Suzuki GS series

The GS750 engine was essentially patterned off the Kawasaki Z1-900, and became the design basis for all air-cooled Suzuki four-stroke fours until the release of the air-oil cooled GSX-R.

The GS750 engine was fitted into a dual cradle frame with telescopic forks, twin rear shocks and a front disc brake.

The good handling chassis and reliable, over-engineered engines made the four cylinder GS bikes ideal platforms for motorcycle road racing, with the GS1000 tuned by Pops Yoshimura winning the 1978 Daytona Superbike race, the 1978 Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan, and the AMA Superbike national championship in 1979 and 1980 with rider Wes Cooley.

The original GS engine designs share common engine design elements of air-cooling, roller bearing crankshafts, two-valves per cylinder servicing a hemispherical combustion chambers with domed pistons and double overhead camshafts (DOHC) operating directly on shim and bucket tappets.

The GL models were cruiser-style bikes with chrome fenders, smaller gas tanks, pull back handlebars, shorter exhausts, and stepped seats.

Suzuki utilized the 1980s GS1100G blueprint to design the 1991 GSX1100G, combining a shaft-drive chassis with a modified GSX-R1100 engine that had 16 valves breathing through Mikuni 'slingshot' carburetors (which have a throttle slide that is flat on one side and rounded on the other to generate less intake turbulence).