Diary last updated 21/01/04
And then there was GSX Saturday 19/1/02
Picked up my new machine today, absolutely, totally impressed. Smooth, powerful, taut, grunty, all those adjectives the magazines pick when the bike they have just tested hits the spot.
I didn’t go too far, only from the shop to home, about 12 miles. The roads were pretty greasy, and I found that I had problems reaching the back brake pedal due to my gammy leg. So modifications were needed there, but this should be in hand this week, (heel operated brake on the way).
The only negative apart from the rear brake were the mirrors. After riding a cruiser with tiller style bars, the GSX arrangement seemed incredibly narrow, and tall, and virtually no view behind except for what was on the pavement either side of the road. After I’ve had the brake mod, I will look for a couple of mirror adapters to see if I can extend the mirrors an inch or so.
With the speeds this machine is capable of, I would like some warning of the boys in blue being behind me.
Parked bike up in garage, invited mate round from next door to make him droolingly jealous.
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Day Two Sunday 20/1/02
Woke up to cloudy day, wet roads but rain had ceased. After the usual Sunday perfuntories, breakfast, visit mum-in-law, etc’, it was time to take the beast for a roam. I’d made up a seat pad as a temporary measure to help me reach the rear brake pedal. The idea being if my butt was a bit further away from the pedal, I could get the flexation in my knee to operate the brake.
On the road this worked to a degree, but it was tippytoe time every time I came to a stop.
The roads were still a bit wet and greasy, but my confidence with the tyres grew, although I wasn’t scratching. The brakes are excellent, powerful, but bags of feel, the suspension firm but supple soaking up the bumps far better than my VN800 ever could. Sticking to the 4,500 rev limit, the performance was nothing short of fantastic, 70mph at a shade over 3,000rpm, (the same as my Nissan Primera), and 80mph at about 600rpm more.
The only problem I had was that the pad I was using to lift myself didn’t really help enough with the back brake, plus it had the effect of lifting me into the airstream at 70mph+, so it seems that wasn’t too much of a good idea.
The motor was silky, quiet, and trying to show me how much potential was there once she was run-in, I can’t wait for the first service. 45 more miles completed.
More to follow soon, plus I’ve got to get the camera out, and start clicking.
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We have brakes Saturday 26/01/02
Back brake now sorted, see Disability Mods page. Great job done by Boom Trikes, Bolton very professional, and looks like it was done at the factory. My ride home was excellent, using my heel to brake will take a little training, hopefully I won’t encounter any full blown emergencies until it becomes instinct to use my heel to brake.
The mod has meant that I will lose a bit of ground clearance, but I’m not a scratcher, one broken leg was enough. If it becomes a problem, no doubt Boom will be able to help out. The left peg has been left alone, so I ride with my right foot in front of my left, sounds a bit odd, but feels OK
I’ve added photos of the mods to my Disability Mods page, plus some pics of my beastie to my Photos page.
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New screen fitted and mirror extensions Wednesday 20/02/02
I bought a F.Fabbris mini-sport screen for my GSX at weekend, courtesy of Riossi. I finally got round to fitting it tonight. Its in a dark blue tint so matches the bike perfectly.
Take a look at the photos I’ve added, I’ll add a write up on it at weekend after I’ve had chance to test it on the road, hopefully it should make high speed cruising less of a neck wrenching exercise, we will see.
I’ve also added a pair of mirror extensions, they have made a World of difference. They are only 1 extensions, but push the mirrors out just enough. Go to Riossi, and ask for:-
2 x Velo Sport Mirror Adaptors, SWEN REF: MIR109 10mm R/H Int Ext thread, cost approx Ј6.50 for the pair
New screen test Friday 01/03/02
One of the best Ј39.95s that I have ever spent. The new screen works well, obviously it doesn’t work as well as a factory fitted fairing, but the high speed stuff is much easier now. A bit of the windblast gets through, but it doesn’t feel like someones trying to rip my helmet off at 90 mph now.
I’ve covered 450 miles now, not much I hear you say from 19/01/02, but lets be honest, the sun hasn’t exactly been cracking the flags. The 4,500rpm limit is now a bit of a pain, so I’m getting the rest of the 600 miles to first service done as soon as possible, I’m itching for a few more of those big Suzuki horses. Next write up as soon as I’m revving to 6700rpm.
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New page added, GSX1400Wallpapers 17/03/02
I’ve found a distinct lack of GSX1400 wallpaper, so if you want to jazz up your desktop, then click here .
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Update at last. 9th August 2002
I hadn’t realised how long it has been since I did an update. I’ve added quite a few miles to the 1400 over the last few months, she now has 2,300 miles on the clock, not too many I know, but then again I’m an admitted fair-weather rider, and England being a fairly soggy country, we don’t get that many sunny days.
The 14 still never ceases to impress, the motor has freed up nicely, pulling strongly to the 9,000rpm red line whenever she’s asked. I’ve had a Dynojet Power Commander III fitted just recently, and what a difference its made.
The 14 out of the crate runs mega-rich, and although the fuel injection is pretty much fault free, she did gas-up every now and then requiring me to back off the throttle slightly to get the pick up I wanted in top gear. I was also only getting around 36mpg. All that has changed after fitting the PCIII, throttle response is now instant, with the added gain to 41mpg, a huge improvement in fuel consumption.
I had the PCIII fitted through the GSX.org 1400 Owners Club, at a discount price at FW Developments. Barnacre, near Preston. It was a great day out, I met up with many members of the club, aside from having the PCIII fitted by experts, and my bike mapped on their dyno.
I’ve added a pic of the dyno session to my photos page.
The results were impressive, considering my bike has a standard exhaust system, which is very restrictive, managing 107.2bhp at the rear wheel, (click here for dyno print off ), especially considering Suzuki’s own figures are only 106bhp at the crank. Another machine there fitted with an Akrapovic 4-1 plus PCIII turned out 124.5bhp, imagine what this bike could turn out with a decent set of cams and fancy pistons!!
Anyway, thats all for now, come back soon.
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Road-Legal Scorpion Cans fitted 01/10/02
Bought a pair of road-legal e-marked Scorpions for her today, piece of cake to fit, 30 minutes, job done. They sound great, a bit quieter than the usual race cans, but my insurance company would not insure me with a non-legal set-up. They are the usual high quality we all expect from Scorpion, and were a bargain from Riossi, they knocked Ј20 off the rrp bringing them down to Ј298.00. For latest pics, click here .
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4,000 mile Service, and leaky shocks shock 30/12/02.
Took my 14 in for her 4,000 mile service today, it was a bit early as she has only covered 3,500 miles, but as she is nearly 12 months old, I thought it best.
Nothing particularly special about the service, but the price wasn’t too bad, Ј107.00 including new oil filter which oddly enough isn’t part of the 4,000 mile service, although I’ve always thought it best to replace the filter whenever new oil is put in. So thank you Riossi, Manchester.
One bad part of the service was that the rear shocks were found to be weeping, no real surprise as the K2 is known to have this fault. I actually adjusted the shocks for the first time the night before she went in for service to see if they would leak, and my fears were realised. Riossi have ordered K3 shocks to replace my faulty ones, as it would be pointless to replace them with K2 shocks only for them to leak again.
So again, well done to Riossi, I will do a short write-up on them when they arrive.
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K3 Rear Shocks fitted 08/01/03
Had my leaky shocks replaced today, great service from Riossi at Old Trafford, absolutely no hassle, no argument, I’m very pleased. All I’ve got to do now is adjust them to suit my weight and riding style, and all is hunky dory.
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Corrosion, Horror of Horrors 13/01/03
Came to give my pride and joy a good clean yesterday, plus a little preparation for the Winter as the local council have been laying salt on the roads recently. Shock, horror I found unacceptable corrosion down roughly 12 of the left fork-leg, the right seems OK apart from a little round the pinch bolts at the base near the wheel spindle.
I also found quite severe corrosion on both alloy side engine covers. This has come as a surprise to me, as I keep my bike spotless, and use Autoglym Resin Polish, which is highly recommended, obviously there is a slight problem with quality control at Suzuki.
This is the first real problem that I have come up with on this superb bike, the rear shocks problem was well known beforehand, although there have been three other instances that I have heard of owners having corrosion problems with the front forks. These were successfully sorted under warranty.
I have contacted Riossi at Manchester with a view to a warranty claim, and am taking the bike in on Wednesday 15/01/03 to see what they have to say. I have included some photos, (thumb-nails below), and will update after I have some more news.
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