Three 4s
THREE 4s
CW COMPARISON
Kawasaki's ZX-10R defends its honor against the new MV Agusta F4 1000 S and Suzuki GSX-R1000
BRIAN CATTERSON
WEIRD, THE THINGS YOU NOTICE AT 100 MPH. There I was, hard on the brakes, downshifting from fourth to third, about to chuck it into Turn 2 at Thunderhill Park when a flash of yellow took me by surprise on the inside. Leaving the other rider sonic room. I tipped it in and noticed that he was wearing Shill leathers. Shift? Don't they make motocross gear? Then, as I slotted in behind him, I saw the name stitched across his back: "Chandler." As in Doug Chandler, former 500cc Grand Prix star, World Superbike race winner, three-time AMA Superbike Champion and the last Grand National dirt-tracker to complete the prestigious "Grand Slam" with wins in all five disciplines. No wonder lie was going So fast!
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Chandler there.
After all, I’d invited him. It was just that I’d failed to notice what brand of leathers he was wearing while we were chatting in the pits. The Arai Doug Chandler Replica helmet on his head was the clincher-except can you call it a “replica” when the actual guy is wearing it?
When it came time to conduct this year’s lOOOcc sportbike shootout, we thought it would be fun to invite a guest-tester. And to a certain extent, we needed to; today’s Open-class sportbikes are so fast, it takes a rider of Chandler’s caliber to push them to their limits. The fact that Doug is renowned for his chassis-setup skills, more humble than most club racers and willing to work for dinner and a hotel room was icing on the cake. Of course, seeing as how the Daytona 200 had gone down
irci days earlje[[~ without him, maybe heju~ti~ssed riding hi the interest of streamlining the téstin~process this time~ around, we decided to include only three bikes: last year's winner, the Kawasaki ZX-1OR, plus the new MV Agusta F4 1000 S and Suzuki GSX-R1000.• We obviously considered including the Honda CBR1000RR and Yamaha YZF-Rl, but time marches on, and those brands didn't. As for the Aprilia RSV 1000 R and Ducati 999, this test was for four-cylinder machines, and those V-Twins simply march to the beat of a different drummer. One with a slower cadence, sorry to say. As for a venue, we checked the various online track-day schedules and found that Pacific Track Time (wwwpac?/Ic tracktime.com) was hosting an event at Thunderhill Park. Riding the bikes to and from the track, located in Willows, 00 mii~s north of~acramento, made for a couple of 500mile-pIus days on the street And behev~ it or not, there are some twisty roads in the Central California Valley, you just need to know where to look. Hint: Follow the foothills or ride along waterways, and note that one such road passes by just west of Buttonwillow Raceway. And beware of slow moving oil trucks and tractors. I could tell you more, but
then I'd have to kill you...
The Kawasaki ZX-1OR returns this year seemingly unchanged, but inside its engine cases lurk significant improvements. Last year, our test ZX-1OR didn't shift that well at the racetrack, sometimes refusing to engage the nexthighest gear. It never misbehaved on the street, however, and as we wrote last year, if it had, it wouldn't have won our shoot-
out and thus wouldn't be de~~fis title heie and now
Enr 2005, Kawasaki reworked the 1OR's transmission, giving it a new, ball-bearing-type shift-position follower (instead of the old roller type), improved shift-fork-to-shaft tolerances, a thicker shift-shaft pawl and a "barrel-ground" surface treatment on the input and output shafts. Voila, huge improvement. Of the five testers who rode the bike at T-hiIl, only one reported missing a shift, and that was likely his own doing, failing to get his boot out from under the lever after the previous upshift. Even more impressive, that was the only missed shift noted on all three bikes.
bugaboo was headshake, as the 1OR is the only Open-class sportbike that doesn't come with a steering damper. Sadly, that's still the case, though Kawasaki will soon offer an Öhlins kit through its accessories division. Unfortunately, we were unable to get one in time for our test, but thanks to Chandler’s input, we managed to get the chassis set up to where instability wasn’t an issue.
We rode the bikes on their stock tires in the morning, switching to
race-compound Dunlop D208 Sportmax GPs at the mid-day lunch break. The Kawasaki felt a little “lively” on its standard Bridgestones, but became scarify so on the V-profile Dunlops, the front tire skipping from side to side going up Thunderhill’s pit straight. As delivered, the lOR’s suspension sits high in its stroke, so the fork tops out under hard acceleration. Taking some preload out of both ends and softening the compression damping let the bike hunker down a bit, which made it more stable. (Previous Kawasaki Open-classers such as the ZX-9R and ZX-11 were often criticized for being Low Riders, but they were never unstable.) As testimony to suspension making a difference, AFM fast guy and PIT instructor Cory Call was hauling ass at T-hill on his personal ZX10R equipped with a pipe, racing slicks, an Öhlins shock-and
no steering damper.
With its chassis more or less sorted, the Kawasaki was an absolute riot at the racetrack. Its position is the best this group (particularly for taller riders), with a moderate forward lean, a short reach to the handlebars, plenty of legroom and a narrow fuel tank that doesn't splay your legs. Take that
KAWASAKI
ZX-10R
$10,999
^Ups
Still the champ
Shifting problems a thing of the past
A Doug Chandler-approved!
D owns
Who forgot the steering damper?
Doug Chandler riding lessons not included
to mean it feels purposeful on the track but reasonably comfortable on the street.
Thunderhill has some really fast corners, and the green bike was right at home in them, “connecting the dots” with pinpoint precision. It snaps into corners quicker than the other two bikes, stops and trail-brakes well, and has the best throttle connection to the rear tire. Power delivery is smooth off the bottom, which lets you get the throttle open early in corners, and builds progressively into a screaming, 155-horsepower top-end rush. With a skilled rider in the saddle (and he’d better be!), lighting it up to finish a corner becomes a regular part of the riding experience rather than some theoretical abstract.
Putting all of this goodness to good use, Chandler set his
quiekest time of the day on the Kawasaki at a 1:57.35-just 4 seconds off the outright motorcycle lap record. “This is an awesome motorcycle,” he exclaimed.
The MV Agusta F4 is both new and old. It burst on the scene in 1998 as a 750, and after a lengthy gestation period was reborn as a 1000 last year. Early reviews suggested that the new motor finally gave the bike the “go” to match the “show,” but skeptics figured the testers were drunk on Italian food, wine and ambiance, and the bike would pale in the real world.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The F4 1000 S is the real deal.
While its radial-valve, inline-four-cylinder engine is effectively a seven-year-old design, the 1 OOOcc version marks the first production use of a MotoGP-style anti-engine-braking system. Similar to that employed on the 2003 Yamaha YZR-M1, this uses a solenoid in one inlet tract and a lifted exhaust valve to let air “flow through” the engine like on the two-strokes they used to race in the GPs, thus preventing rear-wheel hop entering corners.
Never mind the advanced electronics utilized on current MotoGP four-strokes, the MV’s electro-mechanical device works. Despite not having a slipper clutch like the other two bikes, it retains its composure under hurried corner entrances and while being “backed in,” supermoto-style. Though the system is transparent in regular use, you can feel it “kick in” if you coast into a corner with the throttle off, and one tester commented that he routinely overran his brake markers until he got used to it. The bike seemingly gains speed when the throttle is closed, like a crasher sliding across wet grass. Of course, that’s not the case-like the crasher, the bike just isn’t > decelerating as quickly as it normally would.
A few testers also noted that they could feel the system shut off when they turned the throttle back on, but it didn’t bother them. What did bother us was the heavy throttlereturn spring, which took a lot of effort to overcome, and made
our right wrists ache while cruising on the freeway. But we’ll take that over a too-light spring, which makes for herkyjerky action and can spell trouble if you accidentally turn the twistgrip too far.
While not new, the MV’s chassis is certainly worthy of mention. A unique design, it consists of a cast-aluminum single-sided swingarm and uprights joined to a tube-steel main frame with a rake-adjustable steering head a la the Ducati 916 and its successors. Little surprise there, as both bikes were designed by Massimo Tamburini.
Why use a steel trellis instead of aluminum spars? While steel provides comparable weight and strength at lower cost, there’s another reason: The Italians have a century of bicycle-building experience, and have come to understand the concept of tuned flex better than anyone. And so the MV
handles exceptionally well; we’d go so far as to declare it the best-handling sportbike made. It’s not exactly comfortJp? able, though: míAg
The reach to I
the bars is far, and the seat and ^¡¡¡ suspension are rockhard; we softened the Marzocchi fork and Sachs shock for the racetrack and left them that way for the street. Chandler commented that he didn't care for the shape of the gas tank
MV AGUSTA
F4 1000 S
$21,495
Ups
Most beautiful sportbike ever Best-handling sportbike ever Huge improvement over the 750!
Downs
Highest-priced sportbike... maybe not ever, but it’s damn expensive!
Can we have a Brutale with this motor, too?
either; square at the back, it made his outside foot slip off the peg whenever he tried to get forward on the bike. While it's not as light as its rivals in terms of weight or
Kawasaki. It's totally neutral, too; adjust ing your line mid-corner is never an issue.
But where the MV really shines is in terms of chassis feedback. Like similar trellis-frame Ducatis, it "talks" to the rider, letting him know exactly what is transpiring at the contact patches. Remarked Online Editor Calvin Kim, "You feel things on the MV that you wouldn't on any other bike. It speaks a language that's easy to understand, and it's the language of tire. You know when you're on the edge. The other bikes aren't necessarily vague, they just speak a differ ent language?'
Rolling through Thunderhill's long, constant-radius Turn 2 on the MV, it felt like you were on a skidpad. With the bike heeled over on its engine cases, you could plainly feel both tires working and could alter weight bias and grip simply by turning the throttle one way or the other. Despite having standard-style Nissin brake calipers (compared to the radial-mount Tokicos on the other two bikes), the MV provided the best feedback while trail-braking. Clearly we were working the front tire harder on the My as it showed considerably more wear at day’s end.
Exiting corners was fun, too, as the MV happily spun its rear tire, helped by its predictable power delivery and healthy, 151-horsepower top-end hit. Chandler’s quickest lap on the MV was a sizzling 1:58.5, and he felt he could have gone quicker yet-maybe even bettering the Kawasaki’s time-if it had grippier brake pads.
“I really didn’t expect the MV to be this good,” said Chandler, who rode for MV’s parent company Cagiva at the end of his GP career. “It’s not giving anything away to the other bikes.”
As with other Italian exotics, price is an issue, and other considerations notwithstanding, that alone precludes the MV from winning here. With its MSRP of $21,495, you could buy a whole garageful of less-expensive motorcycles-though having only the MV in your garage would leave more room for walking around and admiring it...
Which brings us to our third and final player, the Suzuki
GSX-R1000. The big Gixxer reigned as Best Superbike in Cycle World's Ten Best Bikes balloting for three years running before being unseated by the Kawasaki last year, and its thorough reworking for ’05 is intended to win back that title.
Engine changes were comprehensive-and effective.
A .4mm bore increase took displacement to 998.6cc, the fuel-injection system now has twin injectors and 2mm-bigger throttle bodies, the intake valves are 1mm bigger, the pistons are shorter, and the valves are now titanium and closed by heavier springs. As a result of all that, redline has been raised to 13,500 rpm and power is up to a class-leading 157 horsepower at the rear wheel. Putting that power to the pavement, the GSX-R posted the quickest quarter-mile time (though admittedly by a mere hundredth of a second), and came within 1 mph of the ZX-10R in top speed. Power delivery is extremely linear and throttle connection excellent, a slight burble off the very bottom and a borderline too-light throttle-return spring our only nitpicks.
Another change intended to put the Suzuki on a level playing field with the Kawasaki is its new slipper clutch, which makes the bike eminently more composed while downshifting entering corners. It was fun to yank in the clutch lever, toe the shift lever down five times as you watched the new digital gear indicator flicker from “6” to “1,” and then dump the clutch-with no repercussions whatsoever. The only telltale sign is some slight lever pulsing.
A much more visible change is the new, more-aerody> namic bodywork, augmented (if that’s the right word) by the new titanium muffler, which drew mixed reviews. Said guesttester Ben Welch, “I hated the shape of the muffler at first, but it grew on me.” Asked what it reminded him of, he just shook his head, and no one else
could think of anything either. Toaster? Thermos? Espresso maker? You make the call-probably to Yoshimura for a replacement.
The other goal of the redesign was to make the GSX-R more compact, and that it is. You now sit down “in” the bike rather than up on top, and the footpegs have been lowered to retain legroom and tucked in tighter to retain cornering clearance. The gas tank is now slimmer (though still fatter than on the other two bikes), the reach to the handlebars is shorter, and the low seat makes the bars feel higher. All good things, ergonomically speaking (shorter riders preferred it over the Kawasaki), and in conjunction with the supple suspension make the Suzuki the cushiest ride on the street.
Of course, the cushy suspension also made the GSX-R
cushy at the racetrack, which wasn’t such a While the fast and
ners and railed past apexes well,
it squatted too much in the rear under power, which caused it to run wide at comer exits. Chandler also complained that the footpegs touched down too easily, which together limited his best lap time to a 2:00.69-some 3 seconds adrift of the Kawasaki and 2 behind the MV Rear ride height was the issue, and without any shims on hand, we resorted to increasing spring preload to the point that we reached the limit of rebound damping. When that proved only moderately effective, we modified a 2mmthick Kawasaki shim (the GSX-R’s ride-height adjuster is larger-diameter than the lOR’s) and wedged an approximately 6mm increase in rear ride effect was negligible, Chandler citing
SUZUKI
GSX-R 1000
$10,849
ps Winner on the dyno Winner at the dragstrip Winner on thern sales floor ,~,owns Not the overall winner here
the same problems and turning virtually the same lap time: 2:00.60.
What the Suzuki needs to go the racetrack is a better shock with a stiffer spring, and no doubt racers will replace it. True, it’s not a concern on the street, which is where most of these bikes will be ridden. But in a performance-based category where winners and losers are defined by mere decimal points, we’re sorry to see a bike with
so much potential limited by something that would be so simple to change. As a result, while the new GSX-R is a thoroughly capable motorcycle, it isn’t the quantum leap forward we were hoping to see.
“I expected a little more from the Suzuki,” Chandler said in summary.
So, Kawasaki’s ZX-10R reigns as Superbike King for another year. We’ll let Calvin have the
adrenalin-fueled last word: “For a brief moment in time, I knew what it was like to fast. If you’ve ever watched a MotoGP race on TV, you’ve seen how the bikes are always going crazy; they’re never straight and down. The ZX-10R was like that. To say it was ‘alive’ would be an understatement. I could feel the bike slewing through long sweepers, short sweepers, kinks, elevation changes...everywhere! Never was it straight and level. But man, was it fun!” i
