Remember "naked motorcycles"? The styling was developed to make motorcycles appear more 
purposeful, like "applied art with a practical purpose", as some people have said about race cars, which are recognizable as cars, but stripped down to their basics. You could also say the style helped motorcycles "look fast standing still", a statement used to describe some sporty cars and real sports cars. The style uncovered as much of a bike's frame and engine as possible, so it appeared as sort of a 'skeleton' with an engine in its low middle and a wheel at either end. A look at such a bike showed-off its individual parts, including even much of the swing arm and rear suspension set-up. The look was all the rage, especially with Japanese-made machines, back in the early part of this century. Now Suzuki is re-re-releasing photos and info on what must be one of their favorite motorcycle concepts of all time, the Stratosphere concept from the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, an 1100cc monster with an Inline 6-cylinder engine and an automatic transmission. (Photo - Cutaway of the Inline-6 which powered the Stratosphere).
Always one of the best exhibits at the Tokyo Motor Show is that of the motorcycles. If a journalist writes about the motorcycles displayed there, you know that he or she spent a lot of extra time and trouble in covering the show during the two press days, which works out to a total of about only 16 hours to see the entire show, shoot photos, do interviews and somehow be able to explain it all, vehicle-by-vehicle, when they get back home. 
The building where the Tokyo planners put the motorcycles (and this past year, the 2007 show, also most of the busses and trucks which were on display again for the first time in about a decade) is a several hundred yard walk from the main building at Makuhari Messe, where the cars are on display. The walk is up and down some huge flights of "decorative concrete" stairs, and if you've saved the bikes for the last couple of hours on the final media day, one thing you don't feel at all like doing is walking on more hard surfaces. But hey, it's a job, and usually doesn't necessitate much heavy lifting, so who are we to complain, right? But patting ourselves on the back a bit, we do have on this site extensive Tokyo motorcycle coverage from both the 2005 and 2003 shows in the form of Photo Albums ... Check the left-hand margin for those albums (we had some digital tech troubles while covering the 2007 show, and didn't have the time to make the fixes we needed in time shoot the bikes, but we did take a slow walk through the gigantic hall, taking notes and creating some 'mental pictures' to help us get the facts straight when we got home).
And instead of using the Suzuki corporate PR release about this machine, we found a website dedicated to Suzuki motorcycles called www.SuzukiCycles.org, produced by a fellow named Jarmo Haapamäki. If you're a Suzuki enthusiast, or just interested in motorcycles at all, we recommend a visit to his site. What you'll be reading below is from Jarmo's site, and I found his writing to be a bit more exciting and interesting that the release from Suzuki.
2005 Suzuki Stratosphere Concept - 1100cc in-line 6 Cylinder
Suzuki Stratosphere
Overall Length: 2,100 mm (82.7 in)
Overall Width: 720 mm (28.3 in)
Overall Height: 1,150 mm (45.3 in)
Engine type: Liquid-cooled 1,100 cc Inline-six, DOHC, 24 valves. 180 bhp.
There's something about exhaust pipes and shining chrome. Motorcycles with Inline-six engines 
(Honda, Benelli, Kawasaki) have always fascinated people. You just can't walk past one, you have to admire the engine. It was the massive six was the first thing that caught my interest in the Suzuki's concept bike, Stratosphere as well. Yes, the rest of bike looks good as well, futuristic but not too far-out. It actually looks like it could be a new, revisited version of the classic GSX-R1100S Katana. With a liquid-cooled 1100cc Inline-six. The concept bike was first shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, October 2005.
There are always rumors weather Suzuki's concept bikes will be put in production or not, and this time it couldn't be such a bad idea. The bike looks "normal" enough to be created a mass-production in mind and would find its buyers, no doubt about it. I know everyone doesn't like the style. Not everyone liked the original Katana either. You can't please everyone, no matter what you do. 
Most of the bike-loving people would agree at least that the 1100cc, Inline six-cylinder engine is beautiful. The raw figures are 1100cc, 24 valves, 180 horses and a motor reportedly turbine-like smooth, an engineering masterpiece compared to the miniaturized sophistication of a Swiss watch.
I'd bet that there's plenty of Suzuki riders that would buy the bike just for its engine, no matter how it looked. As I mentioned before, there's something special with an Inline-six motorbike engine. Suzuki has never produced one, is the time right for it now?
What else has it got? Nothing really special; aluminum fairing, electrically adjustable windscreen, four LED headlights, adjustable handlebars, built-in GPS navigation, that sort of things. Hi-tech, but not science fiction. Attachable saddle-bags with normally invisible attachments, that's a really cool option! Suzuki wants to tell that the bike is meant for riding, not just for showing off...
It could be mass-produced. It could be a really cool bike. (End of report from suzukicycles.org)
Now, for those of you who enjoy reading the "inside stuff" from the bike-maker, here's the PR release about the bike from Suzuki PR:
Unveiled at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, the Suzuki Stratosphere Concept is a compilation of Suzuki’s 
next generation motorcycle advancements that enrich the joy of riding and operating a bike. Each technological feature on the Stratosphere was refined through actual ride feel and is not merely expressed as theory and numerical data.
The Stratosphere’s styling is aimed to strongly appeal to the rider’s senses. The use of hammered aluminum from the front cowling to the fuel tank and distinct Damascus steel for the radiator side covers provide the bike with a unique look and feel.
The Stratosphere is powered by an 1100cc in-line, six-cylinder engine that incorporates space-saving design to achieve compactness on par with four-cylinder engines of the same displacement class. With extraordinary smoothness, brisk revving and seemingly boundless acceleration feel, the Stratosphere offers a truly unique experience only discovered by actually riding it.
The motorcycle concept features both manual control and automatic operation to suit a rider’s situation and personal taste. In automatic operation, the system shifts to manual control whenever the clutch lever is operated, allowing detailed, manual clutch control. 
The Stratosphere is further defined by such features as speakers in the helmet shield to deliver a natural, hi-fi sound (Parker note: Remember "hi-fi sound"?) and a wheel-lock system that works in conjunction with a keyless engine-start.
As one of the most innovative motorcycle concepts in recent history, the Suzuki Stratosphere embodies Suzuki’s suggestion for the motorcycling lifestyle of the near future, where bikes are even more enjoyable and more comfortable to ride. (end of Suzuki PR release)
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