2002 Suzuki Volusia (30861) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

New ÖHLINS products for GSX-R600 & GSX-R750

ÖHLINS Racing has completed final testing and is now ready to launch a complete range of suspension upgrade kits for the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 and GSX-R750 The GSX-R600 comes equipped with Big Piston Forks (BPF) as standard but Öhlins recommends fitting its NIX30 fork kit or pressurised system.  Aside from the perfermance improvements, these systems are much quicker and more simple to adjust with compression damping on the left fork leg and rebound on the right. The Öhlins TTX36 rear shock is the perfect accompaniment for the GSX-R600 and 750 and uses MotoGP developed Twin Tube technology, improving feedback by utilising positive pressure on both the compression and rebound stroke of the shock. The forks and shock can be interchanged between the 2011 GSX-R 600 & 750.

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!

Suzuki Reports Q1 2011-2012 Results

Suzuki’s motorcycle business saw a profit for the first time in 11 quarters despite selling 21.0% fewer motorcycles. In the quarter ended June 30, 2011, Suzuki saw an operating income of 300 million yen (US$3.8 million), compared to a loss of 1.8 billion yen (US$22.9 million) reported in the same quarter of 2010. Suzuki netted 75.4 billion yen (US$961.5 million) in motorcycle sales over the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 8.0% from 69.8 billion yen (US$890.0 million) in 2010.