The customer who owns this Suzuki GSX-R1000K8 wanted us to fit a quickshifter – we’d recommend a Cordona PQ8 because we know they work so well but he had a specific need because of a dodgy wrist. So he’d sourced a Flatshifter, which has an auto-blip function on it, doing away with the clutch on downshifts.
Fitting it was not straightforward, as the wiring needed a lot of chopping – definitely not plug ‘n’ play. We got it on and sorted but the next problem was that it just didn’t want to work very well. We contacted the manufacturer and explained it wouldn’t downshift; he shed some light and said you have to put a tap into a single throttle body (we’d connected it to the four pipe line that goes to the MAP sensor) and it then works off the vacuum of one cylinder. So off came the throttle bodies and we drilled and tapped a screw in. And yes, it did work better.
But it does seem a little antiquated, if we’re honest. We didn’t get to ride the bike after because of bad weather at the time – we explained to the owner to take it easy until he got to know it…
As far as quickshifters go, we like Cordona PQ8s, because they work well all the time. The jury’s out on the Flatshifter system, but our minds are open…
