Sporting giants
It’s 12 years since Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 K5/6 rocketed into legend; will the new GSX-R1000R L7 follow suit?
TREVOR BAILEY, OUR Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 owner, is happy to admit if you cut him in half, he’d be blue and white on the inside. “I’m praying the new GSX-R is the dog’s,” he says. “Suzuki has been so far behind, for so long. Until the new bike, the only electronics it had on the GSX-R1000 was a mode switch. And everyone puts it in A mode and forgets about it.”
While we down a coffee before riding the ‘old’ K6 and new L7 GSX-RS side-by-side, Trevor tells me he was born into bikes: “In 1968 my mum brought me home from hospital in a sidecar. When I was three I’d wait for dad to come home from work on his BSA, and I’d be straight on the back.”
Trevor’s always been around Suzukis – his dad’s friend worked for the UK importer and introduced a young Trev to Barry Sheene once – but it took a while for the GSX-R bug to bite: Trev’s first was a GSX-R1000 K2 in 2003, followed by a K5 in 2007. He loved it – but then a work injury forced him to give up sportsbikes. Trevor sold the Suzuki; a decision that hurt him as much as the riding position: “It absolutely killed me,” he says. “I bought an Aprilia Tuono instead, but didn’t get on
with it so I packed up biking altogether. But it made me so miserable, my wife said; ‘Look, just buy another bike and even if you only ride it an hour a week, at least it’s in the garage.’ It was never in doubt what I was going to get: I went out and bought this, my 2006 GSX-R1000 K6.”
The bike is a 2007-registered machine with 10,000 miles on it. It’s stock, apart from a Yoshimura Tri-oval end can, K&N filter and a tail tidy. “It’s doing around 169hp at the back wheel,” says Trevor.
Trev’s a member of a thriving Facebook bike page: the Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5/K6 site has 3500 members and a wealth of knowledge. “One chap on there has spent upwards of £60,000 on his GSX-R,” says Trevor. “I think it shows what an iconic bike it is, that people are willing to spend that money on a 12-year-old sportsbike.”
And it turns out there’s a reason for so much passion for the K5/K6...
GSX-R1000 evolution
Suzuki has form for making us wait for ages for its best bikes. When the GSX-R1000 K1 appeared in 2001, it ended over a decade in the also-ran wilderness for fans of Suzuki’s big-bore sportsbikes. We’d almost given up waiting. The once-mighty GSX-R1100 it replaced had long been out-gunned by lighter, more nimble rivals and, as the 1990s ticked away, it felt as if Suzuki had simply run out of ideas and given up on the class.
But the K1 changed all that. By basing the bike on the previous year’s GSX-R750 – enlarging and reinforcing chassis and engine where needed – weight was kept minimal and its explosive performance was comfortably ahead of Yamaha’s R1.
The following GSX-R1000 K3 in 2003 built more chassis refinement into the GSX-R with a new frame, suspension, and radial brakes, but the motor was lightly tweaked. Nonetheless, the GSX-R was still ahead of its – then – Japanese competitors.
And then came the K5, in 2005. A wholesale chassis and styling redesign, plus a major engine revamp that – importantly – added 11cc in capacity and took the K5 motor from the K3’s 988cc to 999cc, accelerated the GSX-R so far ahead of the field it wasn’t just in the next town, but on a different planet. The K5 was a magical, alchemic collision of perfected fundamentals: an elegant and economic design philosophy pared weight back while clever engine optimisation (in reducing friction) added torque and horsepower.
Essentially, the great strength of the K5 was its simplicity – take off the fairing and there was space everywhere, filled only by an engine, frame, suspension and wheels. No complicated plumbing, wiring and plastic all over the place; the only things present were those required to make the bike faster. It was a slice of genius.
As it turned out, the identical K6 in 2006 was the last of the great pre-euro3 sportsbikes. In 2007 the K7 GSX-R was, like its rivals, weighed down (literally) by emissions-based compromises that added layers of engine management and complex, heavy exhaust catalysts.
After six years of giant strides forward, GSX-R1000 development seemed to
“It was never in doubt what I was going to get...”
“I’m trying to book myself a dealer demo ride...”
have stalled. The next revision, 2009’s K9, produced more power and had an even more effective chassis, but still failed to match the K5’s weight target. And, in a repeat of the GSX-R1100’S fate some 20 years earlier, Suzuki then seemed to lose interest – the credit crunch and dramatic arrival of BMW’S S1000RR made the GSX-R1000 look expensive, crude and technically obsolete overnight.
Enter the 2017 GSX-R1000R, designed specifically to recapture some lost GSX-R kudos. This is the R version of the L7 – as well as the base model’s new, 200bhp, variable-valve-timed engine, redesigned chassis and Imu-managed traction-control electronics, the R also gets cornering ABS, top-drawer Showa suspension and a quickshifter/auto-blipper.
And today, with the new GSX-R reclaiming a place at the litre sportsbike top table, the question Trevor and I want to answer is simple: can the L7 do what no GSX-R1000 has done for 12 years? Can it match – or beat – the GSX-R1000 K5?
2006 GSX-R1000 K6 v 2017 GSX-R1000R L7: The Verdict
As the dust settles from a blast along a twisty Northamptonshire A-road, Trevor and I are bursting to tell each other what we think of each other’s bikes. I’ve just ridden his immaculate K6 and he’s just been on the new L7. I bite my tongue and ask his immediate thoughts – delivered as soon as he takes his helmet off.
“I’m totally blown away by how small and light it is. That’s a bit unexpected. And it’s a totally different riding experience to mine; you can tell it’s a GSX-R but it’s very different,” he says. “And I think the throttle is rubbish. It’s on or off – no finesse.”
It’s worth pointing out Trevor’s never ridden a bike with Euro4 restrictions, or even Euro3 come to that – the K6 is one of the last mighty pre-euro3 sportsbikes. I tell him I think the L7 has got pretty good throttle response; one of the better contemporary litre sportsbikes – which is a sign either of how hard Euro4 restrictions have made riding them and we simply haven’t noticed, or how much more subtlety and care is needed to wring the neck of a modern sportsbike. Either way, the K6 definitely makes it easier to twist the throttle and not feel like a novice.
But Trevor is in full flow now: “The L7’s brakes don’t feel overly sharp compared to mine – I thought they’d be a huge improvement over the K6.”
That’s certainly true – there’s plenty of stopping power at the L7’s lever, but it’s not as direct as the K6’s twin-piston radials, which feel like you’re pinching the discs between thumb and forefinger. The L7’s braking is somehow indirect and managed, as if you’re squeezing against a sensor which then brakes on your behalf.
Trevor returns to the L7’s weight and steering: “It’s so light, and turns so easily compared with mine,” he says. “But is it me or is it not the most stable bike?”
He has a point – the new GSX-R1000R isn’t shy of letting its bars flick a little, though they’re a long way from instability or tank-slapping. In fact, technology sorts things out, as a speed-sensitive steering damper keeps the wheels in line.
“And I got used to the quickshifter and auto-blipper quickly!” he says. “It’s like second nature – it slots into gear really nicely. But at first the new engine felt wheezy beside mine. It really did!”
And the L7 has variable valve timing! For my money, the new GSX-R has a totally bonkers top end and a beautifully smooth, linear drive from the bottom end – but there’s no doubt when it comes to crisp, instant low-end grunt, the K6 – amazingly – has the measure of the new bike. That engine is still one of the most addictively muscular powerplants ever made.
Against its current rivals, the L7 definitely puts Suzuki back in the game in terms of its engine performance and spec level – it has every electronic aid under the sun, but with the added benefit of a humane riding position. You can better exploit the Suzuki’s colossal acceleration compared with, say, a Fireblade, simply because the GSX-R1000R has a fairing worth calling a fairing. And while it might get a bit lively,
but at very high speed, it’s as reassuringly rock stable as GSX-RS ever were.
Another difference is the riding position; you sit a little more ‘in’ the old bike and ‘on’ the new one. “Yes, the new bike feels a shorter reach to the bars across the tank but also feels like it has more leg room. It’s more comfortable than mine,” says Trevor. He has set his K6’s suspension on the firm side – the ride is harder and choppier than the K7’s plush Showa springs.
And then we turn to the new Suzuki’s looks: there’s no getting away from it – the old bike looks smoother, sleeker and more sculpted. The faired-in indicators of the K6 – the front ones in the mirrors, the rear in the tail unit – are cool and convenient; it means Trevor can fit a tail tidy to his GSX-R and not worry about where to put them. The new K7’s LED items are small and discrete – but they look a generation older than the 12-year-old bike’s.
As we wind the day up, I ask Trevor if he’s going to ride home on his K6 wishing he was on the new bike? “No,” he replies confidently. “Not at all. If I had lots of disposable income, yes, I would – but I’m not getting in debt just to have it.” But only a day later, Trevor texts me with a change of heart: “I’m in the process of trying to book myself a dealer demo ride. Watch this space.”
THANKS • Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5/K6 Facebook page • Mick at Black Art Suspension (07788 686665, www.blackart-suspension.co.uk)