Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

promise either. Montano thought that the front end of the bike felt vague at times on the track, but it never bothered me, and no one else mentioned it. As for the bike's suspension, it felt very good. The bike's spring rates seemed really good, and we didn't have to mess with too much in the way of clickers. The forks feel solid under heavy braking, never giving the impression that they were flexing too much. One thing that was nice is that the ergonomics on the Yamaha were plenty demure, and this made attacking the track quite easy. The side cuts in the tank really allow your knees to dig in and make hanging on while cranked over easy. As we have already implied, the R6 has the strongest brakes of the bunch. It's a matter of preference, but most of us felt that they have too much initial bite and not enough feel. It's really hard to complain about a bike's brakes being too strong, so I'll shut up now. Let's just say that the Kawasaki's units have a more linear feel to them. The Ducati, as we also mentioned, didn't make it to the track in time to participate in this portion of the test, which is a real shame - it would have done well. Montano did a handful of laps on the bike at the end of the day and was impressed. Maybe he's just kissing Ducati's butt because he won a championship for them, but from my experience on the bike in Spain in December, I would have to agree that it's a great track weapon. MALIBU. CALIFORNIA The track is all fine and dandy, but these bikes are going to spend 99 percent of their time on the street when the average consumer gets hold of them. Track days are becoming more and more popular, and club racing is ever-present, but the vast majority of these bikes will never lay tire to racing tarmac. With that said, the racetrack is the only place that these bikes can be pushed near their limits safely, hence the importance of that part of the shootout. The street, on the other hand, is for the above reasons the most important element of this test. This is where the realworld characteristics of the bikes are judged. Anyone who has ever ridden in Malibu knows that it's a motorcycling mecca, with everything from the tight and twisty to the open and fast. There also isn't much in the way of traffic on a weekday, and it's hard to complain about the scenery. The Honda was at home on the racetrack but didn't impress us nearly as much on the street. The RR's suspension, which was soft on the track and required some fiddling, was way too soft on the street. The roads we were on ranged widely from perfectly smooth to abysmal. The CBR600RR felt excessively soft, forcing us to add most of the fork's preload (two lines showing) and all of the rear shock's. The front improved a lot but still wasn't perfect. The rear, on the other hand, we took too far, and we had to back it off a position before it was okay. The other problem we had was that the bike steered really slowly. It would start to flick in and then get heavy, even more so than on the track. To make it turn really took some effort - on occasion the bike would understeer and not pull onto the intended line. On the other hand, like the Suzuki, the Honda is awesome in the fast stuff, offering lots of stability and good feel from the front end. The brakes were good on the street, but not the best. The one area that hurts the Honda the most is the fuel-injection response on the street. On the track it was noticeable but acceptable, but on the street it was too noticeable to ignore. In a lot of the tighter corners, the bike would hiccup on the exit, especially when picking up revs from the closed throttle position. The Honda has the nicest fit and finish, as always, and also has the nicest dash in terms of available information. You never have to scan to find the clock, because it's always on, even when the bike isn't. The ergonomics are well laid out, but we wish the seat were shaped a little better so trips more than 30 minutes wouldn't be such a pain in the butt, literally. The Kawasaki (636) may have surprised us on the track, but we weren't going to be fooled again. The ZX-6R has always been an excellent street bike, but Kawasaki took it to another level for 2003. Once it came to the street portion of the test, this is the bike that everyone wanted to be on. On the way out to Malibu I had the biggest scare of the test on the 636. I was in the carpool lane, stuck behind a slow car, and decided to knock it down two gears for a quick pass. As I pulled out from behind the car and whacked the throttle WFO, I must have hit a bump, because the bike went into a hellacious tank-slapper - I was going in a straight line on the freakin' expressway, so it kind of freaked me out. Remember what we said about the front end on the track? Still, this is the bike you want if you like horsepower, and if you're buying a sportbike and don't like power, you need a lobotomy. The 636 may have come up two horsepower shy of the Honda's ultimate number, but as I said before, the Kawi makes more power everywhere else in the rev range, by a lot. Second gear wheelies are a breeze on the ZX6R. That extra torque leaving stoplights makes it a breeze, no more HONDA CBRBOORR The Honda was In its element on the track but didn't quite hold its own on the street. n e _ "" • MARCH 26, 2003 21

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