We put seven of the best naked middleweights through our toughest test ever...
Three things in life are certain. Birth, death and at some point you will own a middleweight 600. Everyone I can think of has, at some point in their biking life, done their daily commute on one of these best sellers or its predecessor. It's just a fact of life. When you're looking for a cheap bike that will still offer some thrills then the middleweight class is the one to go for.
And when you're talking about success, these bikes make Bill Gates look like a spotty teenager flipping
burgers for a living in a fast food joint. Middleweight 600s are the best selling bikes in both the UK and Europe as a whole, and have been for several years. Which isn't surprising when you look at what you get for your cash.
This category of bikes is designed to be everything to every man or woman. They are daily commuters, traffic beaters and weekend play things while still offering tremendous value for money, low insurance and good looks. What more could you ask for in a bike?
In fact they are so popular we have had to bring you the biggest and hardest group test ever done just to split these bikes. We tested seven of the best naked middleweights - three of them brand new for 2004 - from six different manufacturers on the road, track and city streets, as well as finding out which is the fastest, cheapest to insure, toughest built and the biggest bargain in the showrooms.
We strapped them on the dyno, ran them dry on fuel to avoid you getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, scraped parts so you don't have to, weighed each bike with a full tank of fuel and even photographed them from every angle so you can cut out the pics and decide which would look best in your garage (although if you do please don't call us to tell us about it).
In our new style group test we left no stone unturned and no box unchecked in out pursuit to find the middleweight champion of the UK.
So before you part with hard earned cash read on to see where the clever money goes and which one punches above its weight.
Continue the 2004 Middleweight Nakeds test
