The emergence of more sophisticated naked bikes from Japan indicates an appreciation for this growing market (particularly, in Europe). Suzuki officially unveiled earlier today the GSR750 naked shown here and in the video below. We don’t have any details on this bike beyond what you see below from Suzuki. We do think the bike looks cool, and hope it becomes available in the U.S. market.
ENGINE: liquid-cooled, four-cylinder DOHC four-stroke with a bore and stroke of 72 mm x 46 mm and four valves per cylinder. The valves are set at a very narrow included angle, allowing the combustion chamber to be very compact, with the intake valves each measuring 27.2 mm in diameter and the exhaust valves measuring 22 mm in diameter. The compression ratio is 12.3:1, with lightweight cast aluminum-alloy pistons. Those details improve combustion efficiency, and more complete combustion is the key to better low-rpm and mid-range response, acceleration and fuel mileage, as well as reduced emissions. The engine powers an integrated close-ratio six-speed transmission.
CHASSIS: A unique chassis incorporates the best qualities of a compact tubular girder streetbike frame and a twin-spar sportbike frame, and is built using a combination of D-section and round-section steel tubes for an especially smooth ride. Wheelbase is 1,450 mm with 25°15′ of rake and 102 mm of trail, again contributing to a comfortable ride.
BRAKES: The GSR750 features lightweight three-spoke cast aluminum wheels. The front wheel carries two 310 mm fully-floating brake discs, with Tokico hydraulic dual-piston calipers. The rear wheel is fitted with a single 240 mm brake disc and a Nissin single-piston caliper.
An optional Antilock Brake System (ABS) will be available, with a new, more compact control unit.
Love to see the standards making a comeback. I’m somewhat old school, but can live with some of the extra plastics. A big factor for me is the lean forward ergos. I prefer the upright more relaxed positioning, but as with anything, if need be, I can customize it to my liking. Just wish they came that way in the first place. I had a ’76 Suzuki GT 750 “Water Buffalo” (and will have another again someday) and thought the seat/foot/handlebar position and wheelbase were perfect for me.
I think this and Kawa 750 will be my nakeds of choice.Will stick to my GSR600 for now!
I hope Suzuki has sense enough not to neuter the 750cc GSXR motor or use budget suspension components. Not a big fan of the sharp edged look of today’s bikes especially the ones from Europe. Looks like Suziki is following this trend. Time to break out the Dremel with a plastic cutting wheel 🙂
messy. pity, because the basic lines/sizing are rather bang-on. We’d all prefer, however, a nice cast swingarm instead of the totally out-of-place USD fork (USD on a street bike with cheapo steel swingarm and conventionally bolted front calipers??? come on…) get your act together Suzuki, at least Kawa can be copied succesfully.. their ER-6 is so much more harmonic in terms of matching contemporary technology (yes!) with budget-aware components. On the ER-6 there are no USDs, no radial calipers, no exotic swingarms, yet the overall package is so balanced and pleasing to the eye/to ride.
The good point – aesthetically speaking this one is tons better then the nerdy-styled Glad-I-Us.
If the price is cool, however, in this sad world of under-specced and overpriced nakeds, Suzuki may be right with this one, in spite of some ridicolous speccing inconsistencies.
We are FED UP with nakeds that cost almost as much as the ultra-high-tech models, yet they not only save on the fairings, but they are also underspecced as hell. The future lies in two separate naked-segments (Kawi are closest to this right now IMO) – one ultra-accessible and simple naked, with bags of get-up-and-go appeal and affordability (eg.a down-specced ER-6 or some REAL successor to the SV650??), and another naked class altogether, based on the ultra-high-tech models, specced similarly as the top-drawer Superbikes. (Z-1000 ?, Speed Triple R ?), placed in an entirely different price-bracket.
Yet it is weird how customers easily “swallow” such value-shallow products as the modern nakeds have become. The essence of the word “naked” means two things: “stripped of the excessive specs”, or “top-specced but stripped of fairings and with a more upright position (naked for the technology to be seen)”.
It’s like with women – there are womenh that you DON’T want to see naked, and others you’d die to strip them.
Whatever it is, I hope it kills the gladius
It’s ok. Better looking than a lot of naked bikes. But why the lean forward, tight ergos? Naked, aka ujm’s are suppose to be adaptable. I would much prefer a more relaxed, feet under you, sit up stright posture. And I wouldn’t mind a belt or a shaft drive either.
Oh, and I prefer the looks of the CB1100 too. I just like more classic looking bikes, with modern technology and dependability.
Soul. Character.
These two items are intangible things in a persons mind before even trying something.
Newsflash! Motorcycles are machines. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no soul, there is no character, there is no reason to talk to it or give it a female name. Each machine will do what it was designed to do, every time. An inline or a twin will not be different whether an Italian, Japanese, German, or a Martian designed and built the thing, depending on components and dimensions used.
If you like the bike, get it. I’ve had over 20 bikes so far and I can’t say that the “personality” of the Italian bikes ever bothered the “soul” of any Japanese bike or me as I blasted past the things on my old “soul deficient” TL1000S. It’s always funny when the only justification for buying a “character” bike is in reality, just a status indicator to show off what you own, like an exotic car.
It is what it is, I just wish that the snobbish riders would admit it.
Oh yeah, I’ve had LOTS of seat time on ALL the exotics with character. I love all bikes but to put down the Japanese is just a prejudiced viewpoint.
Thats a pretty good post Red. Character is where you find it. I have come up with a theory in the last few years that these days I call he “ER-5 test”. There are two sorts of riders about today;
1. Those who if limited to an ER5 for the next 5 years would give up riding for that time.
2. Those who would keep riding, and find a way to have fun anyway.
ER5 they call ‘Ninja 500’ over here. I guess they figure Americans can’t ride a motorcycle without wanting to stab something?
Anyhow, it’s one of those bikes you can do anything on. It’s light and nimble, so you can manhandle the thing. You can nurse a tank of gas for a whole week of commuting. It’s got a long, flat saddle so you can go two-up, as long as your date ain’t too heavy. With its upright seating position and moderate geometry, I bet you could even throw some knobbies on one and handle some rough trade. I even saw Buster doing wheelies on one once, so I guess the clutches must be cheap and easy to replace…
The point being, if you can’t extract pleasure from one of these things, I don’t think it’s the bike that lacks character.
I love these bikes…but yellowduck is right.
Too bad it doesn’t have radial mount calipers. It looks a little cheap as is.
IMO the Bandit 1250 is nicer looking, but I do like the short and compact tail on the GSR – http://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/bike/gsf1250l0/
Makes my Triumph Street Triple R (675) look better every day. The STR has tons of “soul” without the quirkyness or problems that can come with said soul. The Suzuki looks to be an OK bike, just not a great bike. Pricing will be interesting to see. Low price could make it a better than OK bike.
The real problem with this class of bikes is that the difference in price is not nearly enough to make up for the severe de-contenting. Non-adjustable suspension, 1990s brakes, steel frame, etc. This needs to be 2/3 the price of a GSXR750 (max) for it to make sense.
That’s because people have irrational reasons for not wanting a sportbike, and because the manufacturers are willing to prey on those emotions. Also, it seems that by refusing to make a proper, simple, cheap UJM, they are able to limit the supply of nakeds to further feed the artificial demand for these bikes. Is this by design?
N.B. there are rational reasons to not want a sportbike. This bike addresses none of those. OK, maintenance; but if you’re changing your own oil, popping off a couple of panels should be no big deal.
That said, I may end up riding one someday. This is simply because nakeds don’t hold their resale value very well on the used bike market in my area.
I like this bike. If that makes me “soul-less”, so be it.
I agree. I like this and Yamaha’s new one, but I’m still holding out for a belt or shaft drive. I’m not a sport rider, and wouldn’t miss the chain drive.
Swing and a miss…
KTM meets the 1st year design class meets the bargain bin.
Shows some promise, but cobbled together, not all-of-a-piece design.
Next….
Hmm, I scratch my head on this one. I am a HUGE Suzuki fan and they rank up there as my fave Japaneses manufacturer, but the styling leaves me cold. Looks like it was designed by the same guy that did the V-Strom or something.
Better looking than a Pukecati Multistrada though with that lamprey eel like dual sucker vent front end . The Suzuki and Kawasaki 750s won’t be offered in the states anyway . Only the Versissy and Gladipuss for us lousy amelicans !
Looks like competition for Yamhas FZ-1/FZ-8 to me.
No soul, personality or character? It’s Japanese, not Italian. No Japanese bike will posess those characteristics, but they will have affordable prices, outstanding reliability, and a large dealer network which for many of us makes up a for the lack of soul, personality and character. I’d rather have a characterless bike I can ride, than one full of character that doesn’t run, needs a bunch of costly service, or that you have to drive 250 miles to find the nearest dealer.
If it came down to this bike or my son’s Ducati Monster I’d take the Suzuki every time. Character is very over rated IMO.
Mickey I’d say they don’t lack character, its just a different character to an italian bike. And I ride an Italian bike (Guzzi). The first time I rode a cutting edge sports bike in 2005 I expected that as an air cooled pushrod v-twin rider I would find it lacked soul – not a bit of it! The CBR600RR had pleanty of soul, just of a different beat – more a kind of drug crazed jabbering monkey on speed type of soul than the Guzzis laidback mellow soul…
Kind of surprised they only put 2 piston calipers up front. I’m sure braking is adequate, and this keeps pricing modest, but Suzuki certainly uses the 4 piston units in the sportbike.
Hopefully but more then likely not US bound.. a shame
US release, with ABS, please.
I prefer the red color over the white; both are acceptable. I’m age 56 and generally have a strong dislike for modern syling such as the Buell 1125s and Kawasaki Z1000 naked. Honda’s CB1100 and the 2008 BMW 1100 Lo-Rider/Cafe series concept bikes are far preferable. Maybe I could live with this, it’s not bad looking, in spite of being modern. ABS is a great touch. Does the Z1000 offer ABS? Could this new GSR750 possibly be viewed as the very first completely new, groundbreaking 750, ala Honda’s original CB750? It seems like every 750 naked to now has just been another also ran. This sucker seems to lack nothing next to the GSXR except for the body work necessary for true racetrack work and speeds.
It would be interesting to ride it back to back with the Z1000. Hey, Dirck, why don’t you or Gabe do that and report back to class? Hey, do it at Miller Motorsports and invite me (before the snow hits…it’s been unusually warm here)? I’ll bring something cooked by the wife Debra, the best cook in the state of Utah.
As someone who is 6-3 w/ 34″ inseam, (upper 1 percentile so I’m told), may I also humbly request you mention/describe bike ergonomics for persons at the extreme ends of the spectrum?
Great site!
Looks like they got it right. Still wish I’d have gotten the naked SV1000 though. Just hauled a faired bike across the midwest getting to the good stuff. What a pain trying to keep things from rubbing that expensive bodywork. Long live nekkid!!!
Oh….my….gawd……now THAT is the right size. All hail the return of the true Middleweight class!!!
Wow, I’ve never seriously considered a naked bike until I saw this one. Now I just have to wait four years for it to drop into my price range:)
Just take a gsxr 750 , put handle bars on it , change body work . Done . That would keep you grinning 🙂
750 Awesome! Kawasaki/Yamaha stying not so much. Why do all new sport oriented bikes have to look like Transformers™?
mega freagin dittos
Yeah, what they said. I want an upright 750, but the styling is JUST too over the top. I don’t want to ride a Transformers bike. with a normal fuel tank and nice round headlight or headlights, it would have been a winner. Too bad Suzuki, I’ll be looking elsewhere…
Awesome nut… uh, oh. That swing-arm… straight from the budget shelf. Are they going to make the suspension nonadjustable as is the the new FZ8?? It’s not going to be a popular U.S. bike I’m afraid. Not because the components but rather for the fact most of us Americans don’t have an appreciation for bikes that make sense for street riding.
First thought is I prefer this look over the Kawasaki 1000 naked.
Awesome! Long live the 750!
UJM.
No soul, personality, or character.
1,000 horsepower cannot make up that difference.
I’ll pass.