    |
 |
|
|
|
Suzuki NZ Ltd. - Press Release:
WHILE its fire-breathing GSX-R1000 continues to win races around the world despite a significant increase in competition, Suzuki is about to release what may well be its ultimate sports motorcycle.
We’re talking about the new GSX-R750, due to be released in New Zealand in late May.
Just as it did with the original GSX-R750 released in 1985, Suzuki has aimed to build the lightest and most powerful 750cc motorcycle the world has ever seen.
Although the bare numbers do not reveal anything like the full picture, they at least provide a yardstick. Compared with the original, the new GSX-R750 produces 55 per cent more power yet is almost 11 per cent lighter.
This weight saving is a considerable achievement given that the 2004 model Suzuki is fuel-injected so has a computer on board. In addition, it has a beefier frame and much bigger diameter forks than the original – all of which could be expected to add weight, not reduce it.
Yet the new GSX-R750 is 20 kg lighter than the original machine.
What makes Suzuki’s effort even more meritorious is that it has done this without a single competitor left in the 750cc sportsbike class. In fact, Suzuki has had the 750cc sportsbike class to itself for the past six years.
As world Superbike racing structures have switched from a 750cc four cylinder/1000cc twin cylinder formula to a blanket 1000cc limit, Suzuki’s Japanese rivals have concentrated on building 1000cc fours.
In its GSX-R1000, Suzuki has the 1000cc class well and truly covered, as British and American Superbike as well as World Endurance racing results can attest.
However, to keep faith with the legion of owners loyal to the GSX-R750, Suzuki decided it was time for a new model. In planning a new GSX-R600 for 2004, Suzuki decided the way to build a really light, compact 750 was to base it on the new 600.
With all four Japanese factories involved in the 600 Supersport racing class, every gram of weight saved and every extra bit of power won is critical. So while the Suzuki engineers slaved away on the new GSX-R600, a parallel project created the new 750.
With so many components shared between the two new Suzuki’s, it is easier to look at what separates them. The obvious one is engine capacity – the 750 uses a 72mm piston bore and a 46mm stroke to arrive at its 749cc displacement while the 600’s cylinders are 67 x 42.5 mm.
Wheels, tyres and brakes are shared, as are the 17 litre fuel tanks but while the chassis dimensions are all but identical, the new GSX-R750 has thicker castings supporting both the steering axis and the pivot area that supports the swing-arm for the rear suspension.
The fuel-injection and its Electronic Control Unit (ECU) are specific to the 750, as is the exhaust system.
The fuel injectors themselves have also been uprated over the 2003 GSX-R750, with multiple hole tips that provide a finer fuel spray than the pintle-type injector tips used previously. The ECU has also been uprated, from 96 to 256 kilobytes of ROM, and
uses a 32-bit processor compared with the 16-bit processor used previously. Allied with this is a 22-pole crankshaft position sensor (8-poles previously) to increase the frequency of engine rpm signals to the ECU. All these changes are designed to make the engine more responsive to throttle inputs and to increase engine torque.
So what is it like to ride?
Well, this is how Sam Fleming of U.S. monthly Roadracing World put it: “The bike was solid across bumpy pavement with some grooves and camber at an indicated 299 km/h – even with a brisk sidewind.” He also reported that even with the substantially increased power, “the engine never feels close to overwhelming the ultra-stiff chassis.”
In discussing power delivery from the new engine, Australian Motor Cycle News tester Sam MacLachlan reported: “You can chug out of corners with any sort of revs showing on the new tacho because the bike just agrees with what you’re asking of it. And it does it cleanly too.” MacLachlan also opined that the power is “more accessible than the 600’s and easier to tame than the GSX-R1000’s monstrous wheel-standing grunt. The perfect balance? Perhaps so.”
American Kevin Schwantz, who cut his teeth on the original GSX-R750 before going on to a successful Grand Prix career, uses GSX-R750s for his U.S.-based racing schools. Even he was impressed when he tried the new bike at its launch in Japan.
“This thing is so fast for a 750 – and it’s even better than the old model. It is so fast and smooth, and it hardly wheelspins anywhere. It also steers really nicely.”
And finally, three times Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles, who owns a Suzuki Hayabusa as his road bike of choice, was deeply impressed with the new 750.
“It’s just no effort to ride this bike. The engine’s really smooth and torquey and drives and steers perfectly. And that front brake is just awesome, with even better feel than my race bike’s brakes.”
Time will be the judge as to whether the new GSX-R750 is Suzuki’s ultimate sportsbike – but at the moment, it certainly looks the goods.
