Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2001 S u z uki GSX-RBOO lighter and compact. T h e incl u ded valve angle has been reduced fro m 30 ° to 28 ° , which, among other things , im proves combustion efficie ncy b y g iving th e in ta ke por ts a straighter shot into the combustion cha mber. Th e compress ion ratio ha s been increased from 12 : I to 12. 2 : 1. The va lve -t ra in has been redesigned as well , with new lighter valves that fe ature s ingl e va lve springs ins te a d of th e previou s model's double springs. Th is wa s don e by us ing a new a lloy spring m ate ria l, instea d of the we a ke r st eel use d in the ol d d e s ign . T h e intake valves a re n o w 2 7 .2mm in di ameter, up from 26.5 m m on the old mo tor. O f co urse , Suzuk i had t o c h a n ge t he ca ms as w ell t o t ak e adv a ntage of a ll o f this ot he r work . The ne w holl o w c a m s are lighte r to reduce inertia a nd help keep the timing mo re accurate. This was do ne by ch a ngin g the ca mshaft materia l fro m cast iro n to a new lightwe ight alloy , then increasing the inner diameter of the cam by red uci ng wall thickness . ee, n FUEL-IN.JECTION ANOINTAKE 600 c c m a rke t. Wit h all of Suzu ki' s competitors ha ving a lready upd a ted th e ir b ikes in recent years, the baby GS X-R wa s due for a major upg rade. Cycle News a nd a group of jo urnalists fro m Aus tralia, Canada, and the Uni t e d States wer e inv ited to Road Atlanta , just ou tside th e city of the sa me name , to attend the int rod uctio n of th e n e w GS X- R6 0 0 . We were flo wn in e a rly t o a t tend th e Suzu ki Cu p Fin a ls the day p rio r t o ta king to the tra c k ourselves. Suzuki prides its e lf on bei ng a major contingency spo nso r fo r grass-roots roa d ra cin g in the Un ited Sta te s , an d th e Suzuki Cu p Fina l is always the climax to t he s e a s o n fo r S uzuk i-moun ted racers , with racers fro m all over the country be ing invited to Road Atla nt a to com pete for big pu rse s on a wide rang e of Suzu ki m o t orc ycl e s . Thi s year wa s th e 15th anniversary of th e event. Like we sta te d e a rlier, Suzu ki likes to win rac es , and it hasn 't bee n win ning as many 600c c Su per sport races a s it would like . S o the GSX- R6 00 wa s co m pletely redesigned for 200 I, with ex te ns ive work done to t he engine, chassis, and styli ng . Suzuk i we nt on a witc h -hun t for we ight savings - c hi p p in g away at each a n d e ve ry co mponent in an effort to d rastica lly s lim the 600 down. Th e engineers felt that the m otor co uld use som e im p ro ve me nt as well, but t o im prove th e handl ing and acce le ra t ion , it al s o n e ed ed to b e mu ch light er. Th e n e w G ix xe r weig h s a clai med 3 59 pounds dr y, a who p ping 24 .25 pounds les s tha n the last gen - S TO RY B y B LA K E C O NN E R P HOT OS B y B RIA N N E LSO N AND T OM R ILES If''' U uzuk i wants to wi n m o re ra c e s , that's the bottom line . Fo r 200 I, the y ' ve d e c id ed to pu ll o ut all th e stops to a ch ie ve this go al. La s t yea r, Su z u k i in t rod uced a comp letel y red e s ign ed GS X- R7 5 0 , which wa s a n instan t success in Fo rmul a USA , a n d 75 0cc Su p e rsp o rt co m pe t it io n. But t h a t wa s n 't good e no ugh. What th e boys fro m Hilmam atsu want now is to co mp le te ly d omina te t he AMA Sup e rb ike , and · 60 0 c c Su p erspo rt c lasses wit h th e ir new GS X-Rs . The p revious generation GSX-R750 S up erbike won its s econd c o ns e c uti ve Su p erb ike crown with Mat Mlad in, a s S uzuki decided to wa it until 200 I to rac e the ne w Gixxer 750. Whil e the GSX -R600 wa s sti ll ca p a b le of winning ra c e s in AMA Sup ersp ort co m p e t it io n last ye ar, wit h th e ma ss ivel y t a lent ed and enterta ining Aa ron Yates win ning at Loudon , New Hampsh ire , it was no . lon ge r c apa ble of dom ina ting . Suzuki did n 't win th e 600c c c ha mpio ns hip , and it def inite ly wa sn 't s atisfied. The GSX -R750 wa s th e first b ike to be mark et ed as a "ra c e replic a ", ba ck in 1985 , and it was truly revol ution ary at the t im e . Ov er th e yea rs , th e GS X-R g ot fat , stra ying aw a y from the orig inal lightweight concept, bu t th ing s c h a ng e d with th e 2000 GSX -R750 , wh ich was as slim a n d purposeful a s th e o riginal. We c a n 't sa y th at th e la st generation Gixxer 600 was fat and old , but it wa s starting to lose ground in the fa s t- p aced 22 NOVE MBER 1 ,2000' cue I e n e VIl' s The author at speed on the all-new 2 0 0 1 Suzuki GSX-R600 at Road Atl anta. eration. Co m bine d with the newfound power, Suzuki p rom is es to be ba ck in the 600cc Supers port t itle h unt in 200 1. E NGI NE Suzuki claims that the ne w moto r makes 4 .5 perc ent more powe r than la st ye a r's bike , whic h m ay not sound like a lot, but there's more to it than just the power figu res . On e of t he biggest changes to the engine was th e actua l architecture itself. The motor is s ign ificantl y lighter than the previous genera t io n, b y 8 .8 p ound s , an d is smaller in e ve ry dimens ion , all owing enginee rs m o re le e wa y in c hassis des ign a nd weight dis tribu tion. T he c ra n kc ase is ve ry s imil a r to la s t yea r' s 750 , with a thre e -p ie c e design , fe aturing an integra ted upper c ra nkcase a nd cy linders . Th e cy lin ders themse lves now ha ve Suzuk i's SC EM (S uzu k i Co m posi te E le ctro c hemi c a l Ma teria l) coating lining th e walls , wh ic h a llows new for ged -a lu minum p is to ns, wit h lowe r-fric tion rings to be us e d. Attac hed to those new p istons are new connecting rods that have be en s ho t-peene d to harden the surface of the rods , which in turn s tre ngthe ns the m a nd a llows th em to be th inn er and lighte r. The c rankshaft wa s a ls o red e signed to re duc e we ight a nd offe r les s fricti on al loses. The c yl inder he ad is c o m p le te ly n ew as well - it s ti ll featur es four valves per cyli nde r with double-overh e ad ca m s , but is more efficient , The b iggest c ha n ge with the new b ike ha s to be th e add ition of fue linje c t io n for 200 I. One of Suzuki 's forem ost des ign goals was to increase the int a ke efficiency of the GSX -R 600 , and there c a n't b e an ea s ie r solution than replacing the old car b s with in j e ct ion . Th e k ey t o motor c ycle fue l-inje ctio n isn't necessa rily th e injecto rs th em s el ve s , but the p rocessor s a nd sensor s that feed the s ystem the requ isite inform atio n. As m otorc ycl e fue l- in jecti on h as evolve d, it h a s beco m e evid ent that the m or e info rma t io n the "b ra in" is fed , th e m or e e ffic iently th e fue l c a n be deliv er ed . Th e 200 1 GSX-R has a new 16 -bit ECM (Electronic Control Mod ule) and has 96 kilo by tes of ROM (Rea d Only Me m ory) . Why a ll of th is co m p uter talk yo u a sk? Th e answe r is s im ple: th e key to the GSX -R' s FI system is th e incom ing da ta from th e va rio us se n s o rs . T here ar e sen s or s for ca msha ft po s ition , atmosp he ric pres s ure, inta ke ai r pressure , c ra n ks ha ft p ositi on , in ta ke a ir t emp er a ture , throttl e pos ition , and e ng ine-coo la nt temp eratu re . All of this data is fe d into th e ECM, wh ich then ana lyzes th e d at a and decides wh ich fuel injec tion m ap - selecte d fro m the e ight 3D m aps a vaila b le - needs to be used. The maps are stor ed in ROM, but the ECM is ma k in g hundreds , p e rhaps thousands of de cisions per second at high rpm , h e nc e the fast 16 - b it pr ocessor. Th e new 600 - like its 750cc s ibling - has Su zuki 's SDTV (Suzuki Dual Throttl e Val ve ) s ystem . Ea ch th ro ttle body has a pr imary th rottle val ve that is co nt ro lle d by the rider's throttle input, but also fe atures a secondary va lve that is controlled by the

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