BEEJ SUZUKI GSX-R1000R
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Gobsmacked at its peak power level!” R ight, first off this month I start with an apology, to HM Quickshifters as when I said I was going to stick one of their items on the Gixer, the wrong company name was used – bad Benjamin, many apologies for that! I have now fitted the unit, but will get to that later because first and foremost we’re going to talk about power.
As you’ll have seen in the last but one issue I fitted the Yoshimura R11 can, replacing the superb value for money SP Engineering Diabolus item. Now, the latter did fairly well on the dyno and, of course, passed the nefarious Castle Combe noise test, baffle out, with flying colours. £250 well spent, say I. But now it’s time to put the R11 to the test, so I whizzed up to JHS Racing and youngWilliam slung her on the dyno and… oh my… 184.5bhp!
And added to that, 111.4Nm of torque – wow! To put this into perspective, with similar atmospheric conditions, as stock she made just under 172bhp, so that’s a 12bhp peak gain – and the CAT is still in the exhaust downpipes! That’s the kind of gains we used to see via cans 20 years ago, and haven’t seen anything this impressive for a long time. Wow, big time!
Furthermore, the gains start from the very lower echelons of the power range, 5bhp up immediately and this carries on growing across the entire curve up to 15bhp difference in some places. It’s the same with torque, roughly 10Nm up across the whole line and even more in some places.
Now that’s making the otherwise high(ish) price of the R11, £764, seem pretty justified, even with it being £514 more than the SP. However, there are a couple of caveats that need mentioning.
When we did the SP dyno, it was nigh on 10-degrees hotter, which is a huge amount more heat and will for sure account for a couple of horses. Additionally, I discovered after the SP’s dyno run that there was 30psi in the rear tyre, while when doing the R11 it was set at my normal 36psi. This will also make a difference, so in essence it’s entirely possible the SP can would have generated somewhere around 179bhp, making it even more of a smart thrifty buy. But, if the Yoshi is within your financial reach, these results make it a bit of a no-brainer – in one fell swoop, the Gixer now makes more power than just about any stock Euro 3 superbike ever did. Only just, but still, I am pretty damn impressed.
Last thought on the R11 is on the sound, which is deeper than the SP and doesn’t match its wail right up the top. I do miss that scream a little if I’m being honest with myself, but it just goes to show that both options have their pros and cons, and not just on the large price difference twixt the pair, either.
Anyhoooo, the HM Quickshifter, er, quick-shifter! It’s fitted and on, and in my case we had to make a new gear-rod although I hear that HM will likely in future be providing rods with their kits, to save you a job. Young William made me a rod from an old one he had kicking about, cutting off a bit, then sticking it on the lathe to create the hole which he then carved out the suitable tap for it to be screwed in – thank you, William!
It’s a strain-gauge item, but of a far higher quality than the stock unit, and it also has adjustable sensitivity. HM set them at 50/50 out of the box, but my very brief ride means you’ll have to wait until next month for the verdict!