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/128378
DRAG STRIP SCORES I. Suzuki 2. MV Agusta 3. Kawasaki 4. Honda 5. Yamaha 6. Oucati 9.759 @ 146.651 (10 pts) 9.877@ 145.431 (8 pts) 9.914@ 147.395 (6 pts) 9.961 @ 144.407 (5 pts) 9.989@ 144.48 (4 pts) 10.560 @ 134.174 (3 pts) BRIDGESTONE BT-002 The latest DOT-approved 5upersport tire from Bridgestone incorporates a new profile designed from its latest MotoGP tire developments. The benefits include a flatter and larger crown radius vs. the previous generation BT-OO I PRO for better turn-in. increased stability and traction. They also were designed to improve the consistency of grip. It had been a few years since the last time we used Bridgestone tires in a shootout. and we walked away impressed. All six of the bikes were mounted with 19O/55ZR 17 T3 (medium compound) tires. If you look at that number. that should tell you that all of the rears were slightly larger than the stock 190/50ZR17 tires that the bikes come fitted with standard. The only bike that was adversely affected was the Kawasaki, which required an additional link of chain to be added for clearance with the swingarm. Up front. we mounted 120nOZRI7 T4 (soft compound) tires on all six bikes. The Bridgestone tires have a much stiffer carcass than most of the other race rubber currently on the market, so they do have a slightly different feel. They also require a little more setup than some of the others due to this. Ultimately. their level of grip proved to be quite impressive at Buttonwillow, which offers a wide variety of corners. braking zones and transitions. The tires proved to be very stable. and their level of grip remained consistent far longer than we anticipated they would on these I 50-plus-horsepower monsters. If we wanted to hype this shootout even further. we could tell you that It took three attempts on three different Dynojet dynamometers just to harness the Herculean power of this year's crop of Open-class sportbikes. It's the truth. although the mondo output with which these bikes torture the pavement had less to do with the our difficulties than did the fact that our normal dyno facility suffered a weird software glitch and our alternate facility had a brand-new dyne with calibration issues that threw our numbers off. Emer Keny Bryant of Ivea P/5ilent Sport North America in Anaheim. California. who came to our rescue at the last minute by offering up his Dynojet 200 dyno. A longtime R&O guy whose credemials include years of product development with White Brothers and Jardine before he went on to found his own venture (Ivea P), Bryant knows how to flog the dyne like few others we've met. All six machines were run exactly the same way under nearly identical atmospheric conditions (it was a nice, overcast morning). When all was said and done. we are totally confident with the horsepower and torque graphs that you see here. That the Suzuki GSX-R I000 headed the rest on the dyno is no surprise. but the fact that the MV Agusta F4 1000S topped the I50-horsepower mark was a rather pleasam surprise. A big thanks goes out to Bryant and his crew for their assistance in this shootoUl. For more information on Ivea PISilent Sport North America, check out its web site at areapnolimits.com. Scott RoUSHGtl THANKS The Cycle News staff would like to thank all six manufacturers for attending the track portion of our test and providing assistance. We would also like to thank the staff of The Track Club (www.thetrackclub.com) for allowing us to use its track day as our test day, and sorry to all of the guys that we may have buzzed when we were on a "hot lap"! Thanks again to Bridgestone for providing its excellem BT-002 tires. A special thanks to Brian J. Nelson for standing in the middle of nowhere for eight hours, taking pictures while we had all the fun. Thanks to Kerry Bryant at Area PI Silent Sport North America. for his dyno services. last but not least. thanks to Tom Montano. Chuck Sorensen and Larry Laye for torturing our bikes - especially Laye. because we love changing clutches! SPECIFICATIONS DUCATI999S HONDA CBRIOOORR KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-I OR MV AGUSTA F4 10005 $22.995 ................................$10.999 ................................$10,999 ................................$21.495 998cc ..................................998cc ..................................998cc ..................................996cc Liquid-cooled ......................Liquid-cooled. ...... Liquid-cooled. 16-valve• ...................... Uquid-cooled. inline four-cylinder L-twin four-stroke inline four-cylinder OOHC inline fourcylinder four-stroke ........76.2 x 55.88mm ............... 75 x 56.5mm .......................... 76 II 55mm BORE II STROKE 100 x 63 .5mm COMPRESSION RATIO 11.4: I .................................. 11.9: I .................................. 12.7:1 .................................. 13.0:1 CARBURETION EFI w/54mm ........................ Oual stage FI .................. EFI w/(4) 43mm ......................Weber/Marelli throttle bodies throttle bodies fuel injection IGNITION Electronic ..............Oigital wi 3-0 map .................................'Oigital ............................ Electronic TRANSMISSION Six-speed ............................5ix-speed ............................ 5ix-speed ........................... .5ix-speed STARTING SYSTEM Electric ................................ Eleetric ................................Electric ................................Electric FUEL CAPACITY ..4.1 gal. .. .4.8 gal. ................................4.5 gal. ................................4.6 gal. WHEELBASE 55.9 in. .. 55.6 in. ................................54.5 in. ..............................55.04 in. RAKE/TRAIL ..23.5"-24.5°/91 or 97mm ....................23.75°/102mm ......................24°/1 0 1.6mm .................... NINI03.6mm 32.5 in. ................................ 32.5 in. ..............................31.87 in. SEAT HEIGHT .30.7 in. . 120/65-17 FRONT TIRE 120/70ZR 17 ............................ 120/70-17 ............................ 120/70-17 . REAR TIRE 190/50ZRI7 ............................ 190/50-17 ............................ 190150-17 ............................ 190/50-17 FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL ..4.7 in. .. .4.7 in. ................................. .4.7 in. .. ..4.96 in. 4.72 in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEl .4.9 in. . 5.3 in. ..................................4.0 in. .. Oual 31 Omm discs FRONT BRAKE ........ Ouai 320mm discs .............. Oual 31 Omm discs .............'Oual 300mm discs .. w/radial-mount calipers w/six-piston calipers ",!/Brembo Radial-mount calipers w/radial-mount calipers REAR BRAKE 240mm disc ........................220mmdisc ........................ 220mm disc ........................210mm disc ........................Chain ..................................Chain FINAL DRIVE Chain ..................................Chain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT .41 0 Ibs. ................................396Ibs. ............................374.9Ibs. ............................423.3Ibs. .477lbs. MEASURED WET WEIGHT ....468Ibs. .. 465Ibs. ................................435Ibs. .. LIST PRICE DISPLACEMENT ENGINE TYPE SUZUKI GSX·RIOOO YAMAHA VZF-R I ................................$10.849 ................................$10.999 ................................998.6cc ..................................998cc Liquid-cooled• ......................Liquid-cooled. . four-cylinder. four-stroke inline four-cylinder ...................... 73.4 x 59mm .................................. 12.5:1 ...... Electronic fuel injection ...................... 77 x 53.6mm .................................. 12.3: I .....................................EFI .......................... Oigital COl ....Six-speed, constant-mesh ................................ Electric ... __ __ 4.8 gal. ................................55.3 in. ........................23.Bo/96mm ................... __ ...........31.9 in. ............................ 120/70-17 ............................ 190150-17 ......................................N/A ......................................N/A .............'Oual 31 Omm discs w/radial-mount calipers .......... __ 220mm disc ..................................Chain ................................365Ibs. ................................44llbs. ..........................Oigital TCI ..........................5ix-speed ................................ Electric .. 4.8 gal. .. 54.9 in. . 24°/96.52mm .. 32.8 in. .......... __ __ .. __ 120/70-17 .. __ 190/50-17 ................................ ..4.7 in . .. 5.1 in. .............. Oual 320mm discs w/radial-mount calipers ........................220mmdisc ..................................Chain .. 379Ibs. .. .450Ibs. CYCLE NEWS • t-My 18,2005 41