Frankie has gone through quite a few bikes over the past year or two and he would joke about preferring to crash them over anything else, as he is commonly known as the “Gravel Professor”.
His latest purchase is a very nice and well tuned Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K5, with only 3,000 km. As an ex-Motoclub NTR Team bike, it sports a reasonable amount of performance upgrades, which means there should be minimal further investment required.
Suspension
At the front, the original forks have been swapped out for some universal fitment Ohlins FG 324.
To make the forks fit with the new outer tube diameters, Ducati 999R upper and lower triple clamps, and steering stem assembly were used.
An Ohlins steering damper was also equipped and adapted to fit above the triple clamp. Unlike the Ducati 999R steering damper position, the middle mount on the triple clamp was ignored; a new mount was drilled into the LH side of the triple clamp allowing the damper body to mount to the chassis via a new bracket.
The ignition key has been removed and replaced with a switch and there’s a Starlane Stealth GPS-2 lap timer.
At the rear an Ohlins shock for GSX-R K5, which comes with accessible preload adjustment.
Brakes
There isn’t really anything left of the original front braking system, which has instead been replaced with a Discacciati front master cylinder paired with Brembo’s monoblock M4 calipers. The rain wheelset runs Glafer wave rotors while the slicks have Brembo Serie Oro.
Chassis & Engine
The chassis and engine remain largely stock other than a few basic bolt-on modifications.
The exhaust has been freed up with a custom shorty system with a Giannelli silencer, amusingly disguised as an ‘Akrapovic’, while a quick-shifter has been added to the OE electronics.
This setup provides a tastefully aggressive bark and exhaust note, which crackles off-throttle.
Adjustable rear-sets are from Alpha Rider, and there are a few other accessories like Domino grips, R&G engine covers and Rizoma lever protector.
The bike has served Frankie well over the past 2 seasons with very minimal issues.
