just out of curiosity, does anyone really say there is a bad sport bike out there? I am guessing for 95% of us, any modern 2010+ sport bike even in stock form is more bike than we are riders.
I know this is true in my case, but I suspect the guys screaming by me feel differently. So for me it is more about reliability, safety, comfort, and cost - in that order. I also wonder about skidooboy's thoughts. He had an awful lot of tranny issues last year that cost him track time .
I have seen lots of 636 shift fork issues.... Aprilia has had their fair share of Electric and seal issues as well... Suzuki Had frame breaks, Triumph Electronics in the past, Yamaha's exploding gas tanks and Honda's.... welll their red. : )
True story. I did a NESBA Yamaha demo once at Road America. The crossplane R1 was brand new and I couldn't wait to try it. I was scheduled to ride after lunch. By then all but a single R1 had been wrecked and most of the R6's were crashed as well. A couple of the riders had even left in the ambulance. The Yamaha representatives were pissed as hell, talking some pretty damn insulting smack about what a bunch of idiots we all were, and didn't want to give me my ride. Garth explained that I was a magazine guy, coach, racer and a guest that day of NESBA. He promised that I would be very careful. I left the pits and by turn 8 of my out lap was convinced that the R1 was the worst handling sportbike in history. In fact, it was straight up dangerous. It wouldn't turn at all and would light up the rear at the first hint of throttle. I rode into pit in at the end of my first lap, parked the bike in front of the Yamaha truck and ran for my tire gauge. Front was around 23 psi. Rear was over 40 psi. I showed this to the guy running the Yamaha truck and then asked if he'd mind me checking some of the crashed bikes. That fleet of wrecks was loaded and the doors were locked within minutes and the truck was driving out the gate half an hour later. Moral of the story? There are two. First, ALWAYS check the tires, brakes and suspension before you go out on a strange machine. Those few minutes could save your life. Second? Don't send the bike show crew to run a demo event at a racetrack.