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Bikesales Staff8 Nov 2002
REVIEW

Suzuki GSX1400

Retro styling harks back to a time when bikes were bad and bikers were badder. Suzuki's GSX1400 might look tough, but the experience is much friendlier

There's no denying it. Older people are buying bikes. But don't worry, I'm not about to slam them for it. More bikes on the road is a winner, whoever's riding. And it's certainly something the manufacturers have noticed.

That's the main way to account for the continuing boom in the retro market. After all, retro is only relevant to people who remember something from the first time around.

So we see the likes of Suzuki's GSX1400. All the classic details are there: simple tubular frame dominated by an immense engine, with twin shocks, a lack of bodywork and a nice, simple headlight/clocks cluster finishing the details.

In the case of the bike on test, Suzuki has also gone down the classic paint route, giving the $14,390 GSX1400 a clean, attractive blue and white scheme that frankly makes you wonder why they've also bothered with a plain blue and a plain grey. I mean grey ... for God's sake!

As it is, the classic look works. Parked outside a non-biking friend's house, he was drawn repeatedly to go and take a look at the thing. His wife too, staunchly anti-bike, couldn't help but admit it's a looker. This bike fits in nicely, cruising around Melbourne's trendy St Kilda suburb. It oozes the sort of style that's a pre-requisite for any cafe district.

And get this: while stopped at a pedestrian crossing on my way to work one morning, I was given a big cheery wave and smile by a tiny kiddie in a pushchair. Maybe dad rides a bike, maybe not. But despite a 'scary' dark visor and a big bike, I wasn't able to intimidate a small child.

That's the thing about the GSX1400. It looks familiar, somehow. This is what bikes look like in people's minds. The sit-up-and-beg riding position and the sheer simplicity of the whole thing: a wheel at each end and an engine in the middle.

EVOLUTIONARY OFF-SHOOT
If the engine dominates visually, you'd expect it to do the same dynamically and you wouldn't be disappointed. This is a heavy bike, a bike that plenty of people would struggle with when the engine's switched off.

Run out of fuel and you won't want to push it very far to a servo. Drop it and you'll be asking passers-by for help to pick it up. Suzuki quotes 228kg (dry) and a big chunk of that is the engine.

Sitting astride the thing, you immediately feel the width of the engine. This is an evolutionary off-shoot of the Suzuki family.

The GSX-R engines have become slimmer and lighter, refining their game to an incredible point. The GSX1400 engine is packaged with space. See those fins? They're not just to complete the look - this is an air/oil-cooled engine.

The wide seat is comfortable. The way I had to splay my legs suits the bulk of the engine, but it could be a problem for smaller and less experienced riders.

One detail that isn't retro is the fuel-injection. No choke to bother with, just thumb the starter (with the clutch pulled in, a safety feature from the past that was out of fashion for many years) and it fires up first time, every time.

There's a bit of mechanical noise from the engine - a genuine blast from the past - but that's pleasant enough. However, the twin exhausts are sadly modern-era and strangled.

I'm not a fan of truly offensive pipes, but something like this really does need a bit more of a growl to go with the style, and when you can hear the engine over the exhaust, you have to wonder if noise regs have gone too far.

Still, twist the throttle and feel the low-down torque pull at you. I have to say, this is the best standard version of the GSX1400 I've ridden. When I first rode one it felt good but not brutal. Here, it's still not a complete animal, but this one is noticeably better than expected.

From tickover the pull is strong and crisp. It's an engine that copes with laziness, no problem. Short-shift to top (a surprisingly modern sixth) and leave it there.

So what if the revs drop under 2000rpm? The GSX1400 just picks up and drives. No shuddering, no snatching at the chain as the engine battles to get into its stride. Just drive, and hardly an unpleasant hint of the existence of fuel-injection. In fact, in the past I've had an argument about whether it is injected or not.

The worst you'll see of it is in stop-start, lower speed traffic where shutting the throttle feels like you've killed the engine and getting back on the gas feels like you've bump-started it. It makes getting on the power smoothly a little challenging, though far less of a problem than some other injected machines, such as Honda's SP-1 (pre AMCN's SP-1 long-termer Power Commander mods!).

But that's not the point. Get it going a bit in the lower gears and it blasts to the redline in no time at all. That's partly thanks to the lowish 9500rpm redline but also down to the sheer grunt available.

In that situation you don't notice the injectors kicking in. There's just a great, progressive flood of torque that has the front wheel skimming the tarmac, and off the line it certainly surprised a Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 rider. His first glance at the bike seemed to write it off. When he caught up with me at the next red light, there was a definite change in his attitude. He'd realised the bike didn't have retro grunt - it had modern-day performance.

WELL BALANCED
Off the line there's a bit of a juggling act to do. The bike may be heavy, with the engine forward and low, but the front wheel is still itching to break contact with the ground. The sharpness of the throttle reaction in first means wheelies are just a quick close and open of the throttle away, no need for any clutch to launch it.

In the wet, it feels like you could easily provoke the back end into letting go, but it's running on good Bridgestone Battlax BT020 tyres which provide plenty of confidence. Moreover, the package defies it's bulk on the move - Suzuki's engineers clearly have spent a lot of time getting the balance just right.

When I first got on the bike, it felt big. There's no doubt that objectively it is big. Yet within a few minutes, it feels much smaller. Filtering to the front of the queue at the traffic lights is simple - the lack of bodywork makes the GSX14 seem narrower than a sportsbike. The upright riding position also gives great forward vision and while the bars are wide, they're also high. That means you clear most car wing-mirrors with ease. The only thing to watch for it the ubiquitous 4x4. Their mirrors are higher, just at GSX1400 levels.

SWEET HANDLING
While the engine is streets ahead of anything available back when all bikes looked like this, the real progress is in the chassis. It may look like the same old flexi-frames of yester-year, but it's a world away.

A trip along the local inner-city twisties showed how good the handling is. With low speed limits, some tight turns and a multitude of cyclists, pedestrians and parked cars to contend with, it's not the place to also be fighting your bike.

Two-up, the GSX1400 shrugged off the extra weight of a pillion and left me to concentrate on the road. The bike's been set up to handle sweetly and as predictably as you could want. It tips in gently, responding well to the wide bars and holding line with no problem. That let me explore the ground clearance instead.

It's not much of an exploration. The comfort of the riding position depends on a good relationship between the seat, the bars and the pegs. With a seat lower than many race-reps, the pegs are also lower. And that means they hit the deck pretty early on.

While the engine copes easily with the pillion, the suspension is going to be more compressed mid-corner, putting low pegs even closer to the road. It doesn't take the likes of Kenny Roberts to get things scraping. Riding with my feet forward on the pegs to give my pillion more room, my toes became an early warning device for impending scrapes. It adds a certain heroism to ya boots, at least.

RELAXING RIDE
There's a lot of engine braking from the big 1400cc mill and if you shut it off in a corner, the bike will tend to sit up a little. It's a similar effect to how many bikes sit up on the brakes - which the GSX will also do - but much less severe.

You'll feel bumps in the road through the rather soft suspension, and bigger, sharper ones can give you a bit of a twitch at the bars mid-corner, but it's nothing to worry about. The GSX gives a little waggle, but continues on its way pretty well un-worried.

Despite the naked style, the bike is comfortable for longer distances as well as just posing around town. You're not going to want to turn the wick up too much, admittedly, but this kind of machine isn't really about seeing how fast you can get from A to B. It's about enjoying the whole biking experience, getting away from the rat race and taking time to relax.

In that role, the GSX1400 even cuts it as a tourer. There's no doubt it'll carry luggage with ease, and if you wanted it, a little screen would take a lot of the wind blast off your head and shoulders. The seat certainly kept my arse comfortable.

There's plenty of choice in this category too. Closest in looks and spec to the GSX1400 is Yamaha's $309 dearer air-cooled XJR1300 at $14,699. Kawasaki's ZRX1200 'retro' duo get the twin-shock treatment as well, but sport liquid-cooled engines - $14,390 for the R and $15,390 for the S.

Add in Yamaha's sporty FZ1 ($15,799), Honda's 900 Hornet ($14,290) and Suzuki's budget-priced Bandit ($12,990) and there's plenty of choice in the Japanese Naked category. Then there are the Euros and Yanks...

MODERN BENEFITS
If you were to put the GSX14 side by side with a genuine oldie like Suzuki's 1979-81 GS1000, the differences would be plain enough.

What we think of as retro has been tempered by developments in design over the years. The shape of the seat, for example. The GSX1400's is moulded and sculpted and wide. The GS had something rather flatter and narrower.

I've never yet ridden a GS1000. I once expressed a desire to, but was told "don't bother". Not by a contemporary, but by the father of one, a man who'd owned a GS, and rides modern stuff now. His opinion is the GS was ill-handling and badly braked, relatively speaking. Mind you, it was good enough to win major Aussie Production races in its time. Time moves on...

Ironic then, that retros are so popular. The thing is, with the GSX1400 you get something you never had whether you're born-again or a youngster looking for a bike like your dad's old machines. That's good for everyone. You get an interpretation of old bike style, but with the benefit of modern technology. Now if they could just give us traffic levels from 20 years ago, we'd be sorted.

Story: Adam Morrissey
Photos: Phil Smith

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Written byBikesales Staff
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