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/128402
Troy Corser's Corona Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K5 action powershifter. It's noticeable how close to the 'bar Troy has the front-brake lever positioned; because of my short right hand, I always do likewise, but this time I had to actually lengthen its span a little via the cable-adjuster knob mounted on the left clip-on! Troy has it this close because he prefers immediate braking effect when he does use the ultra-effective radial front Brembos. It was genUinely impressive how hard the Suzuki stopped for the walking-pace bottom-gear Adelaide hairpin at the end of the main straight, without any trace of rear-end chatter, thanks to the combination of the slipper clutch and variable idle speed, and how comparatively stable it was even if I metaphorically closed my eyes and left it until the 200-meter board to throw out the anchors. Backing down six gears from top to bottom in swift succession, almost like a two-stroke, didn't faze the GSX-R I000 one bit, and even then, I didn't need to use that thumb-operated rear brake to load up the rear end to combat weight transfer. Though the Suzuki moved around a little, it was all pretty controllable, and after I had outbraked myself and gone in too deep into Adelaide a couple of times, Ifound my braking marks and could then start concentrating on how well the KS turns in to a bend. Frankly, this is one of the strong points of the KS's handling - that, and the way it flicks from side to side so easily in a chicane, like any of the trio of esses at Magny-Cours. Alongside the much less powerfui but equally fast-steering prototype MV Agusta Superbike I'd been riding at Mugello six weeks earlier, the Suzuki feels as light and easy-handling as a twin. Not only does it change direction really well, it also holds a very tight line - not just at part-throttle exit- 32 NOVEMBER 2,2005 • ing a turn, but also under power, like through the long, long right-hander leading onto the French circuit's main straight, where your ultimate top speed is governed by how early you can wind the throttle wide open. Or around the fast, fifth-gear sweeper running downhill to the final hairpin, where it's crucial to stay on line; otherwise, you'll be braking hard pointing entirely the wrong way, where you don't want to go. The traditional front-end push that's been an Achilles' heel of production-based Suzuki racers for so long was completely absent on the Corser bike, indicating that this time around they've got the chassis geometry right, and that the Showa suspension was perfectly dialed in: The forks were quite stiffly set up, but the rear correspondingly soft, with just a 7.Skg spring, making the absence of understeer even more remarkable. I could feel the front Pirelli pretty well, even under heavy braking, when it deformed and started to move about a little, and letting off the brakes in the middle of the turn didn't make the front wheel feel like it was going to fold in on me, even in the tight hairpins, where this might be a major risk. Yet the quite conservative steering geometry (S6.8-inch wheelbase/24-degree head angle/ I02mm trail) that Troy has opted for also delivers excellent stability under power, without sacrificing that sweet, agile steering - the GSXRI000 is nimble, not nervous. Yet the Corona Suzuki isn't one of those bikes that stays flopped over on its side once you've got it leaned over exiting a turn and needs a big tug to lift it up again to use the fat part of the tire for optimum grip when you get hard on the throttle. Pulling the KS upright for the drive out of a slow turn, like the tight chicane before the finish CYCLE NEWS line at Magny-Cours for the run past the pits, was easier than Iexpected - so much so that after a couple of mega-wheelies in full view of the A1stare team, I learned how to avoid standing it on its back wheel by using too much throttle, too soon, and instead to be more progressive and thoughtful with the throttle hand. Once I got that right, instead of pulling an acceleration-sapping power wheelie, the Suzuki shot off down the pit straight with the front wheel hovering about six inches above the ground as I powershifted through to third gear. Most satisfying of all, I felt the traction control working as the engine fluffed slightly once the rear wheel started spinning, yet without any feeling of the throttle being backed off for me by some unseen computer-controlled hand, as was the case when the same thing has happened' to me previously when riding certain MotoGP bikes; on the KS Superbike, you still feel that you're in full control, not just a passenger along for the ride. Yet if the Corona Suzuki's handling is impressive, the fast but reliable engine is doubly so (zero mechanical DNFs all season long, making the Suzuki bulletproof as well as quick - not bad for a 209-hp modified street bike!), with a sweet, smooth but soswift build of power all through the rev range. Whereas the Akira-tuned engine in Walker's PSG-I Kawasaki that I rode earlier this year had a similar linear power delivery, the Suzuki factory KS motor gains revs more steeply than the ZX-I OR but still controllably, pulling hard off the bottom from as low as SOOO rpm out of the many first-gear turns at Magny-Cours en route to the 9000rpm mark, where it really takes off. There isn't the issue the Alstare team had with Lavilla's restricted bike two years ago, where excess torque arrived very brutally between 8S00 and 9S00 revs, irrespective of throttle openings, so that if Gregorio hit this powerband in the middle of a turn leaned over, he was in trouble with wheelspin. The KS is less abrupt and more accessible, in the way in which serious top-end power and torque come on tap, though it has a pretty fierce response from a closed throttle, a function of the Monza power-up motor that's not yet been dialed out. It's just that the revs build fast from 9000 rpm up until the 13,200-rpm peak, after which there's a plateau of power before the 14,3S0-rpm rev-limiter interrupts the proceedings. (Well, it will if you're foolish enough to ignore the bright red light flashing in your face that's telling you to grab another gear.) The Superbike World Championship that Corser delivered this year to the Alstare Corona team is a deserved reward for carrying the 1000cc four-cylinder class option forward two seasons ago with Lavilla's solitary GSX-RIOOO - an act of faith that led directly to Chris Vermeulen's equally solitary Ten Kate Honda appearing last year and knocking down the gates to World Superbike's inner sanctum, which in turn led to the present stirring selection of competitive bikes on the SBK grid - twins, triples and fours. That's the reason for the category's steep upward swing in 200S, and it's appropriate that Corona Suzuki should be the team to reap the rewards in the season that just ended, with a bike that, taking the season as a whole, was indeed the class of the field. eN