Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~~WBikes 1 2001 Suzukis • Suzuki has fi na lly jum ped back into the li t e r- b ike class w ith the 2001 GSX -R1000. Intruder family of cr uisers, called th e Intruder Valu si a 800 , wh ich sh ar es styling sim ila rit ie s w it h th e VL1500 Intrud er. Last , but not least , is th e new -t o th e -U .S . D R -Z 2 5 0 o f f -r o ad bike . Suzuk i had a huge ho le in th eir offroa d line up , w ith the o nly true off roader being th e DR -Z400Y . So the new D R-Z25 0 was add ed to fill that voi d, but is cons idered to be m or e of a recr eati on al bike than a co mpeti tion on e. B Y BLA KE C ONNER t appears , once again, that Suzuki m ay have the most exciting li ne up of new bikes avai la b le f or the new m od el ye ar. Suzuk i has been on a ro ll for a fe w years now , w ith the intro duction of bi k es li k e th e Hayabu sa and th e SV650 - and th e cu rr ent generat ion GSX -R750 . Whil e it seems like th e manufacture rs tend to bring out n e w bikes in t wo -to fo ur -yea r cycl es , lettin g th em grow o ld wh il e th e comp et iti on ca tc he s up , some ho w Suzuk i seem s to have an endle ss suppl y of id ea s an d new pro du c t s year after yea r. Th e bik es tha t spe arhea d Suzu k i' s 200 1 att ack are the new GSX -R1000 and th e GSX -R600. Suzuk i has been m is s ing an ope n-class s p o r t bike since the last in carnatio n of the GSX R 11 00 was reti r ed after t he 1998 mod el year. Th e GS X -R600 is th e very l a st of the J apan ese 600 s to receive a re-d esign. Not that th e bike was compl et el y uncompet itive - rid ers li k e A aron Yates have still been ab le to put the bike on the top of the p od iu m this y ea r. It was, however, due fo r an u pda te. The SV650 , mea nwhile, will b e avai labl e with or w ithout a fairing for 2001 - an o ptio n that was available to our Canuck friends north of the border, and in Europe, last year. There is also a new addition to the I 18 S EPTE M B ER 27 , 2000' cue GSX ·Rs The GSX- R75 0 provided the DNA fo r th e ne w 6 0 0 and 10 00 GSX - Rs. T hro w in so m e c ar ef ul nurturing by Suzuki , and we get two new siblings one a li ttle smaller and one a little b ig g er. At a quic k g l an c e, all three b ik es look almost iden t ical, and it t a k es a sec o nd o r t wo study t hem and fi nd th e key externa l co m ponents th at tip you off th at th ey are indeed different. Th e n ew GSX - R600 i s exac t ly what you 'd expect after seeing wh at they did w ith th e 750 . It ' s li ghte r , shorter and fu el injected , and offe rs all the new techn ol ogy that was int roduced on the 750 last year. Suzuki claims that the dry weight will be aro und 359 pounds. For refer e n ce sak e , that 's a w hopp ing 2 4 pounds li ghter than th e pr evi ou s ge ne r at io n 600 g i xx er. Although we I e ne""s haven 't confirmed rake and tr ail fig ur es as of ye t, we do know that the w heel base is 55. 1 inches, whi ch is alm ost ha lf -an-inch shorter than the 750 , and j ust a t ick longer tha n the Yamaha R6 . T h e fo rk is a f u lly adjustable r ig ht -si de -u p design, a s opposed to the inverted fo rk s o n th e 750, and it features a full y adj ustable sho ck on the rear - just like the 750. T he front brakes are very si m ila r to th e 750 's, fea tu rin g f ou r - p i st on calipers and 320mm rotors. Th e motor ha s th e sam e t hreepiece crankcase desig n as th e 7 50 , and many of the engine internals are ver y similar as well. T h e cylinde r he ad has' been red esign ed and the compression ratio has been bu mped up to 12.2: 1. T he fue l-i njection sys tem is also very simi la r to the u n it found on the 75 0 , as it fea tu res the same seco ndary th rottle bu tter fli es that are supposed to impro ve throttle response. O f co ur se, th e airbox is fed by th e late st Suzu ki ram -air sy stem . T he b ike that ev eryo ne re ally wa nts to hear abo ut is the new GSXR 1000. With bikes like the Yam aha R 1 and th e CBR929RR ruling th e ro ad s, Suzuki need ed to ge t o n the b al l. And .it appears as thoug h they ha ve do ne j ust tha t. Th e new 1000 is a l so v er y similar t o th e 750 a s i t sh ares a mu ltitude of things wi th it s little br other - wh ich is scary because th e 2 0 0 0 GSX -R750 was alr ead y c a p a b l e of hangin g with the o p enc l as s bikes i n most of last year 's tests. What is t h is b ike going to be c apab le of? T he GSX -R 1000 is supposed t o weigh a feat hery 3 75 pounds d ry. Would yo u bel iev e tha t t h e la st ve r sion of the GSX -R 11 00 back in 1998 weig hed 11 6 poun ds more t h a n th a t - at 491 p ound s? Wh at a di fference a few ye ars makes. T he chassis is essentially th e sam e a s th e 75 0 ' s, b u t fea t u re s th ic k er frame spa rs and heav ier bra cing o n the swingarm. It has a sim il ar wheel base and its rake and tra il fig ure s are also close to t hat on the 750. Th e bike also has a steering damper that sits just aft of the up per trip le cla mp. O ne of the m ost noticeable diff er ences from th e 75 0 is the fr ont end of the bike. The 1000 features ti taniu m nitride coa te d u psi de- do wn forks, bra k es wi t h bra nd -n ew s ix - pisto n calipers and th e same 3 20 m m rotors as th e othe r tw o bik es. Ou t ba ck the bik e wea rs a la rger 190/50ZR 17 tire in ste a d of the 18 0 / 5 5 ZR 17 o n th e bac k of the oth er tw o b ik es. The power pl ant is a 988cc liquidc o o l e d, 16- v a lve i n l ine f our, and inc o rp orat es a bal anc e shaft sim ila r t o the one u se d i n th e H a y abu sa m otor, forcing Suzuki to change th e arch i te cture of th e c ra nkc ase . Th e cy l i n de r h ead is th e sa me a s the 750 ' s , but th e 1000 has differ ent c a m s. Anothe r key d iffe rence from

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