TRIP OF THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Suzuki has confirmed that the GSX-R1000 will not be sold in Europe next year, effectively ending a GSX-R family that began the modern super-sports story and has provided many of its brightest stars.

- Roland Brown

Motorcycling changed forever in 1985 when the original GSX-R750 was launched to begin a new era of race-replica sports bikes designed unashamedly for high performance and light weight. A year later the GSX-R1100 brought a similar ethos to the unlimited capacity class, to similarly huge acclaim.

Since then, the GSX-R range has grown to provide many outstanding models, winning countless races and championships while retaining the original bike’s light-is-right approach. After almost 40 years the Gixxer family is firmly established as one of motorcycling’s most iconic, influential and best loved.

And now it is being killed off(assuming you don’t count the GSX-R125), as Suzuki follows the withdrawal of its GSX-RR from MotoGP with the admission that it cannot sell the GSX-R1000 in 2023 for emissions reasons, and has no replacement in sight. As we bid the GSX-R a sad sayonara, these are its greatest hits…

1985 – GSX-R750: Yokouchi’s masterpiece

From the moment the GSX-R750 was unveiled in autumn 1984, its combination of racebike looks, 100bhp oil-cooled engine, aluminium-framed chassis and dry weight of just 176kg confirmed an unprecedented commitment to high performance.

The 750 wasn’t the first GSX-R. A year earlier Suzuki had released a home-market GSX-R400: a liquid-cooled four with an aluminium-framed chassis inspired by the GS1000R racer that had won the world endurance title in 1983. The GSX-R400 was 18 per cent lighter than rival fours, and when Suzuki engineer Etsuo Yokouchi set out to design a 750cc model he chose a similar approach.