GSX-R750

For being the only fish in the three-quarter-liter pond, the GSX-R750 sure gets a lot of attention from Suzuki to stay sharp. You'd think that as the last 750 sportbike left standing it would have the right to rest on its laurels and enjoy some well-deserved leisure time. Let the 600s and literbikes work themselves into a froth every two years; the last-generation GSX-R750 certainly wasn't a slouch ("Ahead of the Curve," Dec. '06), and with no direct competitors for almost a decade, you couldn't blame Suzuki if it'd just plastered some new graphics on the '08 version and called it good.

The GSX-R750 is very dear to the corporate hearts at Suzuki management, however, and they're not about to let the model that stamped the company's name indelibly on motorcycling history back in 1985 grow moldy and be mothballed in the back section of the company catalog. Thus the GSX-R750 has enjoyed a frequent-upgrade schedule over the years that easily rivals that of its 600 and 1000 stablemates.

And we're all the better for it. Suzuki's constant tweaking of the GSX-R750 has resulted in a sportbike offering a superb balance of power and handling that in the right hands will often put its bigger and smaller brethren to shame on both street and track. This thankfully hasn't gone unnoticed by the sportbiking public; unit-sales numbers for the 750 were close behind the 1000 (which already enjoyed healthy sales) last year.