him wrestling the original GSX-Rs
around places like Road Atlanta and
Sears Point.
Although Schwantz is on the Suzuki
payroll, he's not one to just tow the
company line for the sake of a paycheck - he's no public-relations flack.
And he liked the new bike plenty. In
fact, he said he could have won the
Daytona 200 in the late '80s on this
year's GSX-R - even with the stock
tires and turn signals. He was having
fun at Misano, riding a bike that was
more reminiscent of his 500cc GP
bikes than of the old Superbikes he
rode in the '80s.
Those old Yoshimura Suzukis were
based on GSX-Rs, perhaps the one
line of sDortbikes that is more closely
_~
associatea with racing than any ot er,
and Schwantz - like the rest of us - has
inally, I got the opportunity to see
firsthand how much the tail section on the new GSX-R750 had
changed. With one approaching rather
quickly, suddenly filling my faceshield
with taillights and plastic, I was in full
panic mode, my brain frantically trying
to relay messages to my right hand to
stay off the front brake, even though
grabbing it was the natural tendency
when faced with the very real possibility of ramming into the back of another
GSX-R at speed. This was going to be
ugly - a train wreck on the approach
to the infamous Curvone, mangled
Suzukis as far as the eye could see.
Fortunately, my brain barely won
this battle - yes, finally! - and my
hands got bus
ushing and Dullina on
~
the han less,
its bulbous fairing, long, one-level
and the air-induction system his lost
seat, air-cooled motor? One thing it
some 700 grams. Anyway, if.math
r
·s rO'ng 5i t~ I'd" e" aking
•
s~ 0
ve{', ~s·li"gRt· Tht, ·onginal' • •
weighed in at just 394 pounds, and it
real money, so I'll go ahead and
wasn't until 1996 that Suzuki was able
believe 'em. If you have any doubts,
to get its GSX-R that lean again. After
you do the math.
1985, its weight had gone up like a
When all was said and done, the
engineers could also run home and
housewife with a Krispy Kreme addicproclaim, "Honey, I shrunk the
tion, reaching a high of 457.6 pounds
- somewhat obese, in sportbike land.
engine." The package has not only
lost weight, but it is now sma Iler BACK TO THE FUTURE
15mm shorter from front to back,
For 2000, Suzuki has attacked the
while getting a tad (8mm) wider. It is
scale again, and the result is the lightalso shorter by 4mm from top to botest GSX-R ever - at 365.2 pounds. It
tom when compared to last year's
was one of three goals the engineers
GSX-R motor.
set for themselves when they sat down
to create the newest GSX-R. The other
two? An improved chassis and bet-
the
MARCH 15,2000'
o
.
•
With a ~it of mild wre ~Jing, the new
GSX-R and I managed·to avoid running int closed by
a servomotor that is contro ed by the
ECM (Electronic Control Medule). The
ECM opens and closes the.,secondary
valve based on engine rpm and gear
position. The CPU (Central rocessing
Unit) has also gotten an-upgrade,
going from eight to 16 bits:while also
getting more memory (ROM) - 96
bytes compared to 32 in
st year's
system. The result is the al5ility of the
system to process information from
•
•
•
•
............... ..
the sensors more auickly., "treate the
necessary injections maps (of which
there are more) in a hurry, then deliver
more efficient injection control at all
engine speeds and throttle positions.
In addition to the changes in the
processor, the injectors themselves
are now mounted at a steeper angle in
the throttle body (60 degrees instead
of 32 on last year's model) in order to
improve combustion efficiency from
idle to wide open.
Feeding air to the system (via what
Suzuki calls SRAD - as in the "the new
air intakes certainly look srad, dude")
are new intakes on the front of the fairing, not only more appealing to the
eye but closer to the high-pressure
point at the center of the nose of the
fairing. In addition, the air box itself
has grown in volume.
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