My Background:
Started riding in 2000 on a GPX 250 for 7 months. binned it, bought an 89 ZXR250 to replace it. Rode that for two years everyday and twice at pukekohe for a track day. sold it. bought a 97 ZX6R in early 2003, rode that everyday till november 2003 (incl two more track days and cold kiwi rally plus countless day trips) when i got this little puppy.
With that in mind!...: (flick to the end for a less convoluted summary!)
First impressions with on the GSXR were mainly limited to
"damn, this thing looks mint!"-the alstare rep paint job absolutely looks fantastic from any angle and any distance and under any light. I had some localised fading on the tank after a month but that was replaced under warranty. Purple Belly fairing is picking up some stone chips that are showing up the yellow base coat but otherwise no dramas.
"Geez, these brakes aren't half bad" - VERY confidence inspiring. Spent a day at pukekohe chastising myself for not using them properly into the hairpin (thats going from 250khr to about 50) and slowly learnt just how good they were if hauled on. It feels very stable under braking. on the open road, i don't feel over commited if I need to brake a little harder when already leant over - something I could feel a big difference on from the zX-6R despite it being fitted with a supercorsa (street grade semi slick) front. it seems very forgiving of me changing my mind and made the castrol esses at Pukekohe a lot more enjoyable. Encourages the rider to learn/perform stoppies!
"How crap are these tyres?" Fitting Dumbplop 207u's to a bike like this should be illegal. Maybe its because I commute everyday that I notice it but the complete lack of grip given out by these things when cold is a travesty and downright dangerous... not to mention expensive if you try and zap out of your driveway too quickly! (trust me - i found out the hard way). I've done the last 5000kms on Pirelli Diablo Corsas and haven't had a scary moment to blame on the tyres since.
"I can't believe I only paid $13000 for this". Definitely the bike of the year if you're after a sports bike. Suzuki NZ piggybacked on a large order from Suzuki Canada and got them into NZ for a silly price. With the other Jap 600's costing from 14,500-17,000, the suzuki was a natural choice.
So that was first impressions:
recent thoughts (bikes now coming up 5 months old)
'Damn that bike looks good!' - Still makes me smile when I walk out to say hello in the morning. I understand this is usually reserved for expensive italian bikes.
'I wonder if I really need a 1000?'. The engine is rather manic. The ensuing noise is intoxicating even without a new can. Unfortunately, the bike really does not encourage legal riding on the road. its definitely a bit of a hoon machine and it takes a lot of will power to resist that twitchy right hand sometimes (I kid you not.. i get VERY edgy sitting behind some cars at 100kmhr on the motorway and occasionally just feel the need to ring the throttle right out in 2nd or 3rd gear for therapy). That said, i've only really wanted more outright power when chasing the 250k barrier at pukekohe so i'm not to desperate for more power gains or a bigger bike yet.
and the only real problem I'm having with the bike is that its slowly killing my neck. it is by far the tallest bike I've ever sat on and would be a pain for shorter people (I'm 5"10). it makes for good corner clearence but is a disaster zone on straight roads that force you into one head up position. 50km on the motorway hurts a lot more than 250km in twistys. strange but true. So its not the sort of thing you'd want to do long km's on in one day without planning some stops. They say you can't sport on a tourer but you can tour on a sportster.. but the GSXR is probably pushing the truth of that statement (despite being well fitted with bungee points, a soft seat and the biggest damn boot space I've seen on any bike - fits two bottles of wine and a tool kit!)
so all in all
PROS:
SO cheap
looks awesome (other people agree)
Very very good brakes and engine if not outright class leader (but see point one)
CONS:
-Looks fearsome (distinct lack of egotistical drivers to play with all of a sudden). This also means for expensive paint jobs if you damage it. never leave home without full insurance because you'd need to go to the top paint man for the work and even he may refuse to do some of it due to the spooky decals.
-ain inducing for your neck
-Tall for short riders
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