As motorcycles have evolved, perspectives on the GSXR1100 have changed. When the bike was new, magazines lauded its power, handling and lack of weight but today’s authors use 20/20 hindsight to be more critical. Recent articles, some with head to head comparisons with newer sportbikes, still rave about the powerful 1100 cc engine but otherwise describe the GSXR1100 as large, heavy, and unstable. Hardly the stuff of modern sportbikes. [3] Some of these assertions are borne out by Suzuki’s year to year tinkering with the frame geometry in order to make the bike handle better. The result is that different years have different handling characteristics on the road. Earlier bikes are lighter but the frame is prone to warping under stress, later models are more rigid and offer increased power but suffer from increased weight.
