Updated Suzuki GSX-R1000 Coming

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The Suzuki GSX-R100 hasn’t been updated since 2017. Is a new version with updated aero on the way?

Next year observes a significant milestone in the history of sportbikes, as 2024 will mark 40 years since Suzuki first laid out the sportbike template that remains in use today—a transverse four-cylinder engine in an aluminum frame—and the name “GSX-R” that came with that innovation. Now a new patent application hints that changes are on the way for the GSX-R1000 to improve its aerodynamics.

Cycle World set a world speed record on the original 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750. (Cycle World Archives/)

Although the 1985 “slab-side” GSX-R750 is often credited with inventing the modern superbike formula, the pattern was really established a year earlier with a 400cc Japanese-market model, simply called the GSX-R. It would later be called the GSX-R400, but it beat the more famous 750cc and 1,100cc models to the market, so there was initially no need to include its capacity in the name.

Whether Suzuki will honor the anniversary of that landmark moment is unclear. The decision to leave MotoGP at the end of 2022, having already stopped its factory WSBK racing efforts back in 2015, came alongside the end of factory-supported efforts in the Endurance World Championship and the British Superbike Championship, culminating a distinct move away from roadracing that was at the very heart of the GSX-R’s development. However, the current GSX-R1000—largely unchanged since it was introduced as an all-new model in 2017—is overdue for an update, not just to improve its competitiveness in the showroom but also to allow the model back on the market in Europe, where it was withdrawn from sale at the end of last year thanks to noncompliance with the latest Euro 5 emissions limits.

A new fairing design will help divert air into the radiator instead of up through the gap that the fork passes through. (Suzuki/)

A new patent application from Suzuki shows that while the company’s interest in racing appears to be at an all-time low, engineers are still developing new technology for its superbike model. The design specifically shows an innovative fairing concept that promises to improve cooling and reduce drag, and while the drawings don’t include much detail of the bike the idea is applied to, the shape of the engine and frame match those of the GSX-R1000.

By plugging up the gap, air is diverted more efficiently into the radiator. (Suzuki/)

The new idea is to improve airflow into the radiator, just behind the front wheel, by cleaning up its passage between the upper side of the front fender and the lower surface of the nose fairing. On any conventional, faired bike, the surface under the nose, behind the headlight, inevitably has a gaping hole in it where the fork passes through. This void must be large enough for the steering to turn, and that means some of the air passing over the front wheel will get sucked through there instead of being directed to the radiator.

Multiple views of the diffuser that clamps on the front and rear of the fork and keeps air from passing up into the cockpit. (Suzuki/)

Suzuki’s solution to the problem is simply to plug that hole with a disc-shaped section of bodywork, made in two parts so it can be clamped around the fork legs, and with brackets allowing it to be bolted to the bottom yokes so the whole thing turns with the steering. This circular plug fits neatly into a matching hole in the lower surface of the nose, creating a smooth channel to direct the air down toward the radiator.

The patent makes specific reference to the fact that the nose bodywork contains headlights, even though they’re not illustrated in the drawings, showing that the design is intended for a street-legal bike.

The GSX-R1000 was last updated in 2017.

The GSX-R1000 was cutting-edge at its 2017 launch, but today it’s left lagging, particularly when it comes to aerodynamics. Most of its main rivals have adopted MotoGP-inspired winglets, for instance. Allied to the fact that the current version of the engine isn’t Euro 5–compliant, there’s plenty of reasons to believe an update is in the works. Back in 2019, Suzuki filed patent applications for an updated, computer-controlled variable valve timing system for the bike, replacing the purely mechanical, centrifugal VVT of the current model, which would certainly help in the quest for emissions certification. We know from the drawn-out development of the GSX-8S and V-Strom 800 that Suzuki patents often appear several years before production models are launched. We first saw the GSX-8S engine in a patent back in 2020, more than two years before its launch, and patents related to a turbocharged version of the same motor had been kicking around for several years before that.

While Suzuki is currently staying away from roadracing, the company has a strong sense of history. It just launched a limited-edition version of the Hayabusa to mark that model’s 25th anniversary, so it’s hard to imagine that 40 years of GSX-Rs will pass without celebration of some sort. A revitalized GSX-R1000 would be just the thing to do that.

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