Making the GSX-R1000 even more special

How do you keep the GSX-R 1000 ahead of the rest when the new Blade and new R1 are arriving this year and the Gixxer isn’t due an overhaul until 2003? Give it to some of Britain’s leading tuning houses.

TTS, of Towcester, Northants, has gone for brutal power in a 99 per cent stock chassis. The bike makes a true 180bhp at the rear wheel, spins the rear tyre up just opening the throttle hard in fourth, and destroys tyres like they come free with Sunday supplements. Race legend Harris Performance in Hertfordshire has opted for the serious factory style bolt-on goodies pack, all of which are available off the shelf. The bike makes a more moderate 148bhp, still a few bhp up on stock. Everything feels integrated and the result is a bike that’s more rideable than the stocker. That takes some doing.

Rhencullen Race Products has concentrated more on the handling and the looks of the bike, and left the engine standard. Though it’s still up on bhp at 148bhp at the rear wheel thanks to an Akrapovic race can and careful setting up. It’s a real head-turner and a sweet-handler, too. And it’s easy to ride – fast – which makes it highly desirable.

The bikes represent the three routes available to owners and show how different it’s possible to make the same donor machine.

If you simply rode this trio, but didn’t know they were all GSX-R1000s, you’d never suspect they’re all related.

The TTS offering feels more like a 4-stroke GP bike with a motor that’s under development and a chassis that needs to be (it’s a lairy bitch to ride), the Harris feels like an open-classer that’ll get results (it screams “ability”), and the Rhencullen bike is most like a well-sorted special that spends most of its time doing trackdays.

Firing the bikes up reveals how different to each other they are. The exhaust notes add spice to the quiet Lincolnshire air as the trio spit and sing like three alley cats not quite in harmony.

The Rhencullen bike sounds all businesslike, with a fruity rumble at tickover and an exiting, action-packed note that seems the most “works racer” each time the throttle is blipped. The Akrapovic can and Rhencullen’s own high level front pipes, designed to fit the tighter, sleeker bodywork, sound like they work well together.

Unsurprisingly, Harris has fitted its own Harris race can to its bike and the note is a little deeper than the Akrapovic. It’s free-breathing and perfectly crisp to the ear.

TTS has gone for a Yoshimura Tri-Oval system on its bike and, despite the firm’s fiercesome reputation for squeezing horsepower from crevices you never knew it was hiding in, the exhaust is not overly loud. In fact, it’s more melodic and pleasing, though it’s unlikely to cause any less offence if the trio is cracked open and ridden hard.

Find out what they are like to ride in MCN, out on Wednesday, January 2, 2002.

And while you’re waiting, check out our exclusive video of these bikes in action by following the link, right.