SUZUKI GSX-S1000
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Smashing big miles.”
If you thought that covering shy of 2,500 miles in j ust four days would be a no-go on a naked, then think again. With my old man on his Street 67 5 in tow, we decided to put a tick firmly on the bucket list by having a lads’ tour to Italy. In all honesty, saying we were going to ‘ Italy’ is a little vague; truth be known we were headed for one of – if not one of the most – iconic rounds on the MotoGP calendar. Yes, you guessed it; we were destined for the one and only Mugello.
U nfortunately we had a tight schedule to work to, meaning we had two days to ride down, with a couple of days at the track then another two to head back to Blighty. With the prospect of having to rack up 7 4 0 miles on day one, covering France, Belgium and Lux embourg to reach our first stop in Fü ssen, a Bavarian town in Germany j ust north of the Austrian boarder, I have to admit, I was somewhat apprehensive. I’ve never covered so many miles in a single day, let alone while abroad and with less than three hours’ kip. If I said the day was a breez e I’d be bullshittin’. There were times where I j ust wanted to pull up in a services, throw off my clobber and grab forty winks but that’s only because I had done a 19 hour day before being out of bed again at 3 am to head due south – stupid, I know but that’s the j oys of working in the print game.
Testament though to the GSX -S – credit where credit’s due n’all that – I didn’t feel ball achingly uncomfortable once ( that’s not to say that it wasn’t moderately painful) . Thankfully for me ( not so my wallet) the freq uent fuel stops that occurred every 14 0-160 miles gave me chance to fuel up on caffeine and soldier on.
Another feature that contributed to making the j ourney more bearable was the addition of Suz uki’s genuine, large tank bag, which retails at an ex pected price of 150 notes. Being ex tendable from 11-15 litres, it provided me with the additional storage to carry one of our bulky lock and chains along with a selection of easily accessible snacks and other crap. Made all the more functional by being easily removable for tank top ups. Much to my surprise, I managed to sq ueez e our other lock and chain in under the pillion seat too, which meant that neither of us had to carry the weight of those darn locks on our back for hours on end – bliss! The tank bag itself is guaranteed to 8 0mph but I thought it best to put it to the test on the autobahn and I can safely say that it reassuringly stayed put at 100 + 50mph – if you get my drift.
Mugello alone was epic and totally insane – even if Lorenz o spoiled my fun by bagging the win. Never before have I felt so immersed by merely being on the spectator’s side of the fence, it’s a truly special place. Being there also made me wonder what will happen to MotoGP when The Goat announces retirement because as far as the eye could see the crowd was awash with yellow V R4 6 garments. Yellow flares were being deployed left, right and centre and chainsaw engines were bellowing out in all directions.
All in all, the GSX -S1000 did me proud; she didn’t miss a beat and provided me with an arse-easing level of comfort that many nakeds would be envious of. She did a sterling j ob of slappin’ a grin across my chops when ripping up the mountain twisties, especially on the silky smooth and flowing E53 2 from Fü ssen towards Innsbruck – it’s a minter!
Nex t month I’m hoping to add a little j e ne sais q uoi to my ride. It’s in need of a little ‘ character building’ so I’ve got an SC Proj ect pipe on order which should spice things up and help to unleash a little more of it’s inner sinner.