Suzuki has announced that the all-new 2018 RM-Z450 will be available with a launch price of £6,999 when it arrives in UK dealerships in September, following the bike’s European press launch in France this week.

The MX1 machine, which gets a new frame and swingarm for 2018 as well as an engine that produces more power and a flatter torque curve, has been developed with the input of Suzuki’s factory MXGP racers Kevin Strijbos and Arminas Jasikonis, who have raced the bikes for the first time this season.

Priced at less than its rivals, the new RM-Z450 also gets the latest version of Suzuki’s holeshot assist system and traction management system, thanks to a new ECU. Showa’s new balance free rear shock comes as standard, offering improved cornering performance, feel, and agility, along with new, spring forks that are 2mm thicker in diameter than the previous model’s.

Thomas Ramette, three-time Arenacross UK champion with SR75 World Team Suzuki, said on the launch, “I was really pleased to be invited to be one of the first to try the 2018 RM-Z450. It’s completely new. The bike feels more easy, especially in the corners. They’ve improved in this area a lot. I really like the previous model having won three titles in the UK with it, but this one is much better. Also the engine, the power is really full, everywhere.”

Suzuki GB marketing manager, Rob Cooper, added, “The new RM-Z450 takes the winning potential of the old bike and improves on it in every area with a more rigid chassis, more power, and improved throttle response. But at £6,999 remains very competitively priced against its rivals.”

For more information on the new, 2018 RM-Z450, which arrives in dealerships in September with a launch price of £6,999, click here.