Looking Back – Suzuki GS1000 (1978)

Suzuki was the last of the Big 4 Japanese companies to add a 1000cc bike to its range. But starting a trend that would continue to this day, instead of whole new larger bike, Suzuki basically added 250cc to its successful GS750, which was already the lightest in its class. The 1000 came in at only 5kg heavier than the 750, but punched out nearly 20 extra horsepower.

Air/oil dampened forks were added to an already well sorted chassis package. The basic engine and frame package would go on to form the basis of Suzuki's performance bike range, all the way through until the aluminum framed featherweight GSXR rendered it obsolete.

There was nothing radical or new about the GS1000, but as the 70s superbike era drew to a close, the big Suzuki led the class in almost every respect. In 1979, Suzuki added to an already good thing, with the release of the "S" model, shown below.

!979 GS1000S