Ride all the bikes and make your own decision

I was very shocked at the out come of the MCN 2008 600s review… being a zx6 owner you would expect me to be biased, but my only advice to people is ride all the bikes and make your own decision.

I speak from experience being a biking nut and growing up with 2 stokes, hence why i like the corner speed of the 600’s, i was always reading the mags and looking for the best bikes.

It all started for me when the zzr 6oo was the bike to have over the cbr back in 1990 and compared to the old teapot style cbr is was an awesome bike, but times have moved on. The suzuki gsx was always around as was yamaha’s fzr but they were never in the running, kawasaki always had more speed and honda always had that reliabilty factor.

After owning the zzr i decided on a 92 cbr fm this was a turning point for me as it felt easier to ride quick and more agile than the kwak, this felt like a racing bike a quick mod of a micron can and dyno jet gave that extra pick up in the mid range, having lovely balance this was a bike that i could have full confidence in. suzuki and yamaha had up their game to with the srad and thunder cat, but once again honda had the overall best package.

I kept with honda up til 98 when i bought the zx6r ninja G1, now this bike did everything the honda did it was stable, cornered well, held its line, and with a little drop of the forks steered in quick too. Top speed was faster than the others and on a good day i could hold my own with the bigger bikes.

Next on my shopping list was the 2000 R6 this was another turning poin and need i say another influenced buy by reading bike mag reviews. A valuable lesson dont buy unless you test ride. This was the time i learnt about the need for steering dampers and quick steering, talk about a bike being slap happy. It was at this time i decided to go racing, entering my standard r6 in a club meeting was proof to me that the yamaha was the bike to have over the others.

Kawasaki had lost the whole point of a 600 and created a 636 that obviously would have more power and mid range, the suzuki had that ugly back end and although very capable just lacked that aggresive look, you sat in the suzuki instead of on it.

Hondas were always a favourite for the racers due to their build quality and the fact ten kate were doing the business in the racing scene, but back to the amature racing the only bike to beat me were ex hrc castrol or ex ten kate hondas that cost 10,000 quid to buy compared to my standard r6.

By this time the 1 litre class had moved on and r1’s and gsxr’s were ruling the open class it would take a good grid position and twist track even hold my own against them. I would fing myself out breaking and cornering them only to be passed back on the straights to do it all over again at the next corner. I would say an average rider on a thou could lap the same as a good rider on a six. so i bit the bullet and bought a thou k4 gsxr.

F**K ME power like you never knew, if only it could have steered like a 600. I raced this for a season but found the bike nothing like i hoped it was like it was riding me not me riding the bike. Corner speed was down and although the sheer power and acceleration was thrilling i didn’t get the enjoyment of riding the perfect racing line.

So back to this review… i now own the zx6r 07 and after riding all the others i found them all nice in their own ways, all very capable, but if asked why i picked the ninja it would be for its value for money. I have just added a full micron system and power commander 3 and its been dynoed at 125.3 at the back wheel so with this in mind,by spending the money i saved over the others buying it new it now out performs them.