I know it’s been less than a year since I was last sweating over this bike but a friend of mine in Japan snapped some recent shots of the rare and wonderful Suzuki SW-1. When it came out in 1992 it was VERY unpopular. Today they are highly sought after and will usually sell for $8,000 – $9,000 or so. A perfect example of “ahead of its time”.
The Suzuki SW-1 was first shown as a prototype back in 1989 (below) and kinda looked like a 1957 Tohatsu with a body kit.
Available in Japan for only 2 years, she had a short lifespan like one of my other favorite oddities, the BMW C1.
Check the brochure here and a little more info here.
26. April 2008 at 12:40 pm
It’s a HondaCubDreamMetropolitan!
Amazing styling for a 90′s bike.
26. April 2008 at 8:51 pm
That Tohatsu appears to be a Japanese clone of a similar vintage single cylinder BMW bike.
27. April 2008 at 12:45 pm
A museum in Ottawa (the Postal Museum?? i forgot) actually has one as a fun object for kids:
http://www.eqj.nl/sw1/sw1.html
I remember it was not a very big bike, but with a modern feel to it.