Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2003 Suzuki GSX-R1000 So is this year's GSX-R1000 better than last year's? Well, if it's faster and lighter and the suspension works a bit better and the geometry changes were designed to make it steer a little quicker, then how can it not be better? I asked someone if they liked the bike, and his answer pretty much summed up everything you need to know about the 2003 GSX-R1000. He looked me in the eye like I was kinda nuts and said, "What's not to like?" 'Nuff said. eN Strait (just having corners and straights with names makes this place cooler than the blase turn one, turn two, etc.), a straight that isn't really a straight as it has a corner in the middle of it that may be the most exhilarating of any I've flown through. Again, the Suzuki does the job as you take it from the right side of the track to the left side without much effort. The first place you get to test the brakes in earnest is Honda Corner, a tight right-hander that points you toward the sea. At the point where you think about braking, you're going pretty quick, but the GSX-R1000 stops like it needs to. I tend to like a lot of bite right away from the front brake, and I didn't get that with this bike, but I can't complain about the power of the new brakes. It was just a feel thing, baby. If I got on the brakes hard enough for the Honda Corner, I could get the front hopping a bit, but that was something that could have been worked out with a few tweaks on the front fork. My personal tuner for the two days on the Island was the crew chief for the factory Suzuki Superbike team in Australia. I figured this guy had worked hard enough throughout the course of the season, so I left my bike with the stock settings. He did clean my faceshield once, which was nice of him. The way I figured it, braking hard enough to the front to hop wasn't the right thing for me to be doing anyway, so I went back to my preride banter of being careful, blah, blah, blah. Out of Honda Corner you head up to Siberia, another slowish left-hander that sets you up for the run through turns seven and eight, a left-right combination that's taken at speed. The transition between these two corners will show the f1ickability of any motorcycle, but the GSX-R 1000 got through there fine - though not without a bit of work to coerce it from one side of the track to the other. It's also in turn eight where one could lose the front (and you'd lose it at a speed that would definitely leave the leathers a bit worse for wear) rather easily if one was off the gas and loading the front through some bumps. Again, the Suzuki didn't hiccup 26 MARCH 5, 2003· cue I The rear brake's torque link has been eliminated on the 2003 GSX-R1000. through there as both the fork and the front tire did their jobs admirably, allowing me to head up the hill towards Lukey Heights unscathed. It was at Lukey Heights that I noticed just how well the fuel injection on the GSX-R1 000 works. It was partial throttle as I crested the hill, and then I was rolling it on with the bike rather light as the camber fell away on the run down the hill toward the hairpin at the bottom. It's not a spot where you'd want to experience that jerkiness often felt with fuel-injection that's not spot on, but with the Suzuki it was easy to maintain the speed I wanted without the lurching or the like. The two corners that lead back to the Gardner Straight are left-handers that see you gaining speed throughout. You find yourself accelerating hard, grabbing upshifts, looking for seagulls, trying to tell yourself not to turn into the final corner too soon, and then you finally exit, flat out flying with the front end a bit light in your hands. Good stuff. I guess if you had some complaints about a motorcycle's stability, or lack thereof, that last corner would be a good place to bring it up. Not so on this bike. Although anytime the bars waver in your hands a bit at speed it's likely to wake you up from a coma, the Suzuki was consistent in when it would do it and when it wouldn't. As they like to say down here, it was really a case of "No Worries, Mate." e n _ VII S Phillip Island isn't the sort of place that's going to show the bad parts of a big sportbike. There are no dopey little chicanes that show how difficult it can be to get a big bike to flick from one side to the other, but you get the feeling that the Suzuki could handle that task as well as to be expected from something in its class. What Phillip Island does show is just how damn fast the GSX-R 1 000 is, how well you can get it slowed down from top speed, and how it's able to soak up bumps at speed while turned (trust me, the bumps at Phillip Island aren't really bumps. Buttonwillow it ain't, if you get my drift). A rider's eye view of the cockpit. [S[j)@@IJ[J5@fj]115®[jfJ~ SUZUKI GSX-R1000 UST PRICE $10,499 DISPLACEMENT 988cc ENGINE TYPE ...............•.....Uquid-cooled, in-line, four-cylinder four-stroke BORE x STROKE .............•...............................73 x 59mm COMPRESSION RATIO 12.0:1 CARBURETION ..........•••••••••••••.••••••.•......Electronic fuel injection IGNITION _.....••••• _•.••..••.•••.••.................Digital COl TRANSMISSION _...••.•.•... .six-speed, constant-mesh STARTING SYSTEM ...•••••••••••.•••••••••••••..................Electric FUEL CAPACITY .4.8 gal. WHEELBASE .........•••••••••.••••••.•...••.••.•...•.••....... .55.5 in. RAKE/TRAIL .....••••..........•............•.•..............24°/96mm SEAT HEIGHT ...•..•..•••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•............ .32.3 in. FRONT TIRE .................•..•..•...........••.••••••••....120/70-17 REAR TIRE .............•..••...•....•.•......•••••••.••••....190/50-17 FRONT·WHEEL TRAVEL ..••••••••••••••••••••••••••.............. .4.9 in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL ....••••.•••.••••••••••••..•..•....• , .......•5.1 in. FRONT BRAKE _•••••••••••••••••••••••.•..........••.....Disc REAR BRAKE ....•......••••.••..••.••••••••••••.•.................Disc FINAL DRIVE Chain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 370 Ibs.

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