West Palm Beach Personal Injury Lawyer - Motorcycle Accidents

Important Information About Suzuki's GSX-R1000 Safety Recall Campaign

Armand Rossetti — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:57:54 GMT

The following letter and bulletin may be helpful for those who own a 2005 or 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle:

1. Suzuki's letter to owners; and

2. Suzuki's GSX-R1000 Voluntary Safety Recall Campaign #2A08 Service Bulletin.

Suzuki's effort to provide this information should increase consumer awareness, concerning GSX-R1000 motorcycle frame reinforcement or in some instances, frame replacement.

If you have further questions or concerns, you are welcome to comment here on Injuryboard or to visit Searcy Law.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Armand Rossetti

Important Information About Suzuki's GSX-R1000 Safety Recall Campaign

Armand Rossetti — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:54:03 GMT

The following letter and bulletin may be helpful for those who own a 2005 or 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle:

1. Suzuki's letter to owners; and

2. Suzuki's GSX-R1000 Voluntary Safety Recall Campaign #2A08 Service Bulletin.

Suzuki's effort to provide this information should increase consumer awareness, concerning GSX-R1000 motorcycle frame reinforcement or in some instances, frame replacement.

If you have further questions or concerns, you are welcome to comment here on Injuryboard or to visit Searcy Law.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Armand Rossetti

How much stress can a Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle frame take? (Part II)

Armand Rossetti — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:14:43 GMT

According to Total Motorcycle Website, the entire 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 (gixer) motorcycle weighs only 365 lbs.; that's only twice the weight of the average gixer rider. When Suzuki introduced the GSX-R1000 in 2001 Suzuki engineers had increased the thickness of the frame by 0.5 mm (a dime at 1.40 mm is almost three times the added frame thickness). After adding to the GSX-R1000’s frame thickness, Suzuki reportedly gained a 10% increase in frame rigidity over the GSX-R750.

Suzuki then took about 31 pounds off the engine by replacing the GSX-R1300 high performance engine with a modified GSX-R750 engine. The new engine had a bigger bore, longer stroke, pistons with lower crowns, and a gear driven counter balancer, all weighing 130 lbs. The new GSX engine was about a third of the total weight of the motorcycle.

The replacement engine was capable of delivering a whopping 143 horse power to the motorcycle’s rear wheel with a capability of 80 ft lbs. of torque. Combining all that power with only 365 pounds of bike weight, a rider could reach a top speed of about 180 mph. Likewise from a standing stop, the GSX-R1000 was capable of running a quarter mile in 10.1 seconds and finishing at a speed of about 142 mph. If a rider tromped on the throttle and counted to three the GSX-R1000 would be storming down the road at 62 mph and readying itself to be at 100 mph a few seconds later.

Suzuki seemed to have created a really light and rigid 180 mph thoroughbred racing bike for streets that weren't safe to ride on at 90 mph. For example, Suzuki trimmed four pounds off the exhaust system by using Titanium, a lighter, tougher and stronger metal, and it manufactured the front fork using low weight Titanium. With these engineering changes, Suzuki topped the performance of the closest competitor in the GSX's class, the Yamaha YZF-R1 .

To keep the GSX-R1000 feather weight and speedy, Suzuki had to choose light weight metals for different parts of the bike. However, it seems curious that Suzuki did not use a Titanium alloy instead of Aluminum to make the GSX frame, especially when higher tensile strength would be necessary to counterbalance obvious frame stress factors.

Tensile strength is the stress at which a material (like Aluminum or Titanium) breaks or permanently deforms. There are three definitions of tensile strength:

Yield strength, which is stress at which material strain changes from elastic deformation to plastic deformation, causing it to deform permanently;

Ultimate strength , which is the maximum stress a material can withstand when subjected to tension, compression or shearing. It is the maximum stress on the stress-strain curve; and

Breaking strength, which is the stress coordinate on the stress-strain curve at the point of rupture.

For example, a certain Titanium alloy (Titanium + 6% Aluminum, 4% Vanadium) has yield strength of 800 MPa, while Aluminum has yield strength of less than half that number (400 MPa). The 6%Al, 4%V Titanium alloy has a much higher ultimate strength of 900 MPa versus 455 MPa for Aluminum. Why Suzuki chose Aluminum over Titanium alloy for manufacturing the frame while choosing Titanium alloy to manufacture the exhaust system baffles the mind.

To better understand why Aluminum might not have been the best choice for the GSX frame, we turn to the Suzuki Service Bulletin entitled Voluntary Safety Recall Campaign #2A08 2005 and 2006 GSX-R1000 Motorcycles Frame Reinforcement Brace Installation/Frame Replacement. That publication illustrates where the Aluminum K5 and K6 GSX-R1000 frames have been fracturing. The Service Bulletin also outlines reimbursement, and dealership/manufacturer responsibilities. The Bulletin also reveals VIN ranges for recalled GSX-R1000 motorcycles, the parts needed, and it establishes which motorcycles will not qualify for bracing. And it continues by providing frame inspection and reinforcement installation directions.

Suzuki's publication contais lots of graphics and pictures that reveal fractures on the underside of the frame and to the right and left of the steering neck. Accordingly, Suzuki has supplied a brace for the frame that is designed to span between and hold the two fracture sites together. And a mechanic has to either remove or detach several components from the frame, inspect the frame for cracks using a special, manufacturer supplied dye kit, and then use an epoxy adhesive to cement the brace to the frame before re-bolting the components.

In addition, some of the hardware had to be changed, and depending on temperature and conditions, the epoxy that glues the bracket to the frame has to cure anywhere from one to 24 hours before the dealership can return the GSX-R1000 to its owner. The dealership then has to submit a claim for each frame repair (labor taking three hours) or frame replacement (labor taking 11 hours). The dealership then has 10 days to return replaced frames for credit.

Suzuki service centers also received a copy of its January 21, 2009 recall letter, which outlines the reasons for the recall, and explains reimbursement. Lastly, the Service Bulletin contains a request worksheet and Fax form.

After reading all of the above information, it seems reasonable that Suzuki should have engineered the frame to better withstand ordinary forces that occur during daily use. Once again, those ordinary forces might include a 160 lb (average) rider sitting over a 130 lb. engine, and other accoutrements, all located smack dab in the middle of the GSX-R1000’s 55.3 inch wheelbase.

It is also interesting to note that the GSX-R1000 comes equipped with a front suspension that has a fully adjustable piggy-back shock absorber having a linear rate linkage system. The adjustable shock is attached to that rigid, lightweight Aluminum frame, having a combination cast and extruded spar construction for "precisely calculated rigidity."

Lets recapitulate. The GSX-R1000 is light, it's lightening fast, and the rider can adjust its front suspension to make the bike even stiffer while going over bumps in the road. Everything that has any weight; the engine, exhaust and rider...are sitting in the middle of the motorcycle, supplying a massive vector force downward. That downward force multiplies: as the GSX-R1000 takes ordinary bumps in the pavement; as its engine brings the bike to warp speed; and as the bike banks, turns and brakes while riding on uneven pavement. With all of this in mind, the centerpiece that is managing and supporting all of this "normal" activity is a thin, lightweight Aluminum frame. And to make that frame stronger and more rigid, Suzuki has tacked on what amounts to a third of the thickness of a dime's more worth of the metal.

For some reason, however, using high tensile strength Titanium to manufacture the frame was not in the cards, back then, as a Suzuki design option.

Lastly, on September 22, 2006, Suzuki updated the GSX-R1000 for 2007. The new GSX gained 14 lbs. over the 2006 model, and the engine and chassis were updated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_GSX-R1000).

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Armand Rossetti

The Suzuki GSX-R1000 is almost as fast as a speeding bullet

Armand Rossetti — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:45:38 GMT

Ask the Police.

Ask the police.

Then ask yourself if Suzuki can ignore the stress that a GSX-1000 sustains, with or without a rider performing a wheelie or a brakie.

Disclaimer: The Suzuki in the video reached speeds in excess of 180 miles per hour. When shot straight in the air, a bullet travels about 2000 miles per hour, but it is not carrying a rider. Let's give the GSX-R1000 a bit of a handicap.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Armand Rossetti

How much stress can a Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle frame take?

Armand Rossetti — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:23:12 GMT

In January 2009, Suzuki recalled 26,082 GSX-R1000 (GSX) motorcycles manufactured in 2005 and 2006. Reportedly, the fractures are occurring behind and below the steering neck of the GSX-R1000 K5 or K6 frame.

Suzuki's recall notice places the blame on riders who use the GSX to perform repeated hard landings after lifting the front wheel off the ground. Suzuki also reports that collisions may result in the front wheel fork assembly fracture. However, one GSX owner reported hearing of lots of broken frames right in the vacinity of the welds that hold parts of the frame together; his own GSX fractured at the weld joints.

The official Suzuki “gixer” forum features posts from GSX owners and service people. In one blog thread, a GSX service manager noted that since January 23, 3009, Suzuki has been supplying its dealerships with dye kits to check for cracks in the frame. The service manager mentioned the if a dealership should find cracks, the GSX frame would have to be replaced, and if no cracks were apparent, the dealer would have to install brace kits on the unaffected frame. Furthermore, if any dealership should decide that it must replace the entire motorcycle frame, that dealership would have to contact Suzuki and allow Suzuki to make that decision on a case by case basis.

One GSX dealership, Cernic’s Cycle World in Somerset Pennsylvania notified its affected GSX customers about the recall and provided further information. Here is the statement from Cernic’s:

“THE FRAME INSPECTION/ REPLACEMENT ARE FOR K5 AND K6 GSXR1000. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU HAVE A WARRANTY ON YOUR BIKE OR NOT. THE FRAME IS TO BE INSPECTED AND IF IT’S CRACKED OR BROKEN SUZUKI WILL REPLACE THE FRAME, IF ITS POLISHED SUZUKI WILL GET IT POLISHED OR CHROMED OR CUSTOM PAINTED.DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE FRAME. IF THE FRAME ISNT CRACKED OR BROKEN IT WILL REQUIRE THE FRAME BRACE KIT FROM SUZUKI. EVEN IF YOU GET A REPLACEMENT FRAME IT WILL STILL REQUIRE THE BRACE KIT. THE CAMPAIGN NUMBER IS 2A08. IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS OR REQUEST THE INSPECTION TO BE DONE I CAN BE REACHED AT CERNICS CYCLEWORLD 814-443-1666 OR BRIAN@CERNICS.COM WE ARE LOCATED IN SOMERSET PA 15501. WE ARE WILLING TO PICK UP ANY CUSTOMERS UNITS THAT REQUIRE THE CAMPAIGN. BRIAN KRONEN/ SERVICE MANAGER CERNICS CYCLEWORLD.” [Emphasis added].

After reviewing all of the above, it seems curious that Suzuki is so quick to blame all GSX frame fractures on extreme rider use or front end collision, while ignoring the fact that such extreme use is not limited only to Suzuki motorcycles.

In fact, there are many aspects of routine use that stress motorcycle frames; and those forces have been well known to the motorcycle manufacturing industry for years. For quite a while, engineers have been writing scholarly papers describing the mathematics behind forces that occur during such routine motorcycle use, and two such papers have used the Suzuki GSX-R1000 as the test motorcycle; one written in 2004 and another written in 2007.

Therefore, it seems reasonable that if all existing 2005 and 2006 GSX frames (including brand new replacement frames coming from Suzuki) need bracing, GSX frame engineering specifications might need replacing.

Besides, shouldn't a vehicle this fast be limited to use on a race track?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Armand Rossetti