Suzuki GSX-R1000: 90.7 pts
With its now more top-end-heavy powerband, the new GSX-R was much more in its element at the track where there was a lot more room to stretch its legs. "The Suzuki feels nearly as strong as the Kawasaki," stated El Jefe, "but with a more refined feel to its rampaging top-end charge." That refinement makes the GSX-R easier to handle in many sections of the track, leading Siahaan to state in his notes, "The Suzuki makes a good literbike for someone looking for their first big bike. It's comfortable, and as unintimidating as a modern literbike can get." The G2X data shows that the big GSX-R definitely has the top-end steam, but there was still something missing from the overall package. "The K9 is without question better than the K8," said Olsen, "but I think Suzuki just didn't go far enough."
The updated brakes are definitely stand-out performers, though, with all testers noting their vastly improved power, response, and feel compared to the previous units. "Night and day difference to the K8 brakes," raved Olsen, who owns the older model as his track day bike. The Showa Big Piston Fork is another upgrade that pays valuable performance dividends, allowing the rider to make full use of the improved brakes on corner entry, although it was noticeable that everyone wasn't as enamored with the BPF's action as they were with the Kawasaki ZX-6R's unit. "Handled aggressive braking very well, but it just felt a bit too harsh in other situations," observed Kunitsugu during his hot laps.
One area where everyone agreed more progress needs to be made is in steering effort. Siahaan wrote that the Suzuki "still has that heavy feel," while Olsen added that "the chassis is better and less work in the esses, but still has that heavy Suzuki steering." Kunitsugu observed that, "five years ago we'd be raving that the GSX-R steers as light as a 600, but these days the literbike category is a tough crowd."
Honda CBR1000RR: 91.2 pts
Once again, it was another close contest between the Honda and the Kawasaki on everyone's track rating sheets, although the margin was narrower this year. There's no doubt of the CBR's performance potential at the track, with a lap time 0.5 seconds quicker than the rest, nearly identical to its gap in our previous literbike comparison ("Turn It Up to 11", July '08). But just like last year, lap times apparently weren't the end-all when it came to most of our tester's objective evaluations. A sportbike's ability to hit all the categories that add up to an exciting and enjoyable ride makes the real difference.
The Honda possesses the most flickable and sharpest-steering chassis of the bunch, allowing you to carry a ton of entrance and corner speed. Its light weight, small feel, and good front-end feedback mean you can carve up apexes like a 600; "The old 'point and shoot' riding style of riding a 1000 is long gone," wrote Olsen, while El Jefe concurred, "It feels like I'm carrying faster entrance and corner speeds on the CBR." Combine that with an engine pumping out copious amounts of quick-revving midrange power and excellent brakes that scrub off speed with easily-modulated, responsive power, and you have a recipe for lap times a step above the competition. And while the Honda has all the agility of a gazelle on caffeine, it still has adequate stability when railing through the rough stuff.
There's little griping with the CBR, although one that continually came up on evaluation sheets was a slight lack of top-end power ("Compared to the Kawasaki and Suzuki, it definitely falls flat on top," said Siahaan), and even though a look at the dyno chart confirmed those opinions, it obviously didn't hurt its lap times. Some testers felt the Honda's brake lever feel a bit spongy, others wished for more suspension compliance, and our test unit continued the CBR trend of burning more oil than usual-but these were minor blips on a relatively smooth radar screen.