At the end of the day...
It’s close – extremely close. “In some ways I think there are more differences between all of today’s litre sportsbikes than there are between these three,” ponders Simon. “I mean, the spec of the Kawasaki and the Yamaha is really similar – they’re both parallel twins, both have similar-looking steel frames… even their prices are identical. It’s taken me two full days of riding all three of them to start tuning into their differences – and they’re very fine.”
He’s right. There is no single stand-out machine among the trio, nor is there a duff mutt that nobody wants to ride. All are welcoming and friendly if you’re a newcomer, but enormous fun if you’re experienced enough to use all their performance. So if they’re so close, how do you split them?
First to be knocked out of the cup is the Suzuki SV650 – though nobody wants to say ‘it comes last’ because that sounds unduly harsh on what is still a brilliant bike. It’s fantastic to ride, with the most impressive suspension here and a potent, pleasing engine (despite its age) for a £200 saving over the other two. But in this company it lacks a distinctive identity and suffers from an inescapable aura of ‘that’ll do’ – an apparent lack of effort and investment is evident in the overall finish. As incredible value as it is, not one of us could say we would walk past a Yamaha or Kawasaki dealership clutching six grand in our hands to buy a new SV650 – not when the competition is this good.
The runner-up spot goes to the new Kawasaki Z650. It has a much more considered, more cautious, more middle-of-the-road flavour than Yamaha’s MT-07. It’s lost a ton of weight from the old ER-6N, which has helped to reveal the impressive all-round roadster within. It’s phenomenally easy to ride, with generally decent detailing and, despite its softly spoken nature, is actually barely any slower than the MT on any good road in the real world.
But the bike all three testers want to ride home is the Yamaha MT-07. It has an intoxicating lust for life, an unquenchable thirst to make every second of every ride fun. It’s not the most precise of the three, nor the most composed at speed, but it’s the kind of bike you just end up falling for irrespective of its shortcomings. But all three bikes are so good that, in this battle of the underdogs, it’s the riders that are the real winners because we’re spoilt for choice.
“All are welcoming if you’re a newcomer, but enormous fun if you’re experienced”