The King is dead, long live the King.

What could possibly be better than Yamaha’s YZF-R1, the daddy, the King, the hooligan machine? How can you improve on perfection, it’s impossible, or so I thought.

My previous bike was an R1 and before that I owned a 1997 Fireblade, the one with the 16" front wheel. I thought the Blade was a great bike, powerful(ish) fast and agile and reading the press only served to confirm to me that there was very little to choose between the top sportsbikes. So what changed my views, simple, I had a test ride [1] on the R1 and was astounded that it was miles better than the Blade and after a quick chat with my accountant I decided to buy it. During my six months of riding the R1 I fell in love with it, it forgave my “arse-out-hang-off” style of riding and allowed me to get away with impossible situations, the impossible became the norm with my R1. The only real fault with it was it’s front suspension, it wasn’t that stable. Or, as my SO put when she tried out the pillion seat. “There’s something wrong with that (bleep) bike, take it back, I’m sure the front wheel should be on the ground at least some of the time”. What could possibly be better than the R1? When I saw the specs of the GSX-R1000 I noticed that it had a decent front end, was very light, had lot’s of power but a higher seat height. :-(

I quite like Gixer 600's they’re great tools on the track and I thought that if the new Gixer was as good as “they” said it was I should investigate it further. After all the R1 is just awesome, isn’t it? Nothing prepared me for the shock I had when I test rode the Gixer Thou, and it was better almost everywhere than the R1. I turned up at Colin Collins on a dry and sunny Saturday afternoon. The salesman said “see you in about an hour”

At first the steering felt a little heavy because of the steering damper but within a mile I had forgotten it was there. The gearbox, is so slick it encourages you to change gear but the intake noise and exhaust note is defying you to hold it just a little bit longer. The power delivery is unbelievable. It will pull cleanly away in 3rd (and probably 4th). The injection system does make the throttle very sensitive but also very, very, instant. As you twist the throttle your speed increases at the same rate you twist the throttle, so what you may say...but this was in any gear. Wheelies, yes the Gixer Thou can wheelie and wheelie and wheelie. But in a much more controlled way than the R1. R1 riders will know what I mean about the uncertainty and wobbles when you land. The Gixer just remains planted and in a straight line. In fact I lofted a pleasing minger when I pulled away from the dealers (it would have been bad manners if I didn’t).

The best part of the Gixer is its chassis, it’s just brilliant and is more flick-able than the R1, I found myself completing a series of tight twisties about 10-15 mph quicker than I could on the R1 and still felt I could have done better. I hammered the Gixer through the lanes on some bumpy surfaces, whereas the R1 would waggle about at 120(ish) the Gixer remained planted at far higher speeds (allegedly). I took one roundabout at high speed (no knee-sliders) and cranked the bike over and thought, there’s plenty more so I did it again and thought, there’s still plenty more even though I could feel the peg moving.

The bends and twisties are where the big GSX-R1000 takes things to another league, with the balanced chassis and superb spread of torque from the engine it allowed me to hold a gear and just drive. If I went into a bend too quickly all, it took was a slight squeeze of the brake’s tp reduce forward momentum enough to let me make the bend.

On one bend I allowed the bike to drift over to the right-hand side of the road as I exit the turn, I went over a bump while still leant way over and applied power, the front wheel started to go light. But the fabulous suspension and that steering damper keep the shakes down to a panic-free level.

At the top I said that the Gixer Thou, it's better than the R1 almost everywhere, where the R1 score over the Gixer is below 2500rpm, the Gixer tends to be a bit twitchy.

The GSX-R1000, Suzuki has come very close to a 1bhp per kilo power-to-weight ratio. Weighing a paltry 4kg more than the 750, but producing in excess of 160 crankshaft horsepower, this equates to 0.94bhp/kg. That comfortably beats the R1’’s ratio of 0.84bhp/kg and for me anyway the Suzuki is quite simply the best superbike in the world.

We are talking about near BSB performance here with 0.95bhp per Kg and a sub 10sec quarter mile. All wrapped up in a sexy user-friendly package that’s way ahead of anything else......for now.

Another advantage is the GSX R1000 looks the same as the 600 and 750 whereas the R1 was unmistakably an R1 this means I can operate the Thou in “stealth mode”. The best way to identify the GSX-R1000 is by the front forks. Gold titanium nitride coatings cover the 46mm fork legs for reduced stiction, and the upside-down stanchions are also gold anodised. Differential bore six-pot calipers grip the twin 320mm discs. The rear wheel also grows in width to 6-in and wears a 190-section tyre.

When I arrived back at a very worried dealer three hours later, I was hooked, a quick chat with my accountant and the order was placed. I took delivery on March 14th 2001 and have since completed nearly 2000 miles. So how was the past 2000 Miles?

My riding position (when I getting it on) has always been, crotch against tank, knees gripping the sides of the tank and my full 150lbs over the front. Yes, the bugger still comes up. The early R1's did this (although it was tamed on the Y2K bikes). But not as much as the Gixer. The Gixer lifts the front very easily but so manageable and stable but I think quite a few will be binned though. The throttle is so sensitive a fraction of a movement will deliver lots of
power.

So what’s next:

I was only thinking last week that the Gixer could do with a bit more power. The chassis could certainly handle it. It has started to loosen up nicely now and by 4000 miles it should become very strong. However, the engine isn't the best part of the bike, but the dynamics are. You can have loads of fun without using all the power. For the first 1000 miles I was limited to 9000rpm and I've still managed to make a bit of a mess of my tyres, they won't last another 1000 miles, unless I start taking it a bit easier. But that's not the point is it?

I have seen a dyno printout of a bog standard one showing 151bhp at the back wheel which would equate to around 165 at the crank. I've contacted dynojet and a few race specialists and they reckon that by just modifying the end can (re-packing) and re-mapping will release about 15-20bhp at the back wheel and you could get another 10bhp by going to a straight through race can. So, 160-170bhp at the back wheel is feasible for about a grand. There's a 3000rpm power band from 9000 where it develops almost full power, it then dips dramatically to the red line at 12500. It would be nice to extend the power band to 13,000.

[1] The only way to see if a bike suits you is to get on it and ride it. Forget about on-paper specifications and what people tell you get on it. It’s a bit like the riding theorist who go on about lean angle this or centre of gravity that all explaining why a bike should behave in such a way, there’s no substitute like experiencing it.