2003 YZF-R6: Not To Be Outdone... - Motorcycle.com
Editor's Note: The Red and Yellow models shown here are European-spec bikes and won't be delivered to the US. American bikes will feature blue and gray paint schemes.
Meanwhile back in Espana...
There I was... Over the blind hump just after Circuito Almeria's downhill-plunging turn one, turning right, and inserting my ram-air snout as deep as I dared into the long left that follows with Cycle News's Blaze Conner and Army of Darkness Agent Phlegming breathing hot sangria breath down my neck, lips peeled back in a death grimace, puck smoking, man and machine genuflecting as one, when ZOT! goes that bastard Don Canet up the inside, slithering on the left edges of his tires like a serpent with a freshly swallowed wildebeest he gathers his R6 up before shooting back in front of my bow BASTARD! when ZING! Randy Mamola appears off to starboard, leaning on my right front four-piston caliper... Bringing all my experience to bear, I froze at the controls and they all went on by. Whatever. I'm a JOURNALIST for God's sake, THIS IS NOT A RACE!
They turned us loose on the bikes for a day on the street, too, and on the street--bearing in mind that this is a 16,000-rpm engine displacing a mere 599cc--you can actually lug it down to 2000 rpm, in sixth gear, and roll the throttle on, and the R6 will motor slowly and smoothly away.
You want to do a lot more gear-shifting when speed's what you're after, and the `03 is improved there, with a heavier (heavier!) shift drum that bangs the next gear in more securely--also revised dogs and
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