The Waiting Game

THE WAITING GAME

CW COMPARISON

THE WAIT IS OVER AS THE LATEST SUPERBIKES FROM APRILIA, HONDA AND SUZUKI GO UP AGAINST THE YZF-R1

Bradley Adams

THE OLDER GENTLEMAN at the guard shack doesn’t appear to be in a hurry. The world waits. Or at least our world waits as he shuffles past the caravan of cars, stopping to make friendly but slow conversation with everyone in our group, all through a drawl that perfectly welcomes us to the farmland lining Willows, California. There’s probably some policy that keeps him from opening the gate a moment before 7 a.m. Or until every last one of us puts pen to the liability waiver hanging from his tattered clipboard. You know, legal stuff. Stuff we should’ve considered last night when we told everyone to show up no less than 30 minutes before the track opened.

None of that matters right now. Guest tester Corey Alexander and I have got a bright-blue Yamaha YZF-Ri and an even brighter 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 strapped down in the back of Cycle World’s Nissan NV3500 van. Honda’s new CBR1000RR and Aprilia’s latest RSV4 RR are sitting at the ready in vans two and three, and somewhere behind that is the overly anxious duo of Sean MacDonald and guest tester Aaron Colton. We’re all here. All anxious. All ready to throw legs over this latest crop of superbikes and put the proverbial question of, “Who did it best?” to bed. Bob, or Billy, or Wayne, or whatever his name is—because honestly I’m too excited by what’s to come to remember— is the only thing that stands between us and the answers. I bite my tongue and know the wait is almost over.

Sean, the last guy to sign his name, packs his drone away, signs the waiver, and the gate opens. It’s 2017 literbike comparison time. At Thunderhill Raceway Park. Finally.

THE TEST

HOSTED AT VENUES ranging from Utah Motorsports Campus (formerly Miller Motorsports Park) to Buttonwillow Raceway, our annual literbike comparison test is meant to pit the most recently updated superbikes against the previous year’s winner. In this case, that means we’ve brought along a standard YZF-Ri, which toppled Kawasaki’s latest-generation ZX-ioR last year, and the BMW SiooooRR before that, when tested in M form. Then there’s the standard-version GSX-Riooo, CBR1000RR, and Aprilia RSV4 RR. The first two bikes are heavily updated, while the RSV4 RR gets a fine-tuned electronics package and updated brakes.

All models tested here are equipped with ABS, when offered as an option, and pricing between the bikes is similar. The exception is the GSX-Riooo ABS, which comes in at $15,099. Compare that to the $16,699 Yamaha YZFRi, $16,799 CBR1000RRABS, and $16,999 Aprilia RSV4 RR.

We’re using Thunderhill Raceway Park’s Three-Mile Course, which can be combined with a newer Two-Mile Course to make for the longest permanent road course in the country. In 3-mile “short track” form, it features fast sweepers, rises, drops, hard braking, and some of the best trackside scenery this side of the Mississippi. Tire options were left open to the manufacturer, with Honda and Aprilia choosing Pirelli’s Diablo Supercorsa SC race rubber, and Suzuki and Yamaha Bridgestone’s Battlax Rio tires.

After the track test, we load up and point transport rigs south, toward LA, where after swapping to street rubber, we depart for a 350mile street ride that pairs freeway and fast-paced back roads to tighter canyon roads that inch us closer to San Diego. Roadracer and guest tester Corey Alexander gets swapped for the boss himself, Mark Hoyer, while Aaron Colton sticks around to chime in on braking performance. That means stoppies. Lots of them.

Somewhere between the tire torching, we find a winner—a very fast, very potent, and very deserving winner that strikes a near perfect balance in both worlds.

TRACK TIME

MORNING DEW gives way to moderately warm asphalt by the time our continental breakfast settles, and by 9 a.m. it’s time to up the pace from “you just need to look good in photos” to “let’s actually see what these bikes can do.” Leather suits start to stretch out, reference markers creep closer to reality, and our brains come up to speed. On the Aprilia or Yamaha, this is a lot to process through the morning fog, but on the Honda and Suzuki, things happen in a mellow enough manner that the first session seems like a proper warm-up. It’s the first sign of how these bikes will set themselves apart.

I do myself a favor by starting on the Suzuki. Updated with new engine, chassis, and electronics, this latest GSX-R is dramatically different than its predecessor and at the same time not. Ergonomics are the same. Comfortable. General sound and character are identical. And while noticeably reworked, the chassis gives you very recognizable levels of feel and feedback. By the second lap of the day, it’s knee down in turn two, a fast, sweeping left-hander that you can easily adjust your line through, assuming you have enough feel at the contact patch. On the Suzuki, you do. This is like hanging out with a friend you haven’t seen in years but still feeling like you never spent a day apart.

The best word to describe the Suzuki is user-friendly. The brakes don’t have a strong initial bite like on the Ri, but there’s enough braking power to get all 155 hp (measured on the Cycle World dyno) slowed down in a controlled manner. Problem? The brakes can and will fade in a matter of five or six laps, with the pad material and rubber lines at the heart of this. Once that happens, the lever creeps closer to the bar, and you have to readjust your brake markers. Almost unanimously, this was the biggest complaint of any test rider.

Although nipped and tucked so that it feels overall smaller and lighter, the 2017 GSX-R is not the lightest motorcycle of the group, an honor that goes to Honda’s CBR1000RR. Still, it is lighter than before, with easier tip-in mannerisms than the Ri and a noticeably more agile feel than the RSV4 at full lean. Pitch the bike into the corner and you’ll notice that front-end feel has improved over the previous-generation GSX-R thanks in part to new chassis dimensions, while off-corner acceleration is only stronger than the Honda; the Aprilia and Yamaha will leave the other two bikes feeling like playthings.

Peak power feels electronically limited, a point that’s driven home by the dyno graph, which shows the engine hitting an ECU-programmed wall at around 11,000 rpm. You’d have to have the most sensitive of extremities to feel the variable valve timing system come on, and with Suzuki saying the system kicks in at 10,000 rpm, that leaves you only about 1,000 rpm to make friends with it. The GSX-R’s power curve is among the smoothest of the group, and the engine feels very usable as a whole. Not the most potent or best sounding. But usable.

Suzuki’s 10-level traction control system shines. So much so that in our timed laps, we opted to leave it on Level 3 and turn the same systems on the Ri and RSV4 off (technically, an electrical error forced us to keep the RSV4’s off, even if that was the plan all along). This system feels like it works harder to maintain drive, whereas the others have strong enough cuts that you can feel them slowing you down at corner exits. No, the GSX-R’s electronics package is not the most expansive, but part of the GSX-R’s beauty is in its simplicity. In how it gives you so much through such an approachable and affordable package. At $15,099, this base-model GSX-R is great, but we were often left wanting a quickshifter/auto-blip downshifter and more, meaning we’d probably upgrade to the $17,199 R model. At that point, you have a great weapon but still something less aggressive than the Ri or RSV4.

Honda might not have been able to bring the price of its CBR down to Suzuki levels, but the general approach to the category feels the same, Big Red having stuck proudly to the “Total Control” mantra that’s been the fabric of every CBR it’s designed. To accept these bikes is to buy into the belief that an easy bike to ride is a fast bike.

POWER STATIONS: The Aprilia is the clear output king, and you feel every pony on road or track. The R1 splits the power difference between the fiery Italian—with noted dips in horsepower and torque between 5,500 and 8I< rpm-and its Japanese counterparts. Honda and Suzuki limit peak output by closing ride-by-wire throttles on top.

To a racer, that’s sometimes a tough concept to wrap your head around. You want power, and you want agility, and you want it all wrapped up in a package that makes mincemeat of any racetrack. The Honda is not fully that bike, and Corey Alexander, a former MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 podium finisher, has problems coming to grips with it at first. The CBR is almost too friendly, with less bottom-end grunt than any other bike in the group and comparatively very little top-end power—our testbike producing just 149.6 hp at 10,540 rpm.

The CBR is light though, our ABSequipped model weighing in at just 436 pounds when topped off with a full tank of premium. That’s nearly 10 pounds less than the Yamaha and 40 pounds less than the Aprilia. Yes, 40 pounds...

You can feel the difference in each of the side-to-side transitions at Thunderhill. The other bikes take serious work in the quick direction change between turns three and four, but the Honda flicks effortlessly onto its side. You could ride 10 extra laps and not feel nearly as exhausted as you would when you came in from your six-lap stint on anything else in this group. To a lot of people, that’s worth something more than an extra split second per lap.

Part of the Honda’s user-friendly nature stems from its lack of power, and we’ll admit to nearly every test rider saying they were hoping for more, especially at corner exit. Here, the GSX-R has just a little bit more grunt, while the Aprilia and Yamaha open up a noticeable gap. The difference is so great that we’d actually grab one extra downshift at the entrance of turn nine, just to keep revs up and stand a fighting chance down the back straight. Other downsides? The on/off throttle transition is most aggressive on the Honda and takes time to get used to, even if the transition gets smoother at higher rpm.

Electronics are admirable in terms of the operating window. Traction control won’t cut power the second you look at the twistgrip (when set to Level 1), but the actual cut can be overly aggressive, with power being fed in so slowly that you feel like you’re in a staring contest with the tach. You’ll blink 10 times over again before the needle twitches. This is not the fast way around a racetrack.

The quickshifter, with auto-blip downshift, tells a somewhat different story and is arguably one of our favorite systems on a production bike. Upshifts and downshifts are seamless, each gear change requiring less attention than what’s needed on the RSV4’s smooth but slightly more rpm-sensitive system. All the same, adjustments to the engine brake control system provide a nice step in performance, these systems suggesting Honda has got the right people behind the computer program, just that those guys might need to rethink their approach to traction control intervention.

UPS

DOWNS

APRILIA RSV4RR

• V-4 power/sound! • Great brake power/feel • Stable chassis

• Heavy, plus heavy steering • Inconsistent rider-aid intervention •Seat or plank?

HONDA CBR1000RR

• Light is right • Sharper looks than before • Screamer engine sound is now...unique

• Down on power • Aggressive TC cut • Chassis feel is a notch behind

SUZUKI GSX-R1000

• Comfortable ergonomics • Bargain price • User-friendly performance

• Fit and finish half-step behind • Brakes fade • Exhaust sound/look

YAMAHA YZF-R1

• Design still looks sharp • The easiest bike to go fast on • Unforgiving performance

• Aggressive ergos on street • Brakes have aggressive initial bite, tough to modulate • Unforgiving performance

The other difference between the Honda and Suzuki is in the chassis, the CBR feeling less planted than the GSX-R through the middle of the corner. On faster laps, a marginal disconnect between front and rear prevent you from rolling the throttle on that split second earlier and carrying more corner speed. Sure-footedness breeds confidence; confidence breeds speed. That small difference, combined with the CBR’s lack of power, typically led to lower trap speeds and slower lap times when compared to the rest of the group.

In many ways, Honda has built a sharper, more advanced CBR than ever. If you’d never felt all 175 hp of an Aprilia RSV4, heard the bark of an Ri, or felt how stable the GSX-R was, you’d absolutely love the bike and how manageable it was over the course of a day at the track. The problem for the Honda is that the Aprilia and Yamaha do exist. They offer more performance for the same dollar, and, in a lot of cases, the Suzuki does too—for less.

Stepping off the CBRioooRR or GSXRiooo and on to the RSV4 RR requires a mental recalibration of sorts. You’re entering what feels like a category within the literbike category, a space where that last 5 percent of comfort gives way to another 10 percent of performance. Here, it’s a mano-a-mano battle between the Ri and RSV4.

The Aprilia is the more emotionally stirring bike, its Italian lines and V-4 exhaust note putting hearts aflutter.

With updated switches and a new TFT display, it shows small signs of maturing this year but still works on that same overarching theme of racetrack performance for the street. For someone like Aaron Colton, who had never ridden an RSV4 before, it’s exciting. You couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. And I couldn’t blame him.

It takes work to fully capitalize on the Aprilia’s performance. At 474 pounds, wet, it requires a noticeable amount more work to keep down at the heart of the corner and even more upper body strength in a side-to-side transition.

The tomm-larger front brake discs and Brembo M50 Monoblock calipers on this latest version are like throwing an anchor over your shoulder and are the overall best balance between stopping power and feel. Still, 40 pounds is 40 pounds, and you’re going to feel that on a tighter racetrack, over the course of a trackday or race weekend.

The Aprilia’s chassis is rock solid at corner entry, with great stability and enough feedback to trail brake into a corner with absolute confidence. Mechanical grip is impressive, and you never tire of opening the V-4 up. With 175.2 hp at 13,300 rpm, this is the cutand-dry winner in terms of power.

Where the Aprilia struggles is in putting that power to the ground once grip starts to go away. The Aprilia Traction Control (ATC) system is updated and the bike uses a repositioned inertial measurement unit to more accurately detect the dynamic conditions of the bike, but cuts are inconsistent and tough to wrap your head around. Where a bike like the Yamaha or Suzuki shines is that its

systems step in at the same time and in the same manner, lap after lap. Assuming you don’t do anything different, you know what to expect. This system is different. In some cases it will cut power in an overly aggressive fluttering manner, as if the bike is misfiring, and in others, one solid cut. You’ll swear you were doing the same thing on the next lap, and yet the system responds differently. Trust, gone.

The Yamaha does a better job of blending performance with userfriendliness. Its chassis feels stiffer than the Suzuki’s or Honda’s, but load it properly and it’ll take you around the racetrack faster. In my first session on the bike, after getting off the Suzuki, I tried wheelying over the rise out of turn one and into turn two, but the front end snapped from side to side the second I put it down, a reminder that this one’s just a little bit more on edge.

The brakes have that same trait. There’s power—lots of it—but the initial bite is extremely aggressive and requires attention. For a racer like Corey, it was the exact feel he wanted, while for a stunt rider like Aaron, who wants power to be fed in slowly, it was too much. In reality, it’s just a different feel than the rest. Each system has their own way of delivering braking power, and you’d probably get used to each system in a matter of a few trackdays.

The electronic rider-aid interventions are predictable and a nice safety net, though, admittedly, the introduction of newer systems has this one starting to feel more aggressive than it did in years past. As an example, the bike was cutting power out of turn six, a left-hander that leads you into a series of increasingly fast kinks, and it wasn’t until I turned wheelie control off that I could really get the drive I was looking for through here. Funny how frame of reference changes things.

THE WINNER

IT WAS OBVIOUS that Yamaha’s Ri was going to have its hands full this year. Suzuki and Honda didn’t take the update to their respective platforms lightly, and Aprilia’s RSV4 was always just a few tweaks away from closing the gap. Tweaks that Aprilia worked toward this year. The difference is that Suzuki and Honda have made great streetbikes, and the Aprilia is still a motorcycle that lacks a small amount of connection between you and bike, in that last tenth of a second.

The Ri is starting to show its age.

Its wheelie control system fought us on occasion, and the chassis showed levels of aggression we hadn’t realized until comparing it to something like the GSX-R. It is still a better motorcycle. Still one of those motorcycles that makes you feel like a better rider. Still one of those motorcycles that gives you the confidence to push harder, all through stellar feel and feedback and an engine that you will never tire of. This is a motorcycle that’s as emotionally stirring as the Aprilia but with more performance than the Suzuki or Honda. It’s simply the best bike in this space. The best base-model literbike money can buy.

The wait for a new title contender continues.

APRILIA RSV4 RR

$16,999

HONDA CBR1000RR

$16,799

SUZUKI CSX-R1000 ABS

$15,099

YAMAHA YZF-R1

$16,699