Suzuki GSXR 1000 K7 vs. Buell Xb12Ss 2006

I'm so excited to write this review, because I know an entire community of Buell riders out there dying to finally know what the real difference is between an XB12 engine and the best of the litrebikes, the Suzuki GXSR 1000cc.

What a world of difference! I've tried to mirror the sections of my previous Buell vs. BMW K1200R review, for objectivity sake. I've also added a few sections that are specifically relevant to this litrebike category.

First impressions of the Suzuki GSXR1000 K7
I will never leave 1st gear, ever. Wow. Actually, the only reason to leave 1st is to save gas on the highway. In the city, I'll never leave 1st. That makes gear shifts entirely a thing of the past. Goodbye cruel world of shifting. The bike actually feels freakishly similar to the Buell in many respects.

Engine revving
This engine is meant to be revved very very very high. I lied in my first impression comment. There are actually 3 meaningful gears on this bike: 1st for aggressive city riding through the financial district, 3rd for laid back city riding through central park on a weekday, and 6th for the highway. Oh yeah - it has 6 gears instead of the 5 on the Buell, but I don't really notice. The one big difference that I haven't gotten used to yet is the throttle position. On the Buell, I used to really crank the throttle to accelerate, and that gave me the impression of really pulling out all the stops and accelerating like mad. On the GSXR1000, that same level of power can be found within a quarter inch, making full open throttle whacks either a thing of the past, or downright dangerous.

Off the line and low speed riding
The Buell is definitely punchier off the line. There's no getting around it's higher torque at lower revs. But the Suzuki has the same amount of punch if the engine is revved slightly before letting out the clutch. The one weird thing about the gsxr1000 is that the clutch friction zone is TINY compared to the Buell. On the Buell, I would frequently ride the clutch, in order to hit speeds around 35-50 miles. I frequently found myself clutching an acceleration on the Buell. On the gsxr1000, the off-the-line ride is completely different. You essentially clutch to get into 1st gear until about 10 mph, and then you're done. I have yet to find a need to ride the clutch. Instead, all of my speed control is done with my right hand. To summarize, with my clutching Buell habits, I still haven't mastered the art of releasing the clutch from start on the gsxr1000, but as soon as I do I can pull away as fast as the Buell in almost every way. One last thing I'll note is that the Buell somehow gave me the "feeling" of accelerating quite hard, while the Suzuki feels like I'm accelerating less hard, but gauging from the speedometer and the appearance of cars behind me, I'm actually accelerating much faster than a Buell. I've figured out why: the Buell's upright seating position meant that as I accelerated, my body leaned backwards, and so I had to hold onto the handgrips to stay on the bike - the result was an out-of-this-world holding-on-for-dear-life feeling of acceleration. The gsxr1000's seating is bent down more, and so as I accelerate, I feel my weight naturally transfer through my legs to my feet. I feel the acceleration less, but I'm accelerating faster than ever. It's weird and counter-intuitive.

Cruising speeds
The gsxr1000 gets 45-50 miles to the gallon, and because of it's HUGE 5.2 gallon tank, that means about 200 miles in between fill-ups. The Buell got 50-60 miles to the gallon, but only had a 3 gallon tank, which meant I filled up regularly at about 150 miles to the tank. Oddly, in a strange alternate universe sort of way, this ironically makes the gsxr1000 a better road cruising bike than the xb12ss. I still find that odd to say.

High speeds
As I said before, I really don't know why you'd need to shift on this bike. I stay in first all the time, and that means I can theoretically go as fast as 100 mph just in first. That's just an unnecessary display of power, but needless to say, when I shift to 6th gear, I've found I still have so much power I can accelerate out of any scary situation. The Buell always started to choke up around 85 mph, which tended to be my highway cruising speed up and down I-87 (where the rest of traffic tends to go 85-90mph in the left lane). On the gsxr1000, it's more more comfortable touring for long distances at 85mph, and doesn't feel stressed at all at 90mph. In fact, I needed to avoid a Jersey driver on the highway, and simply got out of his way with a quick flick of my wrist. Over and done with. Whereas on the Buell, getting out of the way would have been a concerted effort. So it's clear to me now that the Buell is a bike built for sub-60, while the gsxr1000 is a bike built for over-30.

Handling / steering
Perfection in every sense. People complain that the Buell is scary at high speeds, but I never found that to be the case - perhaps because I had the XB12ss. The gsxr1000 feels just like the XB12ss at turns. The width of the gsxr1000 makes it slightly harder to lane split, which is fine since that's illegal anyway :) Also, the turning radius of the gsxr1000 is about 2 feet wider than the xb12ss. While I could comfortably do a circle on a street with cars parked on both sides with plenty of room to spare, the gsxr1000 makes it 75% of the way, and then needs a k-turn. I think I'll get better at this, but for the time being, I'm less efficient at u-turns on the gsxr1000 because of the bike's increased apparent width, and somehow the weight feels higher off the ground. By comparison, the Buell's weight felt like it was 2" off the ground (vs. about 1 foot for the gsxr1000), and about half as wide (even with the buell side pucks installed). Bottom line: the buell felt like a smaller bike, because it *was* a smaller bike.

Braking
Buell wins, hands down. It's stopping is far more stable. On the gsxr1000, I need to squeeze the brakes more, and more gradually. I also need to be more carefully balanced over the center of the bike when I decelerate, or the front will start to wobble slightly. And by slightly, I mean that the gsxr1000 is moving micrometers, so this is a very small downside. But somehow, the Buell decelerated in perfect stability. Score one for Erik Buell's crazy front brake. I'll surely be looking into how I can increase the braking stability on my gsxr1000 to match the Buell. In conclusion, the Buell as of right now is a slightly safer city traffic bike because of it's smaller size and razor sharp brakes - and consequently, I've ridden the gsxr1000 with a larger cushion around me than I did with the buell.

Nit picks
The buell had me trained to like the gauges and display anchored to the front steering. The suzuki's display is part of the body, which means that when I turn the front wheel, the display kind of juts out at a weird angle. I'm still not used to that. The buell had me trained to actually using the clutch. If the gsxr1000 had a centrifugal clutch (like the ones found on gokarts), I'm confident that I would never use the clutch again. However, the gsxr1000 still has a clutch, and I haven't yet mastered the tiny friction zone on it. This means that in every sense, the gsxr1000 is an expert's bike. It's more challenging to control on the the left hand and on the the right throttle (tiny movements translate to large amounts of power - so much so that when I readjust my right hand on the throttle to a more comfortable grip on the highway, I have to be very careful not to blip the throttle too much and almost wheelie!). I've added the gel seat option to the gsxr1000, which makes a world of difference, and actually results in quite a comfortable ride. It took me all of two days to develop the back muscles and wrist muscles to adapt to the gsxr1000's difference ergo/posture, which meant one sore day. But after that, it's been perfect.

Ultimately, the gsxr1000 is like ten different bikes in one. If I keep the bike in 1st gear always and always ride sitting straight up, it's like my old Buell all over again. If I always ride in 3rd gear, it's like every BMW K series I ever tested. If I ride in 5th on the highway, it feels like the Ducati 999 I test drove, and if I put it into 6th, it's like the sportiest touring bike I've ever ridden. Then, if I change the riding modes from A (full power) to C (600cc power), I have my own 600cc or triumph speed triple. And believe it or not, every single one of these bikes wrapped into one is incredibly fun, very predictable, and an awful lot of fun. I'm thrilled with my purchase, but also grateful for having taken the time to grow into this bike. I can echo the generations of others before me passing advice down to new riders: take your time growing into a litrebike. But when you do, you'll be glad you waited, and you'll be thrilled with your new bike. I am.