Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Above) Reducing overall weight was Suzuki's ma in goal with th e 1994 GSXR750. It now weighs at least 20 pounds less th a n las t year's 750 . (Top left) The new GSXR750 is fitted the same s ix-p is to n Toklco front brake calipe rs th a t we re used on last year's GSXR1100 . (Left) The bike feature s a n all-new and stronger bridged-type pr essed aluminum s wingarm. the spring chan ge; the compression ' and rebound damping rate s were increased 30%. Up front, Suzuki a lso stripped the GSXR of som e excess weight by reducing th e thickness of the triple clamps and outer fork tubes by Irnm, and by reducing the wall thickness of the inn er tube s by 0.3mm . To retain rigidity, th e outside diam eter of the tubes w as increased from 41 to 43mm. Rebound damping ha s been increa sed 30% and the spring rate jumps up 3% to balan ce the changes m ad e to th e rea r sus pe nsion. In addition , the 750 also gets th e lighter, under-the-headlight-mounted steering damper used on the GSXRllOO. Believe it or not, the biggest weight loss came from the red esign of the headlight assembly. The ne w sys tem uses a multi-eonvex reflector for the light pa ttern with a single lens (elimin ating the inner lens) covering the assembly. Suz uki claims this sys tem is more efficien t, thus allowing for a narrower assembly and - you g uessed it - less weight. In addition, a single lightwei ght bracket is now used to moun t th e ins tru me n ts, headlight shell and th e slidi ng end of the steering damper - thus ridd ing itself of the large brace that pre viously supported the assembly and cowling. The '94 GSXR750 will feature the same si x-piston Tokic o front brake calipers that were used on last yea r' s GSXRllOO, instead of the four-piston stoppers used on the '93 GSXR750 . Suzuki claims a 5% increase in the effective radius of the brake ro tor, despite using the same 310mm ro tors (now drilled rather than slotted) as last year. Additionally, the new brakes feature sintered metal pads to increase wear resentence, prevent anti-fade effect, and ensure better wet-weather performance. The final majo r ch a n g e to the GSXR750 is the use of softer com pound Dunlop D204 Sp ort Rad ials instead of the 202 Sp ortmax used on las t year's GSXR750. Both tir es are mounted on lighter wh eel s th at now fea ture a straight spo ke design. 'We wer e given th e op portu nity to rid e the new GSXR750 (fitted with GP compound Dunlop Sportmax tires) at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, for our initial impression. The first th ing th at we noticed was th e s tiffer r id e: good w hen rid den at speed o n t he r ace track, but a little fatigu ing 30 or so miles into your daily commute. Ap paren tly , you can't have one witho ut the other. The stiffness feels as tho ugh it comes more fr o m the red on e rea r s us pension than from the also-ehanged front fork; and it results in an at-times jarring ride on rough roads at low speeds. The second th in g that becomes apparen t is the w eight loss. The new GSXR begs to be flicked around and it changes d irections like a well -polished polit ician - a d irect by-product of the bikes' extensive d ieting program. And w hile the sus pensio n changes may make riding the bike on the street less tolerable, th e lo ss o f w e ig ht comes wi th absolutely no negatives. The bike retains its high-speed stability (th anks also to the st iffer suspension) and never gave -e ve n a h int of the w obbles onc e we , d ialed in the rebound and compr ession settings on the front fork. Som e of the faster journalists at the Willow Sp rings press introduction went one step further and rai sed th e fork tubes in the triple clamps, further fixing a we ll-voiced complaint that the front end felt high in relation to the rear. The brakes were the third and final upgrade that had an immedia te effe ct on our testers . The new six-piston Tokico calipers stopped the GSXR750 in its tracks and maintained a positive fee l throughou t the day at Willo w Sp rings, never even hinting tha t they were close to fading. The engine is nearly identical to last year's powerplant, an d any gain in top speed or mid-range gru n t is p rob abl y only because of the GSXR's loss of weight. One thing that remains the same on this yea r's GSXR750 is the nearly unbearable ergonomics. Ou r five- foot , eight-inch test rider fit righ t into the Suzuki's cockpit, rode all d ay at Willow Springs and never complained. Sure the . pegs are h igh, and the suspension's stiff, but on the race track the package works. Our six-foo t, one-inch tester, however, d idn't find the bike as appealing after two or so 52-mile commutes from Riverside to Long Beach, California. He found the cockpit way too small and the suspension too stiff. In fact, the bike has been sitting in storage ever since. For city riding, the GSXR750 is just too much work to be fun . The pipey and near bottom-end-less motor requires the clutch to be slipped at times while negotiating th ro ugh heavy traffic, a nd the high positioning of th e footpeg s will make you r legs tire quickly in stop-andgo sit ua tion s. Moving you r legs from the pavement to the pegs requires serious effort. Bu t, th e n aga in , this motorcycl e wasn't designed to be comfortable, nor was it designed to be a da y-to-day commu ter. It was bu ilt to reduce precious seco nds between th e green and checkered flags, which is something it is likely to d o quite well. c. 19 9 4Suzuki GSXR750WR 1

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