2012 Suzuki GSX R750 Motorcycle Review

When it comes to sport bikes, if I had to name one motorcycle that can be credited with best emulating the old NASCAR adage, “race on Sunday sell on Monday,” it would have to be the Suzuki GSXR750. First launched back in 1985 the original oil cooled, aluminum alloy framed Gixer certainly set off a racetrack ready explosion that’s been burning ever since. Fast forward some 30 odd years to behold the newest, and by my count the 28^th, version of this now liquid cooled fuel injected race ready weapon. Today the GSX -R750’s fuel injected engine sports selectable drive modes.. Then there’s the sweet Showa, big piston fork with it’s electronically controlled steering damper and monster mono block Brembo brakes. Heck this fella even has a titanium muffler – all the very latest high tech goodies stuffed into one package – the same formula that set the industry on its ear back in 1985. So how does the latest GSX R-750 work out in the real world? Well here now is this week’s guest road tester, Canada’s preeminent road-racing journalist Colin Fraser.

David Hatch
I have to say, I’m of a certain era, and I’m sure you are too, when somebody’s…

Colin Fraser
Don’t make us seem older than we have to seem Dave.

David Hatch
No no. When somebody says to me ‘Suzuki’ I immediately think GSX R. I mean this brand, this model, has really defined, to me, Suzuki.

Colin Fraser
The GSX R was a high water mark beyond any measure in the mid-eighties and continues to drive the market and is a bike that is synonymous with performance.

David Hatch
Now back then you knew you could buy a bike and just take it to the racetrack and practically, you know, take the plates off, go racing. It was that simple.

Colin Fraser
That’s true but the reality if you wanted to do well, you certainly would struggle with some of the issues particularly suspension wise, and there were a lot of little things that you probably needed to do and to jump right over to this 2011 GSX R-750 what’s amazing is you could literally ride this straight onto the racetrack. You could ride onto the pit lane, around the corner, wave to the flag man, not change anything and start riding on the racetrack and the experience would be fine. That’s how far we’ve come. This bike is not pretty much track ready, it is completely track ready.

David Hatch
Right so tell me, what’s it like when you fire it up for you?

Colin Fraser
Well first of all, the bikes don’t look as different from year to year as they used to but this is significantly revised and in this market with the way it is it’s unusual to see bikes heavily redeveloped. This bike is and of course what happens is things get getting more compact, better center of gravity, makes the bike easier to handle and God really is in the details in a modern sport bike. This bike has a lot of performance but what’s really impressive is how accessible the performance is not just the engine performance, and it’s got lots of power even though it’s only a 750 but everything you do with the chassis, the balance of the motorcycle, but for me more than anything, the throttle response, the fuel injection on this bike is so precise it feels like somebody spent a lot of money with some computer work on the dyno and it’s right out of the test fleet. It’s just a regular street bike and you can buy it an it will run like that.

David Hatch
Amazing, and uh I guess the other thing they’re quite proud of this year is the stopping power. Did you like the Brembo?

Colin Fraser
Well you can’t really try Brembos on the street, that’s how powerful they are. You know, we have the best fork we can get, we have the radio mount, full Brembos, not look like Brembos, really are Brembos. Radio mount master, everything’s adjustable, very precise and very track ready and if you have experience, true performance in terms of suspension, this is a bike that can give you all of that and again, it’s not close to racetrack spec, it is racetrack spec.

David Hatch
It is though, street legal, it has a plate on the back. So therefore you get things like mirrors, switch gear, so what’s all that like for you? Were you paying attention of those things?

Colin Fraser
Oh yeah and uh, you know, that’s the kind of thing where we’ve seen a lot of improvement because it used to be you took it to the track you took a lot of stuff off for racing and now a lot of these little odds and ends type pieces are actually really well turned out. You have a couple of modes you can put it on so you have a sort of take it easy in the rain mode and a full performance mode. Everything in terms of operation of the controls, the engagement of the clutch but particularly the throttle, the linear behavior of that bike, you know what you’re looking for in a performance bike if you have some training. It is so nice and smooth and picks itself up so well on the throttle. Very predictable, very accurate. And That’s something that up until a few years ago you really had to spend a lot of money to achieve.

David Hatch
Definitely when they came to market with these bikes in the mid-eighties on into the nineties, there were some rough patches, you know you really felt there was a race bike there as a tool and then they’ve sort of got a little better in the fit and finish. What do you think of the finish now?

Colin Fraser
I think it’s well in line with the modern sport bike and they have come, all of them, a huge distance in terms of the quality. Uh I personally really like the combination of materials. Sounds like we’re talking about the inside of a sports car but yeah we have a few different types of panels, different colours, different style, you’ll notice that the frame on this is not in black, it’s got some tone to it. These inserts which I think would be quite good if you happened to tip over in a parking lot or anything, are carbon and quite sturdy. And if you look at the foot pegs they look like after market rear sets. Everything about this bike…it may not be exactly the part you would buy from the after market, but when you look at it so much of it already looks like someone else detailed it for you and you haven’t spent anything other than what came OE with the bike.

David Hatch
So who would you recommend this bike to?

Colin Fraser
Well I think first of all it’s a modern sport bike so it requires some experience and some rider training. It’s not a first bike for sure. It’s definitely for an experience rider, someone who has, not just the ability but the experience to utilize it and enjoy it and also the restraint to make sure you hang on to your driver’s license.

David Hatch
So how would you sum of the experience today in terms of riding this bike?

Colin Fraser
It’s a very sophisticated, well polished, extremely fast sports bike and if you’re the kind of person who that sounds like a good idea to you, you will not be disappointed.

David Hatch
Nice job. Thanks for coming down today.