I ran into quite a few fellow american bikers on my cross country tour, and most seemed in awe that anyone would chose a Suzuki GSXR 1000 K7 as the cross-country riding weapon of choice.
Further research indicates there are few, if any, internet accounts of brave (or idiotic) sportbike tourers. In fact, many Craigslist and Ebay superbikes - especially in the litrebike category - rarely if ever have more than 3000 miles on them, after 4 years. My gsxr1000 now has a proud 6,500 after 3 weeks of ownership. I think that makes me a first. It certainly makes me stand out a little from other sportbike owners.
Since there seem to be a lot of avid UK sportbikers, I thought I would offer this comparison: my trip was like driving the circumference of the island of England every day for a week :)
I also ran into quite a few cruisers on my ride, and so I thought I would offer another way to relate: it's like driving back and forth between Sturgis, SD and Daytona, FL 3 times in one week :)
Enough boasting already... what's the punchline?
It really wasn't that bad! The gsxr1000's riding position is actually downright tolerable, and only after about 400 miles did I start to have to shift my weight around from side to side to reduce numbness. But that's true of almost any bike. The vibration was significantly less than my old Buell - in fact the ride was downright smooth! The suspension let me vault over cracks in all types of road surfaces, and the quiet engine tolerated 80-90 mph highways speeds perfectly with no complaints. In fact, it almost seemed bored at that speed, whereas my old Buell would have complained the whole way.
If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't pick any other bike. No other bike would balance the handling I needed to get through the Rockies, Mohave, Adirondacks, and Smokeys with the speed to get through the plains and Utah in record time, with 200 miles to the tank, wind fairing for wind and rain.
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4 comments:
Personally I would go for a gixer. The Suzuki GSX-R1000's dominance are simple. Sublime, lithe ergonomics and handling, radical styling and full-on usable power. The bikes looks good too. Im thinking of buying one. gonna check out an motorcycle insurancequote tosee how much this beast is gonna cost me to get on the road. then i'll have to sweet talk the wife into letting me have one.
I've got a 2k7 GSXR 1000. Had it for about 6 months. So only had about 3 months of riding weather being that I live in Michigan. Currently setting at about 4k miles! Made a few road trips. Have a 3+k run to make end of this month (week trip over memorial week). By end of month she will have 7-8k miles! Will keep updated..
Nice too see i'm not the only mile racketeer on one of these.
Scott
Hey Scott - definitely let me know how things are going - I'm actually planning a trip up to Canada in the coming week. How's the bike holding up for you?
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