The Supersport shoot-out - 2002

By JIM DUNCAN & JACOB WILLIAMS

The 600cc supersport class is a crucial area for motorbike manufacturers, simply because there's so much money involved. People buy these bikes because they are relatively cheap, most under $15,000.

Hey, I bought myself a new CBR6 last year and it's a great ride and probably one of the best purchases I ever made. Sure, it's in two or three pieces at the moment, with a few kinks in the frame, but it's fun when it works. We got to test five of the best bikes on the road and track, which wasn't too bad, considering our crash record. And, at the end of the day, not one bike was lobbed into a wall. See, miracles do happen!

The track we used was sodden when we arrived. Still, we'd been fasting for months just so we could fit into our leathers, so a little rain wasn't going to stop us. Anyway, things dried out for the road work so that was good.

Each bike was rated on a number of criteria and although no top speeds are given, most are around 260-270km/h. All bikes have (inline) four-cylinder engines with around 600cc of displacement.

The five bikes we tested are as follows:

Honda CBR 600F4i
Yamaha YZF-R6
Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja
Suzuki GSX-R600
Triumph TT600

Honda CBR >>