The guys at the UK's SuperBike magazine recently took Suzuki's new GSX-R 1000, Honda's CBR 929 Fireblade, Yamaha's R1 and Kawasaki's ZX-9R to the Almeria circuit in Spain followed by some road miles around Europe to see how they perform in the real world.

SuperBike magazine have kindly allowed us to reproduce some of the test, which featured in their March issue. Go buy the magazine for the full story and lots of silly photos.

They scored each area of the bikes by percentage.

One of the testers (Jim) gave his opinion and summed each bike up as follows.

ZX-9R, 4^th - "There is no doubt the ZX-9R is out of its depth in these waters. It is a big, heavy, comfortable sportsbike that is more at home being a high speed cruiser rather than a cutting-edge weapon. It does everything well but does not blow the skirt up like the others can. Kawasaki have been well and truly left behind in the hyper-sports stakes; they no longer have anything to bring to the party, which is a great shame. If race development is anything to go by, one could be forgiven for thinking they have simply given up."

R1, 3^rd - "I feel guilty awarding the oh-so-sexy R1 the bronze medal. It's still stunning to look at and can boast the smoothest, creamiest motor in the business. But it bothers me that no two R1s ever feel the same. Some feel faster than others, some have suspect gearboxes, and some handle dreadfully. The R1 loses out on high speed stability, particularly on bumpy B-roads where the front end wriggles and twitches while the Honda or Suzuki would digest lumps and bumps with ease. Time has come for Yamaha to up their game."

Fireblade, 2^nd - "I feel that the Blade is as good a package as the Suzuki, but clearly with a 60cc and major performance deficit. The handling is sharp, it will easily out-brake its rivals and has by far the best riding position. Does the Blade really need a one-litre motor to be a better bike? I think not. It is a finely balanced machine in every respect, certainly the easiest to get on and ride hard straight away. In fact, I'd wager that 90% of trackday riders would put their fastest laps on the Honda rather than the R1 or GSX-R. Let down by dull styling - should look more special."

GSX-R 1000, 1^st - "I don't think any of us were fully prepared for the Grade-A kicking that the Suzuki was about to administer to its rivals. But Suzuki have gone and given us a devastating package of weight, power and handling that slaughters the opposition. It doesn't just beat the R1 in every department, it utterly murders it. This bike is closer to perfection than any four-cylinder bike yet made, with improvements only (arguably) necessary in the braking department. The GSX-R is the new boss by a mile. And that is bloody impressive."

Continued.........