Well, Motorcycle online has had its 2006 big boys comparo..........
and the winner is.............
"The Honda was interesting as a demonstration of how far Honda will go to compromise or alter some of its traditional ideas about sportbike design to be the best. When Honda changed user-friendly character to build a racetrack winner, they took away a great feature that was attractive to the many novice trackday and street riders out there. Sure, it's a lot of fun for someone at Dirty's level of ability to go nuts with on the track, or do highly illegal things with on the street, but those with less ability will just be perplexed - and scared. The Yamaha is the same wonderful bike it was two years ago, but at this level -- the 1000 cc sportbike class -- the competition is demanding. A bike has to have an outstanding, earth-shattering level of performance to hold up as a winner through the three or four years of its product life cycle. The Yamaha is a great bike -- it narrowly missed winning our seven-bike 2004 Open-Class shootout -- but it's not good enough to beat two very excellent machines. All the miniscule flaws we picked about the Yamaha, like the tall gearing, slightly sloppy gearbox, and heat emanating from under the seat, added up to make the R1 feel a little old-fashioned, and it's remarkable that it beat an almost totally redesigned Honda. We think you will be totally happy owning this bike, as long as you don't mind that there are better, more modern and faster bikes out there.
That finally brings us to the more modern and faster bikes. The first is the ZX-10R. Sean was very emphatic before we started testing that it would win; ridden alone on a fast, smooth track like Fontana it seemed like an incredible, world-beating bike. But ridden in the real world, against a supremely engineered bike like the GSX-R, it didn't feel as dominating. We were also surprised when Dale, a Kawasaki fanatic, picked the Suzuki, despite raving about how fast that ZX-10R was.
The ZX-10R isn't a bad bike. In fact, it's an amazing bike. Anything that makes 166 hp --stock -- should never be dismissed out of hand. However, how that power gets from the motor to the pavement -- and how well your brain and hand can control it -- is more important than how much power there actually is.
No other bike since the first-generation R1 has won a MO shootout two years in a row with practically no changes. The GSX-R was able to win against three other very competent challengers because it succeeds in so many areas. First, it's really, really fast. If you can't use all of 161 hp, you can't use 166, either, so the Kawasaki's five-horse advantage -- which would be a huge lead in a 600cc shootout -- isn't really that glaring. Second, it's comfortable in a way that encourages the rider to go faster, by dint of that instantly familiar feeling a few of us reported. Finally, the chassis is responsive and forgiving, friendly to the less-skilled among us while still keeping those with more ability amused.
You could say all those things about the Kawasaki, too. But what the Kawasaki lacks is that angry, untamable feel that the GSX-R has. The Ten has been tamed a bit too much, but the Suzuki still has enough edge and character to really stand out in this company. We've said it before, but it still makes sense: buying a motorcycle, especially one in this category, is pretty irrational. The GSX-R is practical, reliable and a good value, but it's also a wild-eyed maniac when you want it to be. If that's what you need, then a GSX-R should be in your future".
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Originally Posted by madboy
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