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Hyosung GT 650 discussion forum:Magazine Review |
| Magazine Review |
| Alain said 2004-12-06 23:49 |
| I found this article here: http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2155694&fSectionId=764&fSetId=381 ====================READ ON==================================== July 19, 2004 By Dave Abrahams Korean scootermaker Hyosung has been experimenting for years with "real" motorcycles in 125 and 250cc flavours (mostly derived from old Suzuki stuff since the company has a design tie-up with the big S) but now it has stepped up into the big league. Their new bike is a 650 L-twin street bike that, to quote my old headmaster, "shows a lot of potential". The helping hand of the Suzuki design team is again visible in the 647cc quad-cam, liquid-cooled twin that is clearly derived from the SV650 motor. I´m not going to belabour the point that this is a Ducati motor in all but name; it´s a superb piece of engineering no matter who was responsible for the original layout and a definite step up for Hyosung The meat of the powerband is above 5000rpm; the bike pulls really well from there to the bloodline . It revs to a heady 10 500, peaking at 58.5kW at 9000, which gives you plenty of run-on. Hyosung claims maximum torque of 68Nm but doesn´t say at what revs; probably around seven, given the motor´s short stroke and rev-happy nature. It´s fed by two 39mm CV carbs, which are its Achilles´ heel; they’re badly under-damped and cause the motor to jerk so badly at small throttle openings that I looked under the tank to see if it was actually fuel-injected, but no, they are carburettors. Given big handfuls they work fine and, like most constant vacuum set-ups, are superbly efficient at cruising speeds, returning some eye-opening fuel consumption figures out on the open road. Nevertheless, this bike is touted as the ideal commuter and in that respect it lets the side down, since it´s both difficult and a little unpleasant to ride in really heavy traffic I can now confirm that the Comet is capable of cornering harder than I can. . The meat of the power band is above 5000rpm; the bike pulls really well all the way from there to the bloodline, becoming distinctly vibratious, in classic Ducati fashion, as it gets into its stride above 7000 revs. During performance testing the Comet went up to an indicated 9400rpm in top gear, running an impressive 221km/h with the speedo needle fluctuating wildly between 205 and 230 (there is such a thing as being too Italian, gentlemen). With me flat on the tank and gripping the bars as lightly as possible it was also impressively steady as I held it at full tilt for close to six kilometres (which used nearly a quarter-tank of fuel, about 3.2 litres). Hard running The motor handled this extended blast with aplomb; it was a lot further than I usually run a bike flat out (the last was the even thirstier Ducati Multistrada!) which is an indication of the confidence this cobby little twin inspired in me. The Hyosung´s average fuel consumption during the test period was 5.77 litres/100km but that, as you may have gathered, included a lot of hooliganising; ridden with a lighter right hand and a little mechanical empathy the bike easily gets less than five litres/100km. The clutch is chiefly memorable for being unmemorable; it did everything I asked of it without drawing attention to itself, refusing to grab or judder no matter how hot I got the Hyosung in traffic. It also took a couple of full-bore launches out at the test track in its stride – at which point I also got some unexpected but controllable wheelies; it may be "only" a 650 but this thing is no ****cat. The gearbox was positive but very notchy; a slick gear change is one of the hardest things for a "new" manufacturer to get right and as long as it doesn´t actually refuse to swop ratios I´m prepared to make some allowances. In its favour, the Hyosung actually went into neutral on demand, which some early Ducati twins wouldn´t. Simple construction The frame is a triumph of production engineering; what looks like a complex trellis arrangement fabricated from special extrusions is actually welded up from some ordinary mild steel tubing, carefully rolled before assembly to give it an oval cross-section. It´s a strong, rigid twin-spar design that´s dead easy to make in both small and large batches and which will probably survive accident damage well. Its only drawback is that it´s a little heavy; given the bike´s all-up dry weight of 180kg, it can handle that. Suzuki´s influence shows again in the remarkably sophisticated suspension; the front has adjustable upside-downies and the rear wheel is under the command of a gas-charged monoshock on a rising-rate linkage. The factory settings are a little too firm for everyday commuting, although the stiff suspension is partly responsible for the machine´s high-speed stability. Braking is entrusted to floating callipers all round; while I accept that there is a significant cost saving over the more modern opposed-piston units, they are prone to fade under hard use - although I never had the lever come all the way back to the handlebar like a 1980s Honda! I have a habit of braking with two fingers, however, and after some hard work round my favourite twisties I gave myself a fright when I caught my third and fourth fingers between lever and grip and couldn´t brake hard enough for a downhill hairpin without breaking my fingers! I can now confirm that the Comet is capable of cornering harder than I can. Compact chassis The seating position is surprisingly compact and the bike feels very small when you first get aboard; all the controls feel a little too close and you soon realise that the footpegs, mounted on cast-alloy brackets, are high and quite far back by commuter standards. This and the well tucked-in tail pipe give the Hyosung remarkable ground clearance for a street bike. It handles with remarkable precision, although it´s too easy to overpower the steering with the wide bars and I sometimes felt that the rider´s weight was too far to the rear. I counteracted this by leaning well forward and was able to throw Comet around like a real hooligan tool. With light hands on the grips it holds its line as if on the proverbial rails, the stiff suspension coming into its own at higher speeds for taut, predictable road-holding – very European. Throughout a week of thrashing it I couldn´t get anything to scrape and its sporting prowess was confirmed by ex-GP racer Mike Cameron, who took it round Killarney racetrack and was very complimentary, although he complained that the suspension was too harsh for the street (he´s not as overweight as I am). Not an LCD in sight The instruments are plain and very straightforward, all mechanical, not an LCD in sight, just the basic warning lights and a weird fuel warning system which lights up a green icon on the rev-counter face when the tank is half empty and then adds an orange one when there´s three litres left. At the last the green goes out and the orange stays on – if you can´t see the gas station by then, you´re in for a walk. Unnecessarily complicated; I can´t help thinking they did it just because they could. The switchgear is logical, robust and positive, with a neat manual choke, which I soon learned to use when the bike was cold, notwithstanding the ambient temperature. One of the reasons for the bike´s jerky response at small throttle openings is that it has been set up very lean at the bottom to get in through the Euro 2 emissions standards. This makes it very cold-blooded in the mornings – and very sensitive; the only way it will start is to give it full choke and no throttle. Then you can monitor the idle with the choke lever while you put on your helmet and gloves; by the time you´re ready to go, so is the Comet. Kick-ass sportster With its bargain-basement price tag the 650 Comet has been pitched as the ultimate value-for-money commuter; it even has a three-litre storage box under the pillion seat (shut up Cyril!) and a set of practical bungee hooks below the tail piece. The distributors may, however, be doing it a disservice; it has a taut, compact chassis, stiff suspension, impressive chassis dynamics and a torquey L-twin motor that thrives on hard work. With clip-ons, better brakes and perhaps a little fly-screen, there´s a kick-ass little sports bike in there just waiting to get out. Hyosung motorcycles are distributed in by Kawasaki Motorcycles SA and come with a year’s month unlimited distance warranty. # Test bike from Kawasaki South, Cape Town. The Comet 650 costs R41 700. |
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