GSX-R unicorn
This 1989 Suzuki GSX-R750RR homologation special is the rarest GSX-R ever built, and an example of Suzuki being very sneaky indeed. And you can buy it…
Manufacturers aren’t averse to the occasional cock-up, but there’s usually no way to cover it up – the bike is out there being rubbish. However, in 1989 Suzuki pulled off this trick with the GSX-R750RR – by far the rarest GSX-R ever built.
The problem Suzuki faced was that after building the all-conquering first GSX-R750 in 1985, they made a complete dog’s breakfast of 1988’s second-generation machine. Flushed with success after winning dozens of major championships (including two world endurance titles), Suzuki’s engineers came up with an all-new chassis and a shorter-stroke engine for more power. Bore and stroke went from 70 x 48.7mm to 73 x 44.7mm. So far, so promising.
But racers hated the new engine because the gains at the top end couldn’t make up for a weaker midrange. Hear that whooshing noise? That’s the sound of Honda RC30S and Yamaha OW-01S streaking past the GSX-R. So, Suzuki got sneaky. The original 1985 engine and the new one looked very similar, so for the homologation-special GSX-R750RR (also known as the RK), they just stuck in the old long-stroke motor, fitted a load of hot parts, told the race teams to keep schtum and hoped no road-riding customers would notice Suzuki were using the old engine to market the new one. Which they didn’t, and the GSX-R sales success story continued. On track, the RR’S rivals were getting stronger, but the de-revamped Suzuki was still on the pace. American hotshot Doug Polen won a World Superbike race on one at Sugo in 1989, took the Formula 1 championship in Japan the same year and teamed up with Kevin
Schwantz to qualify third for the 1990 Suzuka 8-Hour, eventually finishing eighth. No-one’s clear how many RRS were built. Rumours suggest 200 went to Europe, but unsurprisingly Suzuki isn’t overly keen on filling in the details. Standard ones like this example are very rare, making RC30S as exclusive as CB125S. Little is known about the back story of this bike except that it’s done 19,998 miles from new and has had a recent strip, paint and rebuild. It’s clearly an RR though – the swingarm is braced, the aluminium fuel tank is cut down to allow racers to tuck in better, a sand cast engine case pokes out of the left fairing and the carbs are super-rare items, used to speed up jet changes. Other fanciness is less obvious. The frame is braced around the headstock but has thinner spars under the tank, forks are 43mm like the standard bike, but have cartridge units with more adjustment, the rear shock has a remote reservoir and is fully adjustable (the standard bike only had preload and rebound adjustment). According to Suzuki’s bumf at the time, the RR’S crankshaft, valve gear, con rods, cylinder head and dual-electrode spark plugs are exactly the same as the factory racers’.
If you’d like to own this gorgeous piece of corporate cunning, it’s yours for £34,999.
‘Standard RRS like this are very rare and make RC30S as exclusive as CB125S’