Fireblade - mmmm I’m not so sure that this 2000 model fits the comic book monster image that the name suggested of the 1992 model. The big body builder type of styling is a lot smoother than before. It still packs a wallop, but in a different way.

The R1 is like home made potato schnapps, the Honda is more like 12 year old Malt Scotch, its still gonna get you pissed, you’ll just not realise how far-gone you are.

The Fairybread was the first bike I rode for this test and we set off into the hills outside of Brisbane for a , shall I say spirited ride. Unlike the GSXR the blade can be ridden in one of two play modes. Rev the nuts off it in a low gear or up to a high one and use the grunt at the twisty bits. It’s just as stable, smooth & fast either way. 

Brakes are nice (that's all I need to say), gearbox has a normal Honda clunk to 1^st but sweet after that. I do like the morning start, no choke lever to sod around with.

It was a very easy bike to get around the track on but I’d like to get it on one of my local Sydney tracks because Lakeside felt so slippery to me and I didn’t want to have to make a “Sorry” phone call to Honda (you mean it was the threats from me to handbag whip you should anything happen to the bikes - ed).

The Honda’s greatest advert was when Shannon Johnson put our very own test bike up to 5^th for qualifying in Formula Xtreme. (Shannon had problems with his own bike so was forced to qualify on ours).

It's still got that great station wagon size boot (alright a bit of an exaggeration) under the rear seat and nice little hooks for baggage and kind to feet rubber topped foot rests.  The Yam & Suzuki both look like race bikes with lights, where as the Honda, in typical Honda stance, dresses for all occasions.

GSX-R - I was but a pup when the first Gixxer came about. I wanted one then, and I must say straight away of the 3 bikes here I’d shove this girl in my garage (its one of the few bikes that give me a chubby even with race leathers on). The other two do nothing wrong what so ever, I just fell for the Suzuki.

The instruments on all three are pretty much the same, easy to read LCD speedometers and needle tachometer and instead of the old reserve tap, all have YAGROP lights (You Are Gonna Run Out of Petrol) and they must work cos we didn’t run-out.

Enough of that crap, lets get her on the track…………………….

The engine sings its way up the rev range. Sweet noise’s come from both ends of the bike, as in exhaust & sexy looking headlight positioned intake scoops.

The front tyre/suspension combo, reads the road better than a 16-year-old with a Penthouse magazine and gives just as much feel. When asked, it will happily lift all its front bits and play in the air through 1^st or 2^nd and as Trev showed in the video, stay there into 4^th with a smile.

From a standing start the GSXR nailed the R1, it kept the front wheel a great feeling one-foot off the road until the end of 2^nd gear. After about 140kph the R1 pulls level and the closer we got to 200kph it showed its extra 250cc.

It’s a sports bike and you are going to have to use the gear lever a lot more than the other bigger capacity bikes, but that’s just it, its no effort to slot anther gear into action and when you are dancing on that gear box it means that you are having fun.

Money where the mouth is time goes to the Suzuki GSXR, Honda Fireblade and then the R1. Why?

Well I'm a lucky bugger who does not have to use a bike for everyday transport and I get a fair bit of track time when I need it. However, If I did more road riding and only a few track days a year then the CBR900 Honda would get my bottom on it's seat.

Now it's over to Trev for page 3.

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