POSSIBLY one of the biggest own goals of any motorcycle manufacturer is Suzuki not ploughing ahead and building a naked street bike with the underpinnings of the Isle of Man TT winning GSX-R1000.
The super naked market is one of the safest places for any motorcycle manufacturer to play, with KTM and the Super Duke 1290, Aprilia and the Tuono and now Ducati, with the Streetfighter V4 all showing the way in the high-performance naked category.
And it seems that Suzuki could be about to come out and play in the sector too, as Suzuki Switzerland has created this naked machine using the GSX-R1000 as the basis for the machine.
Gone are the clip-on handlebars in favour of conventional Renthal items, the sports bike fairing too is ditched, with a smaller headlight cowl still aping that of the 1000cc superbikes’ face.
Other bits also added to this machine include an Akrapovič exhaust, Ilmberger Carbon frame, and engine protectors and Magura master cylinders. The final ingredient needed to take the bike from track machine to streetfighter is the addition of Lightech adjustable footpegs to help create a slightly more relaxed riding position without forsaking feel and control.
The kit to convert the GSX-R1000 is available now from Suzuki Switzerland and the rest of the parts that have gone into making the Virus 1000 R are all available from the suppliers mentioned above – but could the bike signal that an official model could be incoming?
Could Suzuki build a production version of the Virus 1000 R?
While the bike is really just a design study carried out by one of Suzuki’s international subsidiaries, it could be something that the firm might build in the future.
It’d be sensible for any manufacturer to test the water prior to pouring millions of dollars into development, what better way to do that than to have one of your own team's design and build a prototype for you?
