Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. This has been part of marketing since motorsport was a thing, but it hasn’t always brought about success.
Suzuki were effectively the first motorcycle manufacturer to successfully bring this strategy to the mass market. In 1985, all they really did was add some lights to their 750cc race spec bike and then offered it to the public at a very reasonable price. That bike is widely accepted as the first ever sportbike, a fully faired 4-stroke inline-4 motorcycle.
At the time the class was more or less dictated by the 750cc limit set in racing. Bigger bore bikes were just too heavy, and anything smaller wasn’t making enough power to be competitive. Let's tell you more about the legendary Suzuki GSX-R750.
10 Original Sportbike
Technically, the GSX-R nameplate was first seen on the marginally more beginner-friendly GSX-R 400, released in Japan for the 1984 model year.
Focus quickly shifted to the 750 though. It hit the streets the following year and nothing compared in terms of power per dollar. It became a class defining motorcycle and is arguably one of the most historically significant Suzuki motorcycles.
9 Track Bikes For The Street
For a time, Suzuki dominated both on track and on the street. It became the staple sportbike, but with success came complacency.
Other manufacturers quickly cottoned onto their formula and subsequently got their own sportbikes into showrooms all over the world. The sportbike arms race had begun and Suzuki quickly fell behind.
8 SRAD Revolutionizes The Intake
One area Suzuki saw an opportunity for cheap horsepower gains was their intake system. It would give the 750 enough of a boost to get ahead in the mid '90s.
The ram-air intake was elegant but devilishly simplistic, so everyone else would simply copy them and get similar power gains. And they were simply unable to compete with larger displacement, class breaking motorcycles.
7 Middleweight Slayer
By the late '90s and early 2000s, the middleweight class was exploding with an enticing selection of highly strung 600cc 4-cylinder bikes available.
Suzuki threw their hat in with the GSX-R600, but unlike other manufacturers who all abandoned the 750 class, Suzuki persevered. With the liter bike class established, they also had a bike there and almost by default the 750 became a class breaking motorcycle. It was technically a middleweight, just more powerful.
6 Legend On Track
Suzuki has been allowed to compete in the middleweight classes with the 750 pretty much since everyone moved to the liter class.
It made their bikes highly successful at club racing level, but in the upper echelons, the liter bike had become the dominant force.
5 Accessible Performance
For many, a liter bike is simply out of the question, we already know it is out of budget and will make too much power to handle, anyway.
This is where the genius of the 750 comes in. It is affordable enough to justify owning, yet still big enough to outclass other middleweight options. It found a niche and dominated this small market for years.
4 Ultimate Balance
For those who feel that the 600c class bikes are not powerful enough and the liter class bikes are just too heavy, the 750cc GSX-R is the perfect bike.
It has always been a well-balanced motorcycle and the platform benefited from regular updates right up until the sportbike market cooled by 2011.
3 Unbelievable Aftermarket
Parts are for the most part affordable and there is also a wide selection of aftermarket accessories to choose from for any year model of the GSX-R.
The latest model was around for nine years with only a few minor tweaks, so pretty much everything fits the new bike. Having said that, it doesn’t necessarily need anything, especially if you don’t plan on using it on track. It has enough power, it is fun in the twisty bits, and it's all the sportbike anyone really needs.
2 35 Years Of The 750
Unfortunately, upon celebrating its 35th birthday, it was also celebrating its final year in full production around the world.
Although you can still get one in the U.S., you will now need to look to the used market for a GSX-R750 elsewhere, as it slowly dies an emission related death.
1 Last Of Its Kind
The rise of more powerful, more efficient parallel twins and triples have more or less killed off the inline-4 middleweight.
Although there are a few other bikes still on sale, they are not sportbikes, and as far as we can tell, Suzuki has no plans to replace what was the original sportbike. If you want a new one, you had better act fast.