For me this day was the Relentless Dream coming true. Some have a dream to ride a MotoGP bike and others to race around an international circuit with their heroes. Yes, I have all of those dreams too but I also have small dreams, those that you can fulfill quite easily.
Today is the first day after the snow had stopped, but was still on the roads with the added bonus of gravel, freezing rain and pot holes a 4x4 would disappear into. Now my dream was only available to ride on this day and I was not going to turn it down.
The bike I am riding is the GSXR 600 K7 with the Relentless TAS Suzuki paint job by Dream Machine, which in my opinion is the best for quite sometime. The bike is a factory replica but with the added bonus of a stubby exhaust which, when you start it up, sounds superb, like a leopard purring. Off we go for a jolly ride in the unbelievably cold conditions but that wasn’t going to stop me riding my own little dream. The Suzuki is light on the steering even with the steering damper, the bike is definitely not a machine to be ridden slowly. You can feel and hear that the bike wants to go, even in the rain the bike handles the corners so well.
Against my SV650S, the GSXR needs some getting used to, the revs feel all wrong but once you get used to the sound you can really get the best out of the bike. The minute I got on the bike I sank into the body of it and become one, I know that seems mad but this little bike really does make you feel welcome.
This will now show my age, but as a kid I always watched Black Beauty on Sunday evenings. Horses have been a big part of my life and now I was riding another Black Beauty with the theme music galloping through my head.
There are so many reviews of these sports 600’s so I am not going to bore you with tech which means nothing to me , I do not intend to race it and probably won’t get near its top speed.
All that does is divert me from the true things that are important to me, everyone is different and has different needs. Mine are that the bike is light enough so I can push it round, that it is small enough that I can touch the floor and that the riding position feels right. Clip ons can always be removed, as I have done on mine, and that can give you another 3” to adjust your position.
Ken, the owner of the bike, had kindly agreed to let me ride the bike before he sold it so, with that in mind, I made sure to take extra care of his beauty. He had spent a lot of time getting this bike to its now beautiful splendour. A few weeks later The Motorcycle Centre put the bike up for sale and within a week it was sold, sadly I was unable to get the funds to purchase the bike, but I really wanted it. This is not a first bike but it is one of the better bikes to get as a second or third, it will never be a boring ride and it will give you loads of fun. All I know is that, of all the GSXR’s, this is the one I would buy without any hesitation. Yes I love Suzukis, after watching Barry Sheene on his RG500 I always wanted one. Don’t get me wrong, the SV650S is my choice day to day but for a Sunny Sunday blap or track day this Relentless Black Beauty is number one
I want to go faster, I want to go faster..
