What do the letters stand for?

[cowboyz]

Grand Sport eXperimental Racing
City Bike Racing
Yamaha Zinger Four stroke


Kawasaki started logically with Kawasaki X (cross) Enduro etc....but got just into model names after......
kawaZaki....? maybe? nobody knows

I thought years ago some guy sat round for ages and thought up the name Ninja. It sounded like a good idea so they named a bike the ninja. Then he got fired and never got replaced. Without someone doing his job the name stuck for the next 405784585 models.

[Griffin]

What do they stand for?
GSXR
CBR
ZXR
YZF

Check this thread for more possible answers

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=75203

[AllanB]

ss on the Ducati was for Super Sport

R on the models started to refer to their 'racing' street models or a sporty version of a existing model and continues today.

GT is Grand Tourer (GT750 Kawa as a old example).

[scumdog]

Harley are SO much easier to figure out...

[terbang]

Harely are SO much easier to figure out...

Yup just stick em in the cross+hairs and... Casserole on the way.
Way easier than all that FLXHERS type stuff eh.?

[FJRider]

Yes, yes, yes and the answer was????????????????????????????

Something along the lines of how to keep an idiot in suspense... he'll tell you later

[Mikkel]

I thought years ago some guy sat round for ages and thought up the name Ninja. It sounded like a good idea so they named a bike the ninja. Then he got fired and never got replaced. Without someone doing his job the name stuck for the next 405784585 models.

Ninjas are totally awesome! That guy wasn't per chance Robert Hamburger was it?

ZXR - easy, you take the two most AWESOME letters in the entire alphabet and then you chuck an R on the end of it to let people know this is a racebike...

[madandy]

What do they stand for?
GSXR
CBR
ZXR
YZF

Generally Shite Xcept [when] Racing

Complete Bike Research

Zery Xtreme Racer

Yamahahahaha Zoom Factory

or not.

[EJK]

GSX-R is a word u fool!
You pronounce it Gee-ix-er or Geek-sir

[R6_kid:Me]

No, you say it either 'gicks-sir' or 'jix-sir'. There was a large debate about it some time ago, and i think the outcome was that if you say it wrong it means you're a homo.

[Griffin]

Ive only ever heard it pronounced as Gixxer (Gik-sir) - I think if someone used ANY of those other possible pronunciations I would be asking them to clarify what they were talking about

[vifferman]

No, you say it either 'gicks-sir' or 'jix-sir'.

Jism-er, perhaps?

[EJK]

No, you say it either 'gicks-sir' or 'jix-sir'. There was a large debate about it some time ago, and i think the outcome was that if you say it wrong it means you're a homo.

Lets create a poll about it and see how many homos we have on KB

It's pronounced Geek-sir

... no its 'gicks-sir'...

.... No! You guys are wrong! its Gik-sir!

[Badjelly]

No, you say it either 'gicks-sir' or 'jix-sir'. There was a large debate about it some time ago, and i think the outcome was that if you say it wrong it means you're a homo.

Yes, yes, yes and the right way was???

[gunrunner]

GS?? = Suzuki
CB? = Honda
ZX = Kwaka
YZ = Yammy

Seriously, that's it. The marketing departments need a point of difference to identify a family of bikes ... and we as riders/customers all get to understand their parentage.

They may have meant something once, but even that is largely unlikely. The car industry is the same, to get car names/models they use focus groups that start with hundreds of options. One of the criteria is that they can't be confused with another brand and that they sound cool enough to buy.

Vmax = Velocity Maximum