Suzuki GSRX 1,156

c. 1989 - purchased new - second generation model.

The Suzuki GSRX was a dramatic switch from three large Kawasaki GTR1000 tourers to such a blatantly aggressive sports machine but I was magnetised by the unprecedented post-1970 beauty of this machine - black and grey with great decals including "hyper sports R" on a tank which was fed with a top breather pipe, which I had never seen before. The round twin headlights looked so much better than other machines' torches then on the market. A very aggressive looking machine compared with the softer features of its Honda counterparts. Anyway, almost everyone was then riding Hondas and I wanted something different.

Whilst I found the absence of three-part luggage boxes a nuisance I just about managed with a rucksack and tank bag - commuting from Kent for weekends spent in Wisbech. And, the joy of ripping through M11 traffic at high speed more than compensated. As I commuted 12 months a year the weather was often a problem, but in summer this was a more fun bike than a 'Goldwing!'

I won't attempt to comment in detail on performance and handling as 99% of riders have neither the skill or opportunity to test any modern superbike beyond 60% of its true

potential and so comparison figures are academic. Basically, all modern superbikes have all that is necessary for highway use, so everything falls to looks, budget, and insurance costs. Yes, most of us have driven at over 160 MPH in a straight line but that is nothing compared with what modern bikes can overall do. I will however say that I found this bike far more aggressive than my later bikes having greater BHP, and when I sold it my buyer screamed over his shoulder to me (his daft pillion passenger) for advice as to how to keep the vehicle under 100 MPH as such small throttle increments were needed! (He was not joking).

Although I later went on to buy reputedly higher performance Kawasakis, which I modified with slightly raised bars; nonfango luggage; higher screen ; and heated grips (in an attempt to get the best of both the sports and touring worlds) I recall this bike as being the most aggressive, and the most attractive of my many post-1970 bikes, the most fun to drive as a sports bike, and as totally reliable as any vehicle which I have driven.

There are a few modern attractive bikes around but I have yet to see anything as beautiful as the black / grey late 1980's GSRX's - giant 'Boss Hoss' excluded.