Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

time. Although the bike is short, it is by no means cra mped - at least for those with heigh t disad vantages (or is th at advantages?). While some of the taller journalists on the trip commented tha t the bike was a tad crampy, they also offered that it was the most comfortable GSXR they'd ever ridden. That, in pa rt, is probably due to the lower position of t he foo tpegs, giving a little more leg roo m and, combi ned wi th the h igher hand leb ars, a more co mfortab le rid ing position . O verall, my first imp ression of th e GSXR750 w a s th at it w a s ac tua lly a 600 . That is , unti l th e hi gh-rev vin g eng ine actuall y hit th e 8000-rpm ma rk for the first time - a t th at p oint it felt like a true 750, in 600 cloth in g . Wh ile th e h orsepow er figures fo r th e n ew b ik e ar e up , that p ow e r s e e ms t o co me o n lat e - 800 0 rp m at th e very least. Rid in g aro u nd at s lo w speeds while I figu red o ut w hich way to go o n t he 2 .18-m il e Ho mestead trac k wasn' t exactly the GSXR's cup of tea, but th at's n ot to say it wisn't m ana g e abl e . It wo uld just ra t her fly a rou nd at 10,000 rpm th an cruise a t 6500 rpm. Once you get the bike revving as it likes, power comes on wi th a rush. The wheel lif ts when ever it wants and there's a bit of headshake, most noticeable when exiting the final slow hai rpin through a pavement transition and on to the back straight that also serves as the ba nking for the Sirperspeedway, That was the only problem spot, but it made you wish for a steering damper. A cure see med to be to ge t as much weig ht over the front wheel as possible after getting the bike upright and while ha mme ring thr ou gh upshifts. The on ly ch ange I had th e Su zuki enginee rs make to our GSXR wa s to the front bra ke. And that was only a sim ple bleed in g of the br ake s when a fter five or six la ps th e lever fea tured en tirely too mu ch fr ee travel. Th e bl e edin g seemed to fix the problem and we came a way impressed with the new Tok ico six-piston stoppe rs, especially on a race track th a t places a lo t of emphasis on braking. Th e new GSXR red e fines th e term q uick steeri ng. With its ultrashor t whee lbase and ligh t weight, combined wit h a s teeri ng geometry of only 24 degrees, this Suzuki has a nimb le feeling that we 've neve r found on a 750cc spo rtb ike . Som e of th e o thers fo u nd th e GSXR a tad loose under braking, but I ' never experienced a problem (pe rhaps I wasn 't br ak in g hard enough) with corner entry on any of the race track's nine comers. The only time I fou nd the bike to be u nstable was on th e exi t o f th e a for emen tioned hairpi n and into th e ultraf a st tu rn a t th e en d of th e bac k straight - a comer which featu red a sizable bump right a t the apex. For a bike so s hor t, stabili ty was s urp risi ngly, welL. stable. Suzuki's have always featured mo rethan-ad equat e tra nsmissions, an d th is one is no exception. I foun d each shift to be preci se and len ient , a nd ou r bike d idn't require clu tch-cab le ad justmen t as othe rs deeme d necessary. Only one time did we find a false neutral, and that w as pr ob abl y mor e d ue to rider erro r than GSXR blunder. A da y on the race track mad e it easy to see wh y a smile hasn ' t left Picotte's face since the Dayton a test. As for the h ighwa ys and b yw a ys of Ameri ca well, we'll have to wait and see, Faster, ligh ter and smaller. Easy to say, di fficult to accomplish. Bu t Suz uki h a s p u ll e d it off with t he 1996 • GSXR750. l~ HOTELS AVAILABLE Beach or Inland Airfare Discounts Complete Bike Week Travel Packages with Air/Hotel/Car Rental Call for prices Call NOW to get your choice of hotels! TravelCraft: Around the Track-Around the World W" VIDEO RELEASES Now Available Through Cycle News Video Theater 1995 WORLD SUPERBIKE SERIES Round #7 - Laguna SecaIUSA World Superblke Championship (' 4078) Waltzing Mat ilda was the song of the day at Laguna Seea Raceway , with Australians Anthony Gobert and Troy Corserswapping 1·2 finishes in the first-everWorld Superbike Championship round on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula. The pair of young Aussies were simply dominant. with each taking a turn at one-uppinq the other in the two races. Ra ce one was the bett er 01 the two with Muzzy Kawas aki's Gobert thwart ing Corse r's last·lap pass attemp t to win his first race of the season by a scant 0.340 second. In the second of the two 29-lap races, Corser and his Promotor Ducati moved past his eountryman much earlier, making it stick to eventually win by some six seconds. Making things even more enticing were the performances of the two Smokin' Joe's Racing Honda RC45 s • ridden stunningly in both races by Miguel DuHame l and Mike Hale . The two AMA regulars and World Superbike debutantes not only gave North Amer ican race fans something to cheer for, but they a lso raised worldwide opinion of the counterpart AMA Superbike Series. 55 minutes from Duke Video USA.

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