The Power of Nothing
THE POWER OF NOTHING
141 horsepowEr, 339 pounds, street legal. Would you like to own this Suzuki GSX-R750? You can.
MARK HOYER
HEN IT COMES to performance bikes, nothing is more important than Nothing. The history of Nothing is long and hard to see, but you will note that back in the old, old days when racebikes were largely made of iron and steel, people drilled holes in them everywhere, and the virtue of Nothing was established. Since then, the value of Nothing has never been lost. Honda, for example, at an early press launch for the CBR900RR gave away “lightening holes” in part-numbered bags, which of course contained nothing, and it was of consequence because performance was quite improved by these mythical “parts.”
The point all along, of course, was reduced weight. If you start there, by making a motorcycle as light as practical, good performance cannot help but follow, and incredible performance is that much easier to attain.
As light as “practical” has some implications. The lower you go, the harder it is to get every subsequent pound removed, and each pound usually costs more than the last. That’s one reason why we don’t see production sportbikes lighter than they already are.
But when you ride a truly lightweight performance motorcycle such as this Taylormade Racing Suzuki GSX-R750, a bike that takes the lightness to the next (lower) level with its incredible 339-pound no-fuel weight, you can’t help but start thinking of ways to raise money to make light. Can you lend me a 10 spot?
Company head Paul Taylor-a British expatriate now based in Southern Califomia-has a history of building interesting motorcycles. He even has one in the National Motorcycle Museum in England: the Saxon Triumph successfully raced in Battle of the Twins during the mid-’90s.
“This is what I think sportbikes should be like,” he says simply.
The idea for this motorcycle-to build a perfectly balanced superlight street and track bike-had been brewing for years, but real-
ly got its start due to Taylor’s friendship with AMA national-level racer Vincent Haskovec, who was always a big fan of the GSX-R750. They talked about how sweet the 750 is and Haskovec, who had mostly raced Suzukis and got his start on a 750 (see sidebar), offered Taylor his personal 2004 streetbike to use for the project.
“Then, of course, Vincent had his (paralyzing) accident,” Taylor relates. “So I thought about what I could do to help him, which was to bring this project to fruition and use it to give him financial help.”
How so? By auctioning this bike off and donating the proceeds-earmarked for Haskovec-to the not-forprofit Wegman Benefit Fund that helps injured racers.
“Pirelli gets a big thumbs-up for being the title sponsor and even providing some cash to get the ball rolling,” says a grateful Taylor. “It also really helped to get other people on board. Everybody I approached said yes.
They all knew Vincent, they had supported him in the past and they said, ‘Absolutely, anything we can do to help.’ ”
The net result of Taylor’s vision and the help from all those involved is the “Czecher Bike,” so named because Haskovec is Czech.
“Everybody” is an impressive list of aftermarket performance companies, but each component was employed first with lightness in mind. Taylormade’s own structural-carbon-fiber tailsection headed the list. It weighs just 3.2 pounds, 12.5 lighter than the stock unit! Get yours for $1500. Taylor also made the carbon ram-air ducts and giant c-f airbox, as well as the structural-carbon fairing mounts. OPP Racing supplied the ’05-style GSX-R1000 bodywork ($1765) and ’04-model c-f fuel tank ($1195), the latter weighing half what the stock steel unit does. Taylor’s main business is his exhaust systems, and from titanium header to upswept ceramic-coated-aluminum outlet of the one-off system used here, he manned the TIG torch.
Huge savings came from the Dymag carbon-fiber wheels ($3325 the set), which combined with the ceramiccomposite Brake Tech front disc brakes dropped more than 50 percent from front and rear unsprung weight. Accelerating and decelerating the wheels takes energy both rotationally and linearly, so the dividends are large when you make wheels and brakes light. Unfortunately, more conventional stainless steel discs had to be fitted after track testing due to some pulsing trouble with the prototype composite rotors. Never have I ridden such a nimble motorcycle. Tum-in to superfast Turn 1 was effortless. Cresting Turn 6 where you drive down the hill toward something called Turn 7 that isn’t really a turn, acceleration had a kind of frantic ease that could only come from this kind of power pushing so little mass. An odd byproduct of the light weight was that the effect of hitting a bump was greater, but its consequence lessened. Even after we changed from the promising Brake Tech ceramic-composite brakes (lots of bite!) to standard discs, I still lifted the rear of the bike with a one-finger pull on the brake lever. I just concentrated on riding, suffered no consequences for running randomly bad cornering lines and then correcting, and even though the sun was setting and blinding me through Turns 8 and 9,1 just kept the pace up until I saw the cone at the apex of the latter and dived down to it, effortlessly.
Light wheels also make life easier on suspension, but Taylor had Jim Lindemann of Lindemann Engineering work his magic anyway. He revalved the stock fork, with each leg getting a slightly different valve stack to broaden the adjustment range. At the rear a lightweight Penske shock with titanium spring weighs just 4 pounds.
Inexplicably, Taylor had never weighed the finished Czecher bike. After I told him the 339-pound no-gas number obtained on the CW scales, even he was pleased. But then he immediately started talking about where else a few pounds might be shaved. “Well, we left the steel clutch plates in because we thought you guys might be hard on it, so that’s a couple of pounds, and I think I might be able to get some out of the carbon-fiber fuel tank...” and so he went. MotoGP Fours have to weigh 326 pounds; he really wants to get it down there. I said, “Dude, get a grip,” to which he replied, “That’s the sickness of this business, isn’t it!”
Carry Andrew of Hypercycle-builder of many Haskovec racebikes/enginestook care of lightly massaging the 749cc powerplant. Andrew raised compression slightly and fitted GSXR1000 cams, and also was responsible for dialing in all the engine electronics with the supplied Yoshimura pieces. Coolest feature is the handlebar-mounted engine-map switch labeled “R” for road and “T” for track. The track map is optimized for VP Racing’s MR9 fuel, which is said to bump horsepower by bringing its own oxygen to the burning party. We saw peaks of 138.69 hp on
91-octane pump gas, 141.16 on MR9. The race gas also made more power sooner, as in the whole curve was elevated.
The first track day at high-speed Willow Springs Raceway got off to a pretty late start because Taylor had stayed up all night finishing the bike!
It wasn’t quite ready for prime time at that point, and one of the wiring harness connections unplugged, making the bike run on three cylinders. Later, after a few street miles, the originally fitted Yoyodyne titanium rear brake caliper bracket broke following a change to race tires at a local shop, so a Taylormade caliper and bracket was installed in its place.
The second trip to Willow Springs was much more successful (even with a mild oil leak!) and showed the dividends of all the work that went into Nothing.
“Did you notice the windscreen?” asked Taylor.
I hadn’t, which he said was a victory. The NACA-duct shape and airfoil on the lowered screen are meant to accelerate the airflow and smooth it at helmet level, which it does.
On the street, suspension was supple, every response immediate, but the riding position-even with the Cycle Cat adjustable clip-ons and footpegs-is not
exactly set up for long-range comfort. Also, the John Keogh-designed racebike-like graphics and throaty engine note from the tailpipe make you feel like you are wearing an Arrest Me sign on your back. Nobody’s typing with handcuffs yet-so far so good! “I wanted riders on every level to be able to focus on their skills, to have the machine not misbehave in any way, and the route to that is light weight,” Taylor preaches. “And when you get right down to it, building this bike is a kind of showing off. It’s like, ‘This is what I think is the way to do it, and here’s the proof.’ ”
Nothing is everything-and here’s the proof. □ Want to own the Czecher Bike and help with Haskovec’s rehabilitation? Taylor & Co. have set up an online auction at vcvtny. racetavlormade. com. He estimates the value of the bike at $30,000, but bidding starts at $20,000. Auction closing date is March 1, 2006, midnight Pacific Standard Time. The winner will be contacted at auction ’s end, and officially announced at the opening round of the AMA Superbike series at Daytona International Speedway.
