Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) The Yoshimura GSX·R1000R's exhaust features a titanium header, m id-pipe, and canister end caps, with a carbon-fiber canister. (Right) This Is the Yoshimura EMS accessory hub, which is sitting on t op of the Yoshimura EM S computer. - sp inn ing up, and ris kin g a h ighs ide . S o I kn ew I ne ede d to be ext ra careful on th is be a st. My first s e s s io n was spent trying to fam iliarize m ys elf with the power of the b ik e a n d wi th th e ignit ion kill/speed shifter. First of all , I'd never rid d e n a b ik e with a p owe r sh ifter, and had to make m y br ain get us ed to not crack ing th e th rottle off on ups h ift s . A fe w ti mes, w he n I w a s al ready in s ixth ge a r, I po ked a t th e lev e r for a n o t her ge ar th at wasn 't th e re , on ly to ha ve th e ig nition c ut out from the s h ift er. I'm s u re t h e Yos hi m ura guys were lau ghing at the si de of the tra c k a nd ma king fun of me as I went down th e fro nt stra ight , but , oh we ll, I'm no Mat Mladin. T he first thing I no tice d was the bike's never -ending appet ite for a c c e le ra tio n . Willow 's ba c k stra ig ht , which leads into the ultra -fast turn eight, is a good yardstick for a bike 's sheer speed - it' s the one pl ace on the track where no matter how m a ny times you go through th ere, yo u tru ly feel on the e dg e . This bike was the e pito me of that meta phor - a pp roach ing turn eight for the entire first ses s ion I fe lt like I wa s getti ng in the re hotter than I ev er had. Turn eight is a di fficu lt turn to m a ke c o rre ctions in becaus e it req uires the utm ost precis io n to not uns ettle th e c h a s s is at speeds around 140- p lus mph . Th e next indicatio n of th e b ike 's pure speed c am e la te r in the day after b e com ing a litt le b it mo re accustomed to th e bike . At the end of the front stra ight , I was see ing b e twe e n 18 1- 18 3 mph ind ic a te d on the s pee d om ete r. I'm sure I was onl y g o ing 165-170 mph because of the Suzuki ' s r idi c u lo u s ly op t im ist ic speedomete r, bu t it's a n im p re ss ive ra te nonethe le s s . At th e start/fin ish line, there is a slight drop in the pave ment - which is ba rel y perceptib le on most bikes , but on the Yosh b ike , th e front end would ge t ligh t a nd c a use the bike to sh ak e it s h e a d for 20 yards . Th e stoc k steering damper d id okay, but a fully a djustable Ohlins unit would be bette r. On e of the fac to rs that helped get the bike down th e fro nt straight wa s the aforem en ti on ed power sh ift er , wh ich kept th e b ike in h ype rsp a c e mode whil e grabbing gears . Another huge benefit of th e power sh ifte r is (Left) Brad Stephens (left), and Brett M iller from Yoshi m ura 's product deve lopment department, s h ow me h ow easily the f u el·lnJection and ig n i ti on maps can b e altered on the Yoshim u ra EMS (engin e· mana g em ent system). (Ri ght) Take a l ook at th ose numbers! that, if the rider need s to grab a gea r in a p rec a rio us section of the tra c k s uch as while le a ned over - the c has sis doesn't g et un settled m uc h a t all. I was short -shiftin g rig ht b e fo re Willow's Turn- Six rise, which th ro ws you onto the back stra ight while le a ne d over, and the bike woul dn 't even give me a little wiggle . Other than the power of the bike , one of the most im pres s ive attributes is the throttle respons e. The EMS comp uter has allowed Brett Miller (Yos h 's ma pping wizard ) to set up the bike's fue l delivery and ignition map pin g per fe ctl y. The m a ps ca n be opt im ized for the exha us t p ipe , a ir filte r. a nd th e new cams a c cu ratel y , a nd instantly on th e laptop without g ettin g yo u r fing e rs dirty . Another bene fit is th at, if you d on't like wh at the bike is do ing in a particu lar segm ent of th e rev ra nge, you ca n a lter th e ' maps in that pa rt icula r a rea without mess ing up the re st of the curve. It' s absolutel y flexible , a nd 1000 times easier th an changing je ts and ignition hardware . The stock GSX -Rs have improved dramat ica lly in th e la s t couple o f years in terms of ha ving fewer of th e fue l-injection hiccups that the early bikes had - they still ha ve a vague , yet not ic e ab le , lurch wh e n p ic k ing th e th rottl e up out of a slower corner . Yoshimura eli m inated this completely as far a s I c a n te ll. I searched for it a ll day , but a ll I found was perfe ct fue l delivery - what an improvement! Th e c h a s si s o n the bi k e ha s n ' t re ce ived as much atten tion as t he motor, bu t it is s till very nice . Sus pension a c tion fro m th e rear shoc k wa s ve ry nice for me, but I think th e b ike wa s a b it too stiff for Andrew , who we igh s 40 pounds le ss than I do. Th e front en d on the 1000 never fe lt a s c o m p lia nt a s the GS X-R750R we were rid ing . Both of u s com mented II"""" - ftOCIt.a 1iIIla .......... 1 1 ~ . . 1:__ _ _ Kl:J..... _ .... IO~-=--"'" 10 ~~AM Yoobhmnll&ll of_me. ,... f""" ... .... '" t',.... fn'''' ~"" • tV V 1 7 / , n, 'I I /' 1 ,1 r _ .. -c., .-- i, 1/ 3" .. .. .. .. ; / p..;-l/ tha t it fel t like it was sk ip0 pin g over some of the ripple bum ps instea d of absorbing " th e m. Th e fork is complete ly stock, but I don ' t th ink the stock bike was designed 3" to cope with the spee d that o • thi s bike dis he s ou t. , A notable difference when swapping b a c k and forth betwee n the 1000 and th e 750 was the 1000's reluctanc e to turn co m p a red to the 75 0 . The y have exactly th e s a m e chass is -geometry figur es, but the reci procating mass of th e la rger cra nk sha ft a nd e ng ine internals on th e 1000 is e no ugh to m ake the bike harder to turn . All in all , the bike was a com plete th rill to ride. I mad e a co m me nt to Brad Stephens (fro m Yosh 's pr oduct d e vel opment department ) th a t I felt like I cou ld ride th e 750 a lo t fa ste r than the 1000 at Willow. He la ughed at me and to ld me that I was go ing a lm o s t a second a la p faster on the 10 0 0 . It must have been the pure stra ight-line speed of the bike , because i: 1.. U -...... .. I -. t - ..--- ,..? • '" / I , I I .. , • , • ........... • , • .. " u u 16 7.9 @ 11 ,600 rpmIYoahlmura 145_6 @ 10,600 rpm/stock S1 .Slbs-ft of torque 0 11800 rpmIYoahimura 76.8 Ibs·ft of torque 0 8400 rpm/stock I was riding like a tota l wussie coming out of the comers on the th rottle . The Yoshimu ra GSX -R I OOOR was the most polish e d proj e c t bi ke I'v e ever rid d en . Th e b ike wa s im m ac ulately p repared. with eve ry si n g le component tha t was added to the m ix worki ng to perfe c t ion . Th e gu ys a t Yosh imura info rmed m e th at they had just recei ved a budget to bu ild th e Stage-2 vers ion o f the b ike, wh ich promises to make this bike look ordi nary. Those guys a re kind of twisted , so stay tuned . CN ~ G } fuJffiJ[bJ ~'iJ (Q)®®W Partsk Yoshimura part 11111 5123 TRS Tri-Oval titanium high-exit race exhaust, with carbon-fiber canister: $1590.00 Stage I camshafts w/s prockets $700 BMC race air filter $75.00 EMSControl box $475.00 EMSAccessory hub kit $424.00 Power shifter $94.95 Shift light $34.95 Gear-position sensor $24.95 Handlebar toggle switch $79 .95 PC ca ble extension/ mount $64.95 LCD Digital multi meter $170.00 Outer Rotor Generator-cover $314.06 Cylinder-head gas ket $156.08 Rear-suspension-linkage kit $ 1070.65 Ohlins rear-suspension unit $2679.00 Adjustable rear-set kit $650.00 Chassls-Protector set .$64.95 Yoshimura part IISUXR481 Yoshimura part IIBMC-I081 Yoshimura part 1154037: Yoshimura part 1154037-K: Yoshimura part 1154037·01: Yoshimura part 1154037-02: Yoshimura part 1154037-03: _ Yoshimura part 1154037-04: Yoshimura part i/5 4037 -05: YoshimuraJapan Kit part i/R-426: Yoshimura Japan Kit part: Yoshimura Japan Kit part: Yoshimura Japan Kit part: Yoshimura Japan Kitpart: Yoshimura part IIR-K836: Yoshimura part JlR-KI40: c ue I e n e _ S • JULY 11, 2 0 01 33

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