I was talking to a guy that drag raced gs1100's from the early eighties. He said they had roller bearing cranks which made them desirable for that application as well as bullet proof.
Suzuki "Borrowed" the Kawasaki Z1's engine design almost in it's entirety, to the point where some parts were interchangeable on early GS bikes, but Suzuki built a far more robust frame, and with the release of the first GS1000 in 1978, built the world's best handling multi cylinder motorcycle.
The engines were so under-stressed that a stock bottom end and gearbox could easily handle twice the factory horsepower. The "G" models were designed with high speed touring in mind, and were comfortable mile-eaters. Surprisingly, the first GS1000G (1979) was actually faster than the GS1000S "Wes Cooley Replica" sports bike. I've had 3 or 4 GS1000's, a GS750 and a GS1000G, and they were all fantastic bikes.
One of my GS1000's was a 9 second drag bike, I thought it was wasted on me as I was no drag racer, so I installed the engine into a road bike frame, and loved the 2nd and third gear wheelies, and 150 (+) MPH top speed. Cheers, Terry.
