ON THE TRACKI KNOW THE R6 well, not only 'cos I raced one for three seasons in World Supersport but also because we used 'em as marshals' bikes on our track days. I've done a million laps of everywhere on R6s, and riding one is like putting on a

at the original bike, and although still not quite as slick and idiot proof as the best Japanese gearboxes, it’s now infinitely better than it was and perfectly adequate, I only missed two gears all day and one of those was my fault. Some customers also thought

the FT hardcore and pared down. You either love it or hate it, there's no in between, but it's the lack of clutter that makes this bike so much fun to ride - it's light and very small. Honestly, if you run out of petrol with one of these you could almost

, to the launch of the first credible large capacity sports bike in Honda's Fireblade in '92, 750cc four stroke sports bikes were the daddies.600cc bikes had steel frames and were for nervouse types, or for going to the shops on. 1000 and 1100cc bikes of the day

of trick bits it was. Six years later, I was about to find out whether the stock, out-the-box 2008 R6 was as good or perhaps better than the one it took me and a group of dedicated Italian engineers months to develop. At first glance the Yamaha’s YZF-R6