With its full-on race approach, we thought the GSX-R would rule in the canyons. But a full day spent reducing the world's supply of knee-sliders left us questioning the Suzuki's purpose in life. An F3 is a match for the GSX-R when things turn twisty, but it won't beat you like a rented mule on the ride home. So why put up with all of the Suzuki's shortcomings?
And for once, we all agreed: it is the best track weapon. A faster circuit would have allowed the Suzuki to press home an advantage more than the tight and twisty Streets of Willow. Its light weight lbs full of gas , lets it carry the highest cornering velocity and greatest turn-in speed. Graves described the Suzuki as "feeling like the front was directly beneath your shoulders. Add some new tires, a Yoshimura pipe for more power, have Race Tech do the forks, Fox rear shock and watch out Miguel Duhamel.
If you can ride the Suzuki to its limits, you'll win national races. With its unbeatable combination of great speed, comfort and reliability, the F3 has ruled the class for years. Honda is smart enough not to mess with the defending AMA Supersport champion, and therefore their strategy for improving the F3 has always been one of refinement, rather than redesign.
Honda has continued this trend in , as a host of minor changes have brought the F3 to an even higher level. Power is up slightly over last year with a peak output of 90 bhp at 11, rpm. But what makes the Honda's engine special isn't its impressive peak horsepower, but the way it pulls strongly from idle to redline with no dips or flat-spots.
That linear powerband helped the F3 post the second-quickest drags trip time of In the canyons the F3's wide spread of power made fast cornering easier than on the Suzuki because the F3 pilot doesn't need to do a gearbox tap-dance to stay in the powerband. Even more important was that the F3 could get to and from the canyons without hurting its rider.
Honda's F3 posted the second-fastest lap time during our tire-shredding stint at The Streets of Willow, trailing the GSX-R by just eleven hundreths of a second. While it was almost quickest that day, Honda's F3 did scrape more than its competition: "Just when I was getting serious about going fast on the racetrack the footpegs and exhaust canister started scuffing the asphalt," said Higbee.
However, both Higbee and Graves agreed that the F3 was the easiest to hop on and ride quickly. Graves described the Honda as "rider-friendly and easy to slide and feel comfortable on. With subtle updates for , the F3 looked like it might spend another year at the top. But Yamaha had other ideas Yamaha YZFR. We were downright shocked. Yamaha's YZFR came quietly into this shootout with no one predicting it would win.
Billy Bartels was first to heap praise on the YZF, as he lauded its comfort after a ninety-mile ride from Yamaha's headquarters. Soon others began to take a shine to the bike. We all raved about the awesome front brakes and superior bottom end on the YZF. In the canyons Yamaha's YZF was a capable, if not extraordinary performer. Front suspension rates were on the soft side and the stock Bridgestone tires behaved poorly at steeper lean angles they're the exact same ones that Kawasaki uses on the 6R.
Also, at lbs full of gas the Yamaha is the class porker. That's almost 50lbs more than the Suzuki, and was responsible for its slightly slower mid-corner speeds. To its credit the YZF's torquey motor pulled strongly on corner exits, allowing a good rush to the next corner. Originally, we felt the engine lacked a real top-end punch, but at The bike pulls so cleanly and strong from down low, it just feels slower -- the top end hit, in relative terms, is less of a percent gain.
Dragstrip testing wasn't the YZF's forte either as its weight and grabby clutch left it struggling to keep up. Graves eventually clicked off an Not exactly the stuff that champions are made of. The Yamaha was, however, the only bike that didn't fry it's clutch at the drag strip. Many thanks to Barnett for providing clutches for the other three on one hour's notice.
Racetrack testing threatened to drop the YZF to the bottom of everyone's list, but here the Yamaha surprised us. Despite its weight, soft suspension and lack of top-end, the YZF proved to be a competent track weapon.
Editor-in-Chief Brent Plummer actually turned his best time of the day on the Yamaha. Source motorcycle. Supersport shootout. Highly anticipated and hard fought, it is an annual event with weighty social, political and economic implications. Sort of like Chelsea Clinton's coming-out party with knee pucks and Z-rated rubber. Inked with the same blood-red Sharpie R we use to mark Pamplona's running of the bulls, Indy's and Eddie Lawson's birthday, it is Motorcyclist's annual cc supersport skirmish.
And it is time. Unlike the near-three-mile-per-minute proclivities of Honda's CBRXX or the focused, hormonal purity of Ducati's , the archetypical sporty bike shines brightest not from any single facet.
Instead, following the wonderfully if you're Honda frustrating if you're not tire tracks of the CBR series, the conventional middleweight paradigm aims at that elusive point where the marketeer's price and performance curves cross. That's why the reigning cc champion, Honda's F3, spreads its broadband brilliance over most any sort of riding the Great Unwashed Sporting Hordes can think up. It is the proverbial jack-of-all-trades, and master of some.
Thus, traditionally, middleweight warfare is a game of inches--millimeters even. But watching Honda kick the can a bit farther than everybody else every year was becoming an exercise in predictability--predictably monotonous. It is the first real deal--a no-apologies, no-regrets, take-no-prisoners cc racer replica.
The GSX-R, odds-on wild card in this year's deck, provokes a new question: Does unadulterated sporting brilliance beat all-around aptitude?
Can the revamped YZFR hold its own? Will Sister Ruby overcome brucellosis and a bad NyQuil habit to rejoin the roller derby? Oops, wrong story. What about Kawasaki's highly rapid ZX-6R, then?
Keep your shoes and socks on, boys and girls. The answers are just around the corner. The path to conclusive answers starts with knowing where to look. Otherwise, exploring all four corners of a current classer's performance envelope can land you in solitary confinement or intensive care in an L. From there, we hammered the middleweight Class of '97 over the surface streets, interstates, back alleys and Taco Bell drive-thrus of Los Angeles, which led to perfect Sunday morning rides straightening out serpentine blacktop.
But first, take a few seconds to get your mind straight. Look closely. Move beyond the obvious similarities in engine size and mission statements. After a few days and miles, each combatant will assert its own distinct character.
As the once and future king of seamless, digital refinement, Honda's latest F3 feels small, tight, narrow, agile and ergonomically correct.
At pounds soaking wet, it is seven pounds heavier than Kawasaki's more compact ZX-6R. The Ninja's rider and passenger accommodations are less capacious than the Honda's as well, making the Kawasaki a more comfortable ride for the sub-six-foot set.
Adjustable brake and clutch levers are exclusive to the Ninja, as is the idiot-resistant neutral finder. On to the Suzuki. Everything from the steep, rakish windscreen and low clip-ons to the high-mount aluminum footpegs and slippery tail section, peg the pound GSX-R as a narrow-focus, no-apologies sporting weapon.
Planted on its wide, flat seat, you're further from the pavement than on any of the others. The Suzuki is a track spike among training shoes. Neither short of leg nor faint of heart need apply. Next door, the pound YZF-R is a roomier, more comfortable, everyday fit for most riders--especially tall ones.
Along with the extra mass and room comes more faring protection and real space for two. Call it the GT of the bunch. Now start the engines. Blip the throttles. The practiced ear can tell one from another with no help from the practiced eye. The CBR's familiar, veiled gear whine dominates its aural signature. Then there's the throaty, ram-air bark of the otherwise eerily quiet Ninja engine.
The GSX-R is a cold-blooded warrior, only settling into a loping, cammy, metallic-raspy idle after it warms up a bit. In contrast, the calm precise-idling YZF four recalls nothing more than a valve Rolex.
Once clear of the driveway, all our contestants happily suffer the necessary indignities of urban commuter duty with the sort of athletic moves you'd expect. Still, some suffer more happily than others. Blessed with the lightest steering, bump-erasing suspension, roomiest rider accommodations and marvelously accessible midrange horses, the YZF wins the war between a.
Monday and p. It is this level of detail, along with hundreds of photos and illustrations, that guide the reader through each service and repair procedure. Simply print out the pages you need or print the entire service manual as a whole!!! Detailed substeps expand on repair procedure information. Notes, cautions and warnings throughout each chapter pinpoint critical information.
Numbered instructions guide you through every repair procedure step by step. Bold figure number help you quickly match illustrations with instructions. Detailed illustrations, drawings and photos guide you through every procedure. Enlarged inset helps you identify and examine parts in detail. Numbered table of contents is easy to use so that you can find the information you need fast.
This service manual also makes it easy to diagnose and repair problems with your machines electrical system! Troubleshooting and electrical service procedures are combined with detailed wiring diagrams for ease of use.
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