Recently, Suzuki and Yoshimura invited MotoUSA to Auto Club Speedway in Lower California to put in exactly five spirited laps aboard each of Mat Mladin’s championship winning 2009 Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbikes. Except for the fitment of softer fork springs (Mladin runs extremely stiff fork springs due to the massive load he puts on the front end during braking) the bike was set-up exactly how he rode it at the final race of the year in New Jersey.
 
Despite the DMG regime taking the Super out of Superbike, considering the series more production oriented rules, this machine is by no means “easy to ride”. After riding, I had underestimated just how difficult a motorcycle it is to pilot. This worked over street bike still requires an enormous amount of muscle to ride effectively. It’s also astounding how hard you have to load both ends of the bike—especially the rear to get it to really perform.
 
In fact, by the end of the fifth lap, my muscles were burning in agony due to the sheer effort required to throw my weight off the bike to steer it. Then again during acceleration, when I had to reposition my body in order to accelerate off the corner. This bike is definitely burly to ride and I can’t believe a scrawny-looking dude like Mladin has the strength to manhandle it for X-amount of laps at full-on race pace. Respect. Look for the full review in the spring issue of MotoUSA magazine.