I did something unusual this season: lots of weekend demo rides all over Southern Ontario. There were two points to this: visit many small, nice towns in Southern Ontario on nice days, and try the biggest variety of bikes possible from Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW and Yamaha. The demos for the most part range from lame (Mosport/Bowmanville) to awesome (Sturgess Hamilton). What I was doing was riding bikes outside my past interest of mid-size sports bikes. This resulted in biased and opinionated observations. Some rides were just one bike, others were unsubscribed and I rode 3-4, jumping on whatever was free. Here’s some impressions:
Kawasaki ZX6R/Suzuki GSXR 600/750 –I lumped these in together as awesome track bikes, the right tools for the right job, but absolutely uncomfortable and just unsuited for typical road riding, between the riding positions and the peaky motors. Basically, if you get into the range of what the bikes are designed for, you will lose your licence on public roads. Trailer to TMP/Cayuga and have fun. On demo rides, blip the throttle for no good reason.
Suzuki SFV650 (Gladius) vs Kawasaki ER6-N, vs Kawasaki Ninja 650, vs Ducati 696 vs. Yamaha MT07.
Kawasaki dropped the ball on this line, the ER6N engine is really buzzy and the vibrations are really annoying, even through rubber mounted everything. This engine has a huge appeal in Europe in racing because of the Kawasaki crate engine program, but for the daily ride? No way. It needs a better counterbalancer. Strange Jet-ski wide bar position on the Ninja 650. Did not like.
MT07: ok, we have a properly balanced engine with nice low-end torque, but at 6800kms on the demo, the bike was seriously having fit and quality issues. Not liking the cheesy plastic wanna-be fake carbon fiber panels that scream eBay, and pretty useless LCD gauges. Reminded me of a cheap calculator from 20 years ago (my old ‘83 GPz had multi-colored LCD gauges). Good news is that you don’t really need a tach to ride this bike. Bad news, no way to make BOOBS appear on the LCD gauge. This would be the perfect gymkhana bike and starter bike. Very stable at low speeds, very predictable handing, very well mapped throttle. Enough power to get you in jail. They will sell a ton of these bikes, but I predict the resale value might plummet. No ABS is a real problem. Yamaha is holding out until the last minute on this. Bizarre switchgear.
Ducati 696: This is how you make a twin. Parallel twins are the cheapest way to make a two cylinder engine, but 90 degree V-twins are just better. Lots of torque and very controllable power, but the throttle mapping makes low speed city riding a problem. It’s 2014 guys, figure out the fuel injection mapping that everyone else figured out 5 years ago. Once up to speed, the quality is obvious in the suspension and brakes and the balance. Very easy to ride fast, and I would say even easier than the 600SSs. Not very comfortable for me with the higher pegs.
SFV650: I owned a SV650, so I avoided trying this bike because I assumed it would be the same thing. It’s a very different bike and that engine is by far the best V-twin I’ve tried in the size range, and the throttle is perfect on and off. They told me it has the same injectors and venturi as the GSXR750. ABS, but you would never know it. Surprisingly good bike, with some serious aesthetic issues. Apparently, the Gladius was designed on a warning to Suzuki that the SV650 was going to be classified as a super sports bike. Since the SV was targeting the cheaper end of bikes, this was a concern to Suzuki. Some lower Renthal bars or clip-ons, black/red colors, slipons and you have a Ducati competitor with much less maintenance and insurance costs. This motor is awesome, brakes and suspension are well sorted. Really needs to be customized, looks much better without the Apple computer pastel colors.
Biggest surprise: the Ninja 300. This is a jewel of a bike, with the nicest transmission and clutch, easy to ride, massive fun factor, but the brakes, either ABS or not, need serious work. These 300s need to be lighter than they are. Overall, casting aside the machismo, these bikes make total real world sense for city/suburban living.
Most fun on a demo: the Z1000 in Hamilton on twisty roads and some serious speeds. The ride was not led by Kawasaki guys. Shame about the stupid rear shock, which was sprung for Rob Ford. How does this happen?
Least fun on a demo: the Suzuki Boulevard M109R. Awkward seating position, feet-forward makes this tank impossible to corner, but that’s ok, there is no clearance anyway. Maybe on the highway across Manitoba with a Rubenesque old lady, this makes sense. Close second was the Yamaha Bolt, where the rear shocks are just aesthetic.
Overall, Japan continues to make bikes with great engines, and sub-par suspensions and brakes. It really varies on what works and doesn’t. Too short gearing is very common on many bikes –they do this just to get 0-100 and quarter mile times down, but I hate running out of gears at 90 km/hr. All this comes out in demos and is minimized by the press, which are more or less cheerleaders.
Biggest disappointment: the CB650F. This bike looks great, and has a finish quality of panels and paint equal to a car. But, Honda, Honda, Honda… what happened to you man? You used to be cool. The flagship CBR1000 had a sick cool Repsol colors, replaced by white this year. The whole line is a series of potentially exciting bikes wiped with a brush of “meh”, with automotive colors and an addiction to plastic panels everywhere (this is about cost). The CB650F just did not do it for me at all, the engine was too smooth, zero grunt, short power band, felt like riding in the backseat of a Civic. Wooden brakes. Felt heavier than it was. Perhaps the ideal bike for touring. The last holdout in the Honda line is the CB1000R, which is actually made in Italy, and designed in Italy. Seriously fun bike you can ride all day. Until you get hauled off to jail. Honda likes to put the horn button a millimeter away from the turn signal, which is hilarious on demo rides, because prior to every turn you hear 10-15 beeps from those anemic OEM horns.
The antithesis to this is the BMW R9T. Not a single plastic panel on the bike. With clip-ons and the optional tail, this will be the coolest bike out there, no wonder they are back-ordered forever. I still think they should have made the Roland Sands concept version.
Last observation: a lot of handling and throttle issues may be moot points. There are many riders on full M licenses who ride up on sport bikes and on demo rides whack the throttle, grab the brakes too early before a turn, then coast through the turn wobbling slowly with clutch in, then slingshot the bike again at full throttle. That’s sport bike riding?
