Suzuki GSXR-1000 for Sport Touring

The Need to Personalize

Motorcycles are much more personal than cars. Motorcycles need to fit like a glove. A good motorcycle becomes an extension of you. Ideally disappearing beneath you. But when something isn’t right is is like having a rock in your shoe. No matter how good the shoe, the rock always painfully lets you know that something is not quite right.

No motorcycle is perfect and my 2017 GSXR-1000 is no exception. I bought my motorcycle new in San Jose. After a quick flight from the Long Beach airport to San Jose airport, I had the task of driving the motorcycle back home in one day. A 472 miles trip on a new and unfamiliar motorcycle. The trip consisted of the required highways and any twisty road I could add, including the twisty Highway 1 down the coast. I started the journey hopeful at around 11am and ended the journey around 7 pm pretty beat up.

There will be those of you in the know that will say, well no shit Sherlock. You bought a race bike, not a sport touring bike. There are better bikes for that. Well yes, I know. I have one of those more appropriate choices. A Yamaha FJR1300. An excellent mount for long distance sporty riding. But it is not the same. There is just something wonderful about a minimalist sport bike. And ever the hopeful optimist, I believe they can be comfortable enough for longer rides, as long as there are enough twisty roads interspersed with freeway drone. The right modes hopefully can close the comfort gap.

This is my quest to turn my bike into something that will allow me 6 hours in the saddle without needing 3 days of rest and chiropractic alignment afterwards.

Seating Position

The first most glaring problem with the 2017 Suzuki GSXR-1000 is the seating position. At the dealership I compared the seating position of the 1000 with the 750, over and over. The 750 had the classic GSXR sit in the bike position, with higher bars. The 1000 had a much higher seating position and bars that felt entirely too much forward and down. Yes I am sure being that low might makes sense if you were tucked in at 150 mph, but constant pressure on my wrists did not make them happy even after a very short period. Even while cornering aggressively, the bars felt overly forward and down. They did not give me a good sense of control, as too much weight on the handlebars puts bad inputs into the the bars as I get bounced around. For normal twisty back road cornering these just didn’t work, and they are obviously even worse on the interstate.

Solution, Helibars. I went back and forth considering all options and decided to go with them. The upside to Helibars is that they are a proven solution. You know they will fit, They replace the stock clip ons, bolting everything back in a predetermined location. The bars are 1.625 inches higher and 1 inch farther back and slightly wider. The downside is that they only offer one solution in terms of position. Other brands of clip ons might offer infinite adjustment, this however would require time considering all of the options and would likely require longer cables. I opted for the simplicity of the Helibars.

It is shocking how such a small amount of change makes such a huge difference. It’s the difference between a sporty position that gives you control with a little bit of forward lean, versus wanting to kill yourself after 2 hours in the saddle. A big thumbs up for the Heil-bars. In one of the Gixxer.com threads a poster said it best. “They just feel like what the bike was supposed to be like in the first place”.

The stock seat was another area that needed attention. I have read a lot of GSXR-1000 owners are happy with the stock seat. Saying it is comfortable… blah, blah, blah….. I am sure it is until you are on it for 6+ hours. Maybe I would get used to it????. But I choose to order a Corbin seat instead. My main complaint with the stock seat is the width and the resultant pressure points it creates on my butt bones. See I have butt bones. The spacing of my said butt bones is maybe about 8-10 inches. The exact spacing is not relevant. What is relevant is that the stock seat has a flat portion and then angles down on the side. This creates two pressure points where the seat starts transitioning from flat to down the side. These seat edges seam to be spaced to seek out my but bones just perfectly, making the stock seat feel like a torture device at 6+ hours. While I haven’t yet done 6+ hours on the Corbin, I did log about 5 hours today and had no significant pain. The corbin has a larger flat portion. In addition, the stock seat slopes forward, slamming my balls into the tank on rough pavement. The Corbin is more neutral in slope.

Which leads us to the the tank protector. Most of the times I have purchased a tank protector ASAP, just as I do a new phone case. To avoid damage. In the motorcycles case, you don’t want a belt buckle or jacket zipper to scratch up the tank. The tank protector kit had more than just the rear portion of the tank protector, it had side protectors. What I hadn’t anticipated was that these side protectors are very NON slippery, I mean you can get a lot of traction on them from your jeans. At first it seems like they are a little too grippy compared to the paint which nothing but slippery, but after todays ride I think I might be ok with the extreme level of grip. The grip on the tank produces a combined package with the seat and the bars. No longer do I slam my balls into the tank and I can grip the tank with my thighs and hold my body up every so slightly to produce almost no dead weight on the slightly higher bars.

Gearing

So the first 3 mods address the overly aggressive seating position and butt busting seat. My next concern was the engines buzz. I had done enough research to know that this could be an issue. Four cylinder engines have a characteristic buzz, which can be more pronounced at certain RPMs that other. I knew this bike also had no counter balancer in an effort to extract more hp. I also knew that one of my pet peeves is 4 cylinder engine buzz. How sublime is a 4 cylinder engine that revs effortlessly with no buzz and how horrid is the tingle that makes your hands go numb after an hour.

Within an hour of leaving the dealership with my new bike, I was having serious regrets based upon the actual or perceived buzziness. The most glaring aspect of the buzziness is that with stock gearing in 6th gear at around 89-90 mph (6,500 rpm) the engine comes into its powerband and the engine transforms from a normal 4 cylinder throb to an buzzy frenetic beast. While most in the US will probably be staying under threshold, in So Cal, freeway speeds are actually very high and wicking it up to 95 is a very common occurrence. Going into and out of this buzz zone, just didn’t make the bike fun. I geared the bike down by about 8%. One tooth up on the front and 1 down on the rear. Going from 17/45 stock to 18/44. This alone has made the bike feel much more relaxed at the speeds that I often drive. If I had to do it again I would probably leave the front sprocket alone and go down 3 on the rear for a little less change.

Handlebar Weights

In addition to the more relaxed gearing, I have added the Evo-tech handlebar weights. First time out with the weights installed I was presently surprised at the very significant reduction in buzz through the bars. I have used handle bar weights before to get rid of the dreaded buzz and never really saw much success. This time was different. Maybe they are just the right amount of weight placed in the the right position to eliminate the particular natural frequency that comes through the bars. This time there was noticeable improvement. Not related by maybe related is the exhaust. While I don’t think the new Akrapovic exhaust has directly contributed to the reduction in buzziness, getting ride of the stock headers with their rattly servo motors and valves had certainly give the bike a more well put together feel. It is hard to say how much the exhaust has helped. Usually aftermarket exhausts increase the perception of ruckus with a louder exhaust. But this time around getting rid of the stock exhaust has resulted in a smoother user experience.

Exhaust

Speaking of exhausts, I have to say I am VERY happy with my choice (Akropovic Slip on with matching SS headers). Swapping out the exhaust on the GSXR-1000 is usually a first consideration on everyones list as the GSXR-1000 has possibly the most universally unloved exhaust cans, due to it’s shear size. My normal preference IS to keep the stock exhaust even though an exhaust is one of the most popular mods. My preference for stock exhausts? Despite being a little heavier, most stock exhaust are VERY quiet and perform reasonably well. Fast street riding is made easier by a quiet exhaust, more that a loss of 10lbs. Most aftermarket exhausts are just way too loud. A sure fire way to get a ticket is to have a motorcycle that sounds like it is going twice as fast.

I know looks are subjective, but the black Akrapovic can looks perfect on the bike and I am pretty sure that it is probably even quieter than than the stock system.

Jetting & Tuning

Drivabililiy. As many might know, the stock ECU has the fuel injectors cutting out when there is no throttle, versus a normal bike that would return to idle when no throttle is applied. This creates a very snatchy throttle response when transitioning from off throttle to on throttle and back. It is most noticeable at lower speeds such as when you are in in town traffic and constantly transitioning from on to off to back on throttle. Making the bike just “Un Fun” to drive.

The second reason to modify the ECU would be to unlock the ETV’s at full throttle. ETV stands for Electronic Throttle Valves. They are ECU controlled throttle valves that override the main throttle valves. For whatever reason US GSXR’s ETV severly restrict wide open throttle as RPM’s move towards peak power. This limits peak horsepower to around 165 even as RPM increases. This can be changed with ECU software.

The third reason to modify the mapping would be to re-jet the bike based upon the exhaust change. With three reasons to change the ECU, I decided to go with the Woolich Racing product. I added the wide band O2 sensor to the order so that I would be able to log air to fuel ratio results and self tune the bike over time. This was not a cheap solution as the total cost is over $700, a reflash might only be around $400, but I wasn’t sure initially what my final modification list would be and liked the idea of being able to further tune the bike if necessary.

Wrapping my head around the full implementation of the product took quite a while. There are many support / tutorial videos on Woolich’s website, but what I lacked was an overall understanding of some of the specifics. After watching and reading most support videos several times, my understanding of the process became complete. Here are some of my initial questions that I needed answered.

Did my Akrapovic exhaust have an O2 bung for either the stock O2 sensor or the Woolich wide band O2 sensor? The answer is yes and yes. The SS headers have a larger style bung for the Woolich sensor, and an adaptor / reducer for the smaller OEM O2 sensor, so the Akra will accommodate either

Do I want the ECU to monitor the O2? Certainly during the data acquisition phase with the Woolich O2 sensor you will want to turn off the O2 sensor in the ECU. I am assuming the purpose of having the O2 sensor on in the ECU is to offer a little bit of self tuning most likely during steady state driving at partial throttle settings ( this is just specualtion). The Woolich O2 sensor does NOT go to the ECU, it piggy backs into the Woolich data logger for AFR data aquisition, so the ECU will not see an O2 sensor hooked up. The O2 sensor should be disabled in the ECU.

Will I eventually want to run the stock O2 sensor? After you have fully used the Auto Tune feature of Woolich racing software, I would assume that you can remove the Woolich O2 sensor and the data logger. If you know otherwise please let me know. At this point it is still my speculation that you will want to just plug the port in the header and run without the O2 sensor. I am pretty sure that this will be the way to best use / tune the bike, however as you can tell, even after reading instructions many times over, I still have some uncertainty.

What is needed to get started on data acquisition? Installing the main data logger along with properly connecting the wiring harness into the stock ECU. Installing the wide band O2 sensor. This has be connected both to the bike via the supplied cable and the data logger. Disconnecting the PAIR valves. I used the Driven block off plates (see SBTG video). Then finally setting up the ECU to not receive error codes, you should check the first 4 items on the Woolich advanced settings (disable O2, disable PAIR, disable exhaust valves, disable decel injector cutoff) and put the ECU into a higher data rate mode. Now you are ready to acquire AFR data for tuning.

After I had the exhaust (headers and slip on) installed, I added a K&N filter. Rather than use the stock fuel map as a starting point I downloaded a map from Woolich’s MapShare website. The map that I used as a starting point was labeled “Proven Power” and had an 8.0 rating. This has worked as a good starting point. The hardest part of tuning the bike has now been getting into the upper rev ranges above 10,000 rpm. In second gear at redline the bike is going somewhere around 120 mph and trying to loft the front wheel. From what I have read the sim card that is in the data logger can store up to around 80 hrs of riding data.

Quick Shifter / Auto Blipper

Woolich Quick Shifter and auto blipper. If I purchased an R then this would have been standard. I have read all of the hype about how this is a must have feature. For those of us purists, we say “Just a novelty, I don’t mind shifting, It’s part of the bike thing”. Well this is true, shifting is just fine, but after yesterdays 5 hours in the saddle, I can say that the QS is terribly convenient. It makes the riding experience just that much smoother and seemless, and that is what putting down a lot of miles is all about. Is it worth $500??? Maybe not, but it is one more pieces of the puzzle in turning a race bike into a sport tourer.

Brakes

My initial impression of the stock brakes is that they were just fine. Yes I have heard complaints about the master cylinder. Most have said the issue becomes present at the track and for street use the stock master cylinder works just fine. With nothing to compare the OEM MC to, my assessment of the stock was that there was a little inconsistency. The common complaint of most braking systems is that they feel mushy. My bike was the base model, non-abs, less lines and a firm lever travel. I decided to replace the lines with Spiegler front lines routed in the OEM manner. This didn’t really make a noticeable improvement, however, I had no complaint with firmness to begin with.

The two main observations about the stock MC was that it seemed inconsistent. Like it was two different master cylinders. Most of the time it would be quite aggressive and grabby, then every once in a while the lever travel was much greater with a little mush. The MC also seemed too grabby initially. No I know I should always be paying attention and not stab at the brakes in surprise, but several times it happened that I looked up, saw slowing cars and instinctively grabbed a handful of brakes. Several times this happened the front wheel locked up and I immediately backed off the brakes. The front wheel locking up is NOT a normal occurrence for me, in fact I can’t ever remembering this happening unless I was intentionally trying to get to the braking limit.

The Brembo RCS 19 seems like it will eliminate these issues: inconsistency, lack of feel. The new Brembo RCS 19 seems to be less grabby, more stable and offers better feel. No doubt a worthwhile upgrade.

One rider review of the RCS 19 corta corsa, they said they never used the difference take up modes (corta corsa model). So I opted for the cheaper version. In addition to the MC a Brembo resevoir is helpful. I looks like the stock reservoir would work, however the OEM hose is larger than the one needed for a Brembo. If attached with an aggressive hose clamp everything would probably work, I did however opt for the aftermarket reservoir. One more item needed is a different banjo bolt as the OEM uses a 1.25 pitch and the Brembo needs a 1.0 pitch thread. The Brembo does come with an brake light switch. The Brembo switch wires have bullet style connectors. The OEM connector uses “blade” type connectors. I simply swapped out the male bullet connectors with male blade type connectors of the correct size.

Cruise Control

My latest purchase is the MC Cruise product made in Australia. Having to maintain a grip on the throttle for 6 hours is torture. Simply being able to remove your hand and shake it, let along sit vertically for a few moments and stretch out would be heavenly. The ability to move around and change positions greatly aids in putting down miles without having the body seize up. A simple throttle lock would work, but the fact that the GSXR is a drive by wire, allows for seamless integration.

The YouTube channel “Lamb Chop Rides” has a pretty good installation and review video. (insert link). The install went perfectly and in spite of the shear number of connections went quite smoothly. Part of what made the install easy was the incredibly detailed instructions. The only slightly tricky job is to remove wires from the factor connector. The following items helped me in this instance: a pair of reader glasses (my very close up eye sight is not microscope strong), a small flat screw driver from a glass repair kit (to apply pressure to the small tangs within the connector) and my wife with a pair of needle nose pliers to pull out wires once I release the catch tang. It helps to have a third hand.

I followed the calibration and testing procedure and immediately took the bike out on a test run. The system works flawlessly. The only slight issue would be when using the clutch to terminate the CC revs temporarily increase. There really is no way around this, however as the engine is under load and prior to the CC being turned off the revs will jump. Nothing on the McCruise system here, just a design constraint. The system is pricey, but worth every penny.

Luggage

Luggage capacity. The best luggage system I have seen for sportbikes is the Ventura Motorcycle luggage. It is a hybrid of soft luggage with a rigid frame for mounting. It looks like as I write this, they will make one for you. This looks like the only option that gives you capacity without bags flopping all over the place. I have come up with a different option. That is to mount a Givi 47 in place of the passenger seat. All I need to do is fabricate a sub plate that will allow me to bolt on this mounting bracket (Show picture). If you take off the passenger seat you will see two threaded bolts in the center of rubber bumpers. The rear of the sub plate will attach to these bolts. At the front there is a cross bar that mounts the seat latch, on either end of the bracket are two holes. I plan on putting riv nuts into these holes to mount the forward portion of the plate. Drill 4 holes into the sub plate to mount the Givi mounting bracket and I am good to go. With the mounting bracket in place, I won’t have a seat for a passenger (not needed), but I don’t think the plate by itself will look horrible. This luggage capacity by itself should be enough room for a trip of any duration.

Suspension

Items I still want to get Ohlins front forks and rear shocks

Electronics / Farkles

When putting down miles I always run a radar detector and Waze. I chose a ram mount stem mount system, integrating the power supply with a Fuzeblocks.com FZ-1 relay. This Fuze block is great because you can have items be power on all the time or turned on with the bike. I pulled the relay power from the rear tail light when installing the Yoshimura tail eliminator. Currently the fuze block powers my ram mount phone charger / holder, my escort. These items are switched on with a relay. I added a powerlet outlet in the black plastic between the drivers seat and the passengers seat which is always on. This allows me to both run a heated vest from the outlet, or use the outlet for charging the battery.

Miscellaneous

Yoshimura Tail eliminator, Lightech chain adjusters. Woolich racing stand and spools.

Review of the bike in general

Engine – As I have written above the vibration is significant. At first I thought it would be a deal breaker, but after implementing the gearing change, bar ends, tank pads, helibars and exhaust, the vibration level is acceptable. Beyond the now acceptable level of buzziness, the engine is an absolute MONSTER. Driving the bike in the powerband is almost not even possible for more than just an few seconds. Usually one is so anxious to break in a motorcycle to finally be able to zing it to red line. Not on this bike. This is the first motorcycle that has taken me time to get into the powerband. The engine has 3 power ranges the first is a very tractable and usable power between 3,000 – 6,000 rpm. There is enough power in this part of the rev range to effortlessly out accelerate traffic when in town. Then the power kicks in around 6,000 rpm and in most instances by around 10,000 rpm, you are already well beyond 120mph depending upon what gear you are in, and 10,000 is just the start of the powerband. Total power output from this motor is just exceptional in all rev ranges. Most importantly the power down low is a torquey and driveable.

Suspension – My assessment of the suspension is that it is just too harsh. When ridden hard the suspension seems acceptable. There is enough movement when pushed. Where the suspension seems to lack is in compliance. Compliance over smaller bumps and hard edged bumps when not pushing the bike. I did read where the Upgraded R forks were more compliant. An upgrade to the Ohlins front FGRT 224’s and the rear TTX GP are in order. The rear shock was available immediately, but the front forks are on a 3-4 month back order.

Putting on the rear shock made a huge improvement in terms of feel and compliance. Gone is the sharp jolts through my butt. There is even a significant improvement in the jolt felt through the front end with just the rear shock. The stock rear shock just seemed to lack any range of usage. Working fine at race pace, but horribly stiff for normal cruising.

In this video this professional rider gained about 2 seconds per lap upgrading from the 1000R BFF forks to the Ohlins mx inserts. I am sure that an Ohlins upgrade will really help the comfort and control factor. The only deciding factor will be how firmly to get them sprung.

Handling – Here the GSXR really shines. In several of the ride reviews, journalists just said how comfortable they felt cornering the bike. I can confirm their assessment. On day one coming from the dealer I logged 472 miles. By the end of the day, I was coming down Mullhulland Hwy from the rock store, a stretch I knew very well. Leaned over, the bike feels just as secure as when vertical. After I was home with the bike in the garage, my friend was assessing the size of my “Chicken Strips”. They were very small. One day one, I felt secure enough to start extracting a good portion of the bike’s lean angle. Leaning the bike over quite a bit felt instantly accessible and comfortable, with still more reserve lean angle on tap. A big thumbs up to Suzuki’s handling.

Brakes – Certainly there is enough power on tap. In addition the master cylinder doesn’t feel that bad on a non ABS model with steel braided lines. So why have I ordered the Brembo kit. Maybe the best word to describe the master cylinder is both consistency and feel. The pressure point at which the brakes grab sometimes feels solid, sometimes feels a little delayed, and the feel is not intimate. Like you know how much the pads are biting. I hope the new MC changes this. I am sure it will.

Looks – Half of the fun of owning this bike is just looking at it. One of the car podcasts I listen to, “Everyday Driver”, talks about the turn around factor. When you park your vehicle and walk away, do you turn around? My 2017 Shelby Mustang GT350 has this factor. I often just walk backwards looking at it. The Suzuki, in Triton Blue score these points as well. Did I mention I love Blue. Suzuki GSXR’s just belong in Blue. This is my third one, all in blue. A 1986 GSXR-750, and a 1989 GSXR-750 with built 1,100 motor in it.

Overall – In one of the most recent Superbike Shootout Video’s they didn’t have either the Suzuki or Kawasaki in the mix. They stated that if they were they would simply come in last, so what was the point. The field consisted of the BMW, Ducati, Aprilia, Yamaha and the new Honda. Ranked in pretty much that order. I am curious how the Suzuki would rank with some of these choice changes. The exhaust and jetting brings the power up to par, and drivability is now excellent, the Helibars and seat make the driving position quite comfortable (for a pure race bike). The handling has never been lacking. All of the other bike already had Ohlins or comparable suspensions. So adding Ohlins to the Suzuki just brings it up to par. While my 12k suzuki with around 7k in mods does bring it up to the price point of a BMW. I’m sure it will likely be nearly as capable.

Resale for the BMW will better for the first 5 -10 years. However, after 10 years, I can be pretty certain that my Suzuki will cost me absolutely nothing beyond oil, brake pads and tires. Whereas, the BMW owner will likely have between $5,000 to $10,000 of maintenance receipts.

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