The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, July 1, 2009 · 12 Suzuki GSX-1000R receives numerous upgrades in `09 By Rob Beintema Carguide Magazine Metroland Newspapers About a half-hour into the ride, my left foot cramped up. Which kind of evened things out since I'd lost the feeling in my right hand a few kilometers before. Probably from leaning on it too much as I constantly worked the clutch through an infernal stop-and-go traffic jam. Usually, the body protests a new bike and seating position during the first hour. All you want to do is take it back and dump it in the manufacturer's driveway. But later, once you're well into the ride, the body adjusts, the muscles conform to the new position and it becomes the greatest bike ever. Before you know it, you're mentally starting to calculate the payment plan. So I was patient, kept flexing fingers and toes to the tingling of returning circulation and, eventually, both the body and the bottleneck eased, the pace picked up and I perched myself as upright as I could and started leaning on the wind. "Man," I thought, "I gotta ride sport bikes more often." And if you're going to ride a sport bike, Suzuki's 2009 GSX-1000R is a pretty good way to go. The GSX-R1000, or Gixxer as it's affectionately known by its owners and fans, is the recently crowned AMA Superbike Championship Series winner. It's held that title for six straight years as one of the truly dominant sport bikes on both road and track. But apparently that wasn't good enough for Suzuki. So, for 2009, the GSX-1000R is allnew, every millimeter of the bike revised and reviewed for the slightest advantage in weight, power and performance. It isn't fair to just summarize the many 2009 SUZUKI GSX-1000R AT A GLANCE ENGINE: 999cc liquid-cooled fuelinjected DOHC 4-cylinder TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, constant mesh with chain final drive BRAKES: Front - Radial mount, 4-piston calipers, 310 mm twin discs; Rear 1-piston caliper, 220 mm disc SUSPENSION: Front - Inverted telescopic, coil spring, spring preload fully adjustable, rebound and compression damping force fully adjustable; Rear Link type, oil damped, coil spring, spring preload fully adjustable, rebound and compression damping force fully adjustable TIRES: Front - 120/70ZR17M/C (58W), tubeless; Rear - 190/50ZR17M/C (73W), tubeless CURB WEIGHT: 203kg (448 lbs.) FUEL TANK CAPACITY: 17.5 L (3.85 Imp gal) FUEL ECONOMY: 5.8l/100km (as tested average) WHEELBASE: 1405mm (55.3 in.) LENGTH: 2045 mm (80.5 in.) WIDTH: 710 mm (28.0 in.) SEAT HEIGHT: 810 mm (31.9 in.) COLOURS: Blue/White; Red/Black; White/Silver PRICE: $16,199 power-on-demand, the throaty exhaust erupting through titanium mufflers, the dental drill-pitched scream of revs climbing to an impossible redline bumping 14,000 rpm . . . I think you get the picture. To explore the GSX-1000R with the rest of your senses, well, you'll just have to get on and try it yourself. The Suzuki GSX-1000R follows the legacy of its AMA Superbike Championship-winning heritage with an all-new model for 2009, lighter, tighter, more powerful with superior handling for either road or track. changes by saying that the engine provides more power, more torque and is shorter frontto-rear, allowing for a narrower body, better aerodynamics and for a shorter, more maneuverable wheelbase and longer swingarm. And there are too many detailed changes to list here. I would suggest checking out the bike features on Suzuki's website and you will learn how eliminating 16 screws from the crankcase assembly saved 670 grams. Or how a new integrated clutch and starter motor cover is about 200 grams lighter than two separate covers used before. In the end, that kind of attention to detail chopped a whopping five kilograms off the bike, an amazing weight reduction for an already lean and athletic machine. It's a handsome machine too, even though the signal lights on the backs of the mirrors give it a kind of eyes-on-stalks, cartoon monster face. A hard image to shake once you've pictured it. But still good-looking, particularly in the traditional Suzuki blue-and-white colours, as tested. But what's not to like? Riders will appreciate the unique Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (SDMS) that allows selection of three fuel injection and ignition system maps adjusting the bike and engine performance to road conditions and personal pucker factor. The selector switch has been moved to the left grip, leaving the right thumb free to adjust gauge and instrument settings that include a laptimer/stopwatch for track times. Nah, no complaints. There was nothing wrong with this bike that a faster rider couldn't fix. And I could go on and on about the rush of acceleration, the instant gratification of