Sweet 16
Sweet 16
Wherein Cycle World flogs 16 Open-class sportbikes in a valiant attempt to determine the very best
wE HEAR IT ALL THE TIME HERE AT THE Big Book, readers calling in to ask that eternal question, “What’s the best motorcycle?” There’s no easy answer. It’s like selecting your favorite Playboy centerfold; you really couldn’t go wrong with any of them.
We usually reply that there isn’t any one best bike, that it depends on where you live, how you plan to use it, your budget, etc. But one thing we all agree on: There’s no replacement for displacement. Open-classers just have that extra bit of oomph that we find difficult to do without. Got a business appointment tomorrow in the next state? Forget about a shuttle flight, just get up early, pin it when the cops aren’t looking, and you’ll be there before noon. Got plans to roost the backroads this weekend? Great. If your middleweight-riding buddies get too far ahead in the tight stuff, just grab a handful on the straightaways and close the gap. Got a penchant for over-stuffing your soft luggage with tourist trinkets? An Open-classer won’t notice the additional weight.
But which Open-classer is best? Now, that’s a specific question in need of a specific answer-not just to satisfy readers’ phone queries, but because CWs annual “Ten Best Bikes” issue is fast approaching. Nothing to do, then, but round up the usual suspects. We’d have to determine the best bike in time-honored fashion-with a mega-comparison test.
Riffling through the 1997 CWBuyer’s Guide turned up 16 candidates-virtually every sportbike over 900cc equipped with a fairing. (Yes, we realize Honda’s VFR is a 750; it’s included here because it’s a great all-around motorcycle. And Ducati’s 916 was excluded because its track-bred ergonomics are simply too uncompromising for general street use.) That makes this the largest shootout this magazine-and quite possibly any motorcycle magazine-has ever conducted.
In order to keep it from becoming a complete cluster...er, brouhaha, we decided to break the 16 bikes down into four groups of four, pick a winner in each, and then advance those four to the finals, sort of like they do in the local Saturday-night speedway races over at the Orange County Fairgrounds.
Examining the entry list, as it were, turned up the fact that these 16 bikes (and their immediate predecessors) have won no less than 24 Ten Best Awards between them-with the potential for as many as four more in this year’s balloting. If that’s not an indication of their collective excellence, we can’t imagine what is.
So, there you have it. Sit down, settle back and enjoy the read. If nothing else, you’ll have saved yourself the cost of a long-distance phone call to Newport Beach.
CW COMPARISON
