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Chasing Sprockets
by: Dan K. aka: sprbeast
There I am, riding around on my new steed. What a canvas this thing could be. A brand new sportbike that Suzuki introduced and can develop to be a world dominator, to compete against the venerable Ducati 916 and the also new Honda RC51. Yes life is good. What’s that? Suzuki did what? Dropped their TLR race efforts to focus on the GSXR? Ahhh, dang it! I guess I’ll have to mod it myself.
First things first, time to get some ever beloved noise out of these cans. A little dremel here a little carbide bit there and Voila!....now I gots the noise to go with the show. I was really impressed with the quality of the mod. It didn’t carry out the usually obnoxious crack that you get from the 4 cylinders. Twas still quite mellow with a nice thump to it.
As time ensued, I really began to fall in love with the combination, took a bit to get use to seeing all around the front of the bike while riding it. I didn’t notice how riding the full faired bikes seemed to put up a faux “shield” that kept you that much more away of being in contact with the road. However the bike seemed to need something to balance out the look. The front was lacking. I liked the faux carbon gsxr fender and headlight combo (though the light was out of place being chrome). ‘just didn’t have a finished look to it. That big TLR rear makes it look heavy and it’s ugly to too. Hmmm I do like that flyscreen on those buells.
Ok now I’ll see what this “information superhighway” is all about. We got that new computer downstairs hooked up to the phone line now. After deciding which model flyscreen worked the best (the M2 cyclone had the raised bulge in the center which helped ease the pain of the TLR hump and it fit over the stock gauges nicely) I did a search for buell forums and landed me a nice deal from a Marine in Washington state for $50 bucks. This was my first of many online purchases. I can’t begin to state how much of an importance the “net” has been in the build up of SUPERBEAST. Not that it couldn’t have been done, just that it went much easier and quicker putting all these “needed” items at your fingertips (literally).
I have my flyscreen now and after some miles under the belt I saw the short comings of the GSXR fender. It was almost a perfect fit. The holes lined up but took a slight bit of flexing to get it in there. So the cracks started forming and I decided to go with the original stock fender. I went to the paint supply store where I got the original paint for the bike. This time, I had them put it in aerosol cans so I could spray them myself. I must say the job went pretty well. Though, the paint was the same, it wasn’t a perfect match, but very close. ( the cans were single stage paint and the original was a dual stage with clear coat on top) I sprayed a clear on it and bolted them on. I liked the new screen but the fender wasn’t as nice as the GSXR’s. oh well, what do ya do?
The bike and I are now getting pretty familiar with each other. I am picking up on some inherent traits that I am, should I say, a little uneasy with. The faster I seem to push it the more it likes to weave and shake….almost uncontrollably. We play with the suspension and steering geometry. We can get it close but nothing seems to fully cure it. I did pick up on one thing, if I run tires that have a more peaked tread, (aka Dunlop 207gp’s) the problem is really exaggerated. Easy enough, don’t run peaked race tires.
Ok, funds are a bit short right now so I am running a Michelin front tire and a very shallow rear. Let’s throw on this bridgestone so I can ride this weekend. Good decent rubber (depth anyway) and a nice sunny Sunday for a brisk ride up into the coal regions. No not really….the bike didn’t really like the odd tire combination. I took it pretty easy on the ride but as we were getting up on the highway to head home (yes the highway. It was quicker. Little did I know what followed). I was between my brother and jim (the one that witnessed my lowside on my gsxr). As I was saying, we were heading up the ramp to get on the highway and I was giving it hell well into second gear. What I didn’t realize was that my front tire came off the ground slightly to the point that when it grazed the ground again. The bike started shaking uncontrollably and went into a violent tankslapper. Tossing itself into the ground and me into the air. WHAT THE FRIK JUST HAPPENED?
The results of that incident? a torn rotator cuff and some more rash on the knee, a split seam on my jacket and the bike faired excellent, for the most part. The stock can on the left side was scratched a bit, the upper radiator tube was worn to a pinhole leak, and how about my new flyscreen? Well only the surface of one of the screw heads was scraped down to where I could just get the Phillips screwdriver on it. As I collect my thoughts and jim helps me up, Jason had turned around and came back. We decided to head down to the next exit and get a patch kit for the hose. Well good thing it was “down” to the next exit. Jason had run out of gas and jim had to push him with his left hand a few times to get him to the pumps.
Jason felt bad that we never had the bike’s geometry checked after getting it back on the road so he decided we take it to GMD computrack in Maryland. It turns out, the swingarm was slightly bent. A few keystrokes later and I have a new one for sixty bucks. Bless the net.
The bike is rolling now but I still don’t feel super confident with it yet. I choose the best way to prevent that again regardless of the new swinger was to keep the front end on the ground during the high speed stuff and decided to run the Dunlop 207 Street tires for everything including trackdays
They had great feedback and handled awesome. I had no issues with traction and had my knee down all day. Lets move ahead.
The time is now the Fall of 2000 and my brother has heard the call of technology yelling yet again. There is a new big boy on the way. The new SUZUKI GSXR1000. Hmmmm. I will give him credit. This is one of the things that gives his customer’s some security or should I say belief in his skills as a professional. Would you trust your bike in the hands of someone with a ratted out mid 90s sportbike or one that is extremely well kept with the right mods and dyno figures to back it up?
“Dan, do you want the performance stuff off my TL before I sell it?” he asks. “Depends, what am I looking at?” I replied. “ I’ll sell you the SS Yosh system, BMC race filter, Stainless brake and clutch lines, and the Power commander for 500 bucks.” He said. “SOLD!!!” done deal.
SUPERBEAST is now moving in the right direction.
Though it still doesn’t have that aggressive style that I often see on those bikes in the European bike mags PERFORMANCE BIKES and SUPERBIKE. What does it need? Bars. That’s it, handlebars!
