p1 PB may Front coverPDpCs3REV.indd 1 18/3/09 09:17:09

000006

1200GS v CBR600RR Bluetooth headset

and Bar controls £350. Always in touch...

GPs £800You know where you’re going and you know where you’ve been.

iPhone £700How did you live without it? You wonder after it’s dropped out of your pocket on the A1.

VeyPor Vr2 comPlete with dash kit £275You can’t have too much info.

diGital multimeter £110. For monitoring health of electrical systems.

micro air PumP £40For the unlikely event you’re ever too far from a service station.

audio interface and switcher £55. For managing all of your audio devices.

satellite radio £120Bought in haste, doesn’t work in UK. Thank god for iTunes.

hydration system £80To hell with your pricey Little Chefs and Wild Bean Cafés.

radar detector £360Fine until you have to explain its presence to the cops.

p6-8 PB May Face off CDP.sp.indd 1 18/3/09 17:14:50

BMW’s much-vaunted R1200GS Adventure is 223kg of Teutonic muscle and armour. Capable enough in its basic form, there’s a baffling array of official and aftermarket kit and gizmos that can be bolted onto its immense surface area. You are the starship commander. You can boldly go where no neighbour has gone before. But does all this stuff save you time? Make you faster? Does it help to scratch that primeval biking itch, or merely suppress it?A second-hand Honda CBR600RR is a world apart from the big Boxer. Svelte, focused, purposeful

and clinically capable, though some would argue in a much tighter frame of reference. Is a higher top speed irrelevant on the road? Is a relatively short tank range a real handicap? And the big question is, do you need clever gizmos to make real progress on the road?

007

words MICK PHILLIPS Pics PauL bryant

Do GADGeTS MAke You faster?

Throttle hand priceless

SolAR-poWeReD pHone CHARGeR £50if the sun ever shines again...

uRIne ColleCTIon SYSTeM £25cobbled together at home.

p6-8 PB May Face off CDP.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 17:16:47

New Suzuki GSX-R1000

014

Evolved. Compact. Beautiful

p14-19 PB may new bikes PDP.sp.indd 1 19/3/09 11:17:52

no big bangs. just evolution

k9words Matt Wildeepics Jason CritChell The GSX-R1000 K9 is the latest instalment in an eight-year saga of extreme

performance bikes. Since 2001 the GSX-R1000 has been the vanguard of the litre bike class – more often than not it has been the most powerful, most hardcore bike in this class. GSX-Rs aren’t about prettiness or posing – they’re about getting the job done. In short, they’re PB made motorcycle.

But unfortunately the previous model didn’t get the job done quite as well as it could have. We’ve always loved the outgoing K7/K8 models but a cynic could have regarded them as a failure. Sure, they shifted units, but they weren’t revolutionary like the super-light, grunty 2005 K5 was. That bike moved the game on in a way that no bike had since the 98 R1. It even won the World Superbike title. It was one of the great Suzukis.

The K7/K8 didn’t do that. It was nowhere near a WSB title and was bested by the R1 in its first year on the road and by the Fireblade after that. For a company as proud as Suzuki that hurts.

This bike is about getting Suzuki back where they feel they belong – at the front. This is the most radical reworking that the GSX-R1000 has had for years – Suzuki has thrown everything they’ve got at the K9. We spent a day at on the roads in Southern Spain and lapping Almeria racetrack to find out if their sums add up to a return to litre-bike supremacy.

circuito Almeria, southern spain. The all-new K9 GsX-r awaits pB

p14-19 PB may new bikes PDP.sp.indd 2 19/3/09 11:19:06

PB Projects

022

PB Project Bikes2009

01 GsX-r750Wt srADOwner Scott Redmond Bought for £950 in 2008 Mission statement Win the No Budget Cup international endurance series Budget £400 Deadline April This month the GSX-R’s developed an unhealthy appetite for fuel – it’s guzzling it – reminding me that it deperately needs a service. The fact that no choke is required on even the coldest of mornings points to an air filter that’s more clogged than the Dartford Crossing at rush hour.

This month it goes back to the dyno with standard carbs and a new silencer – I’ll be needing a K&N filter too. The dirty work begins, and there’s going to be plenty of it required to make the SRAD into a bulletproof contender for the No Budget Cup (see page 80). sr

02 suzuki rG500Owner Ben Wilkins Bought for £500 in 2003 Mission statement To rewrite history and beat Matt’s diesel GSX-R this summer Budget Whatever it takes to win Deadline The RG v GSX-R showdown After repairing the damage I did last month, I’ve been very careful with everything I’ve touched on the RG in the last few weeks.

I’ve got a new Skidmarx top fairing to replace the damaged one, but it doesn’t have holes for the indicators, so I’ve been carefully measuring the old ones and marking out the new holes (my old school compass has finally come in handy again after 21 years of rusting in a drawer). Project bike success is all in the details. BW

03 kAWAsAki zXr750r (k1)Owner John McAvoy Bought for £1500 in 2006 Mission statement To breathe life back into a jaded chassis and engine Budget Less than £1000 Deadline Don’t start me on this Progress is slow, and it’s driving me mad. The engine is out and being freshened up as I type, but I didn’t read the bit in my Haynes manual about the special tool needed to remove it, and then spent the best part of two weeks trying to source the tool only to end up making one myself.

Nitron are going to build a shock, but need the rolling chassis to measure up. That’s another week before I can complete the strip and head for the powdercoaters. Then it’s all down to me. Once it’s all back in my garage, it’s bye-bye family, hello ZXR. jM

04 HonDA cBr600FsOwner Ben Wilkins Bought for £500 in 2008 Mission statement To bring this ex-Wilco Zeelenberg CBR600 back to life Budget £600 Deadline PB 1990s trackday (see p36) After some struggling, the engine is back in the bike. Pulling the carbs apart for a service, I removed five-odd years of fuel residue (soaking it all in carb cleaner is a must, as is an airline).

The old battery was knackered from sitting for years. DK Motorcycles are doing them for £20 with a one-year warranty. Bargain.

It took ages to splutter into life and would then die on part throttle. Pull the carbs apart. Full of shite. Clean. Then it would do it all over again. The

problem turned out to be the sponge/mesh in the tank (this stops the fuel sloshing around and from pouring out creating a fireball in the event of a crash). Fresh fuel was taking the old fuel residue and decomposing the sponge into the carbs, bunging the pilot jets up. Now sorted. BW

05 APriliA FAlco sl1000Owner Ben Wilkins Bought for £6500 in 2000 Mission statement To improve the midrange fuelling (and do so myself) Budget £300 Deadline Annual balls-out European tour All the Falco needs is a weekend. But, with three other projects, it’s an impossible weekend to find. A Power Commander still sits on my bench. BW

06 suzuki rG250 GAMMA Mk1Owner Kar Lee Bought for £950 in April 2008 Mission statement MoT by spring Budget £500 Deadline April The original Yuasa battery was shot, despite my best efforts to revive it. A visit to bitzforbikes.co.uk. saw them charging me £19 for a replacement – a tiny little thing that came with a bottle of acid big enough to fill it 10 times over. I’ve bought so many batteries recently (got one for the R1 at the same time) it’s a draining experience that’s left me feeling flat. Still, I have to stop being so negative and look on the positive side.

I’ve brought the deadline date forward – a sign of my optimism. kl

07 suzuki GsX-r750HOwner Matt Wildee Bought for £950 in 2008 Mission statement Make it ride properly, not spend a fortune... and win the Feud Budget £500 Deadline July, but I’ll be riding it sooner With a new battery from M and M (01780 482277) the GSX-R starts without jump leads to the Mondeo.

Aside from that, my major purchase has been Gary Pinchin’s GSX-R750 book. Well researched, if a little dry, but

if you love old AMA stuff it’s no less than an inspirational read.

The shock and fork springs are now sitting on my desk, and are going to migrate to the lock-up soon, but I might have to get a move on. There’s a chance that I might be heading on a major road trip very soon – 1000 miles on an untried, unprepared 22-year-old bike. Bring it on (but I’ll get the RAC membership first). MW

08 suzuki t500Owner Ben Wilkins Bought for £175Mission statement To build a budget 500cc two-stroke café racer Budget Not much Deadline January 2010, but it might slip... After moving the engine around the garage last month, it’s finally sitting under the bench. For the moment. This is going to need some serious time devoted to it. It will also need an ignition – the engine that I got from eBay didn’t have one on it. BW

09 kAWAsAki kr-1sOwner TimThompson Bought for £2500 in 1990 Mission statement 10% more power, 20% more suspension control and 100% less coolant leaks. And to win the Feud. Budget £500 Deadline May 24, for the PB 90s Trackday I’ve worked through the leaky cooling system and replaced the mechanical seal and oil seal that had failed, allowing pressurised coolant into the gearbox. Along the way I replaced everything rubbery and sealy on the right side of this 20-year-old engine, and plan to do the same to the brakes.

So it’s two steps back before I can take one step forward and start to coax more performance from the KR-1S. It’s the price you pay for running a bike as old as an Amstrad – ageing and perishing bits fail just sitting there in the shed.

But every minute spent restoring is a pleasure. The pace quickens as the evenings lengthen. I have pipes and bodywork to go on. Sadly, I also have new gutters waiting to be fitted... tt

10 cAGivA Mito/cr500Owner Matt Wildee Bought for £600 in 2007 Mission statement Get the thing finished Budget Credit crunch, you say? When? Deadline To be a runner by spring TURN THE PAGE TO SEE MORE OF THE MITO/CR500 PROJECT

OuR RelICS MADe FASTeR*

pics pb team, JameS CHeaDLe, rory game

*Or made slower. Or slightly on fire. It all depends

p22-25 PB may projectsCDP/MH.sp.indd 1 18/3/09 17:21:30

000111

PB Project Bikes2009

01

10

Turn the page

to see more of the Mito

03

02

04

05 06

07 08

09 10

The Feud is...PB’s ancient KR-1S and

RG500 two-strokes versus PB’s prehistoric ZXR750R and GSX-R750H four-strokes. The format will be a tag challenge, with lots of laps to cruelly test

old mechanicals. Expect plenty of unpleasantness as

we build up to the big event.

p22-25 PB may projectsCDP/MH.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 17:22:39

GSX-R1000 K1 eiGht ‘K’s aGo thiS waS boSS foR £3900 it Still iS

words ALAN SEELEY Pics PAUL BRYANT

modeRn leGend

070

068

S uzuki arrived fashionably late at the litre sportsbike party, their entrance timed perfectly to grab maximum attention. honda’s fireblade wondered if she wasn’t slipping just a little too soon into comfortable middle age. Yamaha’s R1 wondered: was that a wrinkle she saw? and Kawasaki’s poor old portly spinster ZX-9R could only pour

herself another strong one. and wolf down another canapé.But what else did we expect? With the GSX-R750 already on the roster and quite capable of nipping at the heels of

Blades and R1s, there was no way Suzuki were going to go off half-cocked with their litre bike debutante, especially not with the fearsome reputation the three-quarter litre bike had already built for itself.

Anticipation was running high for the GSX-R1000 K1’s launch in early 2001, three years after the R1 and fully eight years after the Honda. We weren’t to be disappointed. ‘Awesome, absolutely utterly awesome,’ were the first words an initially gob-smacked PB managed to gibber after the Road Atlanta track launch of the bike. And that was back in the days before the word ‘awesome’ had been co-opted by the youth and overused to the point of meaninglessness.

Suzuki had managed to harness the essence of the smaller GSX-Rs and distil it into their most potent package yet. It was the engine that captivated first. While none of the rivals could be described as anything like slow, here was a motor that delivered its power so seamlessly from nowhere that no amount of searching could find a discernable step or powerband – no trade-off between peak power and bottom and midrange here. Part of that could be attributed to the slightly longer stroke it had than its nearest rival, the R1 (both were 998cc while the Blade was ‘just’ 954cc) but

As the R1 had done to the Blade, so the GSX-R1000 K1 did to the R1. The Suzuki was so good then, it’s still brilliant now

p68-75 PB May mod legCDP.sp.indd 1 18/3/09 17:49:29

069

Nearly a decade on, this is still the special ‘K’

(this one’s a K2 but only the graphics changed)

p68-75 PB May mod legCDP.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 17:49:56

pb100the bikes to ride before you die

076

Not the sum of its parts: old GPX750 motor + heavy, slow steering = brilliance. For half the price of an RC30.

p76-77 PB may PB100 ZXR CDP.sp.indd 1 18/3/09 17:57:03

p76-77 PB may PB100 ZXR CDP.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 17:58:08

088

the pb

testagility

words matt wildeePics Paul Bryant

sUZUKi gsX-R1000 K9We know it’s great at 170mph, but does it give any confidence through 30mph turns?

p88-94 PB may agilityPDP.indd 2 19/3/09 17:03:18

089

FIVE bIkEs. a scootEr.

oN a kart track.

WhIch Is FastEst?

You’re mid-way through a 70mph sweeper and your bike is happy. Constant lean, constant speed, constant load. The tyres are warm and feedback floods through the bars, the seat and every other part of the bike. As the corner opens you get on the gas. You have absolute confidence that the bike will just dig in and drive. This is what the bike was designed for. This is a sportsbike’s Happy Place.

But what if you take it out of where it’s been designed to work? What if you took it around a track where there isn’t time for the suspension to load up gracefully, where the tyres don’t have time to get warm, and where the bike is chucked from side to side with impunity? A place where a snatchy throttle results in a highside or a grabby front brake results in a lowside and a tumble?

What if you got a stunt-riding psychopath to ride them flat-out around a kart track? It sounds ludicrous – and it is, but there’s method in the madness. Riding a bike at speed around a ridiculously tight track tells you a lot about how nimble, friendly and forgiving a machine is.

We fitted our road-testing crash-test dummy with a datalogger and stood back. A long way back.

DUCATI HYPERMOTARD 1100Loads of torque, wide bars. It was built for this. Wasn’t it?

p88-94 PB may agilityPDP.indd 3 19/3/09 17:03:44

obsession

096

Scitsu tacho sits in fairing cut-out and is an iconic counterpoint to homemade bracketry.

p96-101 PB may ObsessionPDPCs3.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 09:24:53

obsessionPut the wrong bike in the right hands and great things often follow. So it is with Dave Ward and his ZRX1100, the unlikely hammer of Blades and R1s

XLIII

words gary inmanPics Paul Bryant

build it

097

Underneath the AMA superbike styling lurks an incredibly honest club racer capable of wiping the smile off the faces of flashy types.

p96-101 PB may ObsessionPDPCs3.sp.indd 3 18/3/09 09:25:23

µ µ µ µ µ

104

Worn or warped standard discs need replacing. Affordable aftermarket replacements abound. Here’s what you can expect for your moneyPFM Full Race conveRsion Kit

Ductile iRon Disc ● Price £1380 (inc discs, caliPers, Pads, hoses)● contact 0871 666 1360 ● www.Pfmbrakes.com

how shoulD it Feel?DI narrow track pad discs should give increased braking power and more modular feel at the lever, improving rider confidence giving the rider the ability to brake later. Reduced residual drag will prevent excessive heat build-up and brake fade. If swapping to a six-piston set-up (as in the PFM race kit) it will feel smoother from hand to pad.

narrow Pad tracka 320mm diameter narrow pad track disc is used as it gives the same effective operating radius as a conventional 330mm disc, without the associated increased gyroscopic force of the wider track disc. instead of a standard 48mm deep pad depth (60-70mm front to back), the Pfm narrow track uses a 22mm pad depth (100mm front to back). this means the brakes can clamp further from the centre of the wheel, generating more friction because more disc material passes the pads on each revolution of the wheel, providing increased stopping power.

Disc chooseR

dUctile irondi is an iron-carbon-silicon alloy that is more flexible and elastic than most other cast iron varieties. di gives better braking performance than stainless steel as it produces a much higher coefficient of friction (braking power) at the friction couple, along with superior thermal conductivity. since brakes essentially convert movement into heat – via the friction of pads against discs – effective heat dissipation is essential. as a result of this, di is an excellent choice for serious trackdayers as it lessens the chance of warping through overheating and provides better feel/modulation for longer.

fatiGUedi made from continuous cast bar (billet) has a high tensile strength and does not have thermal stress induced cracking tendencies like grey iron. when molten cast grey iron solidifies, some of the carbon present forms into graphite ‘flakes’, which disrupt the crystal structure and can lead to crack points, making the iron brittle. in di, the graphite forms into spherical nodules, achieved by adding magnesium into the mix, which inhibits crack creation and porosity and provides the necessary ductility and stability.

manUfactUreonce the cast ductile iron is heat-treated ingots are cut into plates and cnc machined. the discs are twin ground to tight tolerances to ensure they are parallel and absolutely flat and true. oe discs are normally only ground by a ring grinder that goes over the top of them on a conveyor belt, so are not twin ground.

weiGhtaftermarket carriers are made from the lightest materials possible to reduce unsprung weight – most use a billet alloy centre with a chrome/nickel overplate as they can withstand some bending. most oe discs use a cheaper, heavier pressed aluminum centre. disc thickness is typically 5mm, but if disc material (mass) is reduced further (typically to diminish gyroscopic effect), it decreases the rotor’s heat absorbing capability and this will cause most discs to warp due to excessive heat build-up.

p104-106 PB May CHOOSER Disc CDP.sp.indd 1 18/3/09 17:22:41

µ µ µ µ µYour bikemade faster

words Melanie Falconer Pics PB

105

EBC XC SEriES Front DiSCS

StAinLESS StEEL DiSC ● Price £155.77 Per single front disc● contact 01604 583 344 ● www.ebcbrakesuk.com

how ShouLD it FEELEBC’s XC discs are 5-10 per cent lighter than OE items, so the front end should feel more responsive when turning in, handle better and have crisper steering. Their higher frictional capability (through use of a high-grade stainless steel blend) should provide stronger stopping power, improved initial bite and a more positive feel, as well as the rider needing to use less lever pressure compared to typical stock rotors.

stainless steelthe chromium in stainless steel is what prevents surface corrosion (rust) and makes it shiny, even when wet. a chromium oxide film forms on top, preventing corrosion spreading inside the metal’s internal structure. most aftermarket ss discs will be around 18 per cent chromium, 8 per cent nickel (to stabilise structure and make it non-magnetic and less brittle at low temperatures), and an amount of carbon (between 0.15 and 2 per cent) for hardness and strength.

DiSC ChooSEr

riVets the number of rivets depends on how much unsprung weight a manufacturer is trying to save. six is normally the minimum. most disc manufacturers use a circular button/hole system, but ebc use square-sided rivets/holes (as on the disc here) to reduce warping/vibration, claiming the rotor can expand inwards/outwards as it heats up and cools down.

fatiguein some stainless steel discs, small cracks can occur after a few thousand miles near the drill/vent holes. this can be caused by thermal cyclic strain (the heating/cooling that occurs during braking), and the mechanical input through braking torque. such deterioration can be related to the material decay of the stainless steel, so it’s essential a high enough quality ss grade is used to prevent this.

Performanceon road, using ss discs with sintered pads is fine as the temperatures reached normally aren’t high enough to cause brake fade and the combination provides high initial bite. on track, stainless steel’s poorer than di coefficient of friction is compounded by using sintered pads because of the inherent heat build-up through using metal on metal. aftermarket items like this use a higher grade ss blend with better frictional capabilities.

Heatstainless steel has good heat-resistant properties but can’t dissipate heat as well as ductile iron. drill patterns are an attempt to help cool ss as the holes provide more surface area.

oe discsmajority are pressed plate, low-grade stainless steel. a typical disc is made from a unwrapped, giant 10ft diameter 40-tonne metal coil that’s heated up to flatten it, then laser cut/stamped and pressed out before being heat treated again. when a ss disc overheats in use, the metal tries to revert to its original shape. if a disc has been made from the outside of the unwrapped metal coil, it won’t bend much, but if made from nearer the middle, it’ll bend that much more, so oe disc properties can be quite variable. an average front disc costs a manufacturer £15.

rePair/secondHandonly possible on slightly warped/bent discs, and discs have to be assessed first to determine if it’s safe to do so. Heating can cause metal fatigue, so the safest technique is to use hydraulic presses and specialist measuring tools to obtain sufficient disc trueness. avoid secondhand discs. if you really must, don’t buy without seeing/feeling them first. You must correctly measure for run-out/wear with a dial gauge/vernier caliper.

p104-106 PB May CHOOSER Disc CDP.sp.indd 2 18/3/09 17:23:05

108

AkrApovic hydro-formed stAinless tApered heAders let your engine open up And breAthe.

p108-112 PB May Faster CDP.indd 1 19/3/09 12:48:43

will these pipes and a can make your bike Faster?

your bike made faster

words alan seeley pics paul bryant

109

Emissions rEgs havE madE our bikEs EmasculatEd shadows of thEir formEr sElvEs. gEt somEthing back with a full systEm

i t used to be so easy. you bought your performance bike, junked the stock airfilter and can to replace them with aftermarket ‘race’ items. the more dedicated went for a full system, convinced that

untold horsepower gains would be theirs. mostly what you achieved, despite the extravagant and frankly misleading claims of aftermarket manufacturers, was more noise, a little more top end and a gaping great hole in the midrange. tuning to compensate for these alleged upgrades usually amounted to little more than a plug chop along the bypass and raising the carb needles to sort the lean fuelling. the more enlightened among us sometimes found our way to dyno centres to have it sorted properly.

Then came fuel injection and still we couldn’t get enough of the aftermarket exhaust system. Many of us fell for the notion that the fuelling would correct itself, placing great stock in the supposed intelligence of computerised fuel injection. The result? A lot more noise,

a little more top end – you get the picture. It was only the advent of the Dynojet Power Commander that saved us from the motorcycling equivalent of a beermat in a bicycle’s spokes.

For a while motorcycle fuel systems got so efficient – not to mention complicated and sophisticated – that the aftermarket was increasingly confined to those who really needed perfomance gains and weight savings. But in the last few years increasingly stringent emissions laws have led to increasingly stifling stock exhaust systems with huge, heavy catalysts and power valves with their pulleys, motors and cables. Junk the stock system nowadays and a weight saving is a given but what about all that other stuff the bike manufacturers have expended such effort designing in? Surely the possibility of ruining power delivery by going aftermarket is greater than it’s ever been?

To find out we took our workhorse 2008 Yamaha R6 with its huge cat and EXUP, an Akrapovic can, an Akrapovic full system and the datalogger to Bruntingthorpe to sort the fact from the fiction. We’re looking at top speed and, more importantly, 50-80mph roll-ons.

p108-112 PB May Faster CDP.indd 2 19/3/09 12:49:09