Suzuki GSX-R 1100G

Road Test 1986
Sport riders in search of the Perfect Ride traditionally shy away from the literbike class, and it's not hard to see why: Most sporting big-bores, though endowed with dyno-bending horsepower and capable of prodigious speed, also tip the scales at well over 500 pounds dry. In addition, many heavyweights now give up a measure of sporting ability in favor of a soft suspension and compliant ride. So as sportbikes like the 900 Ninja or VF750F Interceptor lose their razor's edge in the transition to the liter class, knee-dragging enthusiasts search harder each year to find a literbike with both the pavement-rippling horsepower they expect and the full-combat handling they demand.

That search for a no-compromise sporting big-bore might well have ended, though, and the answer to enthusiasts' prayers comes from what might seem like an unlikely source, as well—Suzuki, a company long known for building liter-bikes of noteworthy capabilities, but that nonetheless lacked the hard-edged sporting charisma to appeal to die-hard knee-draggers. But one look at the GSX-R1100 will convince anyone that not only has a manufacturer finally decided to build a leading-edge, no-compromise 1100 sport-bike, but that all its previous efforts—and those of the competition—seem pale by comparison, as well.

The GSX-R1100 is so serious a motorcycle, in fact, and its sporting focus so narrow, that owning one might be the next best thing to being on Suzuki's roster of go-fasters-for-hire. From its twin halogen headlights to the tip of its four-into-one exhaust, the R1100's racetrack-bred styling promises nothing but performance. Settle into the cockpit, grab the cast-aluminum clip-ons, thumb the starter button and run the free-spinning engine up through the gears. The big-bore Suzuki accelerates as though the hounds of hell were snapping at its heels. And that's not all: Suzuki's claims of a 434-pound dry weight and 130 horsepower add up to the kind of power and handling seldom found this side of a factory ride—the kind to make your most outrageous sporting dreams come true.

Suzuki engineers share these dreams, too, because the R1100 lacks little more than numberplates and safety wire to look—and feel—right at home on any roadrace course in the world. A close look at the R1100's lean chassis, huge front discs and swoopy bodywork suggests that Suzuki's intent might have been to build a front-line endurance roadracer first, and a streetbike second—not that the company went to great lengths to prove otherwise, considering the GSX-R1100 debuted at Laguna Seca. And while a racetrack isn't the best place to evaluate a motorcycle's overall streetworthiness, the R1100's speed and agility around that tight, demanding course nonetheless speak volumes for how well Suzuki succeeded in tapping the innermost desires of sporting riders.

First and foremost, those die-hards lust for speed, and if you count horsepower instead of sheep at night, the R1100's engine is the stuff of your dreams. Based on the GSX-R750's engine, a powerplant with impeccable credentials in endurance racing, the R1100's engine borrows the R750's new TSCC (Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber) cylinder-head design, which is more compact and more efficient than earlier TSCC designs. Naturally, the R1100 has a bigger bore (76mm, up from the 750's 70mm) and stroke (58mm compared to the 750's 48.7mm), as well. And finally, a rack of 34mm flat-slide CV carburetors replace the 29mm flat-slide/needle units of the GSX-R750 (though U.S.-spec 750s use 31mm CVs), and help back up Suzuki's claim that its newest big-bore boasts the strongest engine available in any production sportbike.

And it's easy to believe that claim as you swing out onto the track and accelerate up the front straight toward Laguna's Turn One. When the R1100's tach needle swings into the upper rev range, a torrent of power cascades out of the big Suzuki like doubletalk in an election year. The R1100's prodigious appetite for Laguna's straightaways rivals that of Godzilla's for Tokyo, and there's more than enough power throughout the spread to make up for a missed shift or too-high gear selection. Whack open the throttle and the R1100 lunges from corner to corner with the ferocity of a junkyard dog.

That staggering acceleration doesn't come from sheer power alone, though. Suzuki engineers wanted a heavyweight on the dyno but not on the scales, so they took another traditional racebike route to speed and pared the weight of the R1100's internal engine components wherever possible, resulting in a claimed weight for the R1100's engine of 180 pounds, 52 pounds less than the GS-1150's claimed figure.

With this substantial weight savings in hand, Suzuki engineers could easily have added liquid-cooling to help the new engine cope with its colossal power output. Instead, they opted for the oil-cooling system pioneered in the GSX-R750. Suzuki's Advanced Cooling System (SACS) utilizes oil as a cooling medium, and has two separate oil pumps, one to pump oil to the cylinder head at a maximum rate of 22 quarts per minute, and the other to supply oil to the transmission, crankshaft, pistons and top end. And in addition to helping the R1100 keep its cool at high engine speeds, SACS eliminates the need for the added complexity of a water pump, fan and coolant.

The emphasis on light weight didn't stop at the engine: Chassis lightness played no less an important role in the R1100's design. As a result, the R1100 emulates current race-think with its square-section, all-aluminum frame, which boasts a claimed weight of only 28.2 pounds. And if you need any additional evidence of the seriousness of the R1100's sporting intent, consider this: Its swingarm pivot and front and rear axles are not only chrome-moly steel, they're hollow, as well—a trick usually employed only on racebikes, where fewer ounces translate into faster laps.

And on the racetrack, the extra time and effort spent dipping into racing's bag of tricks pays off in spades. When you run out of straightaways—and it doesn't take long on the R1100—you can throw the big Suzuki into corners with abandon, its linear steering letting you set your line with precision. In addition, once the R1100 is arcing through that line, it takes an act of Congress to budge it without your consent. Part of the credit for the bike's surefootedness goes to its tires. Its 110/80-18 front and 150/70-18 rear wheels are shod at the factory with either Dunlop or Bridgestone radials, reflecting Suzuki's desire for the R1100 to be equipped with rubber as advanced as the rest of the bike.

That same philosophy is reflected in the R1100's suspension, too. The 41mm front fork features a new anti-dive mechanism, activated by a sensor in the front brake lever. Since the R1100 triggers its anti-dive electrically rather than by brake-fluid pressure, braking feel is unaffected by the anti-dive units, and the R1100's resistance to nose-dive is notably improved over previous Suzukis. The R1100's rear suspension represents a departure from previous big-bore Suzukis, as well, with a new design

Full Floater single-shock setup that uses an eccentric link between the swingarm and the bottom of the shock, rather than the top. This new setup performs flawlessly; even through the bumpiest corners Laguna Seca has to offer the 1100 slices through the apex with unruffled calm.

On the way into and out of those corners, though, the R1100 lets you in on some of the compromises involved in crossbreeding a racebike with a streetbike. Like its hard-stopping endurance-racing ancestors, most of the R1100's impressive braking ability is concentrated in the two massive 12.2-inch floating front disc brakes, each with its own four-piston caliper. And they work so well, refusing to fade stop after tire-howling stop, that they quickly illustrate why the rear brakes on GP bikes get smaller each year. Using the R1100's front and rear brakes simultaneously while banking into a corner can initiate a heart-stopping slide as the weight transfer unloads the rear wheel. During testing at Laguna Seca, the front brake alone was entirely up to the task of checking the R1100's speed entering corners. On the street, however, the rear brake's sensitivity isn't likely to be a problem for any but the most aggressive, but it's precisely those riders Suzuki targeted with the GSX- R.

Those same demanding riders might find fault with the R1100's transmission, too, though not as much with its performance as with its number of ratios and their spacing. Despite the R1100's forgiving midrange, some will think that a bike with the all-out sporting intent of the R1100 demands a close-ratio six-speed, and riders who consider ten-tenths merely a starting point might wish for a more accommodating choice of ratios to close up the gap between second and third gears.

Those not so dedicated, however, might wish for a more accommodating seating position. After putting 1100ccs worth of sportbike in the R1100's 57.5-inch wheelbase, there isn't much room left over for tall riders. Although the rearset pegs are placed ideally for fast riding and generous cornering clearance, some riders will find them too high. And unless you use the GSX-R's considerable speed potential to create a cushion of air to support your upper body, your arms quickly tire of the bike's ultra-sporting crouch—it's a long stretch from the thinly padded saddle to the stubby clip-ons.

The GSX-R1100 has the Light Stuff-you provide the Right Stuff
Those considerations seem insignificant, though, when the R1100 hits the heart of its powerband and your adrenaline starts flowing like beer at a bachelor party. And the thrills don't end when the roads get curvy. The GSX-R1100's handling is not only exceptional for an 1100, it's a revelation for any sportbike. This is a bike with something for flinty-eyed techno-freaks and snake-eyed knee-draggers alike, packed with more racebike technology and visceral thrills than any other big-bore motorcycle to date. If you're among those discerning sportbike riders who begrudge a motorcycle even the slightest dilution of its sporting purity, you'll find no cause for complaint with the GSX-R1100, from the first time you crack open the throttle and hear the battle-cry of 130 horses. And that cry is more than the exultation of a thoroughbred 1100 with the purest sporting focus in its class; it's a challenge for riders to match their own seriousness to that of the GSX-R1100.

Source Cycle Guide 1986

Source of review: Fast Bikes by Roland Brown