PROJECT SUPERSTOCK GIXER – PART FOUR!
Pretty Boy finds out that building a race bike isn’t always a walk in the park, but gets one of the most important jobs for a new build ticked off…
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That’s been the mantra for this month after running into some slight logistical issues, but then again life is never straightforward, is it? The original plan was to get the Gixer race trimmed before sticking it on track, however after a few things took longer than anticipated, I had to make a choice – leave testing until the suspension is all sorted, or get used to riding the big thou’ on the standard kit. It’s not ideal in both respects, but I’m bloody thankful I went for the latter – which meant three days at Calafat was the order of the month for Project Gixer… It’s a marathon, not a sprint Having read ‘How to Run Your Bike In’ in last month’s mag, I was eager to give Project Gixer the best life possible which meant starting with a solid running-in period – after all a happy engine is a fast engine. Although it can be done on the dyno (it already had a few miles under its belt) after a quick phone call to the lovely lot at Suzuki UK it was decided to take it easy for 100 miles up and down the box before giving it some ragging. For this reason I booked three days on track at Calafat in Spain; a day for running in, a day to get used to the bike and then a day to try
some bits. We opted to run standard gearing, brake pads and fluid and suspension settings to start with. The fast group was pretty rapid, which was good, with a tonne of BSB lads from the different classes, meaning it would be the perfect place to dial both the bike and myself in, check that nothing I’d bolted on was going to fall off and see exactly what we need to improve before the season starts in a month’s time. So with everything together, I loaded the bike up and sent it on its first holiday…
If you’ve never been to Calafat, it’s a tight and technical circuit that’s pretty hard work on the thou’, but I couldn’t wait to get stuck in and get to work on the Gixer. The first port of call was nipping all the bolts and checking torque settings (thankfully I found an online manual), before sticking on some pristine Biketek Pro Tyre Warmers which warm up an absolute treat. Luckily everything was still held together nicely so I had my first proper sit on the bike (well, with leathers anyway), so we could properly adjust the LSL rearsets (which we moved forward) and the Biketek Clip-ons (which we moved backwards) in order to accommodate my tiny frame a bit more comfortably. It didn’t take me long before I could tell just how much of a stunning bike the GSX-R1000R is to ride, but keeping it under 10,000rpm on track is an exercise I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy; it’s like marrying Margot Robbie without being allowed to get balls deep. It was a necessary evil and by the end of day one we’d achieved the magic 100 miles, which meant I could give the Suzuki a bit of hammering… Learning curve Having never ridden a thou’ in proper race-spec fuelled anger, it’s no surprise how the seemingly tame Suzuki turns into a bit of a handful when you give it the berries. The test was the perfect playground to determine exactly what else needed to be altered before I line it up on the grid at round one. The quicker I seemed to go, the more problems cropped up, which started with us catching a few false neutrals between first and second gears. The standard quickshifter does work fine but I know there’s a recall on them, and having small feet and short legs makes it difficult to be positive enough on long right hand corners, so if I can get something a little bit more sensitive it will definitely make life a touch easier.
I think I’m going to go with an aftermarket jobby – probably HM. One of the main aims of the test was just to get comfy on the bike and, shifter aside, ditching a load of the road tackle has made the GSX-R even more nimble and precise, but as soon as you start to push there were a few niggles that really came to the fore. Firstly, jeez she’s powerful! Riding a thou’ is always going to be fast, but pushing on, cracking that throttle earlier and searching for tenths means that you really are going to be fighting it. I was struggling to hold my body forwards when really getting on the gas so in order to combat this we made a bum stop for the back of the seat. It’s always worth getting it done properly, but to do so you need to find the sweet spot, and with some tape, foam and a little bit of rubber we had four attempts before we got the booster seat spot on; it made the
ride much easier and meant my body stayed in a position where I could at least reach the gears and brakes. On the subject of brakes, the rear is okay, although it lacks a bit of feel, but the front left a lot to be desired. They’re great for the road but with so many heavy braking zones, after about five laps they were absolutely cooked. Three sessions in we dropped in a set of EBC GPFAX-447 pads which fit in those Brembo calipers like a dream, before a quick bleed through with some fresh Liqui Moly DOT 5.1 brake fluid. Voila! Coupled with the Hel brake lines the brake power was drastically increased with better feel, and even after a full 20 minute stint (after a few steady laps running in) the lever was exactly where it was at the beginning. Progress!
With better brakes, I was able to get closer to a respectable race pace, which uncovered our next issue; the suspension. Laden with standard Showa both front and back and an electronic steering damper, the Gixer was spot on for a medium pace riding yet anything beyond that became a real handful.
With the rear being so soft the Suzuki wanted to wheelie everywhere, and with high winds causing us to get a bit crossed up, the bike and I threw some hellish shapes upon landing that the stock steering damper didn’t have a hope of curbing. Couple this with a soft front end that dives hard under heavy braking and you have something hard to hold on to, even when you really stiffen the brains out of ’em; the suspension is a big issue I’ll need to sort – and hopefully by the time you’re reading this I’ll already have it done, with a set of racing spec fork internals and a race shock courtesy of K-Tech.
It’s crazy to think that although the Gixer is such a brilliant road bike, there is so much room for improvement on the track. The GSX-R1000R is an absolutely bloody awesome bike, but over three days and over 300 miles I’ve learnt a lot about what it needs. Smoother power delivery, an aftermarket shifter, some race suspension and some more mileage is just what the doctor ordered. My bank balance is going to take a hit next month…