HAVE SOME OF THAT!

In 2001, the bad boy of the litre bike class arrived – Suzuki’s GSX-R1000.

The early 2000s were a great time for the litre bike class. After ripping up the rulebook with the original FireBlade, Honda rediscovered its mojo and in 2000 the Blade was treated to a total revamp that saw it become lighter, faster and more agile than ever before. Yamaha was still sailing on the crest of a wave as its YZF-R1 continued to evolve and dominate the sales charts, and Kawasaki was doing its best to flog a few more bhp from its ageing ZX-9R platform. But one name was noticeable by its absence – Suzuki. Much like a dodgy stomach after a vindaloo, everyone knew Suzuki would strike... it was just a matter of when and how hard. In 2001, the world found out.

The GSX-R1000 K1 arrived and in typical Suzuki fashion, with very little refinement but a whole stack of performance and attitude. Where Honda and Yamaha had made great shows the year before about how they had honed their litre bikes to be more user-friendly, Suzuki ignored this route and instead unleashed the most powerful bike in its class on the competition. It was exactly this kind of brash attitude that GSX-R fans were waiting for Suzuki to display and, predictably, they lapped up the K1.

When you look at the impact the K1 had on the litre bike class, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a revolutionary design in the same vein as the original Blade or R1. But the simple truth is that it isn’t. The inline-four shares many similarities with the GSX-R750’s motor and the chassis is a standard aluminium twin spar affair. You get inverted forks, conventionally mounted brakes and 17-inch wheels. It is all very tried-and-tested technology. So, what made the K1 so special? The fact that Suzuki made it not only as powerful as possible but also as light as it could...

Tipping the scales at a claimed 170kg and producing a claimed 160bhp, the GSX-R1000 was both considerably lighter and more