Home　＞　User’s voice　＞　Suzuki Motor Corporation　Fumihiro Onishi

User’s voice

Suzuki Motor Corporation
Chief Engineer of the Two-Wheeler Sales and Product Department
Fumihiro Onishi

“Sports bike”
Technologies for ridability

Suzuki Motor Corporation
Chief Engineer of the Two-Wheeler Sales and Product Department　Fumihiro Onishi

Feedbacking on technologies nurtured through racing experience

The motorcycle that won the 2020 road race world championship of FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) in MotoGP class was a Suzuki GSX-RR. The technologies nurtured through the experience with this champion machine have been applied for GSX-R1000R. Since its first generation model GSX-R750 was released in 1985, the GSX-R series, Suzuki’s flagship two-wheeler line, has repeatedly gone through model changes based on the feedback on cutting-edge technologies nurtured through racing activities, becoming a popular high-performance sports motorcycle among riders with various skills.



“We are committed to designing and developing two-wheelers that are easy to drive in order to meet various purposes such as riding them in cities for commuting and transportation and touring and motorcycling on circuits as well as riders’ preferences and skills and provide many customers with enjoyable experience of riding motorcycles. To this end, it is essential to improve the basic performance capabilities to run, make a turn, and stop. Reducing the muffler weight of the GSX-R series helps reduce the weight of the vehicle body and increases the mass (weight) concentration. This not only improves the fuel efficiency but also boosts the acceleration, deceleration (brakes) and cornering performance. This is why for our mufflers, we use the heat resistant alloy (Super-TIX ®10Cu) and pure vehicle titanium of Nippon Steel’s designing titanium brand TranTixxii.” (Fumihiro Onishi, Chief Engineer at Suzuki)

Reduced muffler weight and improved design

Looking back on the muffler model changes that the GSX-R series have gone through, the mufflers of early models were shaped in a cylinder for increased capacity and their rear parts were jacked up to create a fearless atmosphere. The outer cylinders were aluminum and the inner cylinders were titanium. Starting with the 2005 model, we changed the muffler shape so that it would not contact the ground when the vehicle makes a turn, and employed titanium for the outer cylinders except for those of some annual models.
“Aluminum is lighter than metal stainless steels, but it’s not suitable for increasing the power of the mufflers because it’s not sufficiently resistant to heat. Another problem was that it was difficult to connect different types of metals. However, we successfully reduced the vehicle weight by entirely replacing the muffler material with titanium, which is three times stronger than aluminum with the same weight. For our 2005 model, we further polished the entire muffler and then shot blasted it to print the logo. This was a perfect design for the titanium material.” (Yoshisato Inayama, Section Chief at Suzuki). One of the benefits of titanium mufflers is that they change their colors and get burn colors, as they are exposed to heat through use. Featuring both beautiful exterior and high dirt resistance, titanium mufflers are coveted by many riders.

The manufacturing DNA, “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi”


Suzuki Motor Corporation
Section Chief of the Engine Design Group, the Two-Wheeler Engineering
Yoshisato Inayama


The 2005 Model of Titanium Muffler

In 2020, Suzuki celebrated its 100th founding anniversary and, with the hope to continue contributing to the society for the next century, announced its manufacturing philosophy the company has been practicing since its founding, “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi.” A Japanese abbreviation meaning “smaller, fewer, lighter, shorter and neater,” this expression embodies the company’s commitment as a manufacturer to maximizing the values for users and manufacturing the smallest possible products with a minimal number of components and minimal weight, while keeping the time spent and distance traveled in the manufacturing process as short as possible and making the most beautiful products possible.
“For two-wheelers or any other product, keeping the products small and light helps save resources and reduce the environmental load. This also helps reduce the price, allowing us to deliver the products to more customers. I think ridability will become ever more important in our aging society. We will continue to pass down our manufacturing DNA to the future generations.” (Onishi, Chief Engineer)
Currently in charge of engine design, Section Chief Inayama hopes to design his ideal muffler one day. “Ultimately, good sounds are achieved by a technology that completely eliminates sounds. Having always been dreaming of developing such a technology, I joined this company to design mufflers. So, I hope that one day, this dream will come true.” Suzuki’s passionate engineers are thoroughly committed to pursuing “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi” to develop even more ridable vehicles. Nippon Steel’s titanium products will continue to support their passion and technologies.

Follow Us!

Fecebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube
To Official SNS