Suzuki GSX-S1000 (6MT) [Review] Great tolerance

Maintaining high performance

When I saw the Suzuki GSX-S1000 at the meeting place, I thought, "Wow!" "It might be unexpectedly fashionable ...". Although it has a strong image of blue metallic (Triton blue metallic), the body color of the test bike is a chic matte gray (glass matte mechanical gray). It has a somewhat European taste, and it successfully neutralizes the mechanicalness of the exterior design. In the predecessor model, the "S1000F" with a cowl was more popular in Japan, but I heard that it was the opposite in Europe. Such taste may be reflected in the new S1000.

The slogan of the GSX-S1000, which has been brushed up six years after its appearance, is "The Beauty of Naked Aggression." Indeed, it clearly shows the difference between the so-called Naked and Street Fighter.

The seat height remains unchanged at 810mm. As a liter-class sports bike, it is gentle, and even a 165cm tall Showa body type rider (← I am) can touch the ground with the belly of both big toes. It seems that the grip position of the bar handle is 23mm wider than before, so you can take a fighting pose with your shoulders slightly stretched and leaning forward.

As before, it is equipped with a 998cc in-line 4-cylinder with fine-tuned intake and exhaust system on a racey aluminum twin spar frame. Needless to say, it has a strong heart inherited from the superbike "GSX-R1000", and the 2005 K5 is required for its origin. While leaving the fangs as a sports unit, it has been tailored to an easy-to-use power source through repeated aging. This time, the peak power generation point is raised by 1000 rpm, and the maximum output is 150 PS, which is 5 PS increase at 11,000 rpm, and the maximum torque is 2 N・m thin at 9250 rpm, which is 250 rpm lower.

More than the change in engine specs, the adoption of a ride-by-wire system that electrically connects throttle operation and butterfly opening is attracting attention. As a specific user benefit, it is equipped with a newly developed drive mode "SDMS (Suzuki Drive Mode Selector)" that can be selected from 3 types of driving.