Brief Test; Suzuki GSR750

Now, I have to admit that, on the whole and in general, I’m not a fan of inline four-cylinder bike engines. I find them too buzzy; too smooth and the power characteristics not to my liking – you’ve got to rev them madly to get anything out of them. But, having said that, these are the very attributes that attract me to the GSR750 Suzuki.


The GSR is a completely new bike; not just a GSX-R750 with flat bars and no fairing. OK, so the engine comes from the 2005 GSX-R750 but it has been worked over to improve low- and mid-range power at the expense of some top-end performance. As such the bike is far more user friendly than a GSX-R, which is as it should be and, in fact, the bike gives the impression of not taking itself too seriously, which can happen with the superbikes.

Suspension is adjustable for preload only, front and rear, but the whole system works really well for normal, everyday riding. The front upside-down forks look the part and, in fact, the whole bike looks great in a funky, modern, European style. Naked bikes are big over there but not that popular here; not sure why that is and it’s a shame as they are great fun to ride. OK, so over long distances the wind buffeting might get tiring but, let’s face it, how many of us ride to Durban or Cape Town every weekend? Most of our riding is done within a 100km radius of where we live and for this, naked rocks! A great riding position and no fairing gives a real sense of how fast you’re going and keeps the insane speeds down with no loss of fun.

It’s a cracking bike. It looks great, goes like stink and is unbelievably comfortable to ride. I’m not talking soft suspension that wallows all over the place or chassis dynamics that are great in a straight line but then dangerous in corners. I don’t know how Suzuki has done it but this bike feels taught yet supple at the same time. The feeling is helped by a – for once – soft and comfortable seat.

A naked bike seems to hark back to the days when a bike was an engine in a frame with a wheel at both ends. You could see everything and it was all accessible. Thoughts of rider comfort and protection from the elements still hadn’t appeared by the early seventies, although after-market fairings were available. A bike looked like a bike and not some bulbous moving windbreak. I suppose you could say that they were honest bikes.

In the R80,000 price bracket there is lots of choice but you would be foolish to ignore this Suzuki just because it is undressed; it’s got a cheeky nature that makes you want to get on and go for a ride, just because you can and surely that is the essence of biking; for the hell of it.