SHOOTOUT
P76
7 TH
2013 MIDDLEWEIGHT SPORTBIKE SHOOTOUT PART II
Y
amaha's YZF-R6 arrives
at this year's shootout six
years into its current design. The R6 once had a technological leg up on the competition
with its YCC-I (Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake) and ride-by-wire
throttle systems, but that was
back in 2008. Now the Yamaha
faces improved competition. On
the track, the R6 fared well with
a third-place result in Issue 32's
Track Shootout, but it struggles
to keep up on the street.
As a bellwether of class performance, the R6 demonstrates
the Supersport field's potency.
Its unchanged 599cc inline four
turned the dyno to an impressive
106.93 peak horsepower, tops
amongst the pure 600s. But the
Yamaha suffers in torque production with the lowest peak reading
of 44.39 lb-ft.
The R6 throttles up performance as revs increase as the
variable length intake ramps up
power on the top end. The Yamaha Four's top-end bias proves
the least street-friendly compared with the more linear torque
curves of its 600 rivals though.
Still, this is a relative complaint. If
a revamped R6 milked out some
more baseline torque to stoke
the YCC-I furnace, things would
