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quickshifter and full-throttle launch control for traffic light
supremacy – and race starts, yeah, race starts.

The lack of an Inertial Measurement Unit comes as a bit
of a surprise. Without one, the GSX-R won’t be able to run
lean angle-sensitive ABS or drive a clever semi-active
suspension option like the BMW S1000RR’s down the
track. Suzuki believes it’ll get the fundamentals so right
that the bike won’t need one, and that’s got to be good
news for the retail price.

Suspension-wise it’ll wear the latest good bits from
Showa, namely Balance Free Front (BFF) forks with
external damping circuits and a Balance Free Rear
Cushion (BFRC) shock, and street riders will appreciate
Suzuki’s first LED headlight. We’ll hear more about the
bike’s final spec as it enters production.

I sure don’t envy the product team on a job like this.
Today’s top-end superbikes are so damn fast, and so
damn full of expensive bits and pieces that you’ve got to
spend a ton of money to be in the hunt. Suzuki believes it
can engineer its way back to the top rather than getting
there with expensive electronics, producing a bike “that
doesn’t require a degree in engineering to understand,
and doesn’t need constant adjustment by a squad of
computer technicians to work.”

It’s a bold statement in this electronic age, but one that’s
bound to resonate with a lot of riders. Let’s see how it
fares when the chips are down, and let’s see how much
longer Honda holds out with its ageing Fireblade design!