Rhys Jones aboard the 1978 GS1000
H aving recently looked again at the first Superbike the Honda CB750 , and the response from Kawasaki with the ‘ King ’ or Z1000 , it seems logical to follow with the Suzuki GS1000 . The Suzuki , apart from joining the Kawasaki in raising the Superbike standard from 750cc to 1000cc , did something which , in retrospect , gave it an advantage over all the other Japanese machines at the time . It was the first Japanese Superbike with a chassis that matched European performance levels .
THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET Suzuki ’ s GS1000 could be ridden extremely hard and fast in a straight line , but the chassis could also cope with cornering stability . It was perhaps the end of an era when European chassis designers were called upon to provide stability to match the performance of Japanese engines . The GS1000 produced 87bhp at 8000rpm , with a terminal speed of 217km / h . When the GS1000 was released in 1978 , it was like throwing down the gauntlet to the big Japanese manufacturers , Honda , Yamaha , and Kawasaki . Accept the challenge they did , but that ’ s another story . Having produced the bike to beat , Suzuki didn ’ t stand still and wait for the others to catch up . It seemed the only aspect of the GS1000 that didn ’ t match the performance and handling of the machine was its appearance . There was nothing particularly wrong with the appearance , but it lacked that ‘ wow !’ factor . On the showroom floor it didn ’ t look like a world-beater , which it was . In 1980 Wes Cooley won the US Superbike
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