Hello all! I recently came on board here at Inline Performance Magazine as a Staff Writer. With over forty thousand miles of riding experience (including crashing), my primary role here is as a test rider. I will also be here to report on different products in the sportbike market, testing them on the street and at the track.

After meeting with the editor Alex, he handed me the keys to a new 2006 Suzuki GSX-R 600. Awesome! It’s a nimble, middle weight, and strong bike with tons of potential backed with a pure bred racing heritage. I am quite curious to see what Suzuki will offer me.

Here’s a little bit of a history lesson. Suzuki was introduced to the US market with their line of lightweight motorcycles in 1963. Success came quickly as they offered a great line of reliable bikes. Most noticeable was the two-stroke vertical twins.

In 1986, Suzuki rolled out the first mass-production replica racer superbike: the revolutionary GSXR 600. At the time, this was unusual as never before had a motorcycle manufacturer offered so many race components for their street line. It was such a great bike that Kevin Schawantz signed with Suzuki and won the Daytona 200 in 1988.

Okay enough of the technical stuff. The first thing I noticed about the littlest of the GSXRs was the new bodywork style. Visual similarities to the ‘05 GSXR include the single headlight and the “Suzuki” and “GSXR” logos. That’s about it. Suzuki claims 5% less drag and better ducking angle, with the new bodywork, for your trackday straights. Sure, it looks better and aggressive, but the real innovation is on the inside. A shorter engine allows for the wheelbase to shorten by 15mm, improving handling with weight centralization.

In the past, Suzuki have always been on the chunkier side with its wide front end. This was because Suzuki motorcycles ran hot, and for that, their radiators had to be bigger than other manufacturer’s. The new radiator is curved, thereby more efficient. The frame also underwent rigorous reworking with a new aluminum alloy frame which utilizes five cast sections engineered to deliver the ideal balance of rigidity for improved handling and reduced weight.

Fuel Injection was improved with double injectors per cylinder to help with low and mid range. This keeps the acceleration and deceleration smoother for daily street use. Weight was also reduced and suspension was revised. The front Showa forks are fully adjustable and the diameter was shortened by 2mm (from the 2005 version). I am still tweaking with both the front and rear end to suit my own riding style.

Brakes consist of radial calipers, semi floating 320mm rotors and a radial master cylinder; providing tons of front feel and consistency under hard braking.

For the first couple of miles, I have made adjustment to the controls. A little tweaking with the adjustable levers made my wrists hurt less from constant clutching and braking. I also noticed my legs were hitting the fairings, especially when shifting. Surprisingly, I found that the stock rearsets are adjustable to 3 different positions, with 14mm of horizontal and vertical leeway. Nice feature. It allowed me to bring my feet back about an inch.

The bike currently has about 250 miles on it, with two oil changes (yes, two), which I will go into more detail next month. Winter is upon us so our roads are getting slippery, and people start driving like idiots during the holiday season. I’ll try to take it easy on the bike.

Anyways, keep in touch! More stuff to come in the next months. A pile of goodies have already arrived and is sitting in my office corner. A 45 tooth sprocket, Puig windscreen and shogun frame sliders. Oh baby! Keep it right here!