My GSX-R1000 a Relentless transformation

For those of you that have read my previous blogs, it is pretty obvious that i have a passion for everything bikes. I am lucky enough to own a pretty special road going superbike, a GSX-R1000 K8 '58 reg.

I purchased this bike in September 2009 when the bike was 11 months old and had a little over 1000 miles on the clock, for a paltry amount of money in relative terms. List price at the time was a little over £8500 needless to say i payed a lot less than that! In fact I got it so cheap that i had it valued in April this year and I havn't lost any money on it.

Now, i had traded a GSX-R600 for it and was pretty excited at the thought of having over 165BHP at my beck and call, but also fully aware that this machine would need respect in terms of how i used my right wrist. This model does have a switchable throttle map on the right switchgear next to my right thumb and the rider is able to switch between modes from 125bhp-150bhp-165bhp but i would rather use my better judgement and rider control, rather than electronically starving the engine of fuel.

After a 6 months of ownership the bike was lacking something that i couldn't put my finger on, but definitely lacking, Don't get me wrong it was insanely quick and turned in so quick and felt so light  but it also had an annoying lack of mid range grunt out the bends. After seeking advice and talking to Tommy Hill (a BSB rider) at a track day at Brands Hatch, he mentioned that it was the exhaust system strangling the real power and also fitting a power commander with the correct engine map downloaded, that this would completely change the way the bike rode and also the way it sounded!

I looked into this and found that Arrow Exhaust made a direct replacement that kept the catalytic convertor for the MOT and was totally road legal but the cost was £800!!! but my luck was in, my local suzuki dealership had one in stock, unused and collecting dust for a much better, but still wallet lightening £500. A huge saving, and this goes down as my first aftermarket purchase in 9 years of biking.

The power commander followed and I mangaged to find the relevant map online and BOY! what a difference, more mid range and better pick up from low revs and the sound is to die for! in fact i have run the bike with the baffles out since i did my first track day at Brands Hatch on it. I had it sound checked and it measured 98db which makes it road legal even with the baffles out!

Speaking of track days, i did one at Snetterton last year June and OMG! This bike really needs a track to get the best out of it, oh and a decent rider come to that! I managed to see 178mph on the revitt straight and it was still pulling like a train when i hit the brakes under the bridge. She sure is fast, and much faster than i'll ever be, i am not ashamed to admit that, but in the hands of the best riders and in its present set-up, it'll lap Brands Hatch indy circuit in around 49/50 seconds which is only 3/4 seconds a lap slower than a full blown 220bhp British Superbike!! Astonishing and i can only dream of going that fast, but i do my best and can lap in around the 60 second mark. not bad for someone fast approaching his mid forties!

Now, this leads me to this week, i have been looking at the way she looks, now as you can see she is special in black but not exactly head turning. Don't get me wrong i love the lines but i wanted to pimp her up a bit. It suddenly dawned on me that the BSB bikes of the TAS Suzuki team were basically black with white graphics, an easy fix and one that i could do with a litle assistance from a good friend Paul at

http://www.graysgraffix.com/

 

With Paul's expertise and patience and a few googled images we tried to recreate a replica of Michael Lavertys BSB Relentless Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Now, the vinyls were easy to apply, but getting the standard vinyls off was a nightmare, Suzuki definitely designed them NOT to come off! but once off the job was easy. But how to overcome the the difficulty of making the front nose cone white without painting the panel?

Here is where Paul came in, with 25 years experience in the vinyl industry and having done some of the biggest jobs in the industry (airline graphics!) he said he could do it with Vinyl and in less than an hour! i watched him heat and stretch 2 sheets of white vinyl (stuck together for strength) around the front nose cone of my bike. it was a sight to see, and what i thought would be impossible became the posible with the know how. Obviously all i did was get in the way or hold the vinyl to stop it from sticking where it should'nt!

The other problem was that i obviously have a headlight, whereas a race bike doesn't. So i just thought 'simple but effective', answer? A solid white acrylic headlamp protector would do the job and £15 on ebay and bob's your uncle!

here are the results, i think it looks stunning, but i would wouldn't i? the magic that Paul worked with the vinyl is the icing on the cake for me and really sets this apart from the ordinary, and to be honest after going for a short ride this afternoon and parking it up in my local high street, it certainly drew a lot of attention, which it didn't do before.

I would say, a job well done and result achieved.