Suzuki RF600R, a sharp stiletto with an air of Ferrari Testarossa

Completely changing scenery, this is what the Hamamatsu brand did in 1993 when it launched the beautiful and spectacular Suzuki RF600R, an attractive sport tourer, as unprecedented as it was surprising.

Being well stocked with super sports motorcycles with its successful GSX-R family, at Suzuki they sought to diversify their offer with more docile models, less RR. And so the GSX-F arrived on the market, sport touring motorcycles designed for bikers without sporting aspirations, comfortable, easy to ride and good both for going to work every day and for having fun on the weekend.

But at the time, in the early 1990s, the GSX-Fs weren’t quite convincing to their customers, they weren’t quite as successful as their GSX-Rs, so they diversified.

For this reason, just thirty years ago, the Suzuki RF600R was born, a stupendous and sharp sport tourer with full fairing, very attractive, with spectacular aesthetics, which broke with its GSX families to create a new saga.

Everything on it was new and nothing was taken from the GSX (both F and R). And it’s even her chassis, an innovative double steel beam, was new for the brand; Suzuki had never used it until the advent of the RF.

The Suzuki RF600R broke with the usual design of the brand

The integral fairing had sharp and rectilinear shapes, nothing to do with the sporty or rounded lines of their GSX, and it was very close to the bike. The chassis was painted in the same color as the body, so it gave the appearance of having an aero-type fairing, another detail never used by the firm.

The side gills on the hot air vents evoked an irresistible reminiscence of the Ferrari Testarossa, that’s how sharp and aggressive it was. In fact there was nothing in Suzuki that resembled it. They broke with everything before.

The seat was wide and comfortable, but with sporty overtones, as the pilot and passenger seats were separated, with the package seat on the second floor. And the passenger seat was also painted in the same color as the bike, to give the feeling of a single-seater.

This attractive sport tourer was derived from the RF400R that was only sold in Japan

The riding position was comfortable, neither sporty nor touring, midway, with the footpegs slightly back, but not much, a good choice.

On the wide tail was installed a huge double stacked taillight that took up all the space; the upper one, smaller, was the position light, while the second, which was tripled in size to the position light and was horizontal, was the brake light.

When it was activated it seemed that the gates of hell were opened; Such was the power of this brake light and the feeling you had when you were driving behind it… The headlight had a single optic, small, torn, and with mustache front and rear turn signals.

The instrumentation was also very attractive, consisting of three horizontally arranged analog dials for speedometer, tachometer, and coolant temperature. The least attractive part was the exhaust silencer, painted in black, cylindrical and bland, which looked like a low-cost motorcycle.

To complement the chassis, it had 17” three-arm alloy wheels, a conventional fork, a rear monoshock with Link-Type linkage system, and double disc front brakes with double-piston calipers.

Despite being an attractive motorcycle, high consumption and an exaggerated purchase price condemned it

As for the engine, the Suzuki RF600R equipped a fattened version of the four-cylinder that the Japanese GSX-R 400 had -4T, LC, 16V, DOHC- that offered 100 CV, a not inconsiderable figure.

A detail of this engine is that the well-known cooling system SACS -Suzuki Advanced Cooling System- was not used by oil, but rather used liquid cooling.

It was a motorcycle with little commercial success, despite launching its older sister, the RF900R in 1994, and having almost perfect behavior and aesthetics for its role.

It is true that its main problem is that its Mikuni carburetors burned a lot of gasoline, so its 17-liter tank did not go much further than 160 km.

With a weight of 195 kg and a seat located at 775 mm, it was suitable for all sizes, allowing it to be accessible to a large majority of users.

When it was put up for sale in our country it was priced at 1,013,982 pesetas, 6,000 euros to change, a price that was 20% more expensive than the Suzuki GSX 750 F, another reason for its low popularity.

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