SUZUKI BIPLANE CONCEPT BIKE

Suzuki have put their Biplane concept bike on display at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Biplane? We were bemused here at the BIKE ME! command bunker.

Was it modelled on the fearsome Sopwith Camel, which sported twin .303 machine guns, had all its weight in its front third, and could turn right inside its own length at a hundred miles an hour while spitting death?

Maybe it was like the Albatros DIII: pleasant enough even if a little heavy on the controls, and with a radiator in front of the pilot's face which would occasionally rupture sending a blinded and burnt man screaming to a fiery death.

No, and no. The name was apparently inspired by the Wright brother's first airplane, the Flyer. Yes, the one that achieved man's first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on 17 December 1903.

Suzuki looked at this:

The Wight Flyer: man's first powered flight

and came up with this:

The Suzuki Biplane

And those Japanese wonder why we regard them as inscrutable.

Suzuki have not overwhelmed us with details. They did supply a short blurb, which appears to translate as follows:

The request that was included, you feel the enjoyment of the motorcycle in many people, would like to have having interest in the motorcycle "the design proposition model which designates the joy of running by the motorcycle" as shape is. You propose in order to have representing the common feeling which is felt from the vehicle where it designates the kind of image which is riding the airplane as keyword, calls the motorcycle and the airplane and is different completely. Although it is the machine, the bosom which makes tenderness feel it forced and "the biplane" (bi- the plainness) designated modelling as design motif, it expressed the open impression of not being covered in the canopy. The engine has designed V type 4 cylinder engine in vertical ranging.

We have recommended that the translator apply for a job at BMW Motorrad.

More pics follow.

Front end treatment emphasizes the brake

Realizing that most people ride on sunny days, Suzuki have replaced the headlight with a tasteful set of Venetian blinds

Is that a Hossack front end?