GSXR 1000 K5 for a day

**dawnrazor** · 15th September 2005, 12:58

I just spent the day with the new GSXR 1000 K5, thanks to Mark at Colemans, while my GSXR600 K4 was in for some minor tweaks. Thought folks might be interested to hear my thoughts, particularly if your in the frame for buying one of these bikes in the future.

Firstly I have to say that both these bikes are fantastic sportsbikes, both are top of thier respective classes.
Getting on the 1000 after the 600 theres not much to seperate them, the 1000 feels higher and thiner, but not neccessarily bigger. Thats not so surprising when your told theirs only a one KG difference in weight.
Start the thou up and your greeted with the first clue that there is alot more going on under the fairing, Around town there is a great burble from the titanium exhaust, out on the open road the induction howl kicks in, and its glorious. Torque is never a problem with the thou, with more on tap at anytime then you'll ever need or be able to use. Passing traffic is a breeze, as a twist of the wrist will redefine acceleration for you. Its quite an eye opener to be sitting at 100 kph (+ a small fraction above) and realise your in 3rd gear and doing about 4500 rpm on a bike that wontl redline for another 10,000 rpm and 3 more gears.
Needless to say i wasn't able to experience any of this higher mode of operation, partly due to the weather making life a lot wetter then i had hoped and also the fact that this wasn't my bike. But it handled in the wet just fine, and never got out of shape, with all the feed back from the road you could ever need.

Getting back on the 600 and i missed the seemingly limitless torque straight away, but was quickly reminded why i bought the 600 in the first place, its so easy to ride everywhere and makes me a better rider for it. An dwhilst the 600 might not have the torque it has best induction howl that you can listen to all day.
Its not really fair to compare these two bikes for too long as at the end of the day the thou will always will, in whatever aspect of comparision. Although i reckon the 600's morrors are far better then the thou's, as they haven't been comprimised by the inclusion od indicators into the mirror housing, a great trick that cleans up the thous lines but makes for a pretty small mirr surface. But like thats something to complain about.

If your considering a sports 600 or 1000 then look no further then these two, you won't go wrong. And i thought i never wanted anything bigger then a 600 before yesterday, now i've changed my mind and one day when the bank allows me, i might move on up, that said the K6 600 will be an interesting new direction if it tries to be more like the new thou.

**Wellyman** · 15th September 2005, 13:02

Originally Posted by dawnrazor

I just spent the day with the new GSXR 1000 K5, thanks to Mark at Colemans, while my GSXR600 K4 was in for some minor tweaks. Thought folks might be interested to hear my thoughts, particularly if your in the frame for buying one of these bikes in the future.

Firstly I have to say that both these bikes are fantastic sportsbikes, both are top of thier respective classes.
Getting on the 1000 after the 600 theres not much to seperate them, the 1000 feels higher and thiner, but not neccessarily bigger. Thats not so surprising when your told theirs only a one KG difference in weight.
Start the thou up and your greeted with the first clue that there is alot more going on under the fairing, Around town there is a great burble from the titanium exhaust, out on the open road the induction howl kicks in, and its glorious. Torque is never a problem with the thou, with more on tap at anytime then you'll ever need or be able to use. Passing traffic is a breeze, as a twist of the wrist will redefine acceleration for you. Its quite an eye opener to be sitting at 100 kph (+ a small fraction above) and realise your in 3rd gear and doing about 4500 rpm on a bike that wontl redline for another 10,000 rpm and 3 more gears.
Needless to say i wasn't able to experience any of this higher mode of operation, partly due to the weather making life a lot wetter then i had hoped and also the fact that this wasn't my bike. But it handled in the wet just fine, and never got out of shape, with all the feed back from the road you could ever need.

Getting back on the 600 and i missed the seemingly limitless torque straight away, but was quickly reminded why i bought the 600 in the first place, its so easy to ride everywhere and makes me a better rider for it. An dwhilst the 600 might not have the torque it has best induction howl that you can listen to all day.
Its not really fair to compare these two bikes for too long as at the end of the day the thou will always will, in whatever aspect of comparision. Although i reckon the 600's morrors are far better then the thou's, as they haven't been comprimised by the inclusion od indicators into the mirror housing, a great trick that cleans up the thous lines but makes for a pretty small mirr surface. But like thats something to complain about.

If your considering a sports 600 or 1000 then look no further then these two, you won't go wrong. And i thought i never wanted anything bigger then a 600 before yesterday, now i've changed my mind and one day when the bank allows me, i might move on up, that said the K6 600 will be an interesting new direction if it tries to be more like the new thou.

Great review mate. now wait till trashy finds this and then he will have something to rant and rave about.

**k14** · 15th September 2005, 13:10

Originally Posted by dawnrazor

Firstly I have to say that both these bikes are fantastic sportsbikes, both are top of thier respective classes.

Oh really? I'm sure the whole supersport field would have a slightly different view

Yeah wouldn't mind riding one of these puppies one day. Wonder if sportzone will let me borrow their one for a few hours.

**loosebruce** · 15th September 2005, 16:54

3rd gear on the limiter well see you 250kph on the K5, i guess they geared em taller to tame em a bit, if i end up owning one the first mod will be going down a tooth on the front. make it a bit more lively, more K3/4 like, now we're talking.

The K5 is the bizzo alright though, just to tame in stock form.

**White trash** · 15th September 2005, 17:25

Originally Posted by k14

Oh really? I'm sure the whole supersport field would have a slightly different view

Really? Big difference between Supersport and 600 production racing.

**dawnrazor** · 15th September 2005, 20:57

Originally Posted by White trash

Really? Big difference between Supersport and 600 production racing.

for sure doesn't take away from the fact that both have topped the respective classes in the bike press and sales in the UK, which i'm using as a bench mark for similiar markets. Both bikes are briliant in their respective company, but it was scary how similiar these bikes where to each other in everything bar preformance. Okay a bit daft to say that, but it looks like the days of a big litre class sportsbike are replaced by a small litre sportsbike.
Made a fireblade circa 99 feel like a goldwing!

**loosebruce** · 15th September 2005, 23:43

Trashy was getting more at the fact that in 600 proddy racing the GSXR600 world wide is doing the bizzo, but in world supersports the honda's are ripping shit up, apart from ol Kev Curtain on the R6 (well done to that man), and that there is a big differance between proddy racing and supersport.

**motobob** · 16th September 2005, 22:20

Originally Posted by loosebruce

The K5 is the bizzo alright though, just to tame in stock form.

Hmmm Bruce ever considered trying to sit on it backwards to raise the thrill level. I had a spin on a K5 and it scared the shit outta me, he he. Buying a K4 though as by the time I've downshifted 3 gears everybody's disappeared.