Heed 505

Greetings all, Road Test Editor Adam here. Motorcycle USA has just begun its sixth annual Superbike Smackdown liter-class sportbike comparison. Having just wrapped up the first phase of racetrack testing at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California this motorcycle comparison is shaping up to be the most competitive yet!

Participating in this year’s Superbike test is the all-new 2009 Suzuki GSX-R1000 and 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1, both of which Executive Editor Steve Atlas recently rode. Check out his R1 First Ride article and GSX-R1000 First Ride for an insight on the updates.

Motorcycle USA's annual Superbike Smackdown odyssey has just begun. Stay tuned to find out which new liter-class Superbike is right for you.

Also making an appearance this year is the successor to Ducati’s 1098 Superbike, the big-bore 1198 Superbike which MCUSA VP Ken Hutchison sampled along with World Superbike racing champ Troy Bayliss at Portimao, Portugal. Joining the trio of new machines is the returning champion from last year’s Superbike Smackdown V, the Honda CBR1000RR as well the runner-up, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

The folks from Pirelli showed up with a truck filled with its World Supersport spec Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa racing tire. Each machine was fitted with the ultra-sticky rubber in order to make sure that each of the bikes was on equal footing.

And after a full-day of ripping around the racetrack I can’t believe just how good all of these bikes are. Think about it for a moment. For right around $16,000 ($12,000 for the Japanese bikes) you can have a 400-some pound machine that pumps out over 150 horsepower at the rear wheel and does over a hundred miles per hour in second gear! Add in a set of $400 racing tires and you have a machine capable of outperforming a $200,000 supercar!

Stay tuned as we have an epic street ride planned as well as top-speed and performance testing at an exclusive and top secret testing facility. We’ve also penciled in some dyno time in order to find out which one of these Superbike motorcycles is truly the fastest. Stay tuned, as this test is shaping up to be the best ever!

Mached-out aboard Suzuki's GSX-R1000 at Thunderhill Raceway Park.