Check Out Suzuki’s Latest Cafe Racer!

The SV650X gets dropped clip-on bars, a headlight cowl and a ribbed seat as standard

Suzuki might as well have called it Herpes, because the SV650 just refuses to go away! First breaking cover way back in 1998 (it’s nearly as old as the author writing this!), the SV is now back in Euro 5-compliant guise for 2021, with a couple of other key changes too.

Obviously, the 645cc DOHC 90-degree V-twin has been reworked to clean up tailpipe emissions. This is the same motor that powers the recently launched V-Strom 650XT, and in the SV, it produces a fairly healthy 73PS and 64Nm. Testament to the motor’s excellent design is the fact that despite its age, it’s still more powerful than the much newer 649cc parallel-twin engine powering the Kawasaki Z650, which only manages 68PS despite a slight displacement advantage.

Suzuki has also thrown in a few new colour schemes for the 2021 SV650, but the biggest change for the next model year is the introduction of a new ‘X’ variant where the SV takes on a cafe racer guise. With dropped clip-on bars and a headlight cowl, the SV650X looks properly badass, and there’s even an old-school ribbed seat to complete the look. The trellis frame looks absolutely gorgeous in this bronze-gold finish, and goes very well with the dark theme seen on the rest of the bike.

If you were hoping to be able to buy this cafe racer in India sometime soon, we’ve got good news for you. While there hasn’t been an official statement from Suzuki yet, we think it’s quite likely that the SV650 will make it over to our shores in the near future, especially now that it is BS6-compliant and its stablemate the V-Strom 650XT has also been launched here. Unfortunately, the V-Strom’s price was a bit of a shocker, and so we expect the SV to come in at around Rs 6 lakh to 6.5 lakh (ex-showroom).