I, Gladius...
Suzuki’s unfortunately named middleweight makes an unlikely basis for a TT race bike. Unless you’re JHS Racing, of course...
T here’s something wonderfully perverse about taking an unfancied production motorcycle, especially one seemingly unfit for purpose, and turning it into a rip-snorting race bike. More so, when there’s a single bike which logic dictates you should be racing. In this instance we’re talking about Suzuki’s SFV650 Gladius, and the various mini and supertwins race series out there. At club level there’s more of a mix, but as soon as you start to get a bit more serious, looking at the TT and other big road races, thus far there’s only really been one bike making waves – Kawasaki’s ER-6. They dominate the grids in the same way as Kawasaki’s ZX-10R dominates every superstock race the planet over. The only other bike worth having a go with was Suzuki’s SV650, a bike essentially over a decade old. Able to hold its own in club events, or in the Manx TT (as JHS rider Dave
Moffitt proved a couple of years back), it was a solid choice. But only Bristol based JHS Racing took the fight in the big league supertwin events seriously. Their SV was a gorgeous bit of kit, fully Öhlins’d up and constantly topping the dyno charts. It had an extra bit of weight it had to carry, inherent from the SV’s design, and not having that particular rider of a certain level onboard that kept it from achieving what it deserved.
The work JHS put into them, and the similar SV Fagan raced last year, is quite astonishing. The SV has been metaphorically parked by Suzuki now though, and given JHS’ connections with the UK arm of the Japanese manufacturer they had to turn their attentions to the mildly camp Gladius instead. But what they’ve ended up with looks both a million miles away from the donor bike, and very much faster.
It’s easy to lie back and take in the details here. We love admiring bikes at FB, but far prefer to actually ride them and tell you guys what they’re like. Imagination can only take you so far, after all. An
"What JHS Racing has ended up with is a bike that’s a million miles away from the donor bike...”
invitation to a pre-TT test with JHS and Avon tyres, at the super fast Castle Combe, arrived soon after seeing the bike at the JHS workshops. Better yet, we’d get to ride their TT bike for this year’s event, which should be happening as you read these words. A grinning James Holland greeted us at Combe, standing within a trio of his SFVs.
Two were in minitwin specification, the other was the TT bike, box fresh with the only miles rolled on the dyno. This event was arranged to set up the bike for the TT on the new Avon tyres, and James had all his riders present; including son William, Dave Moffitt and former British supersport charger Aaron Walker. “They’re here to tell me the truth about the bike,” said James, “I don’t want smoke blown up my arse, I need to know where to go so we’re ready to race.”
Wandering around the bike you wonder how it ever began as a Gladius, especially as I’d taken one along for comparative purposes. Only the simple swingarm gives away its origins, as otherwise it’s a brand new bike front to back.
Still, one wonders why JHS have gone down the Suzuki road, rather than the favoured Kawasaki? “I’ve always been a Suzuki fan and love that little engine,” says James. “It’d be easy for me to jump ship and join the bandwagon, but we want to be different. This year, I was led to believe, would be the year we got the support we needed from Suzuki, but we need more. I truly believe we have the better bike or I wouldn’t be wasting my own time and money with it, we’re just a small team against a big monster,” he said.
The decision to run Avon tyres is also off the wall, too? “I like that Avon are local and we’ve always had a good relationship
It’s immediately clear how much poke this has over the stocker...
with them. At last year’s TT nearly everyone was on Dunlops, but they’ve had some issues recently, factories closing, etc, so we needed to look elsewhere. We tested some of Avon’s tyres last year, and they were good, but not ready for racing then. Now we’ve tested the new ones and everyone is very happy, they’ve done a great job. The first time we used them we got on the podium with young Sam Smith, including
a new lap record. We’re going to run Avons on the superbike too, I feel we’ve enough experience to take a chance.” Fair enough!
Having not been around Combe for a few years, I took the stocker for a few exploratory laps. Like we’d found at Llandow a couple of weeks previously, it’s ruined by poor ground clearance, yet the massively bumpy nature of Combe meant the soggy suspension felt half useful for a change. It only takes a few laps to have had enough, mind you, and even before riding the JHS SFV I know the Gladius is a floppy blancmange by comparison.
After James’ Suzuki had done some initial circulations it was my turn to jump on. The pegs are a little high for my unfit and lanky form, but not so much as I can’t ride it. The motor is thumping underneath. It’s a strong beating heart and even with the exhaust bung fitted (Combe has strict noise regs), it sounds how a proper V-twin racer should. Pulling away it’s immediately clear how much more poke this has than the stock bike, and exiting onto the straight it revs hard and hits 130mph in a blink. A couple of laps in and I’m loving the bike, but as I push a bit harder things feel a little off. It’s nervous under heavy braking, and I don’t even brake
A couple of laps in and I’m loving this bike!
particularly hard. And tapping the gas out of the slow chicanes, the rear is too high for me and it immediately sends the bike wide. The only thing that really shone through was an abundance of grip from the new Avon hoops.
Back in the pits I tell James how much I love the engine, but leave it there thinking I’ll find an extra testicle on the next run and get my shit together. However, both Dave and Aaron have some issues with it too, specifically a twitchy front-end and too high rear screwing the pooch. They had noticed other things which I would never have picked up on, but I’d managed to unwittingly diagnose the basic problems. James set immediately to work, swapping out the rear 10-kilo spring for a 9.5 and lowering the back by a precise 4mm, then dropping the forks flush with the yokes to raise the front.
A couple of sessions and tweaks later, Aaron comes back and proclaims the bike capable of winning. Dave is likewise as enthused, which is good as it’ll be him fighting Team Green on the island, mere weeks away. I’m intrigued as to how so few changes can result in such a turnaround, but on my next stint it’s very clear.
While still slightly on edge, the front is much improved and can be loaded up with relative abandon, allied to ample grip from the front Avon, while sacrificing none of its fast steering traits. The SFV is wonderfully fuelled anyway, but the changes at the rear mean I’m able to get on the throttle much earlier and harder than during the morning. A hard hitting bulge of torque catapults you from slow exits, and it revs quickly enough to then keep it up high as you click through the close-ratio gearbox.
For what it is, it’s bloody fast and you’d easily hold your own against bigger tackle on a trackday. It also holds its line mid-turn with far more poise, allowing a higher corner speed, pushing the Avons that bit harder. On my last session, the tyres had already done a day of hot laps at national level pace, but
You’d easily hold your own against bigger tackle...
I was only able to (inadvertently) get the rear stepping out a couple of times when my right fist had turned momentarily into ham.
It really is a cracking thing to ride, all of James’ racers should enjoy themselves a great deal this year. I’m no TT pilot and therefore have no clue whether or not it’s ready to win races, but if anything out there is going to challenge the Kawasaki ranks it’s this bike. “We just need a front-runner to really push it,” added James. “With the greatest of respect to Dave, who does a great job, it’s frustrating from my point of view. I can see no real reason why both of the Suzuki factory supported riders are not on our bikes for the TT Supertwin race”. He’s got a point, too, as we can only imagine a Guy Martin or William Dunlop would seriously challenge the top Kawasaki on this rampant little beastie. In the meantime, good luck boys!