Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128620
Cycle News BOOcc Sportbike Shootout 2000 Kawasak i, o n th e other hand , wanted its 600cc cro wn back , and Kawi eng in e e rs went b a c k to th e drawing boards to produce a n a ll new Ninja ZX-6R t o g o along with it s revamped ZX-9R. Th e e nd result is a m iddleweight with a n a ll-n ew e ng ine and a ll-new ch ass is tha t pac ks racetrack p u nc h a nd s ty ling in a ve ry st reeta ble pa c ka ge : Howev e r, would that be enough to topple th e domi nant Yamaha YZF-R6 on the track , or outfox the Hon d a CBR60 0 F4 on the street? It is ce rtainly getting harder to te ll. After all , th e improvements m ade in t he 600cc c lass in t h e past h al fdecad e have th e c u rre nt cr o p o f 600cc spo rtb ikes light years ah ead of wh a t was offe re d in e ve n ha lf t ha t time. Furthermore , there is no rea son t o b el ie ve t h a t we wo n ' t g e t th e cha n c e t o experien c e ev e n m o re Continued [rom page 25 of racing, R&D a nd testing put in by the factorie s h a v e m ad e be ing a m oto rc ycl ist qu ite fun over the past five year s. Eve ry yea r, th ere seems to be one model th a t gets a sign ifica nt mak eover, fo rc in g th e res t of th e cla ss to play ca tch-up. Th is year, it is e ve n better in the wh ite -hot Open Sportbike category, a s Honda introduced its all -new CBR929RR to go aga inst a n all-n ew Kawasa ki ZX9 -R and a se rious ly revis ed Yam a ha YZFR1. Th at 's how it goes. Th e downside is that shootout-winning glory is often flee ting, a nd if you won las t ye ar, the n chances a re tha t yo u' re not going to win this year. Th e m an ufacture rs who ma ke minor revis ions to the ir ex isting mac hine ry in a g iven class a nd send the m off to do batt le o n th e ra c etra ck a nd in th e dealerships wit h little more than s hiny new paint jobs oft en find th e m se lves in serious jeopardy o f bein g kn ock ed down a few peg s whe n someon e e lse comes along with an all-ne w design. Basicall y, that ' s th e case in the 600cc Supe rs port class for 2000. O f cours e , Tr iu m p h h as introd uced its a ll - ne w TT600 to t he cl ass , a nd befo re t he m a rq ue' s faith - ful s tart sending le tt e rs , crying that we have a lready beleaguered the IT by suggesting that it is insi gnifica nt or unworthy of praise, we might as well come ou t and say it : Upon entering this year's shootout, we fig ured that the re was no way Tr iumph - e ve n with the added bonus of ha ving the IT becom e the first 600cc inlin e fo u r to com e e q ui p p e d wit h e lec tro nic fuel -injection - could win the title . 32 JULY 5, 2000ยท cue I e n e vv s advanced design s in t he ve ry near future. Rumors abound of an all-n ew , fue l-injected GSX-R600 for 200 1. No doubt that several other manufacturers will follow su it and finally abandon their venerable downdraft ven turis in favor of ai rflow sensors and th rottle bodi es. A Ducati 996 replacement is reportedly in th e pipe , which suggests that a ne w Ducati 748 (we have on ce a g a in included the Duc k because the F lM allows th e bike to