I suppose it all depends when you were born. As a kid I was hugely impressed by things like Z1s and CB750s. When I was of an age to buy a big, brutal motorcycle the race replica ruled the road. Not any more! As soon as the GSX1100G was announced in the press I knew I would have to buy one! I was the first one to knock down a deposit at the local Suzuki dealer, promptly signing away my life for 5000 sovs. Previously having owned only a GS125 this was the Big Time!
The dealer looked more like a vulture than a human being when he handed over the keys. I clambered aboard, finding my thighs spread wide and my 5’9" frame having difficulty holding up 530lbs of high technology. Tottering off I was full of visions of myself falling off in front of the whole Suzuki crew who appeared out of nowhere to watch the spectacle.
I needn’t have worried, whatever the top end offered by way of highway insanity, the bike was a pure peach at low revs with a soft delivery of power and a clutch so gentle in its take up that not even a complete novice could fail to achieve forward motion. Once under steam the chassis sorted itself out in my mind, the top heavy feel faded and I was soon using the revs, pitching and rolling the beast between autos just like I used to do on the GS.
I was only taking it to 5000 revs in deference to the minimal miles on the clock, but even that produced a shove in the back and enough acceleration with which to get myself in deep trouble. Running in is a good idea as it stops the relative novice killing himself within minutes of rolling aboard. The engine was a brilliant bit of engineering, lifted from the GSXR1100 and featuring its combined oil and air cooling.
As the miles piled on it was to reveal itself as possessing an excess of torque as well as the ability to fly into red when abused with an itchy throttle hand. I really could not fault it. Whatever mode you wanted to ride in it would deliver, from pussy-cat slow to rev it until it dies crazy. I have, I must admit, not ridden other 1000cc plus cycles, so I may be talking a lot of tosh, but I find that hard to believe. It was very easy to either spin the back wheel or aviate the front when applying too much throttle in fast take-offs.
Once the engine was fully run in, I found myself frightening myself silly several times a day. I was particularly prone to letting loose on the throttle in second or third, suddenly finding myself hurtling towards non-existent gaps in the traffic. The double disc front brakes proved capable of stopping such suicidal progress dead; forward motion was often a series of lurching movements until I sorted out the accelerative and braking forces in my mind.
Meanwhile, there was the chassis to consider. The bike felt huge every time I leapt eagerly aboard but continued to amaze me by the way it appeared to lose weight the faster I went. It was quite steady at an indicated 120mph on the motorway, wallowed only slightly through fast curves and flicked between back road bends with an agility that surpassed my own ability.
I was thinking how brilliant the bike when it caught me. Banked right over for a 50m curve, I hauled arse causing the back tyre to lose traction, the whole machine swinging around by a foot or so and then the back went twitching nastily. There was no mistaking how much the Suzuki weighed when that happened, and no way I could put this mammoth back on course. We ploughed off the tarmac, did a death waltz on some grass and then I was flipped off as the machine hit the deck.
I was bruised and the machine slightly battered. Getting home proved amusing as the gear lever had broken off leaving the machine locked in third. Two weeks later the necessary clutch abuse caught up with me with a slipping clutch but I had this repaired under warranty, much to my amusement. I could not keep off the Suzuki. It was everything I wanted in a motorcycle and sheer exhilaration to ride. I didn't give a damn about anything else. I was doing about 2000 miles a month once the beast was run in. This had an effect on the consumables, as might be imagined - new tyres and pads every other month left a large hole in my wallet but it seemed worth it for the kicks I was getting.
Seat comfort was not perfect, after about 125 miles backside started to complain, probably more a function of the way I was splayed out over the bike than a lack of quality in the foam. The high, wide bars left my body perfectly exposed to be battered by the high speed windblast the machine generated as it hurtled across the landscape. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, for the footrests were well placed and allowed me to balance my body into the wind.
Up to a point. It was possible to cruise at 90mph for long periods of time, at 100mph for short periods but at about 105mph the weird aerodynamic effects of the slab like Suzuki and rider cutting through the air led to vicious helmet buffeting. It felt like some berserk bear was trying to tear my head off. I used this and the hard seat as an excuse to pull over for some fuel every 125 miles, although the tank was another 25 miles off hitting reserve. Fuel consumption varied somewhere between 30 and 40mpg depending on riding conditions - it was worse pottering around town than cruising at, say, a steady 80mph.
There was little need to shoot up and down the gearbox all the time, the 1100cc four had enough grunt to provide exhilarating roll on performance in top gear. Secondary vibes were none too apparent, either, a slight buzz at some revs but never enough to deaden fingers or toes. As a tourer, it could be relaxed and composed, if not exactly laid back in Harley fashion; the GSX encouraged me to do long distances in a day - the most I did was 1175 miles!
What I really liked about the bike was the way you could switch from tourer mode into racing like a lunatic. The engine was always willing to soar through the redline when the mood took you, and yet when all you wanted to do was travel large distances in a relaxed frame of mind that was no big deal, either. Thus, a typical journey consisted of a series of wild, heart stopping adventures which when they came close to tipping me off (more through my own inexperience than any fault with the Suzuki) interspersed with periods of recovery... if you can call blatting along at 80-100mph relaxed!
As I grew to know the Suzuki, some handling traits did reveal themselves. The back end was the weakest link, its single shock seemed to lock up solid over very rough going when banked over, the ride degenerating into a series of pattering motions - to put it in perspective this only happened about once a month. Trying to ride the beast on tyres worn down to 2mm was another frightening experience, the chassis becoming nasty in the wet and merely twitchy in the dry over white lines and the like.
In eight months I put just over 15000 miles on the clock. The engine was serviced by the dealer twice and the oil changed every 3000 miles. There were no mechanical problems, pretty much as expected with a mill with the ancestry of the GSX. I have started checking its 16 valves and balancing its four carbs myself in order to cut costs - they need attention every 5000 miles.
If anything, acceleration seems better, although I still have not found its true top speed, bottling out after 140mph (head down on the clocks, etc). The only mechanical item that has deteriorated has been the transmission which has become rather jerky, the clutch rattles a bit and the gearchange occasionally misses a gear, especially when revving hard through the lower gear ratios. Had I not experienced the bike from new I probably would not have realised that the transmission had, in fact, lost some of its precision.
One new Honda I rode felt terrible even compared to the present condition of the Suzuki’s box. So, I'm not really complaining. I’m really dead chuffed with the big beast, it's everything I ever dreamed the Z1 and CB750 would be and a lot more besides.
Anon