Compared to concept cars, concept bikes are a rare breed. Radical design departures used to take place through racing on bikes like the 1954 AJS E-95 “Porcupine” or the 1969 Jawa Typ-860 GP. Innovation lived as long as it was winning races, only to be immediately cast aside once something newer was dreamt up. Alternatively, the low production costs of a one-off motorcycle meant that many ideas actually found their way onto the road. Witness the 1921 Ner-A-Car, with its early version of hub-center steering. Exploring ideas not possible with current technology, concept bikes aThe plan was simple: Make a full-on, race-ready Heavyweight Superbike, but make it docile enough to be an everyday street bike. Okay, maybe not so simple. Typically a race bike is finicky, idles high, runs hot when not at speed, etc.; not very conducive to street use. But what sportbike, street or trackday rider doesn’t dream of owning a superbike that can be ridden to the coffee shop every Sunday? . Thanks, Grant! s design exercises started to appear in the 1970s. Here are our 10 favorites.
Engine-wise, Matsushima went to town on the 749cc powerplant, changing out to ’07 GSX-R cams and decking the head; plus a host of other black-magic engine-builder secret stuff, with the end result being horsepower numbers well above 150 at the rear wheel. Exhaust gasses are now spent via a one-off, handmade MPT system that features an interchangeable muffler design. Option One, the MotoGP option: Straight, slash-cut end pipe, and while extremely loud, it sounds amazing – straight up GP bike for the street. Option two: Simply remove one clamp and bolt up a KR Tuned muffler, which takes it back down to normal street-legal sounds, even featuring a quiet-baffle insert to bring it to nearly stock dB levels. All this from a reliable, street-able motorcycle!
Together with rivals Honda and Yamaha, Suzuki had pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1967 season and would not return for another six years. When they did, it was with a machine powered by a water-cooled version of the T500 roadster’s twin-cylinder two-stroke engine. Ridden by Jack Findlay, the TR500 achieved some creditable results in a season that saw victory in the 500cc World Championship go to MV-Agusta rider Phil Read. Findlay finished the year in 5th place. Clearly, something faster would be required to beat the highly developed MV and Yamaha?s new TZ500.
Rounding out Stage One was a fully custom look by owner/artist Matt Polosky of Color Zone Designs, a Huntington Beach-based do-it-all paint shop. We went for a Barry Sheene retro-meets-new look, modeled after the Suzuki GP bike Chris Vermeulen rode at Phillip Island last year, complete with Vermeulen’s old number 71 on the side. Quality of thepaint work is top notch, as was the turnaround time.
For the maiden voyage we took her out to Laguna Seca recently for a Track Crafters trackday and performance was incredible. Handling was on par with that of any supersport bike I have raced, plus an engine that could run with every 1000cc machine I encountered all day, and off-the-charts, onefinger brakes. Truly amazing considering I then used
the bike in its exact same state to commute to and from work the following week. An incredible combination, no doubt.
Suzuki already had plenty of experience of square four engines in the form of the defunct RZ63 250, and this compact layout was revived for its new premier-class racer – the RG500, coded XR14. Like its quarter-litre predecessor, the RG500 employed disc valve induction and separate geared-together crankshafts driving a six-speed transmission via an intermediate gear. Over-square bore/stroke dimensions of 56×50.5mm were used and a maximum output of 90bhp at 10,500rpm claimed. This state-of-the-art power unit was housed in a conventional tubular-steel duplex-loop frame.
That’s just plain cool. So, we did it anyway! Well, Grant Matsushima at MPT Racing did it for us. In our recent do-it-all sportbike shootout the Suzuki GSX-R750 came out on top by virtue of its incredible all-around capabilities both on the street and racetrack. But we all would have liked some additionalpower. This is where Matsushima first came into the equation. Originally consulted to build a “street-able superbike engine,” he quickly jumped at the task of building the entire motorcycle, leaving us to simply gather the parts needed
