Though Suzuki cafe racer builds are less common than some other marques, we love platforms like the GS Series — great for budget builds — and the mighty two-stroke GT series. We’re also seeing more 80s sportbike cafe and restomod builds, based on the Katana and GSX-R.
Naked Gamma: Custom Suzuki RG500 - “A screaming riot of two-stroke lunacy” from ETTO Motorcycles… Introduced in 1985, the Suzuki RG500 Gamma was closely patterned after Suzuki’s 500cc Grand Prix bikes, which had earned four world titles and 50 GP victories […]
Sanzoku: Suzuki Bandit 1200 Café Racer - Japanese for Bandit: Moto Milo’s Suzuki GSF1200… The Suzuki Bandit 1200 is one of the most beloved muscle bikes of all time, an air/oil-cooled beast that earned a global following that continues to this day. […]
Roid Rage: Suzuki GS1000 Café Racer - “Café racer on steroids” from Simon Kemper… In 1978, Suzuki introduced their first-ever literbike, the GS1000, into a world of fearsome liter-size competition, including the new Yamaha XS11 and six-cylinder Honda CBX1000. While those […]
Euro Katana: GSX1100S-Powered Moto Martin - Cafe Racer SSpirit restores a rare French-Japanese kit bike… From 1972 to 1986, France’s Moto Martin (pronounced Marteen) produced full chassis / body kits for an array of 1970-80s superbike engines, effectively marrying Japanese multi-cylinder […]
Indigo Racer: Suzuki GS750 by Crows Performance - “Don’t Postpone Joy…Ride an Iron Horse!” This is the motto of Crows Performance, a workshop in Nasukarasuyama City, Japan, run by our new friend Yoshiki Sawamura. Though they offer a wide range of services — […]
Handbuilt GS: “Tanso” Suzuki GS550 Café Racer - Carbon Café Racer from Mike Mitchum of MCAM Moto… In the spring of 1977, the Suzuki GS550 arrived, following close on the heels of the company’s first four-stroke street bike, the GS750, introduced just six […]
Two-Stroke Titan: Suzuki T500 by Spencer Motoworks - A Tracked Combat Vehicle engineer builds himself a two-stroke custom… During the mid-1960s to 70s, when other manufacturers were touting the straight-line dragstrip performance of their two-stroke screamers — bikes with whisker-wide powerbands and widowmaker […]
Suzuki GS850 Café Racer by MCafeGarage - Sardinian workshop builds a burly shaft-drive café… The Suzuki GS850 combined a bored-out version of the GS750 inline four, the shaft drive from the GS1100, and naked styling reminiscent of the 70s superbikes. While it […]
Super Single: Suzuki DR600 Supermono Café - Eddy Cuccaro’s super single cafe racer for the French Alps… We’ve always been fans of “supermono” motorcycles — a term that came into use to describe a European road racing series for single-cylinder machines with […]
“Frankenstein” Suzuki DR250 Cafe Racer - Hand-built in a simple garage — sometimes without electricity! The Suzuki DR250 “Djebel” was a four-stroke dual-purpose motorcycle named for a mountain in North Africa. The 249cc mountain goat had dual disc brakes, USD forks, […]
Two-Stroke Café Racer: Suzuki GT185 Adventurer - Milwaukee’s Steve Baugrud builds one sweet smoker… In 1973, Suzuki unveiled the GT185 Adventurer, a 21-hp air-cooled two-stroke parallel twin with Ram Air, crank case oil injection, electric start, and a front disc brake. The […]
Bandit Power: Honda “CB1157F” by Butchered Classics - Dave Solomon of Butchered Classics is our favorite mad Englishman, a shed-builder who’s earned an “evil reputation” for building high-powered Frankenbikes that send purists drooling and raving to the madhouse. In 2019 alone, we featured […]
Creativity Mechanized: Suzuki GS650 by Purpose Built Moto - “Hard work or good luck is what you need, and you can only control one of those things.” Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of watching small, one-man operations grow from part-time gigs and […]
2-Stroke Racing Special: Suzuki GT750S Vallelunga - Introduced in 1971, the Suzuki GT750 Le Mans — affectionately known as the “Water Buffalo” or “Kettle”– was the first liquid-cooled production motorcycle from Japan, a 739cc, three-cylinder two-stroke street machine that boasted 67 horsepower […]
Modular Prototype: Suzuki DR650 Cafe Racer / Tracker - It’s a tracker, it’s a cafe racer, it’s both! The Suzuki DR650 has been in production for nearly 30 years, earning a reputation as one of the most rugged, versatile thumpers on the planet. However, […]
Endurance Racer: Suzuki SV650 “Caballo de Hierro” - “Very powerful and light, and with a unique shape…” The Suzuki SV650 is one of the most popular motorcycles in company history, credited with rebirthing the lightweight twins racing class in the United States. The […]
“Alpina” Suzuki T500M Cafe Racer by Paul Courbot - Paul Courbot of Titan Performance rebuilds the T500 he’s owned since age 19! The Suzuki T500 Titan, introduced in 1969, quickly earned a reputation as one of the best big two-strokes of the era, proving […]
Suzuki GS650GT Custom by Esther Schuijt - We love hearing the stories of first-time builders and riders. There’s nothing like the relationship you forge with that first motorcycle you own — particularly when you wrench on the bike yourself. In an era […]
Suzuki GT380 Café Racer by Café Cycles - The Suzuki GT380 was a two-stroke triple with ram air cooling and 38 horsepower on tap. The lighter weight sibling of the GT500 and GT750, this bantamweight smoker makes for one nifty cafe racer candidate. […]
Suzuki GS750 “Zucati” by Justin Page - The Suzuki GS750 was the first four cylinder in the venerable GS series — the company’s first full-fledged foray into four-stroke motorcycles. At its release the GS was the fastest of the 750cc fours […]
Suzuki A100 Cafe Racer: “Halimun” - GP-inspired, 2-stroke tribute to Barry Sheene! The Suzuki A100 was a small displacement 2-stroke that the company called a “sportcycle” built for “sprinting around town.” The 98cc engine was good for 10-hp, pushing the 183-lb […]
Suzuki Bandit 400 Cafe Racer by Jowo Kustom - Bad “Baby Bandit” from Indonesia… The Suzuki GSF400 — aka the Bandit 400 — had a 59-hp inline four derived from the GSX-R400, mounted as a stressed member in a trellis frame. Along with the […]
Suzuki T500 Road Race Tribute by Weberwerks - A street-legal, 2-stroke vintage road racer… In the early 60s, East Germany’s MZ team rider Ernst Degner escaped the Iron Curtain to work for Suzuki, using the knowledge he gained from 2-stroke genius Walter Kaaden […]
Suzuki TS400 Cafe Racer by Metal Works Utah - From two-stroke enduro to smokin’ cafe racer… The Suzuki TS400 Apache was the largest of the Suzuki TS series of two-stroke dual sports — a 277-lb, 34-hp enduro “built to take on the country.” Cycle […]
Suzuki GT550 Cafe Racer by Macdonald Hastings Design (MHD) - Two-Stroke Street Weapon…with Patina If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you know we love the smell of two-stroke oil in the morning. Smells like…victory. Enter Ewen Macdonald and his 1974 […]
Suzuki Katana Restomod by dB Customs - Darren Begg of dB Customs has quickly established himself as a leader in world-class restomod builds. His builds often retain the original silhouette and paint scheme of the original, while upgrading the powerplant, suspension, brakes, […]
Suzuki GT380 Café Racer by Keith Carlson - Keith Carlson, who builds out of his home garage in Indiana, has become one of our favorite builders. With a background in vintage motocross, he has a preference for two-stroke street screamers that are, as […]
Suzuki Grasstracker Bigboy by Speedtractor - The Silver Fox – Speedtractor’s Deceptively Simple Suzuki TU250GB. Passion and restraint. Two opposing forces, constantly at play within the mind of the custom motorcycle creator. Too little or too much of either being the […]
Suzuki T500 Titan Cafe Racer - Here at BikeBound, we are suckers for anything 2-stroke. Nothing beats the banshee-scream of an oil-burner, especially if it’s one of the twin or triple 2-stroke street kings of the 70s. Enter Steve Baugrud and […]
Suzuki GSX1100S Katana Restomod by ACP Customs - It’s tough to beat the big air-cooled fours of the 80s — especially when they get the restomod treatment from a skilled builder such as ACP Customs of Ontario, Canada, who built the Suzuki GSX1100S […]
Suzuki GS500 Cafe Racer by Motolifestyle - The Suzuki GS500 — an entry-level midsize street bike — is hardly thought of as racy or sexy. However, these bikes can be had for next to nothing these days. Sjoerd Veenstra of Motolifestyle decided […]
Suzuki TL1000R Cafe Fighter by Magnum Opus - Ah, the Suzuki TL1000R — introduced in 1998 to be Japan’s mighty V-twin Superbike, designed to rival the dominant Ducatis on the track and in the showroom. The TL1000R would fall short in World Superbike, […]
Suzuki T500 Cafe Racer by Motorcycle Mania Chicago - We love the smell of two-strokes in the morning–or any time, really–especially if they are 70s street screamers. Enter the Suzuki T500, one of the lesser-known oil-smokers of era. Marketed as the Cobra or Titan, […]
Suzuki GS550 Cafe Racer: “GS673” - 1976 was the year Suzuki introduced their first line of four-stroke street machines, the venerable GS series. The Suzuki GS550, which offered 49 horsepower from its air-cooled inline four, was a hard-hitting middleweight, beating both […]
Suzuki GS500 Cafe Racer by So-Low Choppers - Lately, we’ve been featuring some incredible bikes by young builders, so we were thrilled to receive a message from Jay Ransome, son of Clive Ransome, who owns So Low Choppers of the UK. Though he’s […]
Topper’s Suzuki GSX-R1100 Cafe Racer - Our man from Cheltenham, Dave Solomon of Butchered Classics, is back with another build. This time, it’s a 1989 Suzuki GSX-R1100 built for his “vertically-challenged” mate, Topper. As you may know, the 1989 “K model” […]
Suzuki GS450 Cafe Racer by Wrench Kings - Bram Boot and the crew at Wrench Kings, based in The Netherlands, spent a number of years in corporate management in Dubai. They had an enormous sandbox to play in, complete with big cars, road […]
Suzuki GS850 Cafe Racer by Mr. Swallow Customs - We’ve been enjoying profiling some of the Suzuki GS Series customs coming out of various shops, starting with the GS550 tracker we recently featured. Today, we have a stunning GS850 cafe racer by Sebastien Joigne […]
Budget-Built Honda CB750 Custom…Bandit-Powered! - We’re thrilled to present you guys with another build from Dave Solomon, the spirited Englishman behind the Bandit-powered Z1000 we recently featured. Today, Dave brings us the story of another classic fitted with a 1200cc, […]
Suzuki GT550 Cafe Racer, “The Warlock” - We’re thrilled to present The Warlock, a 1972 Suzuki GT550 built by Rich Page of Widow Maker Cycles in Draper, Utah. We’ve always been suckers for 70s two-stroke triples, blue-smoking screamers such as the one […]
