Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

SUZUKI GSX-R750 GSX-R1000 LIST PRICE $9599 749cc Liquid-coo led, fourstroke. four-cylinder BORE x STROKE 72 x 46mm COMPRESSION RATIO 12.3: 1 FUEL SYSTEM ..Elect ron ic fuel injection IGNITION OigitaIiCO I TRANSMISSION Six-speed. DISPLACEMENT ENGINE TYPE bigtrack on the Kawasaki, while end. If the suspension on the Montano turnedhisthird quickest. 7S0isanyindication of what the 1000 will sureiyget in '05. and he turned hissecondquickest at the Streets. Someof the other guys were totaliy intimidated bythe bikefor the reasons mentioned above, sothat has to be taken intoconsi eration, too. The bigLX d handles better than any bikehere other than the GSX-R750 in the tight stuff though, both on the . streetandon the track. The other problemwe had wasa decent amount of chatter from the forks thatwe couldn't tuneout in some of the faster comers at both tracks. Overall the suspension feels a little harsh, It makes youlose a bit of confidence andtakes some trust to overcome. The brakesare pretty good but havea littlemore levertravel than someriders like,and they don't ever bite super hard. The bottomlineon the Kawasaki isthat it'san awesome bikethat absoluteiy blowsthe doors off of the ZX-9R ineveryrespect. As a matter of fact. in termsof pureperformance it blows the doors offof every single bikehere. It justneeds to mind its mannersa little better for the masses to be able to tame it. Suzuki GSX-R750 We thoughtthat thisDavid wouldhavea chanceat it will be a welcome change, because the componentsare leagues above the looos current legs. Not onlyare the 7S0's forkdamping characteristics better than the looo·s. but they feel like they havea lot less flex as well.The 7S0 was easy to set up for both racetracks and was easiiy the sweetest-handling bikeon the street ride. The brakeson the 750 are a lot better than the I000s; they haveexcellent power despite having a lot of levertravel to get to the serious bite. In the endit wasn't to be; the awesome chassis justcouldn't overcome the brute strength of the other titans, asMontano and I could onlyturn our fifth-Iastest lapson the 750. but both of us agree that it isone of the most satisfying bikesin thistest to ride. Suzuki GSX-R I 000 We don't knowwhat else to sayabout the GSXRI000 other than that it's still an awesome bike. It'sa handful to some degree on the racetrack, forcing you to give it lotsof steer inginput to get the bike onto the lineyouwant. Then once on that line the forks chatteryourteeth loose. We spent a overcoming theGolaths with its handling prowess. i ton of time trying to get the forksset up better. It came close.andit couldbe a realthorn inthe others' sidesinthe righthands. Inthe end, it just wasn't enough. Oh, well.we certainiy don't regret including it because it mightjust be the perfect bike for the guywho doesn't havea Napoleon complex. the guywho justwantsa potent sportbike . The GSX-R7S0iswithout but with six other bikes to worry about, we a doubta potentcorner -carvingweapon, primarily becauseit thinks it's a 600. Witha chassis that isoniy three-tenths of aninch shorter thanitslittlebrother, with identical rakeand trailnumbers. it'sno wonder The . GSX-R750 can be thrown aroundwith nearreckless abandon beca of its ultrause lightweightand its crisp front weren't able to get them totaliy dialed; we don't even krow if that's possible. The bikefeelsstable right up to that point, and then the flex and dampingrates of the forks are just overcome. In the end both Montano and Iturned some of our quickest lapsof the dayat the bigtrack on the GSX-RI000 - muchto mysurprise although Monta was babbling no somethingabout trustingthe 1000 the entire time. Yeah. right. Toback that up, it turned extremeiygood times on the tight Streets of Willow Okay, so we're a little surprised how wellthe GSX-RI000 did on the track. but we sure as hell weren't surprisedby how good the bike is on the stree Mosttesters commented on how comfortt. able the bikewas on the street ride. especialiy the tallerguys. Additionaliy, the bikefeels so stableand well mannered on the street, it has to be one of the best bikesfor weekend canyon jaunts . Yamaha YZF-R I The RI has always been a very nimble. razorsharp-handling bike. but the one thingthat it never hadwas stability. Everygenerationof the bikehas been a bit moredartythan the competition's, especialiy the GSX-Rlooo. Sowhat did Yamaha do for 2004? Itwent and made a better GSX-R than Suzuki did,that's what. The new RI hasthe shortest wheelbasein this test, but it alsohasan ultralong swingarm and the most trailof any bike here. Additionally. for the first time ever,Yamaha decidedto fitthe bikewith a steeringdamper. At Willow's bigtrack the RI had the best front-end feel by far. The front forks were easy to setup to our liking, offeringgood damping in the ultrafast corners, and theywere more than supple in the slower stuff as well. The RI's chassis givesthe rider lotsof positivefeedback fromthe front tire, vvithout feeling harshor chattering. The same can be said of the rear end, which required littlefiddling to set up. Braking and stabili- ry underbraking are excellent on the Yamaha, with the new radial-mountbrakes impressing every one. One thingthat hasto be mentionedagain isthat during our timedlapson the bigtrack,the RI ate its clutch forcing us to svvitch to a back-up bike , that Yamaha hadbroughtalong. Yamaha's Pat Biolsi setallthe clickers to the exact samesettings. On the bigtrack Montano burnedoffhisfastestlap on the RI , which wasovera secondfaster than he went on any track, another surprise. Which brings usto the conclusion thatstability pays dividends; takenote, Kawasaki. As we mentioned above, the other bike. On the tighterStreets track.the RI wasa bit more of a bear to get turned. and it didn't fane as well. On our street ride, the trend was repeated, as the RI was 750's brakes blow the IOOO's away. both in terms of power and feel. sweeping roads than the tightstuff . muc better suited to the faster h constant-mesh STARTIN G SYST EM Elect ric FUEL CAPACITY 4.49 gal. WHEELBASE 55 in. RAKE[TRAIL 24'/93mm SEAT HEIGHT 32.S in. FRONT TIRE I 20/70-ZR17 REAR T IRE 1 80/55-ZRI7 FRON T-WH EEL T RAVEL N/A REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL N/A FRONT BRAKE Disc REAR BRAKE Oisc FINAL DRIVE Chain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 359.3 Ibs. "We thought that thi Davi (S 7 OJ would have a chance at ove coming the Goliaths with it handling prowe 5 ."

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