.

Suzuki GSX-R 1100

.  

Make Model

Suzuki GSX-R 1100

Year

1996 - 98

Engine

Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder,

Capacity

1074 cc / 65.5 cub. in.

Bore x Stroke

75.5 x 60 mm

Compression Ratio

11.2:1

Cooling System

Liquid cooled

Engine Oil

10W/40

Exhaust System

Stainless steel, 4-into-2-into-1-into-2

Lubrication

Wet sump

Induction

4 x 40 mm Mikuni BST carburetors

Ignition

Analog CDI

Spark Plug

NGK

Starting

Electric

Max Power  

114.7 kW / 156 hp @ 10000 rpm

Max Power  Rear Wheel

101.4 kW / 137.8 hp @ 10000 rpm

Max Torque

115 Nm / 11.7 kgf-m / 84.8 ft-lb @ 9000 rpm

Clutch

Wet, multiple discs, cable operated

Transmission

5 Speed
Final Drive Chain, 114 links
Gear Ratios 1st 2.71 / 2nd 1.81 / 3rd 1.41 / 4th 1.18 / 5th 1.04:1
Frame Double-cradle frame rails extruded aluminium alloy, pentagon-shape

Front Suspension

Kayaba upside-down forks, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustable.

Rear Suspension

Bottom-link type, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustable

Front Brakes

2 x 310 mm Discs, six-piston calipers

Rear Brakes

Single 240 mm disc, single piston caliper

Wheels

Alloy aluminum, 3 spoke Enkei rims

Front Rim

89 mm / 3.5 in.

Rear Rim

140 mm / 5.5 in.

Front Tyre

120/70ZR17

Rear Tyre

180/55ZR17

Rake

24.8°

Trail

100 mm / 3.9in.

Dimensions

Length  2130 mm / 83.9 in.

Width      755 mm / 29.7 in.

Height   1190 mm / 46.9 in.

Wheelbase 1485 mm / 58.5 in.

Seat Height

815 mm / 32.1 in.

Ground Clearance

130 mm / 5.1 in.

Dry Weight 

231 kg / 509 lbs

Wet Weight 

254 kg / 560 lbs

Fuel Capacity 

21 Litres / 5.5 US gal / 4.6 Imp gal

Average Consumption 

6.7 L/100 km / 14.8 km/l / 34.8 US mpg / 42 Imp mpg

Braking 60 km/h / 37 mph - 0

13.2 m / 43.3 ft.

Braking 100 km/h / 62 mph - 0

37.2 m / 122 ft.

Standing ¼ mile

10.5 sec / 222 km/h / 138 mph

Top Speed

272 km/h / 169 mph

Colours

Blue/White, Red/Black, Black

No changes from the previous year to the bike, engine or chassis - only graphic changes

As motorcycles have evolved, perspectives on the GSXR1100 have changed. When the bike was new, magazines lauded its power, handling and relative lack of weight. But today's authors who compare it against 1994's introduction of the Supersports bikes, driven by Tadao Baba's development of the Honda Fireblade, can use 20/20 hindsight to be more critical. Recent articles, some with head to head comparisons with newer sportbikes, still rave about the powerful 1100 cc engine but otherwise describe the GSXR1100 as large, heavy, and unstable. Some of these assertions are borne out by Suzuki's year-to-year tinkering with the frame geometry in order to make the bike handle better. The result is that different years have different handling characteristics on the road. Earlier bikes are lighter but the square-section alloy frame is prone to warping under extreme stress; later models are more rigid and offer increased power but suffer from increased weight.

The 1989 (K model) fitted the 1100 engine (the first use of the now legendary and highly tunable and strong 1127 cc oil-air-cooled design) into a new heavier, shorter and stiffer frame based on the previous year's updated and extremely well received GSXR750J (the first of the 'Slingshot bikes, named after the mix of flat-slide on one side and flat slide with a curve on the other Mukuni carbs). Magazine testers trying out the machines gave rave reviews but something was changed between then and the bikes going on sale. The 'Slingshot' 1100 K sold in the shops suffered handling problems, some claimed as a result of changed geometry, others said there was nothing wrong with the frame and that it was the suspension units that were set up all wrong.

Whatever it was, the standard bike was thought hard to handle and many modern magazines go so far as to advise buyers to avoid the "K" model, some even calling that year a “lemon”. This was an attitude that was reinforced with the death of the Suzuki racer Phil Mellor at the Isle of Man in 1989 on the GSXR-1100K race bike. Jamie Whitham also crashed in the same race and it was enough to see the race authorities at the IOM ban the big bikes from racing for several years.

In 1990 the (L Model) bike was again tweaked and the wheelbase lengthened to correct the previous year's handling problems. 1991 (M model) saw the addition of larger carburetors and major cosmetic changes when the fairing was reworked to place the headlights under a smooth plastic cover that helped the bike’s aerodynamics. 1992 (N model) was mechanically the same but offered more aggressive graphics in line with the time. It was also the last year of the oil-cooled engines as the bike was re-designed for 1993.

1993 (WP model) saw major engine changes with the introduction of water cooling and some significant chassis changes. The move away from oil cooling allowed a surge in power, bringing total output to 155 bhp at the crank and saw yet another hugely strong, reliable and extremely tunable Suzuki engine created (Performance Bike in the UK reported on one taken to over 190 bhp at the wheel – without the use of a turbo or nitrous oxide injection).

A new stiffer largely forged five-sided pentagonal cross-section frame was introduced along with an asymmetrical 'banana' swing-arm. Bigger Nissin six-piston brake calipers were fitted. The bike’s weight went up slightly as well, finally topping the 500-pound mark that Suzuki had been flirting with for years, but the overall look of the bike remained essentially the same as previous models. 1994 (WR model) saw nothing but colour changes.

Throughout the water-cooled years, 1993 to 1998, the GSXR’s design saw only one relatively major revision with the launch of the 1995 WS; everything else on the 1996 WT, 1997 WV and 1998 WW models was restricted to mere colour and graphics changes.

IMany owners say these bikes are the easiest to live with and the most well rounded. Good fuel economy is even possible (over 45 mpg on a long cruising run * imp gallon)15,9 km/l and the slight changes made to the foot-peg position on the WS-on models even made distances a much less daunting prospect. In reality the bike had become a highly competent and monstrously fast (177 mph was measured as the max speed of the standard WS bike by one UK bike magazine, Superbike in 1995) sports-touring machine, a far cry from its race-born origins.

It is clear the design had reached its fullest form in the mid 1990s but that in terms of the leading edge of sports bike design it was already outdated and left behind as competition spurred the development of ever more powerful, ever lighter sport bikes.

This was demonstrated nowhere else more clearly than Suzuki's own brand-new 1996 GSXR750WT, a return to the ultra-lightweight with a new beam frame, the SRAD design, which offered approx 115 bhp at the rear wheel - coupled with the added boost from the new pressurised airbox design (always particularly efficient on Suzukis - Fast Bikes in the UK once measured a full 10 bhp increase in power on the Crescent Racing shop's dyno and wind tunnel @ 120 mph in 2003 with a GSXR1000). All at a chassis weight 'cost' on the GSXR750WT of only 179 KG (394 LBs).

1998 saw the last GSXR1100s roll off the assembly line and, despite how popular the bike had been in its heyday, there was no hue and cry as production quietly stopped. Suzuki would be without a big bore sportbike for three years before the GSXR1000 was released.

Despite the fact that over its production run tens of thousands of GSXR1100s were produced and sold all over the world, original examples in good condition have become something of a rarity. Many bikes were ridden hard and they were often crashed. As a result, they became and remain a popular starting point for street fighters and customs.

The bike is a tuner's favorite - all versions respond well to tuning and even early models can make 140 hp (104 kW) at the wheel with relative ease. Simple intake modifications and a good exhaust will yield upwards of 10 hp (7 kW) increase. More enthusiastic tuning will see 160 hp (119 kW) or more, and many drag racers use superchargers or turbochargers with this engine to break the 500 hp (370 kW) mark.

Source: wikipedia.com

Review

 Do the '94 FZR 1000 and GSX-Rl 100 still cut the mustard or has Honda's 900 killed them off? Franklin and Forsyth fit cut slicks and loud pipes to the Yamaha and Suzuki, junk the restrictors and go in search of the elusive deserted road to find out.

Yamaha FZR1000 Exup

Nobody who rode the Exup returned without a smile. A big, Cheshire cat-sized smile. Without exception everyone's first words were blasphemous, foul or unintelligible. Nobody was unimpressed.

For what is basically a four-year-old bike the Exup still delivers the goods in a fantastically composed and powerful package: explosive bottom-end torque and arm-stretching top end power. Ride it fast in the wet and all of a sudden you begin to appreciate just how powerful it really is. Like anything else with 125bhp and only two wheels, it'll bite you if you treat it cackhandedly.

But there is an inbuilt level of safety. It's so stable at speed you'd swear it's running some sort of ground-effect system. It doesn't matter whether it's a fourth gear sweeper with a mid-corner dip or a kink over a crest; the Exup never waggles, wobbles or weaves. Compared with the more unruly GSX-R it's a big pussycat.

This year's six pot front brake calipers have made the already safe Exup safer still. There's an incredible amount of stopping power now; one finger's enough to scythe off speed with such ferocity it really does tax your forearms. One rider said the Exup's brakes felt more powerful than the engine. A 125bhp engine and 130bhp brakes: just what you need for staying alive.

The brakes provide the new Öhlins USD forks with the ultimate test of bendability. They're set up for a comfortable ride, with soft springing and compression damping, but they aren't prone to flexing — far from it. Where the forks do fail is under hard braking (with one finger, remember) over rippled surfaces. As soon as they get the slightest hint of front brake they dive for cover, leaving no travel for bump absorption. Approaches to bumpy corners leave a series of small skid marks as the front wheel struggles to stay in contact with the undulating tarmac. Even with a cut slick fitted.

But through faster, smoother corners the Exup has impeccable manners. You'd be hard pressed to find a bike that feels as composed when you're really tonkin'. Fitting slicks is probably the worst thing you could do to this legendary high speed stability; they bugger it completely, making a beslicked Exup an unpredictable monster through fast corners. Will it tankslap you into a ditch? Will that twitching turn into something more serious? A bit like a Fireblade, really.

On stock rubber, though, there's none of this funny business. The standard Dunlops are much nicer than cut slicks in a variety of situations. That crucial moment — the transition from vertical to lean — is much less worrying on the OE tyres as the cut slicks made the Exup wobble like crazy in really fast corners. Once it was actually at full lean it was fine, but those moments before it would dance around like a CX500 with knackered head bearings.

Although the cut slicks could find an unbelievable amount of grip at the apex and exit of a turn, the steering would go horribly light and unpredictable as the bike powered out. Yes, give us road-based rubber any day. Rupert summed up the Exup on slicks: "It's bloody horrible. It feels like an old GSX-RU00K." Nail on the proverbial head.

You see, normally, the Exup is a delight to ride quickly and smoothly. The way it delivers its creamy-smooth power means that the rider isn't constantly stirring the gear lever to keep the engine on the boil. Even the mighty GSX-R1100 engine feels a bit wheezy by comparison. On a twisty B road the Yamaha rarely needs more than 6,000rpm to blur the hedgerows. You can rev it harder, or go faster, but it'll scare the pants off you, as well as whoever's coming the other way/following. The fastest and smoothest way from A to B is to shortshift through the five gears and wind open the throttle. There's enough midrange torque to humble a Harley.

FZR1000 comfort is a moot point. Some people, me included, think the Exup is one of the most uncomfortable long distance bikes ever: back ache, wrist and neck cramps, numb bum and an excruciatingly painful perineum. Others, like Trevor Franklin, think the Exup is actually comfortable, but he's a bat fastard with more padding than me. Roop says it's fine at 120mph on German autobahns. To fit an Exup perfectly you need a short back and very long arms. Like a gibbon.

But bloater or not, everyone was impressed by the new YZF-style fairing which successfully shields the rider from tiring lOOmph wind blast, exploding bumble bees and those huge flies that are filled with what looks like rhubarb and custard. The fairing also houses the much-acclaimed and celebrated fuel reserve switch, which I'm not going to say anything about because it's more boring than aYamaha trade seminar.

Grumbles? Yes. Yamaha could learn a thing or two from Suzuki on the gearbox and clutch front. The GSX-R1100, like every other Suzuki in the range (except the RGV250), has one of the slickest, sweetest, smoothest, most trustworthy transmissions in the business. The Exup, by comparison, has one of the worst. Gear selection isn't a problem — although it's not as light and positive as the Suzuki's  it's that bleedin' 'orrible clutch action. Progressive and predictable it is not. Noisy, grabby and feeble it most certainly is. Why, oh why, oh why haven't Yamaha done something about it? I mean it's not as if we haven't complained about it before.

The Exup is still a great bike; dated, yes, but its massive power and stability remain a valid alternative to the lighter, sharper, twitchier Fireblade. Sadly, every dog has its day and while the 900 Honda is still in its prime the big Yamaha is approaching creaky old age. Roll on the YZF900.

Mark Forsyth

Suzuki GSX-R1100W

Wrenching open the throttle at 6,000rpm should have produced enough power to push the rear tyre solidly into tarmac and hoik the front end skyward. Sadly, and to my disbelief, it wasn't. The Suzuki bogged down as if receiving only quarter throttle.

Hurried clutch slip gave the necessary drive to miss 38 tonnes of Renault truck and, in the safety of the adjoining B-road, I tried again, with only marginal wheel-hopping success. Exaggerated clutch slip with a good pull on the clip-ons gets it up, missus, but at the possible expense of mechanical destruction.

What a difference from the old oil-cooled 1100 phased out in 1992. Suzuki have fitted the watercooled engine with huge, 40mm carbs for top end power, then restricted it to 115bhp: worst of both worlds.

"It takes a long time to get to a hundred," remarked Technical Editor Theodopilus Robinson after a morning on the GSX-R. I agree, but the quarter miles shame both our ramblings: GSX-R: 10.93s @ 124.5mph. Exup: 10.96s @ 126.1mph. Either old age and raging senility has affected us or standing start acceleration is a useless measure of midrange throttle response.

Helping keep the GSX-R on the pace is one of the best five speed gearboxes ever. Bimbling around town two-up with a tight chain gives no notchy clunks up or down the box. Even under the severest abuse, using the rev limiter instead of closing the throttle, gear changes are precise. Better still, numerous quarter mile attempts and tread-wasting long-distance wheelspins (Mark won, on the FZR) failed to upset the Suzuki's hydraulic clutch. The Yamaha's became so grabby after only two launches it was put to one side and ignored like a naughty schoolboy.

GSX-R1100 suspension gets more than its fair share of complaints: over complicated, can't get it right, what suits one doesn't suit the other.... It's all justified if half-wits disrupt standard settings in a vain attempt to better them. The WR isn't perfect, but it doesn't take a lot to put it right.

There's nothing seriously wrong with the front end. It dives alarmingly when all 12 caliper pistons clench the discs as tightly as your bum cheeks in a last-hope braking manoeuvre (yes, the brakes are the sort to cause a tackle-to-tank collision; awesome). My cure: up compression from the stock seven clicks to nine and wind the preload in three lines.

The rear shock works fine on A-roads and motorways, smoothing out the bumps even over cats' eyes and approach warning lines at roundabouts. Bumpy B-roads and tight corner exits make the bike wallow (feels like a flat rear tyre) then squat under power. It's nothing scary; it just makes the bike a bit harder to pick up for the next corner. Because it happens in the low gears, where the chain is wrenching the swing arm upwards most strongly, it's better to use extra preload rather than compression damping. I left it alone, hoping a lack of food on the journey north would compensate.

Over the years, GSX-R engine specs have changed. Shame the frame design hasn't. Apart from extra bracing and a stretched wheelbase, it's still based on the original 1986 twin rail jobbie. Too high, too much metal needed to make it stiff.

The bodywork has undergone more annual surgery than anything else to keep up with the opposition, but it's choice — true race replica in design and it looks the business. The Lazer 4-2-1 we fitted helps; even Mark, who's used to racing exotica, pronounced the bike fit-looking.

The screen isn't raked as high as the FZR's endurance-derived item, forcing the wind into your throat. A loaded tank bag is a better deflector but obscures the instruments. The high pegs are a pain in the knees after 50 motorway miles; relief is effected by riding flat footed, heel on the pegs, gumby style. Given that the headlights are set back and enclosed, night roads get a good spread of light (the FZR's dip cuts off far too short).

Standard D202 Dunlops suit the GSX-R perfectly. In pant-staining bends they give plenty grip with a balanced feel between front and rear: fine for public roads but previous track sorties have shown they do overheat. Mark's suggestion of fitting cut slicks for attacking the Lake District was ideal. At the time.

Prior to having a tread pattern cut into the rear ex-race Michelin, I spied P Mc Fl 4 laps on the sidewall. Good stuff: an ex-Phil McCallen TT tyre. To my nicotine-fugged mind it seemed I was receiving the same service as the racing greats.

Back in the real world I was disappointed. At low speeds you can feel the extra grip — on Delugrip-covered roundabouts the front tyre feels like it's turning in glue and needs extra force on the bars to aim it. Out on faster, dryer roads it's the opposite. On the M6 (120mph ish officer) the front goes very light, bangs off cats' eyes alarmingly and is sensitive to any shift in weight or bar input. At least it didn't suffer high speed weaves like the Exup. On coarse road surfaces in the Lake District the slicks gave exceptional peg-scraping grip but highlighted the need for suspension adjustment — more than the standard setup can offer. My advice is stick to normal road tyres: it's healthier for you and your licence.

The GSX-R1100 struggles to hold its head high in the monster capacity class. New, exciting models like the GSX-R750, Honda's Fireblade and Kawasaki's ZX-9R have stolen its thunder in the last couple of years. Only if, like me, you think big is best, does the Suzuki win, as it always has done.

Trevor Franklin