Evolution Of Superbikes: Modern Marvels Of Technology

Superbikes have come a long way since the mid-sixties. The evolution has been driven by a combination of technological advancements and racing competition, making them faster, more powerful, and safer. The first superbikes were essentially modified street bikes that were used for racing. Over time, manufacturers began to homologate motorcycles specifically for racing, which led to the creation of the first true superbikes towards the late 1980s.

Early models were characterized by powerful engines, lightweight frames, and decent aerodynamic designs, but today’s superbikes are equipped with cutting-edge technology, featuring advanced electronics that help riders maintain control in all conditions, as well as sophisticated frames and suspension systems that provide a smooth ride even on rough roads. Designed with safety in mind, motorcycles feature a gamut of rider-aid technology – anti-lock brake systems, power modes, traction control systems, engine braking control, wheelie control, hill hold control – the list is endless. With computer technology providing a way to simulate how vehicles will run prior to pre-production, the superbike can only get better.

Related: Evolution Of Superbikes: The Early Years

2001 Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R

The Suzuki GSX-R1000 had been in the planning for 3 years. Introduced in 2001, it was the culmination of R&D experience gained from the GSX-R750 16 years prior. The monstrous power and handling of the motorcycle left the opposition in its wake proving that the revolutionary power gains made by Honda and Yamaha in the last eight years were far from over.

A Bored Out GSX-R750 Engine

The GSX-R1000 was a bored and stroked out 998cc GSX-R750 using the same crankcases and cylinder head that kept the engine’s width the same, though slightly taller at 14mm and longer by 6mm. The cylinder could only be bored out by a further 1mm and to achieve the necessary displacement, and the crankshaft stroke was increased by 13mm. This put the GSX-R in the same under-square bore/stroke category as the Yamaha R1, compared to the revvier bigger bore, shorter stroke engines of the Honda CBR929RR and Kawasaki ZX-9R. With 16 valves, titanium header pipes, and an added exhaust servo providing more mid-range, the GSX-R 1000 produced 160 horsepower.

But, it didn’t feel like most liter-class bikes in the corners. It felt small and nimble when changing direction, yet on the straights, its power was unmistakable. Massive torque came between 3,000 rpm and 12,000 rpm with no fluctuations in power delivery and the bike made 185mph, given the right conditions. The outcome was an agile-handling, aggressive sports bike with race-track-like performance. The Suzuki GSX-R1000 lived up to its name and outperformed its rivals at just 374 lbs.

Suzuki GSX-R1000 Specifications

Kawasaki had been content with its reign on the speed throne for quite some time until its ZX-11 lost the title to the Honda Super Blackbird in 1996. Kawasaki had introduced the ZZR-1200 in 2002 as an in-between replacement to the ZX-11and was heavily styled on it with a bigger powerplant, but was quickly discontinued in 2005. While its ZX-750R was coping with race duties, Kawasaki found itself in a liter-class void with nothing to challenge the likes of the Fireblade, GSX-R1000, or R1. But all that changed in 2004, when they introduced the ZX-10R Ninja.

Aluminum Cast Chassis

The ZX-10R may just have been the all-original-wild bike of all superbikes ever manufactured. There was nothing like it on the track or road, but it was always happy to lift its front when the throttle was opened. It scared riders with its hooligan antics, but then again, this was a motorcycle people had been waiting for from Kawasaki. With a 24° steering rake giving it razor-sharp handling, it had huge power and was extremely light taking the Best Superbike award from Cycle Magazine upon its introduction. Thanks to its aluminum chassis with cast and pressed sections, the ZX-10R weighed in at 374 lbs with no fluids, 2 lbs lighter than the 2004 GSX-R1000, and a full 25 lbs lighter than the new CBR!

New Engine From the Ground-Up

The discontinued ZX-9R was immediately outdated when the ZX-10R was launched. From an engine standpoint, Kawasaki had gone back to the drawing board to develop a new motor from the ground up and compared to the ZX-9R, the ZX-10R’s 998cc displacement translated to a 1mm bore and 4.1mm stroke increase. The engine’s crankcase was designed with a one-piece upper crankcase/cylinder bore making it both rigid and light while acting as a stressed member with the frame. It also featured a stacked gearbox, flat-top forged pistons, titanium valves, and forged camshaft.

With the ZX-10R’s engine mated to a 43 mm dual-butterfly fuel-injection system with 12-hole injectors for finer atomization, it made 172 horsepower and 11,700 rpm (not taking ram air into consideration) and had a top speed of 178 miles per hour. It wasn’t until 2006 that it took away the crown from the GSX-R1000 with a class-leading 161.7 horsepower, something it had not seen since the 1990 ZX-11.

Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja Specifications

2007 Ducati 1098 | 2008 Ducati Desmosedici RR

Introduced in 2007, the Ducati 90° 1098 had more power and agility with its over-square 104 mm bore and 64.7 mm short stroke Testastretta Evoluzione engine that was on par with the Japanese manufacturers’ motorcycles. Influenced by the Ducati 916, it was better looking than its predecessor, the 999, and had better handling than the 916.

Redesigned Engine

The 1098 was instantly recognizable with its new cylinder heads and bore with the heads completely redesigned with a reduction in angle between the intake and exhaust valves that allowed for straighter and direct intake ducts. Using elliptical throttle bodies taken from MotoGP, they helped increase air-flow through the cylinder head by over 30% and increased output by 5 horsepower, making the motor feel the same as the 999, but only much better.

With the engine lightened in every possible aspect, thanks to a weight reduction to every component which included transmission gears, selector drum, oil pump, and primary gears, with the inclusion of magnesium covers for the cylinder head, a total weight-saving of 11.1 lbs was achieved.

Ducati 1098 Chassis

As is customary with newly built engines, Ducati’s development approach to the chassis was to save weight while scrutinizing each part that would eventually build strength and rigidity to handle the power from the motor. Ducati had the trellis frame tubes increased in diameter from 28 mm to 32 mm while decreasing the thickness from 2mm to 1.5 mm which increased rigidity by 14% and saved 3.3 lbs in weight. The same thinking was applied to the 1098’s single-sided swingarm, which forms a strong part of Ducati’s motorcycle DNA. Using a single component formed from individual aluminum castings applied to the operating components, Ducati was able to retain strength and structural integrity at the pivot points.

Suspension And Braking Duties

On the suspension side, the 1098 featured 43mm Showa front forks that were treated with a special coating of titanium oxide applied to the sliders to reduce friction, while the rear suspension is backed up by a Showa mono-shock absorber that is fully adjustable. On the braking front, a pair of radial-mounted Brembo single-piece alloy monobloc M4-34 calipers provide the stopping power. Ducati adopted M4-34 monobloc calipers for their higher rigidity and resistance to distortion under heavy braking ability as compared to conventional two-piece calipers. It was also a first on a Ducati road-going motorcycle.

Troy Bayliss would go on to win the World Superbike Championship aboard the 1098 in 2008, achieving the unprecedented feat of having been the only Ducati rider to win the WSBK Championship with three different generations of Ducati motorcycles.

Ducati 1098 Specifications

With motorcycles evolving at a rapid pace, after its development was first announced in 2001, Ducati’s Desmosedici RR won its first race at the Catalunya GP in 2003 under Lois Capirossi. There were rumors that a road-legal Desmosedici RR was on the cards, but it wasn’t until 2004 at World Ducati Week, that Ducati publicized that 1,500 MotoGP replicas would be manufactured for the public sale with production beginning in 2006. When it was finally launched in 2008, the Desmosedici RR was a true MotoGP replica and also the first Ducati production motorcycle to use forged magnesium wheels.

D16RR Desmodromic Engine

It was the most sophisticated motorcycle available for its time with its technology derived from the GP06 that was running in the World Championship. From an engine point of view, like traditional Ducatis, the Desmodedici’s engine is a 90° L-twin, desmodromic format with a DOHC system driven by gears and a cassette-type gear box that was hydraulically operated by a dry multi-plate slipper clutch. It had the same bore and stroke as the GP06 and the same twin-pulse firing order that ensured the valve actuation was precise at any RPM throughout the rev range.

The engine internals were also constructed to be light, offering high performance like the GP06 and Ducati spared no expense in the utilization of titanium alloy that was used to manufacture the intake and exhaust valves and connecting rods. The cylinder head and crankcase halves were sandcast aluminum while the engine cases had been constructed out of sandcast magnesium for added strength and structural integrity. The cylinder bore themselves were Nikasil plated while the pistons that ran within were of the classic double-ribbed under-crown type.

Similar Frame to The GP06

Supporting the engine was Ducati’s all-to-familiar trellis frame which was similar to the GP06 in terms of design, but the component itself, along with the swingarm had been constructed differently to support the varying skills of riders. The list is endless on the RR – 50 mm Magneti Marelli throttle bodies with 12-hole injectors, Ohlins GP FG353P gas pressurized 43mm front forks, Marchesini forged magnesium rims with Bridgestone BT-01R radial tires, and Brembo M4 monobloc calipers to name a few round up the RR.

With a 13.5:1 compression ratio and armed with 200 horsepower producing 85.55 foot-pounds of torque with a top speed of 188 miles per hour, its high-end components and cutting-edge electronics derived from the MotoGP made it tailor-made for the racetrack – all for a price of $72,500 with a comprehensive race kit thrown in.

Ducati Desmosedici RR Specifications

2009 Aprilia RSV4

With motorcycle manufacturers becoming more competitive to win the coveted World Superbike Championship, Aprilia’s homologated 2009 RSV4 had an amazing amount of adjustments that could be applied to the aluminum twin-spar chassis and was about as close to a WSBK-spec machine one could get to – not to mention the ability to change its transmission gear ratios via a cassette-type gearbox that could be swapped out in a matter of minutes. Aprilia’s history is truly legendary and with 31 World Championships, 250 MotoGP wins, and 8 Superbike wins, Aprilia’s return to the WSBK with the RSV4 made it the motorcycle to beat.

Mass Centralized Engine And Adjustable Geometry

The RSV4 benefited from the know-how picked up through years of racing and success in MotoGP Championships. Powered by a 999.6cc, 65° V4 engine, the engine was extremely narrow which had led to its mass centralization and enhanced chassis performance. Its one-piece crankcase with integrated liners within the cylinder block strengthened the engine and provided maximum rigidity and consistent efficiency to withstand the rigors of high outputs. What also made the RSV4 highly desirable was the amount of manual adjustments that could be carried out to the chassis. With adjustable steering geometry, motor re-orientation adjustments, and the capability to change the length of the wheelbase and position of the swingarm via the pivot points, the Aprilia RSV4 was probably the most tunable motorcycle of its time.

Related: Here’s Why The Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory Is One Of The Hottest Superbikes Today

Variable Velocity Stacks

On the performance side, the Aprilia RSV4 featured air intake stacks that were variable in length while each bank of cylinders had a servomotor dedicated exclusively to the operation of its two throttle bodies. The opening of the four butterfly valves and the volume of air inducted could be controlled independently, and this solution opened up a slew of options in terms of electronic engine management functioning that could incorporate engine braking, cruise control if required and also resulted in becoming an integral part of the RSV4’s advanced traction control system.

Like Ducati and MV Agusta, the styling of the RSV4 followed the same approach as its racing counterpart where the technology of its parts and components merged harmoniously. Using wind-tunnel technology, the fairing was developed to be minimal in size with the frame and engine visible while the triple headlight cluster made it instantly recognizable from the front. The symmetry flowed from the front and ended in an upward sloping, lightweight tail that emphasized its racing nature. The 2009 RSV4 produced a claimed 201 horsepower at 13,000 rpm and 85 foot-pounds of torque at 10,500 rpm and was the company’s first production four-cylinder engine.

Aprilia RSV4 Specifications

2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2 R

Nobody knows how to make bigger, better, and faster motorcycles than Kawasaki. The 1971 Kawasaki H2 (750SS Mach IV in Japan) was the world’s fastest production motorcycle for its time, delivering what Kawasaki called, “the most intense acceleration”. Four decades later, that thought lives on in the Kawasaki Ninja H2R. In response to customer requests, Kawasaki decided to develop the supercharger-based Ninja H2. However, they first had to make good on the product concept with the Ninja H2 R.

Aircraft Based Aerodynamics

For it to run stably at high speeds exceeding 300 km/h, Kawasaki adopted aerodynamic wing aids seen on aircraft that help generate downforce to prevent lift as motorcycles run faster. The Ninja H2R has slotted flaps on its sides and strakes and dog teeth that have been designed into the wings of the upper cowl, all of which were optimized with a multi-genetic algorithm to increase downforce.

The Supercharger

The supercharger had been developed, machined, assembled, and inspected at the Akashi Works in Kobe, Japan. The 2.7″, 12-blade impeller housed in the unit has a complicated curved shape that changes continuously in the spiral. It is machined to a thickness no greater than 1 mm and is adjusted by the help of a skilled operator working a dynamic balancer. The performance of the supercharger also depends on the clearance between the impeller and the inner housing and is measured by micrometers to a thousandth of an inch. At 326 horsepower, the H2R’s planetary gear transfers power from the crankshaft, driving the supercharger impeller to 9.2 times that of the crankshaft’s speed, reaching 130,000 rpm.

Trellis Frame

Another component of the H2 R that is an example of craftsmaship and perfection is the frame. While conventional frame welding focuses on joint strength, Kawasaki also focused on making the welds beautiful in addition to weld strength. Made from thin pipes and assembled into a trellis shape, the welds had to be flat, consistent, and perfect. For Kawasaki to achieve this, they developed a multi-axis coordinated-control welding robot cell where the robot cell controls the position of the welding torch and the frame, both always in optimal positions to create the perfect weld.

The Kawasaki Ninja H2 R hits a claimed 310 horsepower at 14,000 rpm and 115.1 foot-pounds of torque at 12,500 rpm with its carbon-fiber wings aiding in keeping the wheels pinned to the ground. In terms of acceleration, the sensation is incredible coupled with its ease of riding that could have made it an everyday commuter, but since it’s a closed circuit motorcycle with no headlamp and directional aids, the H2 R is confined to the track. What makes it different from the H2 are just three parts – camshafts, specifically the profile, head gasket, and two extra clutch plates and not to mention the wiring loom. Now if you’re thinking of swapping out the camshafts, head gasket and installing two more plates into your H2 for H2R-like-performance, sadly, it won’t work.

Kawasaki Ninja H2R Specifications

Sources: Cycle World, MCN And Motorcyclist Magazine