The latest sportbikes: tuned and compared

The performance and handling of this year’s superbikes has never been closer. When MCN tested Yamaha’s R1 against the Honda FireBlade and Suzuki GSX-R1000 in March, it took hundreds of laps of twisty French circuits, thousands of miles and a massive expenses bill to decide on an eventual winner.

There were near punch-ups on the way to reaching our verdict and our roadtesters argued with each other for hours at a time.

In the end, we gave the honours to Yamaha’s R1, which scored an overall rating of 93% against the Blade and GSX-R’s identical 92% scores.

But that test was conducted, as is the industry norm, with completely standard bikes, provided in the trim the manufacturers want you to own and ride them in. Even the tyres were stock.

But what if you’ve splashed out on one of this ultimate trio, your mates have bought the others, then you visit the performance goodies shop? Which bike would be the best performer and handler then?

In this ground-breaking, MCN-exclusive test, we’ve done what most of you will do to your new Blade, R1 and GSX-R1000 and fitted the performance parts that count – sticky tyres, Power Commanders, race exhausts and steering dampers.

Then we’ve taken the bikes to Donington Park – just like thousands of you will do on track days this summer – for the ultimate tweaked superbike showdown.