Long-awaited Suzuki SV650 successor spotted out in the wild

The (very) long awaited successor to the Suzuki SV650 roadster has been spotted out in the wild completing mileage with its adventure-themed sibling, the V-Strom 650.

The venerable naked has - rather extraordinarily - been a mainstay of the Suzuki range for more than two decades with only relatively minor updates since it was first unveiled way back in 1999.

Despite this, the SV650 remains one of Suzuki’s most popular offerings, thanks in part to a V-Twin engine that has over those years become a unique selling point as rivals deviated to a route of in-line engine configurations.

However, time has finally caught up with both the SV650 and the V-Strom 650 as tightening Euro5 emissions regulations leave a deadline of 31st December 2022 for both models to either undergo major re-engineering, drop off price lists altogether or be replaced.

Fortunately for fans of mid-capacity Suzuki motorcycles, a replacement is now finally on the way, as demonstrated by these spy shots picked up by Motorrad that show it racking up miles alongside the new V-Strom 650 that Visordown reported on a couple of weeks ago.

What can we expect from the Suzuki SV650 replacement?

While heavy camouflage does a good job of keeping the finer details of the design a mystery, the new as-yet-unnamed model appears to do away with the SV650’s stocky profile in favour of something more lithe.

Gone is the exposed trellis frame, while at the front the single spotlight will be replaced with a stacked headlamp design inspired by the larger Suzuki GSX-S1000.

Even with the cladding, there appears to be a relation to the Suzuki Recursion, a concept that previewed a potential SV650 replacement, albeit way, way back in 2013.

As for what the motorcycle is packing underneath the skin, there is speculation the engine size will grow to around 700cc, but revert away from V-Twin to an inline format, albeit with an uneven firing sequence so as to mimic the throatier sounds of a V.

Consequently this might have some bearing on the name given to this model since the ‘V’ in SV stands for V-Twin. That said, this is a similar dilemma to the V-Strom 650, but the name stuck with the larger V-Strom 1050 despite its inline configuration.

The new 2023 Suzuki ‘SV650’ and ‘V-Strom 650’ are expected to make their debuts at the upcoming EICMA show in Milan in November.