Liquid-Cooled Suzuki Gsx-R750 Seen In Germany
Liquid-cooled Suzuki GSX-R750 seen in Germany
ROUNDUP
SUZUKI APPARENTLY WILL REplace its venerable GSX-R750 with a greatly revised bike, powered by a liquid-cooled engine, to be sold in Europe in very limited numbers in the 1992 model year.
According to a report in the French magazine Molo Revue, in addition to its new engine, the bike features a strengthened frame and swingarm. slightly changed body-work, and a revised riding position. But, says Molo Revue, the new bike relies upon brake and suspension components very like those on current GSX-R750s.
The new engine uses familiar Suzuki architecture, with dual overhead cams actuating four valves per cylinder, each valve operated by its own rocker arm. Bore and stroke is 70 x 48.7mm. The engine is fed by a quartet of semi-flat-slide carburetors, and it exhausts through a stainless-steel, 4-into-l system that is visually very similar to those in use on current GSX-Rs.
The frame, which retains the characteristic Suzuki wide-loop look and the same steering geometry as this year’s bike, uses stronger upper tubes than the frame it replaces, and is reinforced more heavily in the area of the steering head. An aluminum rear subframe is welded to the main unit, and, says Moto Revue, the resulting structure is more smoothly finished than the '91 frame. The swingarm on the new
bike also is more heavily built than the old 750 swingarm, with a different chain-adjustment system.
Bodywork received minor changes, apparently aimed at evacuating heated air from the radiator and exhaust headers.
The seating accommodations also have been revised, with the passenger seat more heavily padded than on previous versions of this sport-intensive bike. Much more noticeable is a change which could signal a move for this model from pure-sport territory into the land of the sport-GT bike: Its clip-ons are mounted above the top triple-clamp, as on the GSX-R 1 100. rather than below it. as they’ve been on earlier versions of the 750. The result is that the pilot sits in a more upright, less aggressive position than on previous’GSX-R750s.
Sources in the United States told Cycle World that just 200 bikes will be shipped to Europe for sale there. No plans exist, those sources said, to bring the new bike to the United States this year, and they said the possibility of the bike's appearance here as a '93 model “has not yet been determined.”
The introduction in the U.S. for the 1 992 model year of a liquidcooled GSX-R6Ó0 (see CW. November, 1991) has fueled speculation that a similarly re-done 750 couldn't be too far away. The impending European introduction of this new GSX-R750 appears to confirm that speculation. But just how similar in detail a new American-spec, liquid-cooled GSX-R750 will be to this bike remains a matter of speculation.
Jon F.Thompson
