Motorcycle Interest

Suzuki Year Codes

This is a simple chart of what letters correspond to what years for Suzuki models. You ever wonder why some people refer to your GS1100E as a GS1100EZ and why is it called GS1100ED the next year even though it is the same generation? Well, this chart should never make you ask again. Also below is a break down and explanation of model coding.

R-	1971
J-	1972
K-	1973
L-	1974
M-	1975
A-	1976
B-	1977
C-	1978
N-	1979
T-	1980
X-	1981

Z-	1982
D-	1983
E-	1984
F-	1985
G-	1986
H-	1987
J-	1988
K-	1989
L-	1990
M-	1991
N-	1992

P-	1993
R-	1994
S-	1995
T-	1996
V-	1997
W-	1998
X-	1999
Y-	2000
K1-	2001
K2-	2002
K3-	2003

K4-	2004
K5-	2005
K6-	2006
K7-	2007
K8-	2008
K9-	2009
L0-	2010
L1-	2011
L2-	2012
L3-	2013
L4-	2014

Breaking Down The Model

The basic way to break down a bikes model is seperate it's basic parts. Lets take the model below as an example.

As you can see above the first section is the entire name GS1100ESD and this tells you all you need to know to basically identify this bike and what parts it uses.
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The second section shows you the first break-down is the engine family this bike belongs to. In this case it is the GSX family which basically is four valves per cylinder, four stroke engines with in-line cylinders.
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The third section shows the second break-down which is it's listed cc (cubic centimeters) range which is 1100. Typically based on a round-up or round-down of the actual cc of the engine. In this bikes case the actual size is 1074cc.
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The fourth section shows the third break-down which is bike model type along with model style or version. In this case it is a ES model which tells us it is a E model with sport trim. In this bikes case it would have a added upper fairing as opposed to the regular E from the same family that came with no upper fairing. It had other differences too, but this was the most dramatic difference. Some older models from the beginning years of this system do not use this section if they are the base model (IE '77 GS750B)
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The final section tells us the final break-down which is the year. In this case it is a D which was applied to all '83 model Suzuki motorcycles. This is not an absolute on some letter codes for earlier Suzuki's. As an example a K could be a '73 or an '89. Starting in '88 Suzuki started recycling some of the letters for the year code. Typically this will not cause issue when street bikes are conserned because there are no actual models that overlap. The system they have used since 2001 is far easier to memorize. It uses the recycled '73 and '89 K with a added number that corrisponds with the last number of the year. IE GSX750RK3, the K3 stands for 2003. You will also notice the next series starting 2010 is L0 which uses the very next letter originally after K. If they keep this format a 2020 suzuki will be a M0, 2021 a M1 and so on.

Making sure you learn what the entire model name is for your bike will ensure you do not get incorrect parts from your supplier. A perfect example of a mistake would be your in need of a clutch cable for your GS550LN 1979. If you simply ask the supplier for a '79 GS550 clutch  cable, and disregard the type, it will not fit your model if the bike is stock. If you buy a cable made for a regular GS550 which is a standard model the cable will not be long enough for the L models taller set of handlebars. That means another trip to the supplier, or even worse, being stuck with it.