Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) The GSX-R1000 turns incredibly well - of course we expected it to, after sampling the company's 600 and 750. That's a question we can't answer right now, but it does have about 10 more horsepower than the R1, so it's a good bet that it's faster. It'll be on the dyno soon - and we'll also be comparing all of them in an upcoming shootout. For Suzuki, the GSX-R1000 was a long time coming. After all, 1998 was the last year that Suzuki offered an open-class GSX-R - the GSX-R1100 but it was hardly on even terms with the likes of the CBR900RR, and the R1. It was getting long in the tooth, both in terms of performance and appearance, with the old oil- ~nd ajrcooled motor no longer aging gracefully. So, three years later, Suzuki has jumped back into the category with a bike that is almcrst 120 pounds lighter, with a truly modern engine design - and fuel injection. I guess they have something to prove. The GSX·R1000 wasted very little time in getting my attention. Knowing Road Atlanta as I do, I knew before J even threw a leg over the bike that it was going to scare the hell out of me. It didn't disappoint. Suzuki sent my group - comprised of journalists from Australia and the United State:;' - out for four laps behind their Japanese test rider to warm up the tires. Even at the slow, follow-the-Ieader pace, I could tell that the bike was going to wheelie dramatically, especially going over the infamous rise exiting turn seven. I also knew it would scare me to death heading into the chicane at the end of the long back straight. A few months ago at Road Atlanta, on the 2001 GSX-R600, I was hitting an indicated 157 mph at the end of the back straight, and lofting the front wheel over the rise. So I knew the 1000 was going to be exciting. When cars race at Road Atlanta, they use a chicane that forces them to avoid the rise exiting turn seven - otherwise they're likely to flip over backward. When the motorcycles race at Road shifted up a gear into fifth, thinking I would be conservative going over the crest. Apparently, the bike didn't care that I was taking steps to preserve life and limb - it simply snapped up into a way-too-near-vertical wheelie at around 140 mph - letting me know right off the bat that I was going to have to work a little harder at selfpreservation. , Riding the GSX-R is like getting into a fight and knowing that you're going to get punched in the nose and then still being surprised when it happens. We only had two 30-minute sessions on our first day on the bike, and I can honestly report that I never felt comfortable. I was intimidated. I thought I had taught myself over the last few years to relax on the racetrack, and not let my arms pump-up from hanging on too tight, but it didn't work on this bike, at least on the first day. Then it got worse. I was excited to ride the bike on the second of our two track days, because I knew I would be less ruffled. When I woke up it was raining - all I could think was, "This is going to be interesting." The bike was demanding enough to ride in the dry on the first day, and now the track was going to be wet. Road Atlanta features lots of elevation and camber changes, not to mention a fair amount of stutter-bumps, created by the cars that race there. I wasn't Atlanta they don't use that chicane, and the evidence is there for all to see: hundreds of little black chirp marks from the front tires being set down after wheelies, making it look like an airport runway. After our warm-up laps, we pitted and were then sent out one at a time. As I approached the rise exiting turn seven on my first solo-lap, I short- The new Gixxer is all about the engine. The 988cc, Iiquid·cooled inUne four, with four valves per cylinder, isn't really all-new because it's directly derived from its younger sibling - the GSX-R750. But it does have some distinctive differences. The most notable is the use of a secondary balance shaft, similar to the one used on the Hayabusa (neither the GSX·R600 nor the 750 incorporate one). The secondary balance shaft helps to neutralize additional vibration, caused by the increase in displacement over the 750. The physical size of the motor is slightly taller and a touch longer than the motor in the 750, and.it weighs almost nine pounds more. Other than that, the engine is remarkably similar to the 750's. It shares the same three-piece crankcase design, as on both the 600 and the 750, which feature an integrated upper crankcase and cylin· ders cast in a single piece. The upper crankcase/cylinder casting is 15mm taUer than the GSX·R750's due to the longer stroke of the 1000's motor. The cylinders themselves have Suzuki's own low-friction coating on them, called SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electrochemical Material), which 'allows the cylinder-to-piston clearance to be tighter, and use lower-tension piston rings. The pistons themselves are taller than the pistons in the GSXR750, but have dished-out domes to reduce weight. Most of the dis· placement increase over the 750cc was achieved by increasing the stroke from 46mm to 59mm. This allowed the motor to remain the same width since the piston and bore diameter were only increased by 1mm. The connecting rods are very similar to the shot-peened rods in the GSX-R750, the only difference being that the 1000s have larger· diameter big and small ends - to cope with the added stresses of the longer stroke, and the added horsepower. The crankshaft itself has slightiy larger journal diameters, and crank·pin diameters, but other· wise is the same as the 750's crank. Although we don't have an actual weight for the 1000's crankshaft, we're certain that most of the motor's added weight is from the crankshaft itself. For all intents and purposes, the new GSX·R1000 motor is a stroked 750. Don't believe us - look at the cylinder-head. It is identical to the GSX-R750's. Every single cylinder-head dimension on the GSX·Rl 000 is the same as the 750's, including the valve angles and external dimensions. The valves themselves are even the same size, with 29mm diameter intake valves, and 24mm diameter exhaust valves. The only difference between the 1000's head and the 750's are the cams. The cams are very similar on both bikes except that the cam profiles have been altered to give more 11ft for both intake and exhaust on the GSX-Rl 000. The transmission on the 1000 is very similar to the 750's, but does have some key differences. The gear ratios are slightly different on the 1000 as it has a taller first gear, and a shorter sixth gear. Is Suzuki trying to limit the top speed here? The final drive ratio is the same as on the 750, with a 17-tooth countershaft sprocket, and a 42-tooth rear sprocket. The dutch has new plates that are 7mm larger in diameter than on the 750, to deal with the added power of the bigger motor. eye I e n e _ s • JANUARY 3, 2001 25

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