• The 1977 Autosalon in Paris
  

Paris, The 64th Autosalon, autumn of 1977 : Suzuki Motor Company presents the GS1000.

The race for a big, powerful machine is already underway : the public wants power and reliability. 

The fabulous 2-stroke GT750 Kettle could not be enlarged, and the four-stroke GS750 was a big hit.

So the Suzuki engineers were ordered to design a 1000CC version, but it had to be lighter than the GS750 and just as reliable.

A huge challenge, but they succeeded.

The GS1000 was born, and it was a huge success right from the start.

• We do not have enough wheels !! 

The huge number of orders was not anticipated by Suzuki.

They had designed cast alloy wheels for the GS1000, but production was not up to speed yet.

So for the first 6 months in 1978, a number of GS1000 bikes were sold with spoke wheels,

featuring a single disc in front where the cast wheels had 2.

These spoked wheels had an alloy rim, not a chromed metal one like the GS750 had.

Ironically, most road tests of the time report better handling for the lighter spoke wheels.