Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Impression: 1983 Suzuki GS750ES Second-best Superbike? By David Edwards Photos by Kare l Kramer For the people at Suzuki involved with the design and engineering of the new GS 750£ and £S m odels, things must be a little frustrating as of late. They pulled out all the stops in trying to put th e fastest, best-handling swoopiest-styled . . ' Supe\bl~e Into th e hands. of Am enca s pavement-pounding 22, crazies. yet th at other 750 is comi ng o u t o n to p in mos t o r th e magazi ne road tests a nd cle an in g up at th e AMA Superbike road races. That other 750 is th e H onda V45 Interceptor, o r co u rse, an d like i t or not, th e new V-4 from H onda is th e yardsti ck by which all o th er sporti ng 750s will be mea sured. L ast month we tested th e H onda a nd ca me aw a y with a g rea t deal of respect [or th e race-i ns pired roads ter. rra nother 750cla ss bik e wa n ted to stand toe to toe wi th th e m ighty Intercepto r an d duke it o ut, it would have to be good very good. Suzu ki's co m ender in th e threequarter lit er class doesn ' t comei n to th e ring wi th out h a v ing ~ one .its road wo r k, however. , A s.mct die t ~as dropped th e 750 s weight to an im pressively lo w claimed dry weight o r 460 pounds, a lmost 30 pou nds u nd er the Inter cept or. Po wer is up as we ll . Suzuki started from th e grou nd up with a n ew ly desi gned engine featuring 16 va lves an d T win Sw irl com bust ion cham bers. By usin g lighter materials and sma ller co m pone n ts, Suzuki wa s a ble to lose 37 pounds o r wei ght in th e engine a lo ne. T he bike's chassis wasn 't negl ected in th e upgrad ing ei ther. A co m bination o r sq uare an d ro u nd stee l tubing wra ps aro u nd th e engi ne and Iorrn s mo unting p oints fo r th e new bo xsection a lu mi n u m swingarm . The rear suspension duties a re handled by a road -go i ng ve rsio n o f Suzuki 's mo tocro ss-d er ived Full Floa ter singte_ ~h9~~ ,sn t.e~ ., Adjust me nts are provi ded Ior spring p reload a nd co m pression da m p in g . Up front , 37m m fork tubes clamp o n to a 16-inch front wheel. The forks are a ir adj u sta ble a nd th e fork leg bottoms carry antid ive Iiu ings. Du al dis c brakes an d an integral fork brace are standard equipm en t. Cosm etically, th e GS is a sho w stop pe r. Fin ished in a pristin e white with a si m p le red stri pe on th e side o f th e gas tank a nd frame-mounted h alf fairing , th e bike always drew its share of attention. Low handl ebars, slig h tly rearset foot pegs a nd a mildly sca lloped seat add to th e agg ressive stylin g. A downward-sloping gas tank an d sma ll windshi eld are reminisre n t o f the co n trov ersia l Kat ana witho u t g ivin g th e Katana' s d isjo inted feelin g . A bl ack ex ha us t sy ste m , black-accented cas t wh eels and a black engine with p ol ished highl ights [i nish th e list of styli n g components. Wh ile the Suzu ki ma y h ave wa rra nted a lot or a tte n tion , not everyone was suitably im p ressed. " T o o much plast ic," cr ied o ne ed it or . " T he windshield looks a little funn y," co m mented o ne vie wer. One gray- haired lady su m med u p th e styli ng nicel y wh en she sai d to o ne o r o ur riders, " Yo u look like yo u ' re o n a mission [rom Star Wars." Beauty being in th e eye of the be holde r a nd n egative co m me nts as ide, most o f th e peop le that viewed the G S750 were impressed favorabl y. R id in g impressions o f th e new Suzu ki are a mixed bag as well m ostl y good, but with ro om [or imp rovemen 1. The Inter ceptor we test ed last m onth gave u s o u r fir st cha nce to test a bike with a 16-inch front wh eel, a n d we came away with n othing but good co m m ents . Th e sma ll front wheel o n th e GS did n othing to cha nge o ur o p in io n. 1£ a ny th ing, th e Suzu ki stee rs even m or e lightly and precisel y th an th e Honda . T he tr ansition from stra ig h t up to full-rilr sidewavs is effor tless . T he sa me hol ds true fo r m id-turn lin e changes. One . of our editors, whose street-riding st yle has been described as sedate, came back from a lunch-hour jaunt on the GS with fir e in his eyes and tal k of being able to to uch knee to ground in the corners with a littl e practice. Delusions or grandeur notwithstanding, let us say that the GS, ridden at a fast pace on th e street, is every bit the handler the Honda is. Pushed farther, some problems crop up. As delivered the suspension was set on full-soft £ront and rear. While this gave a freeway ride comparable to a '59 Coupe deVi ll e, it was not the ideal setu p for hurrying through the twisties . Even with the settings upped to near maximum, th e Suzuki didn 't feel as sta ble as th e Honda when pushed hard. We managed to scrape the side stan d mount o n the Suzuki, while none of th e H onda 's hardware touched as p ha lt . H aving said that, le t us qual ify th e co m men t. The H onda 's advan tage occurs at nearra ce speeds. At more sa ne levels of riding, th e two bikes are pretty evenly matched and, depending on yo ur riding styl e, the Suzuki 's lighter steering may give it an adva nta ge. A distinct di sadvantage, however, are th e brakes. With three large, slotted discs aboard, the GS should be an im p ressi ve stopper. It is not. The rear brak e is impreci se an d hard to modulate. More unforgi vable is th e reel of th e fro nt stoppers. Perhaps en cum bered by th e h ydraulicall y-activated anti-dive mechanism , the front brakes are vague and offer little in the way of feedback. They will haul the bike down from speed in acceptably short distances, but they do not inspire much confidence in fast road work. Whi le we have no way of telli ng if the anti-dive p lumbing hinders stopping a bi lity, we do know that it didn 't stop th e forks from bottoming. With th e recommended low or2.8 psi o r ai r in th e tubes , even light braking sent th e forks towards th e en d of their trav el. M ore ,!Lr helped. vbut-as, with,

• Cover