the four-cylinder Suzuki motor is perhaps surprisingly very ridable, with a
huge spread of usable power from as
low as 7000 rpm up to the fourteen
grand revlimiter, though the trick is to
ride the meaty torque curve rather
than buzz the motor unnecessarily Lavilla uses just the middle four gears
at Misano, doesn't even have any
shifter lights on the dash and says he
never looks at the MoTeC revcounter,
he just changes gear "when it feels
cycle
about right," usually around 13,500
revs.
However, to begin with at Misano, I
was using bottom .gear for the two
slow chicanes (which wasn't a problem because there was no step in the
change action to go through neutral
as on other race gearboxes), while '.'
reveling in the fantastically smooth
and effective powershifter - Suzuki's
own, which is easily the best I've ever
used on any Superbike. Just tap the
race-pattern shift lever lightly with
your toe, and the next gear up goes
in ultrafast and so smoothly, without
any of the oversensitive snatching
you get from some other systems.
That gem of an engine has such a fat
midrange that you can short-shift at
around 11,000 rpm for the first two
lefts leading on to the Misano back
straight to keep the bike driving and
more settled in the turn without sacrjficing acceleration if you do so. But
after following me around for a couple of laps, Greg told me to hold second gear for the chicanes and use the
midrange power to pull out of the chicanes more smoothly - though the
addictive howl of the Arrow exhaust
gives you a big thrill when you buzz
the Suzuki's fast-revving motor. But
that's when I discovered the GSXR1000's hidden party trick, which is
the huge hit of midrange torque you
get between 8500 and 9500 rpm. If
you're progressive with throttle openings, it's not so bad, but wind it hard
open to exit a slower turn toward the
lower end of the midrange power
band, and you better have the bike
stood up on the fat part of the tire
when you do so, because it'll spin the
n
e
_
S
•
AUGUST 27,2003
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