Photo: Suzuki
Something is said to be brewing behind the closed doors of the Hamamatsu house, but no official info is now known. Fact is, more and more people believe that Suzuki is working hard on a new GSX-R1000 machine which could be introduced later this year as a 2016 model year. As to how new will the bike actually be and whether it will use the same platform, these are still uncharted territory.
The liter-class Gixxer is one of the superbikes which have spent a lot of time far from the development labs. Truth be told, the last major upgrade the GSX-R1000 received seems to have arrived around 10 years ago, with the K5 and K6 models. What followed next from the K7 model on is more like minor tweaks to keep the bike alive.
Despite the very good performance of the GSX-R1000, the bike has been slowly drifting towards the rear of the pack in 2014, as the competition has delivered new machines, with some of them even being brand-new members of this elite club, such as the Kawasaki Ninja H2 (keeping to the road going machines). BMW has added solid upgrades to their S1000RR, Ducati added extra displacement and power for the (now) 1299 Panigale, and Yamaha hasn’t been idling either, showing an entirely new YZF-R1 bike last November.
Some of the rumors seem to indicate that the new liter-class Gixxer will be a derivative of the MotoGP prototype with which Suzuki will be making their comeback this season. The prototype has abandoned the V4 architecture in favor of the in-line 4-cylinder engine, and seeing it detuned for street use and putting some 210 horsepower to the wheel would definitely not be a huge surprise.
While Honda is definitely not interested in producing a huge number of RC213V-S machines and Kawasaki’s Ninja H2 and H2R are not the cheapest of the lot either, it’s still a mystery whether Suzuki will remain in the popular superbike segment or take the step into the “you can’t afford it” territory.
Even though we now are only making suppositions, it looks like most people agree that a solid revamp of the Gixxer family would be a most welcome stage in the model’s history.
Despite the very good performance of the GSX-R1000, the bike has been slowly drifting towards the rear of the pack in 2014, as the competition has delivered new machines, with some of them even being brand-new members of this elite club, such as the Kawasaki Ninja H2 (keeping to the road going machines). BMW has added solid upgrades to their S1000RR, Ducati added extra displacement and power for the (now) 1299 Panigale, and Yamaha hasn’t been idling either, showing an entirely new YZF-R1 bike last November.
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Honda surfaced the MotoGP-derived RC213V-S and despite the fact that it will arrive with a price tag reading huge money, it will be a road going bike, nevertheless. Even more, with many bikes now sporting peak power figures which go north the 200 hp mark, it’s high time Suzuki upped their game.Some of the rumors seem to indicate that the new liter-class Gixxer will be a derivative of the MotoGP prototype with which Suzuki will be making their comeback this season. The prototype has abandoned the V4 architecture in favor of the in-line 4-cylinder engine, and seeing it detuned for street use and putting some 210 horsepower to the wheel would definitely not be a huge surprise.
While Honda is definitely not interested in producing a huge number of RC213V-S machines and Kawasaki’s Ninja H2 and H2R are not the cheapest of the lot either, it’s still a mystery whether Suzuki will remain in the popular superbike segment or take the step into the “you can’t afford it” territory.
Even though we now are only making suppositions, it looks like most people agree that a solid revamp of the Gixxer family would be a most welcome stage in the model’s history.
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