Motorcycle specifications Suzuki750 GSX-R 1985 The most famous sportswoman

What can be said to introduce the GSX-R 750 that hasn't already been said elsewhere, so much so that this bike has become a benchmark. The GSX-R 750 is a revolution in itself; a quantum leap in the arms race; a pure pistarde that some genius (or lucky person) would have equipped for the road.
The GSX-R 750 has been the benchmark, the immortal myth for decades. None of its supersport rivals from the early days have survived it; Gone are the VF-F, RC 30, RC 45, FZ, FZR, YZF 750, GPZ-R, ZXR, ZX7-R... Suzuki's 750 supersport bike has exhausted its competitors to the point where they've left the segment in favor of the 600 and 1000cc models.

Admittedly, the introduction is excessive and not very objective: the disappearance of the 750cc is surely due much more to changes in the rules of endurance competitions than to the superiority of the GSX-R. However, it has to be said that the Hamamatsu-based company has made its mark on the 750cc supersports segment. So much so, in fact, that the brand could not bring itself to abandon this displacement and for a third of a century offered a GSX-R 750 in its catalog, more than 30 years after its first presentation in September 1984 at the Cologne Motor Show (IFMA). This resilience underlines the importance of this model in Suzuki's history.

After all, many Suzuki models have inherited genes from this bike: sports bikes (the GSX-R family), road bikes (the GSX-F family, the GSX-G), roadsters (the GSX-S family and the GSF Bandit family, which took the supersport engine and, for the first 600 Bandit, a frame reminiscent of the first GSX-R frames).

A model of this calibre deserved a few pages in the "vintage motorcycles" section.

the first GSX-R 750 model was presented at the Cologne Motorcycle Show in September 1984. Just as the Yamaha RDLC350 had done in its day, the GSX-R - as extreme as any motorcycle had ever been - marked a new stage in sportiness.
The engineers seem to have taken only one constraint into account: efficiency. And everything in the machine's design seems to be based on this idea.

The engine is innovative, but not revolutionary. Suzuki has simply taken the best of today's mastered technologies and adapted them in its own way. The 4-cylinder short-stroke engine (70 mm x 48.7 mm) is fitted with a twin-cam cylinder head driving 16 valves.
Some competitors (Honda with its VF-F, Kawasaki with the GPZ and Yamaha with its FZ, which will arrive shortly after the GSX-R) have opted for liquid cooling, much more efficient than the traditional fins of air-cooled engines. However, this technology has the disadvantage of being heavier than air cooling. Liquid and bulky radiators weigh heavily on the scales.
On the other hand, this new block, whose power must reach 100 hp (this point is part of the specifications imposed on the engineers), cannot be satisfied with simple air cooling. Suzuki therefore opted for an original solution called the Suzuki Advance Cooled System, from which the SACS engine name derives. This system uses engine oil as the cooling fluid. The engine retains its cooling fins and adds a smaller radiator than those used for water cooling. This saves weight on both the fluid and the radiator. The quantity of engine oil is greater than on a conventional engine, but this is all the better for mechanical reliability (the longevity of this type of engine is proof of this).
The SACS solution is undoubtedly one of the most rational solutions for this type of motorcycle, providing greater efficiency while remaining simple in design.

And if Suzuki has succeeded in saving a certain number of kilos with its engine, the chassis is not to be outdone. The aim here is to offer a bike that weighs 20% less than the competition. Suzuki took 220kg as the reference weight (a realistic basis for the time), and imposed a weight of 176kg on his design engineers.
To keep the weight down, the frame and swingarm are made of aluminum. This is a common feature in competition, but one rarely found on production bikes. At just 8kg, the frame is extremely lightweight.
With its short wheelbase (1,425 mm), narrow tires (110/80-18 front and 140/70-18 rear) and low weight, the GSX-R is extremely maneuverable and spirited. The frame's perfectible rigidity and the sometimes excessive reactivity of this first generation led the brand to modify the swingarm in 1986 (lengthening it by 30 mm) to provide a little more stability. In 1987, it also gained a number of improvements taken from the 1986 GSX-R 750R model (a kind of competitor's bike halfway between the road and track versions).

Incidentally, the GSX-R brakes hard, very hard. Suzuki uses what it calls a "decapiston" system, with a double 300 mm front disc fitted with 2 4-piston calipers and a single 280 mm disc with 2-piston caliper; enough to tear up strips of asphalt when it comes to stopping the 176 kg machine.

the combination of this engine and an extremely playful chassis makes for an impressive bike. Not much more efficient than the Yamaha FZ750 and its modern 4-cylinder engine, it is nevertheless rougher, more demonstrative; a kind of beast that the rider has to tame.

The sensations are breathtaking, and the new bike accelerates, brakes and twists like no other production bike before it, even if it takes a certain amount of experience to master its sometimes brutal reactions. The GSX-R 750 is by no means a utility bike to be ridden gently.

When it was launched in France, the importer provided dealerships with a brochure entitled "Born to be a legend". And while this slogan may not have been self-evident at the time, it summed up the impressions of both the bikers who came to see it in the dealership window, and those who were lucky enough to ride it.

Tanthallas - Manufacturer's photos