Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

OPINIONS To me , this year's middleweight sportbike shootout was a lot like watching an episode of that corny "Elimidate" television show o n the WB chan nel. If you haven't seen it, the p re mise is that a guy or a gal goes out on one date w ith four members of the o pposite sex and , throughout the course of the show, dismisses them one by o ne unt il there is only one date left. Then the two supposedly go off and live happily ever after... or at least until the next morn ing. With that in mind , the Honda CBR600RR would be the first bike that I would dismiss. The RR is nice and stable, and she's probably the type that you could best settle down and have a long, happy relationship w ith . Y awn. Booorrring. Also, she's pack ing a few extra pounds w hen compared to the more waif· like machines in this shootout. She hides them well, but still, there's no deny ing that the RR is a little more big-boned th an t he rest. I'd say goodbye to the Ducati next. Sure, the 749 Dark is an exotic, sexy Italian model that's slim through the middle and very athletic. She 's also much more com fortable to be around day to day than her older sibling, the 748, but in the end I think I'd just prefer something with a Iitde more meat on its bones in the power department. From here it gets tougher, but I th ink that I'd 86 the Yamaha R6 next. Hey, she 's gorgeous and she's athletic, but she also seems to be a little high-strung and twitchy, and she has a bad habit in the form of a rath er c1anky gearbox. Too bad , really, because if Yamaha cou ld tone her act do wn just a little bit, she cou ld be the w inne r. Same goes fo r last year's winner, the Kawasak i ZX-6R, which offers more stability and more power and can really maintain her composure when things get out of con trol , thanks to the most awesome brakes in the group. But she could do for a nip here and a tuck there as well . Her tank is rather bulbous, and the more you get to know her, the no isier she seems to get and the less com fortable yo u are around her. That leaves the Suzuki GSX-R600 as the winner of my Middleweigh t Elimidate. Uke t he Ho nda, she doesn't necessarily win any category, but her broad, snappy power, awesome handling, nice shifting, comfort and excellent road manners away from the track make her the total package. That's enough to guarantee that she will keep me excited for a long time to come ... or at least unti l next year. Beca use in th is dating game, commitments are a bitch . Scorr ROUSSEAU I really like all of the bikes in th is comparison . No , honestly, I do . Each one of them has attributes that make me want to take it for a sp in. I'm not sure that I would personally buy a middleweight bike myself for street duty, but racing is another story. I happen to own an R6 that I club race . Well, at least I raced it until I turned it into a smal l ball o f aluminum, rubber and plast ic, but I hap pe n to own the w rong yea r. The fuel-injected R6 came out right after I bough t mine. Damn , why couldn't I be a bit more patient? In this company, however, I don't t hink that w ould be my pick. The Ducati is one of the bikes that I might consider as a street bike. I really like the styling o n the 749 Dark; it looks badass. It also has o ne ofthe best motors to live with around town. Torque makes commuting and normal riding a lot more enjoyable. The ZX-6R is the hooligan bike of the bunch and a troublemaker. The bike is so light and has such a killer mot or that pulling wheelies is ma ndatory. Th e buzzlnes s gets a little o ld afte r a wh ile, though. As nice as the Honda is, it's just not the bike for me. It really doesn't have a lot of character. It's refined to the point that it' s boring. Ifyou 're buying a bike that you want to keep for 10 years, buy the Honda, because it will stand the test oftime. I rea lly like the Suzuki both on and o ff the track. I think it' s a bike that would make the perfect racebike, but a great sueetbike as well. It's light, has good power and handles like a dream. The stock suspension is ve ry good as well , and it rides right in the middle of its range, leaving plen ty of adjustment space. In the en d I cou ld see plopping my mo ney down on a GSXR600. The GSX-R has all the makings of a perfect 600 . I guess I can't really th ink of anyth ing that I would change on the bike . Well, 636ccs would be pretty nice... How killer would that be? (Left) The R6 mot or may not be th e most po w erful motor here , but it does the job of p ropelling the sweet-ha nd ling bike just fine . BlAKE CONN ER When I came back after spending a few days with the Suzuki GSX-R6oo in Italy, I was in love . And, as always when I come back from an intro, I proclaimed to the rest of the staff that the bike I'd just ridden at Misano was the best bike I've ever thrown a leg over. It was the bee's knees, the best thing since sliced bread, blah, blah, blah. By now the editors he re know how I am, and they just snicker, mumble under their breath and move on. But this time, I was right . They all rode the newest Suzuki, and they loved it , as you can tell by the results of the shootout. So there, I was right. Now they'll listen (Rig ht) The R6's dash is info rmative b ut a lso has a difficult to-see shi ft light. tome. But then something strange happened. I rode all the bikes at the Streets of Willow and... Suzuki be damned, I kept wanting to ride the KawasakI. Maybe it was the fact tha t my be st lap times came o n the ZX6R, or maybe it was just the fact that it felt right to me. At least on that day, at that track. I like the ZX's grunty power... when I'd grab a big handf ul of Kawasaki throttle, it was like I could feel the rear tire burn into the pavement . And those bra ke s... But the boys went ahea d and chose the Suzuki as the w inner, and it's hard to argue with them - after all, the bikes are so very "The worst bike in this shootout is still a fabulous bike that will blow the doors off our winner from a couple of years ago." dose now that you can easily confuse one for the other (well, except for the Ducati, which has a distincdy different fee l fro m the rest). Given t he fact tha t the Suzuki was my first love of 2004, I can slee p at night knowing that it has won this shootout. But let' s not fo rget tha t Kawasaki. PAUL CAIlRtnHEIlS www.cyclenews.com 43 .72\.ft f f i . 1 b s ± ",:@ 12,~ rpm . ! -~-~ ·--t I ! I - I • . I! 2 4 S I ----r--j- -----l - . ' 1 • - i ! I ~ I-r--- i i j _ . ~ --j-_+-_ . Engrle Speed (RPUx l000) " I ! II " . I CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 3 1, 2004 " 19

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