Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MOTOGP I \r, limit), is also l0 hp more powerful than 2004's XRE-Z version. No question, when you ride it, that the '05 enSine is more potent - but only at the expense of a more layered power delivery than there was a year ago. When the XRE2 motor with its new 35o-deSree firing order had seemed so very torquey and flexible, I'd begun to suspect that what I was riding was a prototype GSV-R1000 SuPerbike of live years hence! lt delivered the power in a more linear way than the original 180- degree XRE-0 prototype I'd ridden back in 2002, where there was a big hit of bot- tom-end power anywhere above 7000 rpm. The power felt to be in the wrong place in the rev range, whereas, last year there was a liquid-smooth and extremely controllable rush of power from 9000 rpm upward, peaking at 14,200 rpm, with a 15,300-rpm revJimiter. But with iust 220 hp on tap against the Hondas and Ducatis with 20-30 hp more, "all" that was wrong with the XRE-2 was a lack of outright power, resulting in a slow coach of a bike by MotocP standards - both under accelem- tion and in a straight line. Suzuki engineers planned to address that for 2005 with an all-new motorcycle, but as Paul Denning confirmed, the XRE-3 they were developing wasn't as successful as they'd hoped in pre-season testinS, so instead they were forced to revert to Plan B, and improve the existinS bike as much as possible as a stopgap model to keep them in contention for this interim season. It shows from riding it that in pursuit of more power, they've sacriliced the ride- ability of the less potent previous model. They've indeed succeeded in wre$ing more power from the XRE-2.3 version of a 65-degree V"four motor which is really at the end of its development, but it's not nearly as nice to ride as last year's bike, and is a long way back from the overall excellence. So where Rossi's rocketship had Pulled cleanly out of the Valencia turn-two hair- pin from as low as 7000 rpm, on the Suzuki there was no power worth using below 9000 revs. but even then it didn't accelerate as cleanly or as hard as the Yamaha did from much lower down - hence ''Hopper's" focus on mainlaining momentufir by maximizing his corner speed. However wait until the 2-D digital dash shows I | ,500 rpm on its screen, and get ready for a big hit of Power from there on upward, which will haYe the front wheel lifting sk) rards in the bottom four gears. Then you realize the trick is to rev it right out - even though you can feel that the engine flattens out and stops building power from around 14,500 rpm - you want it to keep PUllinS hard, but it sort of siSns off, as if it's running out of breath at higher revs. That's what its predecessors have always done, even if Suzuki succeeded in holding the power delivery lon8er and gefting the engine to run 7O$rpm higher for this season. But don't short-shift to a hiSher Sear once you're in the 14,000-rev range, where you can feel the motor top out, to bring it back in what feels like the fat Part of the powerband. lf you do, you'll make friends with the torque curve iust as it's buildinS to its peak, and the Suzuki will pop another wheelie! lnstead, you must wait a while after the shifter light flashes at the 15,300-rpm mark, and then hit a higher gear on the clean-action wide- open powershifter iust before the 16- grand rev-limiter, and that way the front wheel has a better chance of sta;ring on the ground, and your acceleration won't be compromised. The GSV-R's layered delivery ofwhat is still insufficient power by current l'lotoGP standards, makes Suzuki at least a ),,ear behind the best of the rest in te.ms of engine development. But the pace of development in MotoGP is so fast, even with the final year of the 990cc formula cominS up, that Suzuki's engineers will have to hope their forthcoming new 26 JANUARY 18, 2006 . CYCLE NEWS ?OO5 MotoGP Racens '.t e / i I I L ) r L. f I r7 (Above) Iwin unsilenced piPc5 get rid of erhousr. (For lefi) Brembo corbon brqkes once ogoin. (Lefr) The Rc2I rV is powered by o 75.5-degree V-five. \ I il l .] I ):. ,t 'b4 lr'@ t \\ N \ ) I 't ii- \ N \ = f-, :.E Jt\ a 7. $ \ \v t/ q J \-"-\\ t! u ,I a -t(,

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