SPman
26th April 2004, 10:11
Well those of you subscribing to Motorcycle Online, the comparo test of all 8 1000cc sportbikes is out.Interesting reading. As expected, this sums it up:-
" All eight of these bikes have some serious juice. Ha! Effortless fourth gear power wheelies barely begin to describe the nature of the thrust generated by these personal cruise missiles. We're talking unadulterated, atom-bomb-up-the-arse Come to Jesus! power. With such a surfeit of horsepower across the spectrum, it really becomes a smaller factor in considering the respective merits of these bikes. By way of analogy, if you were told that you were going to be spending the rest of you life on an island with your choice of any one of the ten most beautiful women on the planet, would you waste a nanosecond of your time worrying about their respective looks? Not if you were smart. Since they are all stupefyingly beautiful, you'd most likely be more concerned about their personalities and long-term prospects for getting along. So there you have it, horsepower is a given".
As expected, the ZX10 is the hairiest:-
"Outside of the racetrack, the ZX-10R is a wild-eyed stallion, waiting to trample your daisies, rape your livestock, and, if you're lucky, land you in jail. If you're not lucky... well I don't even want to think about it. "
ZX10 Stability
-"The bad feature of all this is that on any type of ruffled surface your hero pose is likely accompanied by some righteous headshake totally unchecked by a steering damper because there isn't one. What's up with that Kawasaki? You cheap bastards. I saw Jesus, Mohammed, and the entire Bhagavad-Gita flash before my eyes 10 seconds into my first straightaway!"
Analysis
"As a final note it must be emphasized that aside from being way fast, all of these bikes are also astonishingly competent.There is truly not a bad motorcycle in the entire lot and ranking them from first to last is largely a matter of splitting hairs. Only a dolt would be anything other than deliriously happy with any of these incredible motorcycles. All eight are eminently worthy flagships of their respective factories. "
So, as always, if you're in the market for these sort of bikes, it boils down to a matter of personal choice - but isnt it great to have this much choice!
" All eight of these bikes have some serious juice. Ha! Effortless fourth gear power wheelies barely begin to describe the nature of the thrust generated by these personal cruise missiles. We're talking unadulterated, atom-bomb-up-the-arse Come to Jesus! power. With such a surfeit of horsepower across the spectrum, it really becomes a smaller factor in considering the respective merits of these bikes. By way of analogy, if you were told that you were going to be spending the rest of you life on an island with your choice of any one of the ten most beautiful women on the planet, would you waste a nanosecond of your time worrying about their respective looks? Not if you were smart. Since they are all stupefyingly beautiful, you'd most likely be more concerned about their personalities and long-term prospects for getting along. So there you have it, horsepower is a given".
As expected, the ZX10 is the hairiest:-
"Outside of the racetrack, the ZX-10R is a wild-eyed stallion, waiting to trample your daisies, rape your livestock, and, if you're lucky, land you in jail. If you're not lucky... well I don't even want to think about it. "
ZX10 Stability
-"The bad feature of all this is that on any type of ruffled surface your hero pose is likely accompanied by some righteous headshake totally unchecked by a steering damper because there isn't one. What's up with that Kawasaki? You cheap bastards. I saw Jesus, Mohammed, and the entire Bhagavad-Gita flash before my eyes 10 seconds into my first straightaway!"
Analysis
"As a final note it must be emphasized that aside from being way fast, all of these bikes are also astonishingly competent.There is truly not a bad motorcycle in the entire lot and ranking them from first to last is largely a matter of splitting hairs. Only a dolt would be anything other than deliriously happy with any of these incredible motorcycles. All eight are eminently worthy flagships of their respective factories. "
So, as always, if you're in the market for these sort of bikes, it boils down to a matter of personal choice - but isnt it great to have this much choice!