Suzuki motorcycles sold in USA
1970—1979 Suzuki motorcycle catalogs

Here are some American Suzuki line catalogs and other info of the models exported to America. My aim is to put information of which Suzuki motorcycle models were imported in the USA from the start, their prices and some specs that may differ from the specs in other countries. If you have any such information on any years or models (brochures and even magazine ads would be great), please tell me about it. Here's more info.

Suzuki motorcycles were mentioned in American magazines for the first time in 1962. The following year the U.S. Suzuki Motor Corporation was formed in California, being the first foreign subsidiary of the Suzuki Motor Company. Under the lead of Jack McCormack Suzuki America pumped enormous sums in advertisement, within two years the advertising budget had increased from 150,000 US dollars to over one million dollars — and it worked. The number of Suzuki motorcycles increased from only 600 to 32,000 units in 1965 and the sales were still growing. The legendary T20, a development of Masanao Shimizu, was the most important new product for Suzuki. In 1966 54,000 Suzuki motorcycles left the Japanese island and Suzuki had about 3,000 employees.

1970 Suzuki year code: (none)

1970 Suzuki full line catalog from USA (one page from it). Click to enlarge. The full line brochure page was scanned and sent to me by Gary Jesswein.

1971 Suzuki year code: R

1971 Suzuki full line catalog from USA (6 pages). Click to enlarge. The brochure pages were scanned and sent to me by Scott Andersen. The original brochure was a bit damaged by moisture so I decided to retouch (reconstruct actually) some parts of the scans. I'm sorry if the sea and the sky on the pictures don't look exactly like the original, I had to improvise a bit. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the scans!

1972 Suzuki year code: J

1972 Suzuki line catalog from USA (12 pages). Click to enlarge. The pages are not viewed here in the same order as in the original catalog, for better layout on this page (the off-street pages wouldn't have to be separated otherwise). The off-street section was originally on two pages, I've put them together here. Here you can see the proper order. The brochure pages were scanned and sent to me by Gary Jesswein, USA.

1973 Suzuki year code: K

1973 Suzuki line catalog from USA (6 pages). Click to enlarge. There's still pages missing of this brochure. The pages are probably not viewed here in the same order as in the original catalog, I haven't seen the original. The scans were sent to me by Gilles Nault, Canada.

1975 Suzuki year code: M

1975 Suzuki full line catalogue from USA (8-page magazine advert). Click to enlarge. The advert shows the following models: Competition; TM75, TM100, TM125, TM250, TM400, RL250, TC100, TC125, TV185, RV90, RV125, TS75, TS100, TS125, TS185, TS250, TS400, GT185, GT250, GT380, T500, GT550, GT750. That's 23 models. The pages showing the models were scanned and sent to me by Scott Andersen, Texas USA. Later I found out that there were also eight pages of the advert. The first three of the pages come from a different source; I found them on the Precisioncycles website. Finally, the last page (placed here first; left to the cover page) was found on Suzuki Classic Two Stroke Compendium website, scanned by Dale Fancey. Many thanks to you all!

1979 Suzuki year code: N

1979 Suzuki Custom L series catalog from USA (originally eight pages). Click to enlarge. American Custom line catalog with the models GS750L, GS1000L and GS500L with specs and pictures. The scans provided by Michael, the owner of the Michael's GS Classic website.

More years and models to come. Have patience.
Please send me catalog scans and magazine adverts.





More: Worldwide Suzuki

More: All Suzuki models


This free site is managed by Jarmo Haapamäki.
If you find this site helpful, please leave a donation for Jarmo
so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.

Came here from a search engine?
Click at the home button below to get to the main page with frames.