Our five most watched reviews of 2017

WE'VE collected the results and these are your favourite videos so far this year!

Starting with...

5. 2017 IN-LINE-FOUR SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT

The superbike class has been completely revitalised in the space of four years.

Back in 2014, it was looking a bit stagnant, with sales in decline and a shortage of major model developments.

Then Yamaha gave the market a big boot up the backside in 2015 with the new YZF-R1, featuring radical new electronics, not to mention styling.

BMW launched a comprehensively redesigned S1000RR the same year (although the old one was so good it barely needed to catch up).

Kawasaki answered with a heavily updated ZX-10R in 2016.

And now, finally, after making us wait so long we’d begun to wonder whether it would ever happen, Honda and Suzuki have answered with the new Fireblade and GSX-R1000R respectively.

All of which begs a question so obvious we don’t even need to tell you what it is. Let’s just get on with answering it, with our five-bike track test at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire…

Read the full review here.

4. SUZUKI GSX-S750

Whatever the GSR750 is like as a motorcycle, at least the name contains an arrangement of letters that's easy to say. You wouldn’t stumble over them or find people say “A what?”

Suzuki has fixed that for 2017 by giving the GSR the same awkward designation as the bigger naked bike in the range, the GSX-S1000.

So this is the GSX-S750, creating lineage where before there was randomness.

The name isn’t the only update. It’s been restyled to look more like the GSX-S1000 too, with new bodywork. Previously a belly pan was available as an accessory but now you get one for nothing.

Read the full review here.

3. KAWASAKI Z900 Review First Ride

Visordown Motorcycle Reviews: Kawasaki's naked Z-range is one of the pillars of the green brand from Japan-land.

It began in the early '70s when the mighty Z1 made its entrance and now one of the bastions of the range, the Z800 is being replaced by a new model – the Z900.

It’s got big shoes to fill - Kawasaki has shifted over 200,000 Z800s and its Z750 predecessor, although that also means the new Z900 has a lot of potential customers, which is why Kawasaki expects the Z900 to be its second biggest seller this year and it'll be offering demo rides. 

Power comes from a 948cc inline four-cylinder engine - it's dervied from the Z1000 and has a smaller bore size. It makes 125hp at 9,500rpm (12hp more than the Z800) and 72.72lb/ft torque at 7,700rpm. The engine is paired with a short ratio six-speed gearbox (the first five gears are short and sixth works almost like an overdrive) and has also been given a new slip assist and slipper clutch.

Here's the full review.

2. YAMAHA MT-09 vs Triumph Street Triple 765 RS

*Unavoidable brain fade and a slip of the tongue meant we referred to the Street Triple as the Speed Triple early on in the video, we know. Feel free to point it out in the comments anyway.*

Once you've done that, start the video again and enjoy our Yamaha MT-09 review and comparison with the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS. 

LET'S HYPOTHESIZE that you’ve got a mate who espouses the virtues of three-cylinder engines at every opportunity; every time you meet him for a coffee at your local bike meet, he bangs on about how his beloved triples offer a perfect balance between smooth, high revving inline four-cylinder power and the mid-range grunt of a twin.

And that’s before he proceeds to tell you about the character of his favourite engine configuration.

You think you’re immune to it but over time, the constant pro-three-cylinder rhetoric starts to rub off. You find yourself wanting to suckle on the nipple of the triple…

Fortunately, you’re not short of choice. Two of the most exciting three-cylinder bikes to grace showrooms in 2017 are Yamaha’s eye-catching, budget priced and updated-for-2017 MT-09 and the new Triumph Speed Triple 765 RS – the range-topping model in the family of new Speed Triples. We plumped for the top-bollock RS not just because it’s got the most power and best spec of all the new Street Triples, but also because we wanted to see whether, if you’re in the market for a naked three-cylinder, you need to spend RS money to get the best bike.

Read the full review here.

1. KAWASAKI Ninja 650 

Kawasaki's new beginner-friendly big bike is a replacement for the ER-6f, but does it really deserve to be called a Ninja?

It’s a powered by Kawasaki’s 649cc parallel-twin engine, which makes 69hp at 8,000rpm – that’s three less horses less than what the ER-6f delivers but it ain’t all bad because with 48.46lb/ft on offer, the Ninja 650 has slightly more torque than the ‘6f.

With a claimed kerb mass of 193kg, Kawasaki says the new Ninja 650 weighs 19kg less than the bike it replaces. Weight reduction comes from a new lighter steel trellis frame (saving a claimed 10kg), a new swingarm, plus lighter five-spoke wheels. It’s all sounding very Ninja-ry so far.

Kawasaki says it’s the Ninja 650 is less thirsty thanks to a 6.8% improvement in economy and the Ninja 650 also boasts a slip assist and slipper clutch, adjustable shift light, new Nissin brakes, an X-shaped LED rear light assembly and a centrally-mounted rear shock.

Read our full review here where we compare everything including cost, style and performance.