We gave you all the details Suzuki provided regarding its 2017 GSX-R1000 “Concept”, which we believe is essentially the production bike to be introduced next summer. The new model will feature traction control, launch control, quick shifter (both up and down) and, perhaps most significantly, an engine with variable valve timing.
Suzuki released the following video giving some insight on this new model and its development. Take a look.
See more of MD’s great photography:
Horribe cheap looking signal lights..move them back up on the mirrors. Now take that bike and go racing in WSBK again and see what it can do against the ZX10
A ten year old GSX-R is more bike than most of can handle, but if you’ve got the money, why not?
The liter supersports of 10 years ago were far more bloodthirsty and tougher to deal with than any of the current machines. Ride modes, traction control, ABS… all things not a single one of those bikes had. The ’04/’05 ZX-10R was particularly savage.
One may actually sell these as being every bit as fast in a straight line as the older machines, but infinitely easier to exploit and less punishing when you do something ill-advised, on the street or the track. That’s what you’re paying for, not necessarily just the outright speed and handling.
So by the time it goes out on sale its already outdated
It looks more compact than the previous models, Thats a good thing. Not thrilled about the styling, but performance is more important than outright looks.Interesting, no bore & stroke specs..wonder if its still Undersquare relative to the competition..
Not a big market here in western NY for sport bikes, dealer I work at did not even order an R1 last year. Did not see a ZX10 or GSXR leave the place either, although we did move a few CBR 1000’s. The big trailies are going nowhere. Even the 300 market is down. Yamaha Bolt and FZ’s sell, but the FJ sits. The ATV and side by side, dirt bike, and cruiser are our big sellers. Suggest ya’ll go find dealers with left over 2014 models, because Yamaha is forcing dealers to pay 10% of balance a month on left over units.
Rather sad isn’t it? I remember motorcycling when there was a plethora of models sold by all the manufacturers and they all seemed popular enough to keep them in their respective line ups for several years at least. Most all bikes then were what we call standards today. I really don’t know what keeps motorcycling alive like that anymore. Too few bikes seem to be wholly accepted and when they seem to be relatively few are bought.
and it appears by the number of bikes guys said they have owned, that many of the bikes sold have been bought by a very few of us, and of those bought by the very few of us, many of those have been re-bought by probably many of the few. In other words a few of us buy the majority of the bikes, new and used.
The majority of US motorcycle buyers want cruisers. The rest of us are so fragmented in what we want that we should consider ourselves lucky to have as many options as we do.
You are exactly right about the cruiser thing, there is only one company that has figured it out and it ain’t Suzuki. Suzuki has a great line up of sport bikes and we have been spoiled with lots of choices.
Suzuki’s entire styling department needs to be fired . Then hire some Italians .I own a Suzuki , great bike . But the lineups the last decade in a row has been yawns all around . Look at the New Yamaha R1 for example . Hello !
This design looks very much like their current MotoGP bike. If you want hard edged design Suzuki also makes the GSX-S1000 and the GSX-S1000F naked and faired bikes respectively
IMO the Italian designs I’ve seen lately look worse than this. Earlier Italian designs were gorgeous,sexy, ground breaking…. lately they just look like mash ups.
Maybe Suzuki could hire older, retired Italian designers.
I never thought I’d see the day when fluoro stripes would be back in fashion.
I think it looks great. Sad that emissions compliance BS forces them to waste resources though. Adds weight and complexity too.
Yeah, F the environment! Take that nature!
I read somewhere that there is irrefutable geological and ice core proof that in the millenia before motorcycles, cars and capitalism, the earth experienced climate change far more severe than anything we are experiencing today. Can you believe that?
Here we go. 😑
If Al Gore said it, I believe it! 🙂
I agree.
People act like if a new ultra-clean motorcycle was just slightly less clean the entire universe would implode. As if billions of people and their grandma’s are riding these.
Brainwashed masses!
Too much motorcycle for me, but I admire the technology and the aesthetics.
I’ve owned Suzukis in the past and they proved to be troublefree, well-made motorcycles.
Can’t say the same for the European brands — endless, expensive, quirky problems with maintenance, tuning and reliability.
Suzuki has always made a great bike and there are dealers everywhere unlike Triumph, why buy a European Triumph when you can get a better motorcycle at a lower price and have a dealer close to your home and the Japanese are good to there dealers unlike Triumph. If you can tell, I despise Triumph and all there no it all employees.
No positive comments on this thread so far. I will break the ice.
I like the more than slight touch of retro styling. I am pleased that Suzuki abandoned that terrible pumpkin like tank line of the K9.
We must remember that being the smallest, and least diversified, of the Japanese manufactures Suzuki was hit the hardest by the credit crisis. Their venture back into MotoGP in ’14 was a proxy of their balance sheet stabilizing.
I see the 2017 offering competing more with Kawasaki and Yamaha than BMW and Aprilia. This is a good thing in my opinion. The BMW S1000RR and Aprilia RSV4 are over-priced, glitch ridden motorcycles with thin dealer networks with a reputation of elitist, unsupportive customer relations.
Do we expect to see 175-180 HP on the Dyno? Probably not, more likely 160-170. Will handling be as sharp as the BMW or Aprilia? Probably Not, but it will be close.
The GSXR1000 has always had a very fat and linear dyno chart. What will the VVT mean to performance? Suzuki’s low tech VVT will put another 10-12Hp on the top end while maintaining a fat mid range for thousands less than the cost of the BMW.
I don’t know… the BMW is not that expensive. Neither is the RSV4. In fact, both are inline with the Japanese bikes with regard to price. The BMW might be cheaper than all of them.
One thing in its favor will be availability. I imagine there are Suzuki dealers a plenty where there are no BMW or Aprilia dealers. Then there are those that like what Suzuki is doing in MotoGP, and truthfully there are probably many that would just but Japanese over European just because the Japanese bikes have just been so reliable for them in the past.
“The BMW might be cheaper than all of them.”
From what I hear, not if you include the cost of keeping them running at race pace….
The sheer amount of acronyms, many being genuinely mechanical rather than just electronic, does make me wonder if this Suzuki isn’t on it’s way to lose the “citizen racer” reputation the GSXR has enjoyed, as well.
Oh well, from what I’ve seen, it sure looks good. Kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum from the hyper modern R1. The two of them, along with the Panigale, are, to me, the lookers in the current liter class. And looking (and listening; loved the exhaust sound in the video..) is as close as I’ll ever get to any of them.
Ok Jeremy I’ll give you that, looking at the price of the latest ZX10R and R1 I will take back my comment on the price. All that aside I would take one of the Japanese offerings over the BMW or Aprilia.
S1000RR and RSV4 die-hard owners are a breed of rider that are willing to sacrifice reliability, parts sourcing and dealer support for the performance edge and cool factor that those bikes offer.
If you buy one of those bikes you get the extended warranty and trade them in once the warranty has expired….end of story
I can’t speak to the reliability of the S1000RR or the RSV4 specifically, but parts availability and dealer support aren’t an issue for either mark where I live. That certainly wouldn’t be the case in smaller markets though. The GSXR – and other Japanese literbikes – are definitely the choice of the masses due no doubt to availability as Mickey said. I suspect that suits both BMW and Aprilia just fine, though.
The BMW isn’t that expensive–if you can actually find a base model. I assume they have to import a few just so it’s not false advertising, but I have yet to see any BMW even approaching base MSRP at the large local dealership.The S1000RRs are all in the $19k range.
Here in Canada, the Aprilia RSV4 is cheaper than the new Kawa and Yam R1. And you can’t beat a V4 engine configuration… and talk about look and finish, it’s way way better than what the Jap are doing right now.
Japanese lost their ground at the finantial crisis
Looks, yes. Finish, no. Not even close. Look closely at the seams, where panels join or where frame meets engine. Worlds apart.
re: “What will the VVT mean to performance?”
i’m actually dying to ride this more than I was the Multi12.
“…dealer networks with a reputation of elitist, unsupportive customer relations…”
I owned about 70+ motorcycles, most every brand including BMW, whose dealers were the most helpful, and definitely not elitist. This may not apply to you, but I suspect your opinion is urban myth not spread by persons with independent experience on the subject.
BMW’s success and growth rate over the last ten years is more consistent with my opinion, and contradicts yours. Companies w/elitist employees not supportive of its clients tend to fail, not lead industry growth, which defines BMW.
I have no financial affiliation in the MC industry.
Dealer reputation is up to the individual dealerships. Brand reputation is on the back of the manufacturer. I’ve seen great and horrible dealerships of every manufacturer. Some are clean, attentive, helpful, others are non responsive pigsties. Can’t tell you how many shops I have been in where I was able to walk all over the store for 30 minutes before leaving without a single employee saying hello, bikes so dirty you could write your name in the dust, you could tell accessory stock had never been moved or barely filled in. On the other hand have been in clean professional shops that greet you when you enter the door and make sure your are directed to the right department. Clean bikes, clean well filled inventory of accessories. It’s up to the individual store owner. Now if you get Do Not Ride orders on a model or a reputation for electrical probs or rear drive failures, THAT is on the mfg. All this whether European, Japanese or American.
Is it just me or does this model look more or less like the K3/K4 models?
How can you claim your bike coming out a year + will be king again? The competition is watching too and will improve already top-notch machines.
In saying it was their best GSXR ever, I think they’re only comparing their own previous efforts.
Never mind the sticker. Try paying for the insurance on a NEW, 1000CC, Sport bike. With everyone on their cell phones we are in the era of slowing down with smaller motors. Hence my CB500F. – If the bank is full of money, hey, yeah I’d love to have on next to the naked GSX1K.
Wouldn’t it be great if these promotional video’s actually did a walk around, showed us the features and even demonstrated the instrument cluster? Wake-up manufacturers… stop the teasing and flashing glimpses of what you’re offering. It’s called effective communication.
Hmm I thought the video did a good job of showing you all that? Plus you got to see and hear it in action. Beats the heck out of every one else’s promotional videos I have seen as far as explaining the bike. It wasn’t shot at night riding thru a city, there were no demons or samurai’s or explosions or flames. I liked it.
You forgot zombies and big hooters.
By the way, I forgot to thank you for the link you provided on the Honda VFR1200X thread, it was really good. My month got interesting right about that time, and I didn’t have a chance to do so on that thread – so thanks.
I’ll have to take your word for the GSXR video, I refuse to watch anything that doesn’t have demonds, samuri’s, explosions or flames in it….
BTW, Dirck, the “edit” feature is a real plus, now I don’t have to look like an imbecile quite as otfen.
re: “You forgot zombies and big hooters.”
wait, how about zombies WITH big hooters…?
YES PLEASE…!!!
Give Roger Hayden 1 for 2016 and let’s see what he/it can do in AMA Superbike races.
+1 It would be nice to have someone challenge Graves