GSX-S hits back
After years of being the invisible supernaked, Suzuki’s GSX-S1000 is back on form
‘Traction, quickshifter, ABS, 150bhp. 11 grand’
Suzuki dealers are sighing with relief at the arrival of Suzuki’s new GSX-S1000. The uprated supernaked gets sharper styling, more midrange, a quickshifter as standard and 2bhp more power (taking it to a claimed 150bhp). And, crucially, the price is £10,999 – that’s around £5000 less than the latest KTM Superduke 1290 and Triumph Speed Triple and just over half the price of a Ducati Streetfighter V4S. ‘There are a lot of Suzuki dealers like me who are optimistic about the new GSX-S,’ says Marcus Blackburn of P&H Motorcycles in Crawley. ‘We’re relieved because it is undeniably brilliant value for money. This is a realistic streetbike with all the spec anybody really needs – traction, quickshifter, ABS, 150bhp. Nice and smooth, easy to ride, 11 grand – you can’t go wrong with that. It’ll be a good seller.’ Like the new Hayabusa, the GSX-S gets a multitude of engine changes that help get it through Euro5 emission regulations while at the same time perking up the midrange. Revised camshaft profiles smooth out the torque curve, while a new freer flowing exhaust and airbox combine to marginally increase power at the top end. Suzuki also claim to have sorted the previous model’s tetchy throttle response at low revs with new smaller-diameter throttle bodies and revised mapping. Inevitably there are electronic upgrades elsewhere too. There are now three power modes (Active, Basic and Comfort) with varying degrees of throttle response but all leading to the same maximum power. Though there is no inertial measurement unit (IMU), and so no cornering traction control or ABS, the GSX-S gets an uprated five-level traction control system (up from three on the old bike).
‘When it first came out in 2015 the GSX-S sold relatively well,’ says Marcus, ‘but the MT-09 took sales away. Now though, if you’re looking at an MT-09SP for £10,200 and you see the GSX-S has 150bhp and a quickshifter as standard, you’re going to be tempted. Is the GSX-S going to kill everything else in the market? No. But that’s not where Suzuki are coming from.’
If you imagine the curvaceous one piece aluminium tank cover and seat unit of this R ninet custom was hard to make, you’d be right. ‘It was crazy, stupid,’ says Paul Brauchart of Vagabund, the Austrian outfit who put the bike together.
In fact, it’s even more extraordinary than it at first appears because the whole unit pivots up from the front of the tank to reveal an even more complex hand-beaten aluminium structure below that’s the petrol tank and a leather-lined underseat cubby hole.
‘Stupid as we are,’ says Paul, ‘we decided with Blechmann [the famed metal-beating wizard who made the parts] to double the work by doing a full aluminium body and fuel tank cover and additionally doing a second mono body. As if that were not enough, we integrated an automotive locking system to open the monocoque by remote control – we also made the remote housing using 3D printing.’
Press the remote and it releases a latch which lets the tank cover unit pivot upwards on a gas shock absorber. Below is an underseat storage area, complete with a builtin credit card holder and a Leatherman pouch, plus the Motogadget clocks, which are visible through a window in the upper cover.
With most custom bikes you list the handbuilt parts but with this one it’s easier to name the bits they didn’t fabricate or replace: the engine and frame. Almost everything else – from the headlight nacelle, to the front mudguard, to the aluminium mechanism that lifts the tank cover – is hand crafted, 3D printed or CNC machined by suppliers.
In fact, it was only regulations that stopped Paul and his co-conspirator Philipp
Rabi going further. Because the client lives in Spain, they had to keep the key, fuel pump, air filter, exhaust catalyser and BMW electronics to ensure the bike was road legal. ‘European homologation sucks,’ says Paul. Though the catalyser had to stay, Paul and Philipp made a new ceramic-coated exhaust system with a removable baffle. It’s surrounded by a factorystandard stainless steel cover.
As you’d expect, the remaining components are all top drawer aftermarket jobs. The carbon fibre wheels are made by Rotobox, the Cnc-machined triple clamp is by Messner Moto, and Rizoma supplied the clip-ons, gear and brake lever and rear plate holder. The forks are actually standard, but anodised.
‘This project is, by far, our biggest one,’ says Paul. ‘It was only made possible by joining forces with our good friend Bernahard Naumann [Blechmann’s real name], who did an absolutely incredible job with manufacturing all the handmade aluminium and stainless steel parts.’
‘It was only regulations that stopped Paul going further’