See this. The Euro 3 regs were significantly tighter on CO, HC, and NOx. I'm betting that the cat used on the European K5/K6's wasn't up to the task. The US regs tightened too, as is discussed here. That required a cat where there was none before. The tie-ins to the ECM via the HO2 sensor were probably necessary but were a significant downside for the average owner - in addition to a 20+ pound weight penalty.
The electronic steering damper dealt with the issue of getting good damping at speed without resorting to heavy fluid and having to grunt to turn it while pushing or at very low speeds. Unfortunately the electrical connector has been a problem area.
Never understood the idle speed control. Seemed unnecessary and made maintaining things harder. Perhaps it was somehow necessitated by the emissions regs.
Checking the coolant level on the K5/K6 isn't easy but moving the reservoir to the area beneath the fuel pump didn't seem to help. I've been equally suspicious of moving the regulator/rectifier to the area ahead of the radiator.
The hydraulic clutch seemed neat at first but over time both Suzuki and owners decided that the cable was better. Unnecessary complexity. Ditto the dual exhaust. I wasn't aware of this at first but some regs require that a race bike have the same configuration as the street bike. So this made the racer's lives more complicated.
In short, more complicated and heavier. Little upside and significant downside benefit for the guy who works on the bike himself.
Curious question for the guys... I met a few guys with k6 1000's who believe theirs is superior to the k5 1000 and usually no one can support their belief besides the fact the bike is a year younger but a guy the other day mentioned the k5 1000 ecu is shit in comparison to the k6 1000. Can anyone support this claim? Or refute it?
Here's my 2cents,the K9 and newer engines are a step backwards when it involves extreme performance such as drag racing or forced induction. The strongest 1K engine in terms of how much horsepower it's capable of before it explodes would be the 1st Gen 2001-2002,followed by the K3/4 then K5-K8.
A lot of guys will use engine cases from the K1/2 when they build a K3-8 since the cylinder walls are thicker.
Many engine builders/drag racing shops have tried to use the K9-L6 platform,but they just don't perform as well. The chassis is not well suited for drag racing,so no one has bothered to develop the K9-L6 platform and as a result you simply do not see those models being modified for drag racing and never see them at the drag strip running good numbers.
Yeah, there is a whole frame recall thread in the K5/K6 1000 section.
It all depends on when your bike was made.
I crashed my K6 1000 race bike more times than I care to count, and never had a single frame issue, aside from the last crash which destroyed the bike, but even then it wasn't a weld that broke.
"a guy the other day mentioned the k5 1000 ecu is shit in comparison to the k6 1000"
That's a bunch of B.S. There is a difference but it's very minor. This was looked into when the ECM was first hacked. The physical hardware is the same and the coding differences are quite small. Furthermore the switch didn't coincide with K5 to K6. I've forgotten which way it went but either late K5's got the second ECM or early K6's got the first ECM.
If you get into the details there are a couple other K5 vs K6 differences that aren't associated with color schemes and don't amount to anything. The mirrors, upper rear fender, and owner's manual are also different.
Bill, could any changes that you know of account for the 9# weight difference between the K5 and K6? When the bikes were put on the scales full of fuel, the K6 was lighter than the K5.
Some of the K5/6 frames that have cracked,have been a result of crashing or other abuse. I bought a low mileage K5 that had the frame brace installed;it was bolted on to the existing frame spars:facepalm
The K6 in the pic I posted was bought for its low-mileage engine (20k or so). The frame was broken on both sides, and yes, it also had the brace installed. :suicide
Was this issue limited to only US models or EU as well? And what does the recall-fix look like in case I was looking at a K5, so I would know whether it has been sent in to recall or not?
There is a lot of pressure on the manufacturers to make more horsepower. Both from race teams and consumers. Even here just look at how many GSXR fans complain that BMW and Kawasaki liter bikes make significantly more power. "When will Suzuki catch up?"
But I've ridden a few bikes much newer then my K3 1000 and while these later generation liter bikes have a top end rush unlike anything else, they all seem to be lacking lower end torque and are geared higher for great top speed. After spending a day on the latest ZX-10R, which was a beautiful bike, on the street my 13 yr old GSXR seemed to be every bit as powerful. Just not a lot of opportunity on the street to explore beyond 10,000 RPM on a liter bike. As I rode home it was obvious that my K3 was simply a better street bike.
If you need an answer about about this model of bike. Suzuki have used the K5-6 1000 engine in the new GSX 1000S. Suzuki said it was the best engine to use for this configuration of bike.
"...account for the 9# weight difference between the K5 and K6?"
Anthony, that's been mentioned before and don't know what it's about. With the exception of items that have a paint scheme on them, the parts book indicates that they are identical part-for-part with only a couple inconsequential exceptions. I've wondered if they compared an E3 and an E33 or an E3 and an E2. Perhaps they'd changed tires on one and didn't mention it. But 9 pounds is more than tires.
I was keen to get a k5
I was riding a k2 600 and that really was a fantastic bike.
So after a read up I went to try a k5 1000.
When I sat on I was really disappointed, it's tiny in comparison or at least feels it and feels like a 250 compared to the k2 600
It didn't feel very stable and frankly with the frame issues as well that put me off, especially when you factor in the price hike they want for one over a k3 or k7
I didn't fancy a braced frame or the risk of one breaking and it was simply too small for me and didn't feel comfortable.
I ended up picking up a pristine low mileage k3 and frankly as soon as I sat on It I knew it was the bike for me and more than enough bike for me.
There's loads of aftermarket bits for them and priced reasonably to make them your own.
I guess everyone loves their own bike the best, but I genuinely think the k3/k4 is the best looking gixxer Suzuki ever made, especially the paint scheme on the k3 it's my favourite in blue/black and white
That's one thing I have noticed, paint schemes seem to have gone drastically downhill since the k3, the new colours are horrible, but that's just my opinion.
I was keen to get a k5
I was riding a k2 600 and that rally was a fantastic bike.
So after a read up I went to try a k5 1000.
When I sat on I was really disappointed, it's tiny in comparison or at least feels it and feels like a 250 compared to the k2 600
It didn't feel very stable and frankly with the frame issues as well that put me off, especially when you factor in the price hike they want for one over a k3 or k7
I didn't fancy a braced frame or the risk of one breaking and it was simply too small for me and didn't feel comfortable.
I ended up picking up a pristine low mileage k3 and frankly as soon as I sat on It I knew it was the bike for me and more than enough bike for me.
There's loads of aftermarket bits for them priced reasonably to make them your own and though I guess everyone loves their own bike the best, I genuinely think the k3/k4 is the best looking gixxer ever made, especially the paint scheme on the k3 it's my favourite in blue/black and white
That's one thing I have noticed, paint schemes seem to have gone drastically downhill since the k3, the new colours are horrible, but that's just my opinion.
I think many of us here enjoy the smaller stature of the k5/k6 liter bike.. It's like a moto GP bike and if you've seen the GP bikes in person you'll realize that those bikes are tiny. My k6 1000 feels much smaller than my 01 600 racebike did and I love it! Still a fan of the k3/k4 gen though.
Apart from where I could have perhaps used an extra comma or ended a sentence with a question mark, I have no idea what you are talking about.
Then again, whenever I mistakenly forget to switch Microsoft Word from English (US) to English (UK), I'm like WTF at some of the suggestions it makes for me to improve my documents.
In any case, I will never take grammatical advice from anyone who is too lasy to spell and say the word ALUMINIUM correctly, using all the syllabi and letters.
Club races are normally 6 laps around a 2 mile circuit and usually aren't hitting 150+ mph for more than a few seconds per lap. We also get to check the bike top to bottom at our leisure between races. That's a little harder to do when you're in the middle of a 180 mile race and every second counts while refueling. A broken frame would be a death sentence with walls, houses and fences littering what would normally be a "run off area" on a conventional race track. If frames didn't snap at the TT, they shouldn't be breaking anywhere else.
TT races look like they'd be very taxing on the rider and the bike. Hundreds of miles of bumpy asphalt at ludicrous speed, launching off hill tops and crests in the road...
I meant that way his sentences were spaced and his random punctuation makes it hard to read.
I read it like three times before I was like OOH you mean TT bikes are always at red line and catch air and break, but don't in circuit racing.
There is a joey dunlop documentary on Netflix called road. A lot of interesting TT stuff is in that movie, in particular, his wheel falls off mid corner...