Video: 100 years of supersports

Middleweight sports bikes – usually of 600cc – have a history that goes back well beyond the first of the modern era, the Kawasaki GPz600R of 1985.

In fact, the first sporty middleweight was built 100 years ago in 1912 and could hit 60mph.

To chart the progress of 600s, MCN rides three milestone bikes from very three different generations – a 1912 Rudge, Velocette Venom from 1962 and a new MV Agusta F3.