Gsx-R-30Th-Anniversary-Booklet.Pdf
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GSX-R 30 VERT A4 book 7.27.15 r2.indd 1 7/27/15 11:33 PM TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: 1985: THE FIRST GSX-R “Everything’s different now…” CHAPTER 2: GENERATION GSX-R A spotter’s guide for GSX-Rs through the years CHAPTER 3: SUZUKI’S RACING DNA The race track – the GSX-R’s birthplace GSX-R 30 VERT A4 book 7.27.15 r2.indd 2-3 7/27/15 11:33 PM Revolutionary. It’s a perfect describer of Suzuki’s first-generation GSX-Rs. Because if ever there was a ‘radically new’ motorcycle, or one that was ‘beyond established principles,’ it was Suzuki’s 1985 GSX-R750 – and the GSX-R1100 that followed in ’86. As one motorcycle journalist wrote in 1985, “Sportbikes will soon be divided into two categories: before the GSX-R, and after.” Nicely put. The instant it debuted in late 1984 at Germany’s Cologne show, the GSX-R750 electrified the motorcycle world. Few in attendance, or those who read about the bike in motorcycle magazines in later months, could fully absorb the bike’s radical full-fairing look, its astounding dry weight, or the idea that careful and conservative Suzuki had built – and planned to sell! – what was basically a road racer with lights. It certainly looked the part. With its clip- ons, dual headlights, ultra-lithe aluminum chassis and purposeful, business-only stance, the GSX-R appeared as if it might have rolled into the viewing hall after an hour-long endurance-race session at LeMans or Suzuka. Some wondered if the narrowly focused GSX-R was too extreme, too uncompromising. Others saw the bike’s stripped-down, bare-knuckled and track-spec look and rubbed their hands in gleeful anticipation. But no one could miss the obvious and unimaginable technical and moto-cultural significance of the GSX-R750. Here, in aluminum, steel, rubber and plastic, was nothing less than a completely new way to design the sporting motorcycle. When the GSX-R750 appeared in showrooms Even today, the original Although available in and magazines across GSX-R750’s look and stance Europe and Canada Europe in the first half of brings goosebumps. It was light, in ’85, the first-gen 1985 (it was not available in it was fast, it didn’t break, and GSX-R750 didn’t come enthusiasts fell madly in love. to the US until ’86. It quickly became the class leader, however, and proved to be a 1985 track weapon. GSX-R 30 VERT A4 book 7.27.15 r2.indd 4-5 7/27/15 11:33 PM the U.S. until ’86, along with the then-new GSX-R1100), it transfixed the motorcycling public like few machines had. You knew it was different the instant you laid eyes on it, and just standing next to the bike was a FORCE EQUALS MASS TIMES ACCELERATION revelation. It was tall and thin, yet muscular where necessary; beautifully conceived, with luxurious paintwork and detailing; 1986 also brought the GSX-R1100, which re-wrote the rules for open-class purposeful, with huge brakes, lightweight sportbikes. Nothing came close wheels and a minimalist racer’s cockpit. performance-wise, on the street And it had beautiful – and lightweight and on the racetrack. – aluminum castings and forgings everywhere you looked. No sporting motorcycle had ever looked this focused, this radical, this light, or this serious. But the GSX-R750 didn’t just look light. It was light. Amazingly so. At just 429 pounds with an empty fuel tank, it weighed nearly 90 pounds less than Honda’s VF750F, and more than 60 pounds less than Yamaha’s 20-valve FZ750, which debuted that same year. Open-class sporting motorcycles of the day were at least a hundred pounds heavier than the GSX-R, and even 600-class middleweights outweighed it! Indeed, drastic weight reduction was the primary focus of engineers on the GSX-R team. The racing-derived concept of lightness with strength regulated every sector of development, from individual engine components to each and every frame section and body part. Nothing escaped scrutiny. In the end, the 750 and 1100 GSX-Rs that were ridden and raced by enthusiasts in Europe, Asia and the Americas during 1985 and ’86 changed the design parameters and orthodoxy of the entire sport bike category almost overnight. Stripped bare, the GSX-R750’s minimalist, light-is-right design is obvious. Every part was rethought, and designed to be as light as and strong as possible, so durability and strength wouldn’t suffer. GSX-R 30 VERT A4 book 7.27.15 r2.indd 6-7 7/27/15 11:33 PM Racing Forward Suzuki’s light-is-right GSX-R concept came directly from racing, and racing had coursed through Suzuki Motor Company’s veins since the early 1950s, when its 60cc Diamond Free won the company’s first race in 1953, and its 90cc Colleda won the Mt. Fuji Hillclimb in ’54 – just 24 months after Suzuki introduced its very first motorized two-wheeler, the 36cc Power Free. Grand Prix wins and championships in the 50cc and 125cc classes Yoshimura Suzuki’s Wes Cooley won the ’79 and ’80 AMA Superbike championships followed in the 1960s, including prestigious Isle of Man aboard radically modified GS1000 Suzukis. Here he’s shown exciting turn one at victories and Grand Prix championships in both ’62 and Daytona during the ’81 Superbike race, which he won. Cooley was bested in the ’81 championship by Eddie Lawson and Freddie Spencer. But Cooley would go on to put ’63 with Ernst Degner and Hugh Anderson. And when Barry Sheene won the 1976 500cc Grand Prix world on a dazzling show aboard the beautiful blue and white GS1000S all season long, championship on a fearsome RG500 two-stroke, it was and help establish Superbike racing as the class to watch from then on. clear to anyone paying attention that Suzuki was at the top of the racing game. As Suzuki’s two-stroke streetbikes began to be retired design straight from Suzuki’s XR23 500cc GP effort – a during the middle and late 1970s due to ever-stricter double-cradle steel-tube assemblage with dual rounded emissions regulations, four-strokes became a priority. In tubes running over the engine and curving down to the ’76 and ’78, respectively, Suzuki launched the legendary swingarm pivot. GS750 and GS1000, which became class leaders in The 130-horsepower GS1000R won many international their very first year of production. Suzuki’s roadracing races, including the prestigious Suzuka 8-hour in efforts began to be more four-stroke oriented as well, 1980 with Wes Cooley and Graeme Crosby aboard. It and with help from legendary tuner Hideo “Pops” was eventually replaced in late ’82 by the XR41, which Yoshimura, Suzuki built the GS1000R, aka the XR69, used an aluminum frame of similar shape, but with a TT F1 Endurance racer that featured a unique frame square, extruded members intricately welded together. This alloy frame wasn’t only lighter than the steel unit, The engine-equipped, but also more rigid, as it tied the steering head and 36cc Power Free bicycle swingarm pivot areas even more directly together. The was Suzuki’s first powered XR41 continued where the XR69 left off – winning races, two-wheeler, and set the stage for the 60cc Diamond including Suzuka again in ’83 with Frenchman Herve Free, which captured Suzuki’s Moineau and Belgian Richard Hubin in the saddle. first race win in ’53. The 90cc Colleda came next, Suzuki knew it was onto something special with its and won the prestigious Mt. Fuji Hillclimb in ’54. alloy-frame design, and moved quickly to implement it into its sporting streetbike lineup. First came a couple of Japanese-market trial balloons: the alloy-framed 1983 RG250 Gamma, and a year later the very first GSX-R, a 400cc inline-4 that blew away its 400-class Japanese competition, and set the stage for what would come in ’85 and ’86 – 750cc and 1100cc versions. Development During the early 1980s, production motorcycle technology began to percolate more strongly. Racing pushed the changes, as did retail-sales competition, which heated up dramatically at the time. Honda’s V-fours of ’82 and ’83 – including the radical V45 Interceptor – were the first The 130-horsepower GS1000R endurance racer (top) was a powerhouse, winning major advances in the full-sized streetbike arena, with Suzuki captured its first Isle prestigious TT F1 races all over the globe of Man victory and world Yamaha and Kawasaki adding fuel to the fire in ’84 with and helping Suzuki establish itself as championship in 1962 with the FJ1100 and ZX900 Ninja. a legitimate four-stroke player. The German Ernst Degner riding alloy-framed XR41 racer (middle) came a works-spec 50cc machine. Suzuki soldiered on with what were basically traditional next, with the Japanese-market GSX-R400 (bottom) utilizing the XR41’s basic frame Degner defected from East machines in those years, GS750s and 1100s and Germany and helped Suzuki layout to good effect just a year before develop its 50cc, 125cc and 1150s with not a lot of all-new technology over above its the GSX-R750 debuted in late 1984 at 250cc grand prix racing Germany’s Cologne show. machines. GSX-R 30 VERT A4 book 7.27.15 r2.indd 8-9 7/27/15 11:33 PM Here, Yokouchi uses a garden hose to show his team how their unique oil-cooling system would flow enough oil to keep engine temperatures in check.