Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128321
SPECIFICATIONS SUZUKI GSX-R I 000 LIST PRICE $10.599 DISPLACEMENT 988cc ENGINE TYPE Liquid-cooled, fourcylinder, fo ur-strok e BORE x STROKE 73 x 59mm COMPRESSION RATIO 12.0:1 CARBURETION ..Electronic fuel injection IGNITION Digita l CD I TRANSMISSION Six-speed. constant-mesh STARTING SYSTEM Elect ric FUEL CAPACITY _ .4.8 gal. WHEELBASE 55.5 in. RAKE/TRAIL 23.5°/9 1m m SEAT HEIGHT 32.7 in. FRONT TIRE 120/70-17 REAR TIRE 190/50-17 FRONT·WHEEL TRAVEL 4.7 in. REAR·WHEEL TRAVEL 5.1 in. FRONT BRAKE Disc REAR BRAKE , , Disc FINAL DRIVE Ch ain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 370 Ibs. What We Have To Say Yamaha hastaken full advantage of the new technologicaltrends to producea well-balanced motorcycle . The RI is the bike that does it all, and whilethe others come close, they justcame up shy in overall It mayhavetakena while but Idid decide on "my" winner. Does this mean that there were a lot of losers!Yes. . but the reality is that there are no bad apples inthe bunch. onlyslight performance flaws, whichwe had to dig deep to find. The Ducati 9995 and the new G5X-R750 are ina class of their own. The GSX-R750, which is a 600on steroids, feelsmore nimble andeasierto control than the rest. The Ducati 9995 hasthe best suspension. andthe brakeshavebest feel. but for 20K, ~ should. We had to abandoned our 9995becauseof the fuelinjection problem. but the standard 999 was just as good in alldepartments. Ireaily enjoyed ridingthese bikes andwould hav lovedto pick one as the winner, but there was more to come, in the form of horsepower. e , The G5X-RI000 was the next to try to fend off the three new lOoos. Unfortunately it's just off the pace. The big Suzuki's suspension was rough and noncompliant eventhough I tried to dial it in for two days. Iwent fast on the G5X-RI000. but I never reallycame to grips with it. Have I lost my mind? Or did I just say that the G5X-R is close but no Cigar? After all it just won the Daytona 200. Honda, Kawasaki andYamaha havealldone their homework and developedthree new rippersfor 2004. I had a feeling ~ would cornedown to these three, and it wasn'tgoingto be easy. Honda'sCBRIoooRR has all the same characteristicsas its smallerpredecessor but more power. Withthe best midrange and throttle response of the group. it was a hard package to deny. Of course with the Hondacomes the extra weighL Granted ~ did a good job of hiding it, but ~ did finally show up on Willow's bigtrack. On the street and even the smalltrack ~ was very manageable and compliant, but ~ was a I~ vague in some areas. I'llslot it in at R.It lookslik the e third. a toughchoice. Kawasaki has reallystepped ~ up for '04 with the new ])(- 1O MotoGP bike. and it has the usuaJ Kawasaki roar to the motor. It's plentyfastand hasan aggressive riding position You feel lik you are doing the business when you're on this bike. The suspension compliance was its . e onlyflawfor me. Bothends were a b~ stifffor the available damping, whichin tum made for a less-thansmooth ride. Ithink Icouldhavefoundthe rightbalance but we ran out of time. Ilik the ])(-1 OR's looks the . e best. Yamaha upped the ante in all departments thisyear. This bike was made withallvenues in mind. It has proven ~If at Daytonain the Superstockclassand proved itself to us on the street and at the track. Last year's RI was surprisingly smooth and fast,and th~ year's ~ no exception.The chassis worksgreat in every cond~ withquicksteeringand the stabil~ needed to bomb lt around the big track. The power ~n't as smooth as last year's was but is more than adequate. On the bigtrack it turned the Iastest laptime of the day. perlormance in my opinion. TOM MONTANO This shootout was a pain, which is a true testament to how good allof these motorcyclesare. If I was personaltyin the market for a new bike, I would look no further thanthe seven bikeshere. The "wildcards" in the test - the Ducati, Aprilia and 750 - are allgreat bikes. Ican't affordthe Ducati, and I prefer the ApriliaMille "Factory" over the standard version, but can't afford that either. But would take the G5X-R750 in a heartbeat if Iwas doing a lot of track days with my bike. 1stilllove the G5X-RI000; it's such a great bike. The problem is that the suspension and brakes have fallen behindthe newer bikes by a pretty largemargin. Even on the street the G5X-R suspension just 's doesn't feel as compliantas the others, Wiliat confuses me is how I turned my third-fastest lapon it at Willow 's bigtrack... Becausetrust me, I thought Iwas goingdown a couple of times. The Honda in stock form isthe bes overall bike in this tes It t t. has greatmidrange throttleresponse and excellent torquefrom the motor. The chassis is absolutely awesome as well. the bike ls extremely composed and althoughit doesn't . handleas sharpas. say the Kawi, it offers a lot more stabil~. Hondas are not disposable bikes; having put over 60,000 mileson myoid CBR900RR. I know this for a fact,so if you want a bike for the longhauland want the most balancedbike, lt's a great choice. 1just wish it weighed about 20 pounds less. As for the other two candidates, the RI and the ])(-1 OR, it's a tough choice. Instock form they both have flaws, but with a few modifications one of them would be the choice for me. I lovethe appearance of both. but have to say that the RI gets the nodin the stylingdepartment, IfIwere to buyan RI. the first thingthat Iwould do is throw a couple of extra teeth at the rear sprocket or drop one off the countershaft. That would be the solution to allof my RI gripes.On the other hand, Icould just throw a steering damper on the ])(-1 OR and call ~ a day. It's hard to argue with the raw power of the Kawi, and as Isaid. I'm rather fondof the looks as well.I could flip a coin and make my decision based on that, but that would be a cop-out. 50 I guess Iwould have to go with the ZX-I OR in black- I'm just too much of a power junkie not to - and then I would justfix allof the littlethings that annoy me about it.