Best of the Best 06 bikes

**Riff Raff** · 14th March 2006, 08:23

The Feb issue of Bike magazine has rated the following as the best of the best in these categories.

Sports 600: Suzuki GSX-R600 *****
Sublime handling and a sweet motor with a glorious induction howl keep it just ahead of its updated-for-05 rivals.

Sports Twin: Ducati 999 *****
Superlative fuelling, awesome grunt and sublime handling… and even the looks are growing on us. Pricey but brilliant.

Basic Middleweight: Suzuki SV650S ****
Small, light, supple and rewarding – the SV delivers thrills to experienced and novice riders alike. Pretty practical too.

Big Street Bike: Triumph Speed Triple *****
Hinckley triple powers to the top of the naked pack. Attitude abnd the poise and power to pull it off. One hell of a bike.

Big Traillie: KTM 950 Adventure *****
Just as accomplished and comfortable as the BMW R1200GS, but less quirky, more powerful, faster and cooler.

Muscle Bike: Honda CB13000 ***
Best of the naked twin-shock crop. Smooth torquey and reasonably comfy below 90mph, with the best handling.

Very, very fast bike: Suzuki Hayabusa ****
The Busa matches it’s hard-man reputation for speed with surprisingly polished handling and, finally, flattering paint schemes. Cool.

Sporty road bike: Suzuki SV1000S ****
The Suzuki beat off far more expensive competition to win our test. Makes going fast easy, as only a big V-twin can.

Sports Tourer: Triumph Sprint ST ****
Triumph’s best bike yet – glorious motor, good handling and looks to buy for. And it’s good value for money too.

Ultimate Sportsbike: Suzuki GSX-R1000 *****
Redefines the toughest class of all: blindingly fast but refined; packed with character but not (too) scary. Awesome.

I’ll leave it to everyone else to spot the obvious pattern!

**White trash** · 14th March 2006, 08:29

So, if you're not riding a Suzook, you're not going anywhere. Nice to see Triumph taking a couple of top spots.

Didn't see a Yamaha there...................

**Finn** · 14th March 2006, 08:33

I think they got it pretty much bang on. The only exception is the Triumph Sprint ST. BMW should have won that hands down.

**manuboy** · 14th March 2006, 08:37

Can't see this thread going on for 4000 pages, whinging about why [insert my bike here] got missed, mentioning the infamous gixxer crashability and ending up with 12 pages on Coowpoos love of medium sized farm animals.

Then again i'm happy. Apparently i ride the 'best sporty roadbike'. Cough.

**bugjuice** · 14th March 2006, 08:53

no kawas or yamas?
so how much did suzuki pay the mag?

**Finn** · 14th March 2006, 08:56

Originally Posted by manuboy

Then again i'm happy. Apparently i ride the 'best sporty roadbike'. Cough.

No you don't. They're talking about the new model. Sorry.

**Riff Raff** · 14th March 2006, 08:59

Ooops - just noticed that some of these bikes were tested earlier in 05, so most of these are 05 models.

**Mental Trousers** · 14th March 2006, 09:06

I see the pattern now. This thread is about being gay, just like some other threads.

**Grahameeboy** · 14th March 2006, 09:14

Originally Posted by Mental-Trousers

I see the pattern now. This thread is about being gay, just like some other threads.

Welcome aboard.....free membership

**manuboy** · 14th March 2006, 09:25

Originally Posted by Finn

No you don't. They're talking about the new model. Sorry.

Another thing to like about the bike - it's not cutting edge. You might see a sliver of gold encrusted daylight between an 03-06 zx10 / gixxer etc on the road or track. The development of those machines is paramount.

Whereas the ol SV? They might quote a revision list the length of your, well, arm.. but it'll be 99% marketing ferret shit. Revisied internals blah fuckity blah. Most if not all parts apart from a few internals are probably interchangeable between most models from 03 onwards. And thats how we like it.

So i reckon i'll still qualify the bike as being in that category until somebody loans me an 06 model for a quick shift round the local loop and i can tell the difference.

**Big Dave** · 14th March 2006, 09:43

Originally Posted by Finn

BMW should have won that hands down.

They are $10-15 grand off the pace and the Sprint is a better all round bike.

**Big Dave** · 14th March 2006, 09:51

These lists only have merit as points of discussion. (as in don't let them influence a purchasing decision)

Of course the triumphs did well too - not that they didn't deserve it, but it's an English mag - they sport wood every time Mr Bloor farts it seems. You get bias in any list like this - usually the editors.

The Way KR does it - the individual testers get to nominate their individual preferences has more cred.

**Grahameeboy** · 14th March 2006, 09:53

Originally Posted by manuboy

Another thing to like about the bike - it's not cutting edge. You might see a sliver of gold encrusted daylight between an 03-06 zx10 / gixxer etc on the road or track. The development of those machines is paramount.

Whereas the ol SV? They might quote a revision list the length of your, well, arm.. but it'll be 99% marketing ferret shit. Revisied internals blah fuckity blah. Most if not all parts apart from a few internals are probably interchangeable between most models from 03 onwards. And thats how we like it.

So i reckon i'll still qualify the bike as being in that category until somebody loans me an 06 model for a quick shift round the local loop and i can tell the difference.

I have the 05 model and it is quicker than the older model............

**cowpoos** · 14th March 2006, 10:33

Originally Posted by manuboy

Can't see this thread going on for 4000 pages, whinging about why [insert my bike here] got missed, mentioning the infamous gixxer crashability and ending up with 12 pages on Coowpoos love of medium sized farm animals.

Then again i'm happy. Apparently i ride the 'best sporty roadbike'. Cough.

small,medium and large.....I don't discriminate on size.....its not what it is...its how you use it