New: Suzuki GSX-R1000

7th October 2016

Variable Valve Timing | Showa BFF | BFRC-Lite

◄PREVIOUS STORY                     NEXT STORY►

So is it a concept bike? Or a production bike? If Suzuki has yet decided, the firm hasn't made it clear to the rest of the world. At the time of writing, it looks like this new GSX-R1000 is a-concept-bike-that's-got-every-intention-of-making-it-through-to-production-but-might-fall-at-the-last-hurdle (but-on-the-other-hand-probably-won't).

Touch-wood.

If it arrives at all, it'll probably be in the dealers in the spring of next year (2017). But Suzuki is at least promising a lot of extra bang for your buck, and like one or two other motorcycle manufacturers of late, the Big S is trying to keep things both high tech and simple, which is a nice trick if you can pull it off.

The big engine news for this 76mm x 55.1mm, 999cc DOHC inline four is the Variable Valve Timing (VVT) design. VVT isn't new, but automotive manufacturers have tackled it through various approaches, much of it involving a lot of electronic and magnetic trickery. Suzuki, however, has taken another route and has deployed steel balls that yield to inertial forces which encourages the inlet cam to give more, or less, overlap.

Puzzled? Just think of a governor on a steam engine. A couple of weights spin outward and jerk a valve. Well the Suzuki does a similar trick, but with the (hollow) inlet camshaft. The idea is to give a little extra power boost right at the top of the rev range, but without compromising the mid-range grunt.

In order to stick that power cherry on top when you're approaching the red line, the designers could have avoided the VVT system and reworked the power curve. But there would have to be a cost somewhere, such as in the mid range. So now, the designers have had their cake, and they've eaten it. And apparently so can all the GSX fans who've been long awaiting this bike.

The 202hp (148.60kW) @13,200rpm engine, sipping fuel via Suzuki's Top Feed Injector system (S-TFI) also benefits from the servo-operated Suzuki Exhaust Tuning-Alpha (SET-A) butterfly valve that sits between the header tubes and further tweaks the engine in order to deliver optimum power wherever you put the throttle, and at whatever speed you're travelling. But if you want to see the effect, you'll have to wait. And possibly wait.

Also, Suzuki has dispensed with the bucket and shim system on the rocker arms and has opted for "finger followers". It's said to be lighter, reduces reciprocating mass, is no less reliable, and provides a higher lift as and when required to nudge the rpm up a few revs.

Chassis-wise, it's not clear what's been done to up the game, except that Suzuki tells us that it's optimised the geometry to increase rider confidence, which is probably just marketing speak for "fiddled with it a little".

The race-derived suspension, however, is worth a mention. The new GSX-R1000 is expected to arrive with a Showa Balance Free Front (BFF) fork. The idea is to reduce the pressure fluctuations above and below the internal fork piston, and this is achieved by shifting the damper valves outside of the fork tube where they're isolated from the immediate compressive stresses. At the rear is a Balance Free Rear Cushion-Lite (BFRC-Lite) shock absorber/damper that works in essentially the same way.

Does that sound like we're fudging this a little? Well we are, because almost no one without an engineering degree and a face like Albert Einstein can really figure it all out. The best you can do is rehash the press releases and ask stupid questions. But we've got the gist, and we hope you have too. And if not, you can console yourself that it doesn't really matter as long as it works on the road or track.

Electronics-wise, there's a 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), three rider modes, a 10-level traction control system—and Suzuki reckons you can change the settings on the move as long as you shut off the throttle (presumably the traction mode simply won't switch if you fail to comply with the "off-throttle" demand). There's also a quick shifter and a launch control system (a device for controlling your high-power take-off by switching engine maps and preventing unwanted wheel spins via an electronic throttle controller).

Beyond that, the aerodynamics have been improved (or at least tinkered with). The tank is a little lower. The bike is a little narrower. And there's a new LCD dash where you can watch the digital display fill your head with information, much of it surplus.

And if all that still ain't enough, there's an GSX-R1000R option that could-be-and-probably-will be-on-the-way-sometime-sooner-or-later-in-the new-year. Spring maybe.

Or whenever.

◄PREVIOUS STORY                     NEXT STORY►