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/128637
1I11I1RB=c;:J 200 1 S uzu k i GSX-RBOO EJ: , = (Right) The c utaway of the G5X -R's throttle body s hows the p osition of the throttle valves In 't he ir f u lly open pos itio n . T he l o w e r va lve (closest t o the Injector nozzle) Is the primary va lve that i s controlled by In p ut from the rider's wrist. The u p pe r valve i s controlled by the ECM (Electronic Control Module), and actuated by a servo attached to the throttle -body assembly. The p urpose i s to maintain maximum i ntak e velocity at a ll tim e s. (Bel ow) The G5X-R's chassis is dense and compact, w ith every component designed to achieve the same g oal - e liminate unwanted weight to help deliver a knockout p unch. t ha t 's when the b ike' s h and l ing virt ues became much cl earer. The aforementio ned bl ind turn 12, leading onto th e fro nt st ra ig ht, ca n say a lot abo ut a bike. Th e reason is, that the fi rst 20 time s I went through it, I was tr yi ng to fi nd a solid reference p oint t o i ni tiate my turn - in , wh ile simultaneousl y increas ing m y speed every lap . What th is told me about the bike was tha t as I searched for the proper li ne I was able to change and co rrect it at will , with very little effort. The lack of weight and solid front-end feel gave m e th e co nfi dence to learn on the fly wi th out th e fear of screwing up. This same secti on also happ ens to be the scariest section o n th e trac k . If th er e is one unn erving th in g a bo ut Road Atlanta is has to be th e co nc rete wall o n the outsid e of turn 12 . Th e k ey to g etting a good d rive o nto the f r ont st raight is t o scare y ou r sel f through this la st turn, and to negot iate th e narrow li ne while ign oring the wall in your peripheral vis ion . All with th e throttle pinned . Front- end feel through th e suspe n si o n i s exc eption al. I nev er ex pe ri enced any noticeable ch atter and th e f o rk s gav e good feedb ack . If th e re was any corner on th e tra c k that would uncover an y ins tability , o r lack of feel , this was i t, and th e b ike pas sed the t est w ith flying colors, ev ery time. Anoth er sol id t est is th e braking zon e fo llow ing th e back straightaway , wh ich sets you up for the chicane th e set of c o rners that replaced the infamous Gravity Cavity . At the end of the da y , when I was m ore com fo rt able wi th the t ra c k , I to o k a peek at the speedo me ter a few tim es before I had to brak e, and saw an in dicated 157 mph. Not only does the GSX -R have aweso me bra k es (that on ly re q u ire tw o fi n ge rs), but t he bike i s also incredibly stab le un der heavy deceleratio n - do wn to aro und 4 5 mph for the chicane itself, I wo uld guess . Th e su spension, as a wh o le, feels very co m p li ant. In fact, I never made a ny c ha nges t o th e su sp en sion a ll d ay , ye t ne ve r had a prob lem wit h g round c le a r a nce , or c ha t t e r . My b iggest suspension test ca me in the feature LED (Light Emitting Diod es) instead of bulbs , which are supposed to last much lo nger. R IOI NG IMPRE S SI ON The Road Atlanta track is a beauti ful 12 -turn road cou rse that wi nds its w ay throug h g reen roll in g hills just No rt heast of A tlant a. Suzuki fel t that the b est wa y to g e t journalists am ped -u p to te st the new GSX -R600 , was to m ak e us sit and wat ch racing th e da y before we were all owed o n the track ou r selves. A lth ou g h I was perfectly happy sp endin g m y Sunday watch ing rac ing, it was k ind of lik e inv iti ng an al cohol ic to a frat -p arty and not letting th em do k eg-sta nds until the party was ove r. So the next day I was read y to ride m y freaking b rains out , an d t hat 's exactly what I did. The Road Atlanta tra c k i s primarily made up of 90 degree r ig ht -h an de r s, tho ug h th ere are a fe w lefts as well, bu t they are slo wer tha n t h e r e st of the tr a c k . There are a co up le tricky sections of th e trac k th at get yo ur attention real quick . Th e esses that fill the void between turns four and five have got to be one of the c oo lest sections of track in all of racing . On a motorcy cle, the re is only about 18 inches of usable racetrack through the section, bec au se ev eryth ing off-line is ma ssively bumpy, due to heavy racec ars messing it up. The other tricky sec tion is the blind dec ent between turns 11 and 12, whe re yo u crest a ri se and then dive at lea st fi ve sto ries down the hill towards anoth er na rrow sp an of usable tra ck an d onto the fro nt stra ig ht away . It doesn't tak e a brain surgeon to fi g ure out th at t he n ew GS X -R 6 0 0 feels much sm all er and lighter than the prev ious bike. In f act , I instantly fel t as though I was dwarfing it with m y 5 '11 " fram e. I spe nt th e fi rst c ou pl e of laps try in g t o r efamiliar i ze myself with the tra c k , and during that t ime m y initial impression of the bik e was that it was reall y light , and tha t its lack of weight m ad e it a bre eze to transition from sid e to side . After I fig ured out wh ere the hell I wa s go in g, I started p icking up th e pace - and 24 N OV EM BER 1 , 2 0 0 0 ' cue I e ne""s afternoon whe n I got abo ut a foot offline going into the esses . Th e bumps off-line are fai rly bad and th e second I go t on them th e bike st arted t o sha ke its hea d and try to throw m e off. But I have to say th at even on this buck in g- b ro nc o r ide , th e b ik e f a iled t o cha tter. This same inci de nt was also m y m ost em barrassing mistak e of th e da y because I happened to do it right in front of Aaron Yates, wh o was out pla y ing around on the n ew b ik e . Yates was nice enough to look back and make sure I was oka y as h e rocketed a ro und me i n to t he nex t bend - and nice eno ug h to compli m ent me on my save la ter in the pits. Dunlop fitted ,D207GP Stars to all o f o u r bik es , and they worked perfectl y . In th e co oler morning session, m y bik e was fitt ed w ith a soft- compound vers ion of the tire for the rear, but it was shredded by lunchtime. Fo r the much wa rm er afternoon sessions , a harder c o m po und of the same tire was t h r o wn on . It f elt ex actly th e same - except it quit sli d ing wh en it got ho t. As far as power is concerned, th e new motor is very strong in the upper rev -ra nge. It d oes n 't have a bi g h it , bu t it pull s hard fr om 10 ,500 rp m to the 14,500 rpm redline. Now, I ca n't say how th is will relat e to the street, beca use o ur t est d idn 't in clu d e an o ption to ta k e th e bike for a sp in on the street, but it fe lt p lent y po werfu l o n the track. T hat also holds tru e fo r t he fuel injection as well . On th e tra ck it feels ve ry ref in ed a nd l in ear , bu t I didn 't spend much tim e below 10,000 rpm , so it's performance on the street will be somethi ng we will evaluate when we g et ou r t es t b i k e . I'm su r e the speedometer is a to uch off, because the y all are - but any 600cc bike that is flirting with 160 mph is a rocket ship. Power is impressive, to say th e least. I al so found th e new GSX -R600 to be very attractive. It's very sleek and modern, and the graph ic s are cl ean and tasteful. Th e bike w ill be ava ilable in two color -c ombinat ions for 200 I, a blue/wh ite co m bo, and a yel low / b l a c k combo ( a c o m b o that reminded me of th e bees that kept clim bi ng into my Coca Cola every t ime I looked awa y ) . Th e MSRP will be $ 7999 , which is only $ 150 more than last year 's bike . With all the changes Suzuki has made , tha t's a real deal , co ns i d e r in g th e p erformance this bike offers . Whether the bike itself will be th e real deal in the ti tanic 600cc Supersport wars remains to be seen . CN ~@@ 7J ~C!!J~C!!JrfI5 @fSZIo[x]@@@ List Price Displacement Engine Type , $7999 .599cc ' ..Liquid-cooled, in-line four-cylinder Bore x Stroke 67 x 42.5mm Compression Ratio 12.2:1 Carburetion EFI Ignition Digital COl Transmission 6-speed Start ing Syst em Electric Fuel Capacit y .4.8 gal. Wheelbase .55.1 in. 24°j96mm Rake/Trail Seat Height 32.7 in. Front Tire 120j70ZRI 7 Rear Tire 180j 55ZR17 .4.9 in. Front -Wheel Travel Rear-Wheel Travel 5.1 in. Front Brake Dual disc Rear Brake Disc Final Drive Chain Claimed Dry Weight 359 Ibs.