RE: Suzuki GSX-R1000: PH Fleet
Discussion
dapearson said:
I did test ride a K5 and it did feel quite nice. I particularly liked the induction roar...BBAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!
However i've not come across a GSXR of that vintage that didn't look just a little rough around the edges. Even supposedly mint ones looked a bit tired. Plus the overall design felt dated next to the 2012+ blade.
Horses for courses. I'd still have a K5 but my last shopping effort failed and i've kind of ticked the litre bike box nicely now.
Fair point. Yes there are better looking bikes than K5 (thats not to say the K5 is ugly though). I would like to have an MV Augusta as a second bike, but they are very expensive! I would be buying just for looks rather than anything else. However i've not come across a GSXR of that vintage that didn't look just a little rough around the edges. Even supposedly mint ones looked a bit tired. Plus the overall design felt dated next to the 2012+ blade.
Horses for courses. I'd still have a K5 but my last shopping effort failed and i've kind of ticked the litre bike box nicely now.
JimClark49 said:
Its not about money. The blade cannot hold a candle to the K5. I have ridden my friends 2010 blade and it was good, but nothing special. He rode my K5 and wanted to sell his blade...he could not believe how superior the K5 was over the blade (and any other sports bike for that matter).
The journalists are correct...
This isn't my point of view. I owned this k6 1000 for about 18 months.The journalists are correct...
Don't get me wrong it was a mega bike. I loved it and would have another in a heart beat. But every newer litre bike I've ridden since has been just as good if not better in some ways. Especially build quality and paint finish. The k6 was light but to me it felt cheap. The rear plastics that held all the indicators felt cheap and flimsy and mine got stone chipped really bad.
I always wondered why people say it's much better than the k7 because it's lighter and more midrange. The midrange I get but the weight can't be noticeable especially with the majority of k7s swapping for single sided exhausts and they have a slight power increase.
Tim85 said:
This isn't my point of view. I owned this k6 1000 for about 18 months.
Don't get me wrong it was a mega bike. I loved it and would have another in a heart beat. But every newer litre bike I've ridden since has been just as good if not better in some ways. Especially build quality and paint finish. The k6 was light but to me it felt cheap. The rear plastics that held all the indicators felt cheap and flimsy and mine got stone chipped really bad.
I always wondered why people say it's much better than the k7 because it's lighter and more midrange. The midrange I get but the weight can't be noticeable especially with the majority of k7s swapping for single sided exhausts and they have a slight power increase.
I agree that the rear plastics are a bit cheap, but the paint is fine if you look after it (I have a blue and white one). I also think the clutch plates wear prematurely due to a rubber wave washer between the friction plates wearing out sooner that it should. This is a weakness in the bike.Don't get me wrong it was a mega bike. I loved it and would have another in a heart beat. But every newer litre bike I've ridden since has been just as good if not better in some ways. Especially build quality and paint finish. The k6 was light but to me it felt cheap. The rear plastics that held all the indicators felt cheap and flimsy and mine got stone chipped really bad.
I always wondered why people say it's much better than the k7 because it's lighter and more midrange. The midrange I get but the weight can't be noticeable especially with the majority of k7s swapping for single sided exhausts and they have a slight power increase.
However, the awesomeness of the K5 is not just its engine, but the way it can be flicked left to right on tight bends while remaining stable. It is, as you say, a light bike, but it also has a lower center of gravity (relative to the fireblade and my old K1 600). It feels so composed and poised as you enter into a corner (you can carry a lot of speed), and yes the lightness makes it easy work on technical roads.
I live in North Wales, so use my bike on some of the best roads in the UK. I promise you, bring another bike here and it will not give you the same ride-ability and feedback as the K5 does.
Its made even more amazing because other than a slipper clutch it has no other gizmo's like ABS and traction controls. Everything depends on the rider sensing what the bike is doing.
I will always beat the drum of this fantastic bike. The K5 is the pinnacle of sportsbikes and is still the benchmark (not the S1000RR which is basically BMW's version of the K5).
spareparts said:
The K5/6 was and still is a great bike. That motor was everything! The chassis is shown up by the current Blade though.
But in all honesty, I don't get the exultations about the K5 motor? My 09 Blade would walkaway from the K5, we tried many runs on the way to ET and it was always the same result. I suspect there's a big dollop of Rose Tint happening......
bass gt3 said:
I suspect there's a big dollop of Rose Tint happening......
From the ones I rode the zx10 was more powerful.
R1 was the best balanced, so that's where my money went.
I test rode an example of each of the thou's, so at the time they would have been 4 years old.
Then the S1000RR is in a big jump forward compared to the 06 bikes.
bass gt3 said:
spareparts said:
The K5/6 was and still is a great bike. That motor was everything! The chassis is shown up by the current Blade though.
But in all honesty, I don't get the exultations about the K5 motor? My 09 Blade would walkaway from the K5, we tried many runs on the way to ET and it was always the same result. I suspect there's a big dollop of Rose Tint happening......
spareparts said:
It sounds like the K5 you were up against was not so healthy. The K5 (certainly with a PC) would easily put out 170 at the wheel. Newer thous ARE stronger/faster, but it was the way the K5 motor delivers the horses which makes it such a fantastic bike imho. It isn't the fastest, but then you're talking minuscule fractions.
Thats exactly my point too.My friend's 2010 blade had a rebuilt engine with upgraded internals so was making more power than a standard blade. It still did NOT feel as good as the K5 on a 25 mile blast on roads I know very well. Like has been said before, its the way the K5 makes it's power that amazes me and others that ride it.
bassgts3 - You can laugh at what I say, but to all those in the know (including people who tune race bikes for a living), the K5 is highly regarded. No rose tinted specs necessary.
JimClark49 said:
Thats exactly my point too.
My friend's 2010 blade had a rebuilt engine with upgraded internals so was making more power than a standard blade. It still did NOT feel as good as the K5 on a 25 mile blast on roads I know very well. Like has been said before, its the way the K5 makes it's power that amazes me and others that ride it.
bassgts3 - You can laugh at what I say, but to all those in the know (including people who tune race bikes for a living), the K5 is highly regarded. No rose tinted specs necessary.
But I wouldn't get carried away and eulogise the K5 too much. The chassis can be ridden hard, the weight was low, and THAT motor feral; but compared to a modern Blade the K5 'feels' old and will get shown up by the same rider on both. It's easy to understand why the K5 is loved though. The new GSX-S just launched at Milan uses the K5 engine and chassis... 10 years on, it shows how good the original formula was.My friend's 2010 blade had a rebuilt engine with upgraded internals so was making more power than a standard blade. It still did NOT feel as good as the K5 on a 25 mile blast on roads I know very well. Like has been said before, its the way the K5 makes it's power that amazes me and others that ride it.
bassgts3 - You can laugh at what I say, but to all those in the know (including people who tune race bikes for a living), the K5 is highly regarded. No rose tinted specs necessary.
JimClark49 said:
bassgts3 - You can laugh at what I say, but to all those in the know (including people who tune race bikes for a living), the K5 is highly regarded. No rose tinted specs necessary.
Ok, so now it's highly regarded, which is a significant drop from the previous assertations.
Fine that you love your K5, but lets be sensible for a moment.
JimClark49 said:
My friend's 2010 blade had a rebuilt engine with upgraded internals so was making more power than a standard blade. It still did NOT feel as good as the K5 on a 25 mile blast on roads I know very well. Like has been said before, its the way the K5 makes it's power that amazes me and others that ride it.
I'd say from 2005-2009 the K5/6 had the best road engine, but from 09 the R1 and Blade matched it, and the chassis was better on those as well. The latest ZX10 or S1000RR will run rings around a K5/6, except for grunt under 5k, that's all I miss from my K6 1000. I have a K6 which based on numbering alone must be 20% better than a K5. I bought it at around the 5k mark and for the money it and other brands were much of a muchness. This included looks, where none from around then exactly seem to be lookers.
Is it the greatest bike in the world? Probably not, but for the 1500-2000 miles I do a year it is not far off. If I had to buy a new bike tomorrow and the GSXR was 10k versus the rest at 13-15k then I would have another one as the jump in price is not worth it to me.
As to whether it is a classic those kind of threads are probably best left to the Supercars forum.
Is it the greatest bike in the world? Probably not, but for the 1500-2000 miles I do a year it is not far off. If I had to buy a new bike tomorrow and the GSXR was 10k versus the rest at 13-15k then I would have another one as the jump in price is not worth it to me.
As to whether it is a classic those kind of threads are probably best left to the Supercars forum.
Moulder said:
I have a K6 which based on numbering alone must be 20% better than a K5.
As to whether it is a classic those kind of threads are probably best left to the Supercars forum.
K6 is not likely to be 20% better because the K5/K6 are identical. It's just easier to refer to the K5 as that was the earlier of the two models.As to whether it is a classic those kind of threads are probably best left to the Supercars forum.
As for whether it's a classic, time will be a judge of that. But since it is being talked about favorably by many people (though admittedly not on this thread) it is likely to be a classic.
Keep in mind BMW would not base the S1000RR on the K5/K6 if it was not the pinnacle of bike design.
JimClark49 said:
K6 is not likely to be 20% better because the K5/K6 are identical. It's just easier to refer to the K5 as that was the earlier of the two models
You don't get humour, do you?? JimClark49 said:
As for whether it's a classic, time will be a judge of that. But since it is being talked about favorably by many people (though admittedly not on this thread) it is likely to be a classic.
There's a huge difference between a classic ( think RG500) and a well regarded bike of its time. The K5 will only be a classic to those who already love and enthuse about it rather than the wider biking population. There's nothing about the GSXR range to make it a classic, so what reason is there for a particular year model to achieve such elevated status? Maybe because you own one but that's not enoughJimClark49 said:
Keep in mind BMW would not base the S1000RR on the K5/K6 if it was not the pinnacle of bike design.
First, the K5 may have been the pinnacle of GSXR design, but not bike design per se. The two are very different propositions. And by what measure do you base this statement? Racing success? Hardly!!!BMW reverse engineering the motor to develop their own IL4 because it made sense. Take a decen engine and analyse it. Better it, develop it. BMW's history of IL4engines isn't so good, think K1200 which they took to Ricardo to fix ( became K1300) or the previous longitudinal 4 which was a modded Peugeot lump. So hardly a bedrock of excellence to begin with.
And cast your mind back, the first S1k's were pap. No bottom end, hand grenade motors etc. The current bike is far far removed from the initial machines.
So lets be realistic. The K5 is maybe the highlight of the GSXR models, but only it seems by those who own one. Curious, no? And it's a 10 year old bike, the game has moved on.
But you have one, you love it and thats great.
Edited by bass gt3 on Sunday 21st December 06:45
bass gt3 said:
... or the previous longitudinal 4 which was a modded Peugeot lump.
Sorry, but you are totally wrong with that statement. The K "brick" engine had nothing to do with a Peugeot lump. The designer of the original K bikes took a Peugeot lump to prove that the flat along the frame offset crank concept would work. Once proved they then designed a whole new engine. As for it being any good, remember it's a late 70's early '80s design! It must have been pretty reasonable to still be in use (all be it in modified form) almost 30 years later.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff