BEEJ SUZUKI GSX-R1000R

It’s been a slightly quieter month for the Gixer this time around, partly because of other duties but also down to a bit of much needed annual leave, too. We were able to go on a bit of a jaunt to the south coast though, when we went down to Muc-Off to do a bit of general cleaning with some of their products.

It had actually been murder waiting for this date, as I had to ensure she was properly dirty for the soapy encounter. However, the last time it had rained was over two months before, and she was fairly filthy from both the splishing and splashing. Then it was weeks and weeks of leaving her grimy, and even for someone like me who has never been overly bothered about making sure bikes are meticulously clean, it was hard to take. But wait we did, while making sure the important bits were kept lubed and in tip top shape, like the chain, for example.

My other concern was Gerrald. Gerrald is my dash spider, a cheeky little scamp who every morning would have weaved an impressive web from the tops of the fairing to somewhere on the tank, which I would of course immediately destroy merely by putting the key in the ignition. And he’s not the first to reside there. Initially there was Pedro, who didn’t survive a thorough clean, and after him Peter, who I renamed Peterina after I came to the bike one morning and found her being eaten by dozens of tiny baby arachnids. And finally, Gerrald, who had his tenure on the bike extended somewhat by the dry months.

So while I was pleased to have the Suzuki nice and clean once more, it was with a slightly heavy heart as the Gixer went from grimy to gleaming. Adios, Gerrald... Must say though, I’m pretty impressed with the products we used down there; you’ll be able to see a video of it soon so keep an eye out on our social media channels for that.

Now, the next thing I want to do is tell you a story about a GSX-R1000R. It began life in pieces, but when it was finally assembled and eventually topped up with fluids and fuel in Suzuki’s UK HQ, she must have wondered what kind of life she would have. As it happens, the poor old girl would be beasted relentlessly by a dozen different journos over the first few weeks (and few hundreds of miles) of her life, passed around like something to be used and abused by whomever fancied it.

Then she was introduced to her longterm owner, someone who would hopefully treat her a little better. Sadly it wasn’t to be, at least not at first, because a couple of days after their conjoining she was shipped off to Portimao to be mercilessly rinsed around a track by another bunch of goons. Again...

After that however, things did indeed get better and, despite the nonstop initiation to life, that would in fact turn into something good in the long run. 188bhp good, as it turns out, a whopping 16bhp over stock with just a Yoshimura end-can and a quick map on the Rapid Bike Evo. I am of course talking about this Suzuki, but her start to life is pertinent to where we’ve ended up on the power trail. On the JHS Racing dyno, this and every other GSX-R they’ve tested stock comes in around 172bhp. We were astounded when just an end can bumped this up to 184bhp. JHS did in fact think this was some kind of hooky press bike, given that every other one they had done even with full systems hadn’t quite matched it.

And now with a quick map it hit 188, but in seriously hot conditions, so much so that they reckon it’d easily crack 190bhp in a cooler dyno room. So, what’s the big difference? Basically every other machine they did was run in properly and didn’t have anywhere near the same mileage as this one on them. This old girl is nicely loosened up though, which is why it’s making such great power, which we fully expect the others to match eventually, too. Me? I’m over the moon with it, and the throttle response is also much improved. I’ll delve into the Rapid Bike etc. a little more next month.

One last thing, though. A day or so after the Muc-Off clean, a web appeared, and suddenly there he was, peeking out from behind the dash once again, #gerraldlives!