other than a consumer. I have 2 2018 rmz 450's . One, I have about 80 hrs of track and desert riding on. Never any issues.
I bought both bikes, one brand new , the other in '19 with an hour or 2 on it. Collectively bought those bikes for $11,600 otd.
I watched all the shootouts, and saw the volume of Ktm's at tracks and racing on tv, and couldn't resist buying one a few weeks ago. I bought a 20.5 factory edition to see what this miracle/ cult bike provided, and dropped almost $11,000 to buy in. It blows my mind to say how similar the two bikes engines and ergos feel. The Suzuki actually felt more responsive bone stock than either map on the ktm. The weight? Lightest vs heaviest...I FEEL NO DIFFERENCE RIDING THEM. fit and finish? The f.e has fancy anodized cool parts. Other than that, the cables aren't routed as clean, connectors not secured as well, and some metals have a lesser finish imo. The Suzuki feels great at a quality level and given my terrible riding skills, height and obesity, it's held up like a tank.
Everyone hates the shock, "my God the shock, you need a link, you need to swap" ride the damn thing and see. I have no gripes at all, and ride linkless 80 hrs and 2 years later. It's predictable on jumps and balanced. Roger helped develop the rmz, Suzuki had him. I should have guessed the ktm would carry similarities.
Any way, a book later, and in a nutshell- I regret the money on the ktm. The Suzuki starts just fine with a kick or two. No battery life to worry about. I do have gripes with the ktm fork which I don't like the feel of.
Owned to date: 01 bandit 1200, 06gsxr750, 02 tl1000r, 13 hayabusa, 17 gsxr1000, 07 rmz450, 2 18 rmz 450s, 19 drz50 and never a mechanical failure or breakdown on any. Used to be a Honda guy, but I've converted. Suzuki for life. And btw the bmw1000rr mimics the 07 gsxr engine. The new 17+ gsxr1000 is insane and doing just well in the street scene as well.
But, hey, they're trash, so don't buy them. I need to make sure I can keep paying dirt for them in the future years
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