The riding position on the GSX-R isn’t what I’d expected, very race orientated, obviously as it’s a race bike, but surprisingly not too uncomfortable. The bars are quite close to the knees, which makes the bike feel small. This always has the effect of installing confidence, as it’s easier to boss a small motorcycle.
Out on the road and the power makes itself instantly known. A fistful in any of the first couple of gears will be sure to send the front skywards. Acceleration can only be described as phenomenal.
As you would expect from a machine of this calibre the brakes and handling are matched to engine performance. The small feel from the riding position and low centre of gravity enables the bike to be tipped on its ear with absolute ease, holding whichever line you decide through a corner.
Equally as impressive are the radially mounted brakes, offering more rigidity of the callipers on the discs than the normal set up. This allows smaller discs which reduces un-sprung mass of the wheel, ultimately offering a very quick tuning bike.
Feel through the brake lever is top notch, giving a very good indication of how much more pressure can be exerted without locking up or forcing the front wheel to skip over bumps.
This is a light machine in bike standards, and the brakes do a faultless job of stopping the bike quickly at any speed.
The one thing that impressed me was it’s ability to be ridden at slow speeds around town and in traffic. The engine has such a wide spread of torque, its easy to just plonk around in a higher gear around 2,000 revs, changing speed in an instant with a twist of the wrist.
This makes this race orientated bike quite road friendly. Lets be honest with ourselves how often are we given the opportunity to ride a machine of this specification to the limits on the U.K. roads?
Exactly zero, therefore the low down drivability of this machine makes it a better road bike than super sport 600 machines with their power bands situated in the outer echelons of space.
