It may be the sportbike that sits on the bedroom wall as the ‘poster boy’ for motorcycling but in the real world it is the unfaired ‘naked’ that offers most choice for buyers seeking high performance thrills on two wheels.
Indeed, while the likes of Triumph, KTM and MV Agusta have ducked out of the ‘faired’ game (for now…) they are all present and correct in the so-called ‘Super Naked’ category, alongside the likes of Kawasaki, Ducati and Aprilia.
It’s a competitive category too, so much so that it has spun off into what is now referred to as the ‘Hyper Naked’ class.
While it is up for debate what differentiates between ‘Super’ and ‘Hyper’, the class has never looked stronger with a ‘superb’ array of options for those wanting to reveal all in style.
Last year we crowned the Kawasaki Z H2 as our favourite Super/Hyper Naked for its blend of supercharged responsiveness, real-world useability and good value, defeating the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S, which we lauded for its turn of speed and desirability but marked down for being a full £5k more than its Japanese rival.
This year, however, has seen a number of updated pretenders vying for Kawasaki’s throne, including the all-new Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS, which has gained more power, more tech and more desirability to nudge it towards hyper territory, while the Aprilia Tuono 1100, MV Agusta Brutale 1000 RR, Honda CB1000R and BMW S 1000 R have all had significant updates.
But which do we rank as our number one… hit play and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the YouTube channel!
