ROUNDING UP...

So what have we learned? Well, mostly that all three of these bikes made us ride like utter nobs. Every junction was a chance for a stoppie; every straight a chance to pull a wheelie; every market square a chance to rev our engines loud and see how many people would stare our way. Childish, you say? I couldn’t agree with you more, but what a laugh we had. For once our focus wasn’t on peak horsepower or on how blingy our suspension was, the aim of this game was to extract the most fun possible from each of our weapons in every way possible. None of these bikes represent traditional supermotos, but arguably the 701 was the closest. On track, Frodo had the lightest, most nimble and effortless option to throw around. My Ducati was all about the ride quality, delivering the most power in the most usable of ways. Boothy’s was about carrying his large derrière around in sheer comfort. Each of these bikes had their pros and cons, making their choosing subjective to who you are, what you want and how you ride. For me, the Ducati was king, and if you asked Carl he’d probably say the same about his Husky. As for Boothy, he’d just probably offer up a long list of excuses as to why he wasn’t fastest around the track… but he showed us up good and proper in the stunt department. The Aprilia was as playful as the others when you asked it to perform, which was all that mattered. In reality, none of these bikes mimic a 100kg, 60bhp moto-crossbased motard, but that’s a good thing if you plan on doing more than riding round in circles on a track. In essence, the motard spirit was evident within each of these offerings and the proof was in the way it made us ride. They were brilliant, and a breath of fresh air for each of us. From a pure fun point of view, you’d have to dig deep to mirror their laughs per miles… but just make sure you’ve got a few spare points on your driving licence.