MOTORCYCLES
46 ROAD TEST:
ON THE COVER
2007 HONDA CBRR600RR
Twenty years down the road. Honda's
Hurricane is still a force to be reckoned with.
Mitch Boehm recalls the early years and
tests the latest example.
62 FIRST RIDE:
ON THE COVER
2007 KAWASAKI ZX-GR
After years of gentle makeovers, Team
Green unleashes the baddest Ninja 600 yet.
FEATURES
ON THE COVER
72 FREDDIE SPENCER ON THE
HONDA RC211V
From NR500 to RC21IV with the only man
to have ridden them all.
82 KENNY ROBERTS ON THE
KR211V
The King takes the Prince's throne for a spin.
88 CARY NIXON ON THE
KAWASAKI ZX-RR
Three decades after he last rode one, a
legend swings a leg over a GP bike.
96 KEVIN SCHWANTZ ON THE
SUZUKI 6SV-R
The '93 world champ tries out the '06 model
and calls it a big improvement.
DEPARTMENTS
8 CHECKERS
Doug Polen, the thinking man's racer
11 CAT TALES
Save Monza.
14 LEAN ANOLE
I think I'm in trouble, Part II
34 BACKFIRES
Ducatis good and bad.
40 MEGAPHONE
Welcome back, Aaron Frank.
42 WHO KNEW?
Never let the truth get in the way of an
inflammatory editorial.
108 GEAR BOX
A back protector guide, a nice suit, an
inexpensive jacket and the best electric
vest made.
138 HARD NUMBERS
ONTHE COVER
UP TO SPEED GE®
18 FIRST LOOK: VICTORY VISION
Gold Wing meets Road King, with a twist.
21 FIRST RIDE: DUCATI 1098S
Special starts with 5.
23 MOTO GUZZI 1200 SPORT
Sport in name only.
26 MOTO MORINI 9 ?
Coming to America ... someday.
29 KAWASAKI VULCAN
900 CUSTOM
Live long and prosper.
30 RIDE WITH US!
Motorcyclist's annual Alps Challenge Tour and
Fantasy Camp II.
MC GARAGE
120 $1500 STREETBIKE SURGERY:
SUZUKI DR Z400SM
Putting the super in supermoto.
125 SMART MONEY
2003-2005 Yamaha YZF-R6: Just right
127 DOIN'TIME
Tim's lucky 13, Marty's VFR bagger and
Mitch's Fizzer
130 TRACK TIME
Mike Seate goes One on One with
Doug Polen.
133 STREET SAVVY
Night School
134 ANSWERS
Two queries from an eager new GSX-R owner
and a backfiring V-Star.
'Damn! This thing feels like a freakin' 7501"
The thought flashed on my internal screen while ripping
through Barber Motorsports Park's back-straight chicane dur-
ing the '07 Honda CBR600RR press launch[last November, the .
rear Dunlop tracing a mild darkie as I exited hard on the gas;
the tach needle wavering right up next to the red zone..
The idea registered again a few weeks later on a desolate
back road north of Los Angeles. The way the new CBR leapt
past 100 mph on its way to about a buck-thirty had. me
squeezing the tank with my knees to keep from being blown
off the back. . .
What's funny is that exactthought had crossed my mind 20
years earlier about another CBR600—the veryflrst CBR600, in
fact Talk about a deja vu moment
It was late '86, and I was at Honda's Tochigi test facility
for the launch of the just-announced'87 CBR600F, or 600
Hurricane as it would be called in the U.S. The 2.4-mile test ...
And much more!
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