England’s MCN (Motor Cycle News) is reporting that European Suzuki sources have revealed a 2001 GSX-R1000 will make 161 horsepower (at the crank) and weigh 372 pounds. If accurate, this crank horsepower would translate to roughly 145 horsepower at the rear wheel (substantially higher than the Yamaha R1’s 132 rear wheel horsepower figure).
Of course, Suzuki has not officially confirmed anything at this point (even the existence of the bike). We are quite sure that this bike exists, however, and will be introduced in September of this year. Furthermore, if you take the horsepower per liter of the GSX-R750, the horsepower figure quoted above is very believable.
Meanwhile, Yamaha hasn’t indicated whether the 2001 R1 will be significantly changed, but the R1 was notably absent from Yamaha’s “early release models”. This indicates something is up, but, at this point, we don’t know what. Given the number of changes the R1 received last year, we doubt it will be substantially changed for 2001, but we just don’t know. Regarding Honda’s 929RR, it would be highly unusual for Honda to make substantial changes to a one-year-old model, but things are changing in the industry. Manufacturers cannot sit on a model and leave it unchanged (particularly in the sportbike category) for very long.
It should be an interesting year in the open class for 2001. MD will keep you posted.
