BIKE TEST -SUZUKI GSXR-600: The menacing but elegantly revamped Suzuki GSXR-600 was full of pleasant surprises for Tom Robert, who found it a truly magical machine.
I GLANCED DOWN at the speedo to discover that I was doing 70mph. Which was a bit of a surprise, really, considering that I was still in first gear.
But then, I shouldn't really have been surprised since this was a bike that had been amazing me since I first clapped eyes on it.
It's only been two years since Suzuki last revamped the GSX, but this time around they've come up with a bike that manages to look menacing yet elegant, like the young Connery as Bond.
Even the front headlight cluster, a vertical dip unit topped by two main beams, is a thing of beauty which would earn a place in the Uppsala Museum of Modern Design.
Since the bike shares the same frame as the 750, it also looks bigger than 600s like the Triumph Daytona and the Yamaha R6, which for any rider over 6ft, forces them to glance down occasionally as they're riding, to make sure there actually is a motorbike there.
I speak from experience, since a mate of mine once saw me coming the other way on an R6 and wondered into his helmet what sort of idiot was riding a mini-moto down the motorway.
He was only right about the idiot bit.
Sit on the GSX, and you immediately feel comfortable. Heavens, you can even see something more than your elbows in the mirrors, which is rare for a 600. Start it up, and you get a warm purr, which as you will soon find becomes a viscerally satisfying snarl all the way up to an astonishing 16,000rpm redline.
Pop the slipper clutch, which is better than even the Honda Hornet's, and so smooth that after a while you forget you're actually using it, and you're off for the ride of your life.
Acceleration is utterly astonishing, but not in the "I think I'm going to die and I'm not sure what to do about it" manner of the ZX-10 Ninja.
More in a breathtaking but silk-smooth progression from nought to naughty which leaves supercars and bikes alike dwindling to a speck in your mirrors.
Your mind is telling you that Suzuki has achieved all this by a raised compression ratio, finer fuel injectors, revised intake port shapes and improved internal engine breathing, but your heart is saying: "Who cares? This is incredible."
As is the cornering: the 2008 model features a GSXR- 1000-type electronic steering damper which stiffens as speed increases, gently tweaked suspension, lighter wheels and new front brakes.
All of which means that a mere five minutes after setting out, I was keeling the Suzuki through a tight righthander in which my highest speed ever had been 40mph. And glancing down at the speedo to see it pinned at 50.
No wonder Suzuki Relentless team's Cameron Donald won this year's TT on one of these things, I thought as the rain started and I switched the traction switch from A to B.
This miraculous little device, similar to that used on Superbike racers, alters the power curve so that you can ride just as hard in the wet as in the dry, and it works.
It will need to, since if we're going to get the monsoon summer which has been forecast, you may well find yourself permanently in the C mode for really bad conditions.
I can pay no finer tribute to the GSXR than to say that even after half an hour in the saddle, I wasn't even thinking about clutching, braking or cornering any more, just enjoying the phenomenal experience of a bike which has all the performance of a 600 without any of the twitchiness, and all the smoothness of a big bike like a Fireblade without the price or the weight. An astonishing motorcycle.
Suzuki, I raise my helmet to you.
Factfile Suzuki GSXR-600
Engine/transmission:599cc, liquid-cooled, four-cylinder four-stroke with 16 valves; 125bhp at 13,500rpm, 53lb ft of torque at 11,000rpm. Six-speed gearbox, chain final drive
Performance:top speed 165mph
Colours:blue/white, black, white/silver and orange/silver
Price on the road:€11,950 on the road.
Dublin dealer is Priory Motorcycles, 01-836 4567, priorymotorcycles.ie. Priory is offering 0 per cent finance at the moment Price in Northern Ireland: £7,200. Test bike supplied by GS Motorcycles, Lisburn Road, Hillsborough, 028-9268 9777