In the early 1990s, 400cc race reps were all the rage. But that was nearly two decades ago. Are these pocket rockets still a viable buy in the secondhand market or simply relics from the past?
A radical new R1 and a spanking new GSX-R taking on the mighty Fireblade and much maligned ZX-10R, the scrap for 1000cc supremacy is closer than ever...
This is the Suzuki GSX 1250 FA – a fully-faired, wallet-friendly, four-cylinder sports tourer aimed at capturing a sizeable chunk of the UK’s 40-something market.
The brakes aren't all that good and it's not very comfortable either, but the 2000 GSX-R750 Y-K3 is a modern classic and so much more individual than your ten-a-penny GSX-R1000s and R1s.
Ask most riders what bike they think did the most to define the 1990s and they will probably say Ducati’s 916, Honda’s FireBlade or Suzuki’s GSX-R750. Which is fair enough, as those have always been the attention grabbers, but there is a bike that had a far more subtle influence during the same period – Suzuki’s Bandit 1200.
We all do it. Even if we don’t admit it. Traffic light racing. Silly and purile maybe, but when another bikes lines up alongside and the lights turn green, you going to just let him go? How to do it. And the best bikes to do it on...
It’s chucking it down. I can’t really see where I’m going as yet another errant Fiat Punto rental car appears out of the low cloud halfway across my side of the road. I’m soaked to the skin, I’m on an unfamiliar road high in the mountains and I’m not too sure of the way back to the hotel.
Upon its launch, the 2001 GSX-R1000 swept all before it. Six years later it is still arguably the best of the litre sports bike brood, but how does it handle in the fiercely fought second-hand sector?