2003 Suzuki GSX-R1000
By PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUZUKI
ooking at it on paper, making the
Suzuki GSX-R 1000 lighter and
faster seems ludicrous, like handing
out Viagra to a frat house full of 18year-olds. But Suzuki has done just
that, taking a motorcycle that would
never be confused with Bob Dole and
giving it a further boost of testosterone. Silly? You may think so. Until
you ride it.
If you recall, it was just two years
ago that Suzuki introduced its GSXR 1000 - a motorcycle that was
designed to "own the racetrack." As it
turns out, that's exactly what the GSXR1000 did, setting the motorcycling
world on its ear with an unheard of
power-to-weight ratio. For 2002,
there wasn't a real need to make any
changes to the existing model, so it
was left it alone. And Suzuki really
could have gotten away with not fett1ing with it for another year, but no...
they had to go and make it better.
But who's complaining? Not I.
This thing rips. Plain and simple.
And if you can make it a bit faster
L
The most noticeable change to the
2003 Suzuki GSX-R1000 is its new
nose incorporating stacked
headlights.
22
MARCH 5, 2003'
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