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Perhaps the best sport bike ever built.

I bought one of these bad boys brand new in '04 after upgrading many times the previous few years. I went from a '98 gsxr 600 to a '98 r1 and then a '00 rc51 in the span of four years before getting this demon. I figured at the pace of technology and the way I switched bikes I would only have this... ride for a few years before the next best thing came out. BOY was I wrong. Sure there were more refined bikes that hit the market, but I prefer I bike that needs to be tamed, not accesorized to become an animal. This bike still scares the crap out of me even today. Not a single bike I have ridden has given me the kind of rush this beast does. Not my buddies multiple gixxer 1000's, not my other buddies '08 zx10r, of which I slaughtered handily in roll ons and twisties with nothing more than a devil high mount slip on and one tooth down on the front sprocket...and he is the better rider. Hardly the mods you would expect to make a bike beat its four years younger and much more advanced brother.

As far as I'm concerned, the litre bikes from '04 and '05 (except for the cbr...) were the best of this era so far. Light, powerful, flickable and a blast to ride. Not bloated by electronics that takes nothing more than a trained right hand to control. They should be called neutered bikes, not superbikes.

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