WHAT’S IT LIKE TO RIDE A BRITISH SUPERSPORT BIKE?
To get a grip of life behind the ‘bars of a Supersport screamer, we sent Dangerous packing…
“Six hundreds are nothing new to me. I cut my teeth in the Stock 600 scene (battering Boothy) and have won everything from club races to national endurance championships on middleweight maestros. I love ’em. But as familiar as the capacity might be, my eyes were well and truly opened when McAMS Yamaha let me loose on their Supersport winning, all singing and dancing R6. I opened a few other people’s eyes too, especially after nearly looping their £30k wonder-weapon over Cadwell’s Mountain. It turns out their 140bhp Yammy reacts quite differently to my ’07 counterpart.
“In fairness, mine felt to have more grunt low down, but when the taps were opened on the McAMS masterpiece, all hell was let loose… in the best kind of way. There was no point riding it below 9,000rpm, but anything above that sent the thing mental, pulling like a train and demanding a different level of focus. It was all or nothing, and keeping the motor in its sweet spot demanded some fancy footwork on the gearbox to ensure that the revs went on buzzing. The throttle connection, fuelled by a kit ECU, was razor sharp and the same could be said about the aggressive front brakes. They were only standard calipers fitted but thanks to race-spec pads, braided hoses and the R6’s drastically slimmed down weight, the Yamaha wanted to stop on a six-pence.
“It was armed with a proper slipper clutch too, which made the package more manageable into areas like Mansfield, the Chicane and Hairpin. The more I rode it, the more I liked it, even if the suspension felt stiffer than a triple Scotch with a tequila chaser. It also felt toweringly high, with a tall seat height and accordingly grand rearsets. The ‘bars were broad, the dash was Motec and any resemblance to a street bike was pretty damn vague. This was a weapon built with a purpose that demanded a certain attitude and commitment to draw its inner brilliance into play. From its power to its setup, every aspect screamed pace… just as you’d expect from a top end race bike. What a weapon.”