2011 Gentlemen Sportbike Shootout

[Kevin_Duke]

Hey, arles, you should at least try to sound objective if you're trying to convince us of your point.

You say the FZ has a smooth powerband, but then you admit it's weak at the low end and midrange, then has a big hit at 8K.

You say the Suzuki doesn't have much midrange power, yet the dyno charts say it has by far the most midrange.

The FZ's gearbox works well, but it's clutch has a narrow engagement zone at the end of its lever travel, making it much more finicky to launch off the line.

Not sure where you're getting your mpg info from, but the FZ didn't get demonstrably better mileage in our testing. And Motorcyclist said the Z1000 (mech identical to the Ninja) got 6mpg better than the FZ in their testing.

The three main riders in this shootout have a combined 100 years of motorcycling behind them, and each of them have had experience on more bikes than most riders. Plus, both Pete and I also added our observations.

Anyway, I firmly stand behind the results of our testing. And unless you've done back-to-back testing on all three and have more seat time than our testers, you'll just have to take our word for it!