Keep your ears perked at any bike night or parking lot meet and you're bound to hear one of Suzuki's GSX-R family referred to as a "Gixxer." But remember calling it the "SRAD?" How about the "Slingshot?"
Yamaha's FZR line has been known affectionately as the "Fizzer," and of course everyone's heard of the "Y-Zinger."
Some model call signs are a bit trickier to meld into garbled nicknames, such as Honda's CBR and Kawasaki's ZX group, but we can all form a perfect mental image of a specific plastic-wrapped race replica simply by the mention of a few grouped together letters and numbers.
But would Honda's CBR sound as cool and edgy if its seemingly planned out arrangement of letters stood for something like "City Bike Racer"? Likely not.
What we discovered is that only one of our five favorite models actually has a clever and dynamic meaning behind its call sign. In most cases, the letter and number arrangements serve more as code than as acronyms for clever marketing slogans.
Buell XbrErik Buell's vision to create a bike that handled immaculately using clever design principles finally came to fruition with the XB line. Introduced originally as the Buell X1 Lightning, the second-generation XB12R was a small package with fantastic handling.
Paul James explained that the original "X" in the X1 still designates the powerplant (as in the XR flattrack racer or XL Sportster); the "B" simply stands for Buell, and the "R" for race.
The Xb Then And NowThe old: 1999 X1 Lightning / The new: 2007 XB12R
Honda CbrHonda's CBR600 Hurricane set the bike world spinning in a whirlwind of performance and styling, but the "CB" designation had actually been around for years. Honda's Dave Hancock explained, "CBR actually stands for 'Cross Beam Racer.' The idea that the engine is across the beam of the frame is where it originated."
Gs Then And NowThe old: 1979 CB750 / Newer: 1993 CBR900RR / The new: 2006 CBR1000RR
Suzuki Gsx-RThe Suzuki web forums were surprisingly void of enthusiasts' notions explaining what the famous four letters actually refer to. Obviously the 600, 750 and 1000 on current models designate the engine capacity, but what of the elusive letter grouping? Suzuki's Garrett Kai explained, "The 'G' simply stands for streetbike, while the 'S' means it's a four-stroke motor. The 'X' refers to the four-valve-per-cylinder engine, and the 'R,' of course, means race replica."
We calculated that out to be a "GSX-RR," but apparently we're not supposed to be so meticulous.
Gsx-R Then And NowThen: 1993 GSX-R1100 / The New: 2007 GSX-R1000
KawasakiKawasaki took mercy on sportbike enthusiasts and named its flagship superbike the "Ninja." Whether it was to curb the creation of false meanings for the product code or as clever marketing-it worked. After all, how many times have you called a Ninja a "Zix"? It's typically just a "Zee-ex."
Kawasaki's Russ Brenan told us, "Naming of models follows a consistent pattern for all products; for each model there's a model designation and a marketing name. For instance, the ZX1000D7F (model designation) refers to the 2007 Ninja ZX-10R (marketing name). The model designations are derived from engine families; the ZX engine family refers to the four-stroke, in-line, multi-cylinder supersport motors."
Zx Then And NowThe old: 1978 KZ1000 / Newer: 1993 ZX-11The new: 2007 ZX-10R
Yamaha YZF-RAt some point in our childhoods the name "Y-Zinger" entered our vocabularies, and it likely meant anything that looked or sounded like a dirtbike. Considering that, Yamaha's YZ had worked a bit of marketing magic by allowing itself to be referred to with a clever nickname.
Unfortunately the letters "Y," "Z" and the later-added "F" are nothing more than code for a specific model designation.
Yamaha's Kevin Foley elaborated, "YZF was designated in the early 1970s, and the people who created these codes are long gone. YZ is a product code, though. In 1974 the streetbikes took on the code of YZ; previously it was MX.
This evolved into several variations over the years; YZR being the racebike, while the street-going bikes took YZF (the F designating four stroke). The YZF-R1 was named as such as it was the first incarnation of the new bike as well as the one-liter engine (like the YZF-R6 for the 600cc motor)."
Yzf Then And NowThe old: 1984 FZ750 / Newer: 1996 YZF1000RThe new: 2007 YZF-R1
The Name GameCatchy names are chalked up to equal parts marketing and meaning, and here's a quick glossary of some of our favorites from past and present.
Exup: Yamaha's exhaust butterfly valve system (Exhaust Ultimate Powervalve) was introduced in 1987 and has been used to the present.
Slingshot: Appearing on the 1988 Suzuki GSX-R750, the Slingshot was the name for the new carburetors that were fitted with the goal of improving the responsiveness of the new shorter stroke engine.
V-Tec: In 2002 Honda launched the VFR 800 with a smart valve control system and gave it a cool name too.
Genesis: It seems Yamaha needs to have a name for every major component, and its 1984 FZ750 engine was the first to take the Genesis label. The YZF-R1 still uses the Genesis' five-valve-per-cylinder head (though the 2007 R1 has four actually) and downdraft intake design.
Srad: Suzuki introduced fuel injection in 1996 alongside its Suzuki Ram Air Direct air induction system with the GSX-R750.