2018 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R
R I D E R E V I E W
P108
by a chassis that has such great mechanical grip it takes
the strain off the electronics.
The 1000R gets the extra funky Showa Balance Free
Front fork and Balance Free Rear Cushion Lite shock
compared to the base model's Showa Big Piston Front fork
plus Showa shock, and even though they are tuned more
for racetrack performance than the street, on the latter,
the performance is excellent. These are not electronically-
adjustable units like on the BMW S 1000 RR or the Honda
CBR1000RR SP, instead of relying on solid analog know-
how to get the best setup. And it works. On the street,
the 1000R is a gem to behold, especially when carving
delivers power to the rear tire. It's still a
GSX-R in that it revs its nuts off with most
of the power up top (in this case a redline
of 14,500 rpm), but it has more of every-
thing below that 10k rpm mark, making it a
much more livable street bike.
On the safety side, Suzuki has a six-axis
Inertial Measurement Unit—pitch up and
down, roll left and right, and yaw left and
right—and communicates that information
to the ECM to determine the intervention
of traction and wheelie control.
(Right) It's sad to
see the Suzi heading
back, but thanks for
rekindling the love
of street superbike
riding! (Below) Take
a GSX-R1000R to a
hipster Harley night,
and you soon realize
you may be different
from other people.
Traction control is a 10-stage system
with nine levels plus Off that takes in
inputs from the Throttle Position Sensor,
Acceleration Position Sensor, IMU, ECM,
front- and rear-wheell speed sensors,
Gear Position Sensor and the Crank Posi-
tion Sensor to determine if you're about to
hit the deck, and if you have the system on
level two as I did for almost the entire five
months the GSX-R was in my garage, you
forget the system is even working in the
background. It's a seamless TC, one aided
