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“I use these tyres on my Manx
Norton, and they’re heaps better than
anything we had back then,” asserted
Mr Sheene when I complained about
grip. “You’re not riding it properly –
stop using so many revs and ride the
midrange torque curve to drive out of
turns, rather than use launch control!”
Following Barry’s advice made
the Suzuki appear less brutal in its
power delivery, easier to ride without
sacrificing anything in the way of
acceleration, simply because I was
balancing grip with grunt and surfing
the torque curve from 6000rpm
upwards. The trick was to avoid
leaning the XR23B over too far on those
relatively narrow tyres. Look at period
photos of Barry on the bike, and you’ll
see he’s hardly hanging off it at all,
even when it was fitted with the earlier,
more manageable XR23A exhausts. Just
trailbrake deep into a corner – almost
inevitable with the weak response
of those typically ineffective period
Japanese steel discs, and their not very
grippy two-pot calipers – get the Suzuki
turned, and fire it out keeping it as
upright as possible to use as much of
the fat part of the skinny tyre as you can. Then you’ll
revel in the phenomenal acceleration and marvel
how well the bike hooks up. Just as long as you don’t
crank it over too far and go off the edge of the tyre,
because when you get a slide, it’s hard to correct it.
The one-up left-foot gearshift on the Hennen/
Hartog bike that I rode (contrasting with Barry’s
trademark right-foot change) was rather stiff, and
it was completely impossible to find neutral, even
rolling gently along with the clutch in, hunting for
it with my foot.
“Dead right – it was always like
that,” confirmed Barry, “which is why
I always made sure I was the last to
leave for the warm-up lap, and the last
to get back there for the start. People
used to think I was trying to get the
opposition revved up waiting for me,
but while that may have been an added
bonus, the real reason was that I’d have
to sit there holding the clutch lever in
waiting for the guy to wave the flag – no
lights back then! Get there too early
and I’d fry the clutch. I was always
complaining about this to Suzuki, but
they never did anything to fix it.”
Clutch action is nice, though –
getting the XR23B off the mark is dead
easy, until it comes to coping with
the mega-wheelies you get in each of
the bottom four gears, just like one of
today’s MotoGP bikes – except they
have electronic engine management
systems and traction control! The big
hit of power that arrives at 8000rpm
certainly narrows your horizon, but
changing up at 10,500 revs still leaves
you in the heavy metal sector of the
rev range. However, there’s useful
overrev, so you can hold a gear to
save a pair of changes without the Suzuki falling
off the pipe. It keeps pulling to nearly 12,000 revs,
if you want to save a gearchange – or are too busy
struggling to keep it pointed more or less in the right
direction. Best bet is to use the bottom two gears to
get the Suzuki moving out of slow turns, short-shift
at around 10,000rpm to third, then ride the torque
curve and rev it out to around 11,500rpm, which it’ll
happily do while delivering really vivid performance
by the standards of the era.
Hold on tight!specs
Top Will we ever see a return of
the square four?
Above Steering damper lacks
adjustabilityENGINE
Configuration Stepped-cylinder twin-
crankshaft four-cylinder two-stroke
Capacity 652cc
Bore/stroke 62 x 54mm
Compression ratio Not given
Cooling Liquid
Fuelling Rotary valve, 4 x 47mm
Mikuni VM
Power 103kW @10,800rpm
Torque Not given
TRANSMISSION
Type Six-speed cassette type
Clutch Multiplate dry
Final drive Chain
CHASSIS
Frame material Tubular steel
Frame layout Duplex cradle
Rake 27.5 ̊
Trail Not given
SUSPENSION
Front 37mm Kayaba nitrogen-filled
air-damped telescopic fork with inbuilt
anti-dive system
Rear Fabricated braced aluminium
swingarm with twin Hagon shocks
WHEELS/TYRES
Wheels Campagnolo cast magnesium
Front: 18 x 2.5 Rear: 18 x 4.0
Tyres Avon
Front: 110/80-18
Rear: 170/60-18
BRAKES
Front Twin 310mm Suzuki floating
steel discs with two-piston Tokico
calipers
Rear Single 220mm Suzuki ventilated
steel disc with two-piston caliper
DIMENSIONS
Weight 136kg (dry)
Seat height Not given
Width Not given
Height Not given
Wheelbase 1395mm
Fuel capacity Not given
PERFORMANCE
Fuel consumption Not given
Top speed 309km/h
CONTACT & SALE INFO
Tes tbike Chris Wilson,
Broadstairs, Kent, UK
Colour options Texaco racing livery
Warranty N/A
Price N/ASuzuki XR23B