2026 Suzuki GSX-R1000R review | Why it makes more sense now than ever

Welcome to Motorcycle News. I'm here in Spain for the launch of the, not new, but the revitalized, reborn GSX-R1000. This bike is pretty familiar if you've seen the 2017 to 2022 bike that we got in the UK. It was phased out because it didn't meet Euro 5 emissions and it's been out of our market for kind of the intervening period. But it's back now. I'll be honest, we were a little bit disappointed. We're going, great, the GSX-R is back. And then you look at the spec sheet and go, oh, it's lost seven horsepower. And the frame is the same and the suspension is the same and so on and so forth. There's not actually kind of big changes. So the question I ask myself is, what place does the GSX-R still have in the world kind of nine years later when rivals like the BMW, the Panigale, the Fireblade even, they've all made kind of big leaps on and they're kind of race winners and group test winners and they've sent incredible lap times, all these sorts of things. Poor old GSX-R in some ways is kind of mired kind of nearly 10 years ago now. So I'm going to get into kind of some of the changes first, just what they've done. So you get a bit of a picture of kind of why I've been a little bit sort of skeptical about this bike sort of comeback and a little bit underwhelmed. Engine, actually been lots of changes, but none of them are to benefit you. So there's new crank, rods, pistons, higher compression ratio, bigger valves on the exhaust side, new camshafts and a couple of other little bits and pieces as well. But those are all to benefit particularly the world endurance race team, but racing in general. And essentially those changes allow it to be stronger and more reliable when you start putting kit parts in it and asking more power from it. Changes for road in terms of the engine, there's like I say, seven horsepower taken off the top, still claimed 192 horsepower at the crank. So no small amount, but when rivals are claiming 210 or even more in some cases, it kind of does feel a little bit underwhelming. Torque at least has stayed the same sort of 81 and a bit pound feet. So still pretty strong in that regard. Electronics is probably the biggest part of the package that has changed in terms of sort of the powertrain, if you like. There is a new IMU and the traction control has been kind of refined a little bit. And there's also a new torque management system that looks at the lean angle you've got. It takes data from the IMU and it makes an informed decision about how much torque it's prepared to let you have when you open the throttle. So if you're at kind of 55 degrees of lean and you smack the throttle back to the stop, it's going to go, that's not a good idea. You're going to be going that way. It will kind of meter it out. And as you pick the bike up, that kind of value, that amount of grunt that it's going to let you lay down will keep increasing. So it's kind of more of a proactive traction sort of management system. And then the traction control itself is a little bit more refined as well off the back of the new IMU. Also a better algorithm as well. ABS, there's a new pump for that too. And again, the software and the programming that goes into that has been refined. And then there is wheelie control. That's kind of a more forthright part of the rider aid system. Unfortunately, it's not a separate thing. So it's tied to the traction control. So you've got 10 traction control settings, one being the least, 10 being the most intrusive, basically for wet roads and really greasy, horrible days. The less traction control you've got, the more wheelie it will allow, but you can't separate it out. So if you're somewhere like Cadwell Park or actually here at Montblanco, there's a uphill third gear corner with a crest at the top. And the bike wants to wheelie, crossed up and do things. This bike will shut it down. So that's a little bit of a shame, but it is what it is. And then all that is controlled through the same dash as we had before. So it's still an LCD. It's a little bit baffling why this bike hasn't sort of shifted to the newer style of dash. That's that little bit clearer and that little bit nicer to use. Suzuki has still kept the same very simple ride mode, traction control adjustment system. You can really easily do it on the fly. As long as the throttle's shut, you can scroll through these modes and make those adjustments. Elsewhere, we've got, like I said, the same frame as before. The shock, the forks, they're the same too. Brake components, they're all the same. And the bodywork is pretty much the same, barring these neat little wings on the front. So to sort of celebrate the GSX-R coming back, Suzuki put on an event where they're effectively simulating a six hour endurance. And we were told repeatedly, it's not a race. It's not a race. But there's a mass start and I think we're going to find out very soon who completed the most amount of mileage. It was a really interesting experience to kind of learn about this bike and not just kind of hammer out a quick 20 minutes and look at a lap time and make a judgment based on the back of that, as we often do with sports bikes. After all, that's kind of the point, the sort of speed. But those sort of long 30 minute sessions, just grinding out the laps here at Monte Blanco, getting used to it and really getting a feel for it, you really kind of start to get an appreciation for it. I'll start with the centrepiece of any elite bike, the engine. Yes, of course, it's lost some of that top end power. But what the GSX-R has going for it is kind of reasonably strong sort of mid range and response. They're quite short geared in terms of internal ratios and the final drive as well. So sort of barring a little bit of wooliness very low down when you come out the hairpin here, it kind of really picks up and it's got a nice strong mid range. So when you lean on the power, you know you're riding an elite bike. It's only really fourth, fifth and sixth when you kind of pass 12,000 rpm where the old bike would have sort of continued pushing on to 14. Happily enough, this one struggles a little bit where it's kind of missing that last little bit of top end horsepower. Updates to the kind of fueling and all the other engine management parts, they've not unduly affected the throttle response or sort of made it spiky or nasty, anything like that. We start in A mode at the start of the day, which is probably a little bit too sort of fierce, particularly when you've got a long day of riding and in the end we and actually most of the other sort of teams of riders ended up with B mode, which just takes the edge off that initial touch but still gives you maximum power when the throttle's all the way open. We did four half an hour sessions each and that'd be a real kind of punishing thing for your average rider who doesn't have kind of full race fitness and ability to grapple with a bike for that amount of time. The GSX-R made it possible and it also made it fun as well because it's got enough power to get it kind of sliding and squirming around the rear, spinning a little bit if you've got the traction control turned down. And then moving on to the chassis, show suspension at either end, it's a little bit soft out of the box but equally it's very responsive to adjustments and we made a few of those, a little bit more damping at either end and a bit more preload at the front. We've been running on Bridgestone RS12 stay, a treaded track day tyre and it's been kind of a nice little match actually, there's been sort of enough feel, lots of grip, trail brake deep into a corner, get on the throttle nice and confidently and occasionally you are going to sort of have a little bit of a squirm and a slide but you've got lots of feel and again it's really sort of fun to ride, you can kind of play with it a little bit and feel like you're working it. I'm six foot tall and reasonably broad, I've got enough room on this bike, decent space from the seat to the footpegs. Handlebars are in an okay position, they're probably a little bit old hat in some ways, the Japanese tend to err to more towards a more classic sort of race replica position where the handlebars are pulled back whereas the Europeans tend to make things a little bit wider so you can kind of grapple with it really and brace yourself against kind of the braking forces. A Panigale, BMW, whatever it might be, Honda would probably be two or three seconds at least down the road but that's not who these bikes are for, they're not for people kind of on stopwatches anymore because it's out of date, it's a little bit beyond the times but the flip side of that is at £17,600 on the road in the UK it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the rest. Okay it doesn't have the performance but it's fun, it's quick, it's easy to ride for track day riders and when you start thinking in those terms you think actually there's a lot of case for this. Still got the ZX10 as well, that is slightly cheaper but equally I never personally got on with those because they're quite revvy and you really need to kick their head in to get the best from them whereas the GXR, it gives a little bit more to you a bit sooner, it's a bit more agile and for my money even though the Kawasaki has some benefits like a nicer dash I think the GXR is a better overall package that you can just get on, you can go to Donington, Alton, Cadwell and just have a great day kind of ripping the backside out of it and feeling like you're working a litre bike rather than being taken for a ride. I started with a little bit of a disappointment when the GXR revealed but actually after today I'm so glad it's back and I'm so glad they're not really messed with it because they could have added another 20 horsepower, they could have messed with it and made it really spiky and angry and it sort of would have lost something because the GXR after all has always been a little bit of a affordable everyman's kind of superbike. Very impressed and I really can't wait to get them back in the UK, take it on some of our home circuits and see how it compares to the ZX10, the other value sports bike of 2026 making a return. So I'm going to leave you there, I hope you've enjoyed this first ride review and we'll see you again soon for another one.