Sporting a California plate and looking production-ready, this new Suzuki looks set to expand our favorite class of motorcycles – sporting nakeds – bikes that include the KTM Super Duke R, BMW S1000R, Kawasaki Z1000 and Ducati’s Monsters.

Discuss this at our Suzuki GSX-S1000 Forum.

Sporting a tubular handlebar instead of clip-ons and therefore the more humane ergonomics that define the class, it would appear that the new S is powered by the previous, slightly less oversquare version of the mighty 999cc GSX-R four-cylinder that ran from 2005 to 2008 – a good choice if the goal is beefier midrange torque at the expense of a little top-end horsepower.

All the basic building blocks are there, including triple-disc brakes with Brembo calipers on the inverted fork, along with wheel-speed sensors which reveal ABS is at least an option. The current V-Strom 1000 includes a traction-control system, so Suzuki has the technology to include TC on this model.

Speaking of the V-Strom, Suzuki traditionally undercuts the competition price-wise, so we expect this one to be the Naked Bike for the Masses!, and to sell for at least a couple g’s less than the current model, $13,899 GSX-R1000. We’ll guess an $11,999 MSRP to match the Kawi Z1000.

Look for more to come from Suzuki: At the same time it applied for the GSX-S name, it also registered the GSX-F nomenclature. Maybe some kind of new Katana in the works?