liter bikes

[Cakes206]

Originally Posted by shamster

The new R6 is just awful as far as appearance! First, the shorty exhaust looks ridiculous.

Blame MotoGP for that. I think its cool though. Especially on the new gix.

[crammer]

Originally Posted by pillaka

Almost 2 weeks ago I picked up a Suzuki 2003 GSX-R 1000 Racebike.

For the past 2 seasons and into the current one I've been riding some kind of 600cc sportbike. I've gotten pretty good, not saying I am the fastest guy out there, but most of the time probably quicker than 90% of the people at your typical trackday. After setting my new r6 ablaze I was in the market for something used, I was looking at another 600 but a friend of mine sent me a link for the suzuki I got, I figured what the hell, talked to the guy, and wound up getting it in a few days.

So besides riding my dad's FZ1 a couple times on the street, and my friends 954 on the street for about 10 min, this was my first real time actually getting the chance to flog around and open class sportbike at a racetrack (VIR South & North) memorial day weekend.

Took me about a day and half to get myself aquanted with her. Lots of guys told me, it requires a slightly different riding style. You go slow in, so you get a good line coming out of a turn where you can really put the power down and get that drive out.

Power is something this bike does not lack, the sheer acceleration alone is worth the price. Going down the hill after the LH kink on VIR South the bike had no problem getting the front tire off the ground in 4th gear on the gas. Shifting from 3rd to 4th on any kind of elevation change or bump, the front would pop a few inches off the ground. Just on the straights I was going over 20mph faster till I had to get on the brakes.

Full throttle 5th gear hitting the kink on VIR north, the rpms shoot up as the tire rides closer to the edge, coming out of the kink the revs stay right in the powerband, nothing is like the experiance of feeling the air buffet around my helmet and my back, the engine still hurling you foward - bike gaining more speed and the intake flat out wailing. Just about to bang into 6th the braking markers blast up and I gotta scrub off about 100 mph for turn 1.

End of the day I found that I started to ride it in kinda of a hybrid 600 - 1000 way. I began to brake later and carry a lot of speed going into turns. Soon I started to eat up bikes through the corners, mostly 600's and a few SV's, I would feed the power on coming out in a gear lower and start to get a good exit drive, then once the bike straightened up I would just hammer it full throttle and just beam past people. I was just smiling and laughing in my helmet the whole time. I could always hang with guys on liter bikes on my 600, now I was just getting a good drive on them and constantly getting them on the brakes. I love this thing.

But this bike demands respect, if your inputs are smooth and anticipated it will reward you, if you mistreat it the bike will have no problem throwing you off.

I have to agree with you on the comments you made. I have an ’02 R1 that has almost 21k on the clock with about 6 track days a year for the past 4 years under my belt and I couldn’t have said it any better.

To the person that started the thread, when to move up, it’s your call on how comfortable you feel on the 600. If you have buddy’s that have those big ninja bikes, take on of them for a test ride.

[RonJ83]

the 06 R6 is facking sweet, racefit & termi both dropped gp style exhausts and they make the bike flow really nice. looks & performance wise its still between the gixxer & r6. honda, and kawi needs to step up. silver if you want a great looking bike with undertail check out triumph 6, its nice and its a great ride.

[shamster]

The shorty exhaust on the Gixxer looks nice...flows well. The same can't be said for that kazoo on the R6 though.

[Cakes206]

Originally Posted by shamster

The shorty exhaust on the Gixxer looks nice...flows well. The same can't be said for that kazoo on the R6 though.

I read that and immediately thought of:

[RonJ83]

Originally Posted by shamster

The shorty exhaust on the Gixxer looks nice...flows well. The same can't be said for that kazoo on the R6 though.

i like that stubby it looks nice, i personally prefer exhausts on the side > undertail > stubby. but you gotta give credit when credit is due. yamaha designed an awesome bike as did suzuki. honda & kawi

[shamster]

Credit due to the new Gixxer for sure. Suzuki did a great job with that one and hats off to them.

Absolutely no credit on my part goes to Yamaha though. They totally blew it as far as looks go on the new R6. The weird thing is from a few angles, the R6 looks ok, but in most others, it's horrendous.

[SilverDragon]

Originally Posted by shamster

Check out the link below...this pretty much summarizes my thoughts of the new R6...
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...r/IMG_0170.jpg

Wow! You really feel strongly about this. I hear ya though.