Honorable Mentions

HONORABLE MENTIONS

DUCATI MULTISTRADA

Ducati has portrayed the fresh-faced Multistrada as a jack-of-all-trades-versatile with a capital V, long of leg and balanced beyond imagination. Turns out, this difficult-to-pigeonhole machine isn’t all that. But it’s pretty damn good. Possibly the best part is the user-friendly engine, a lively two-valve V-Twin with two spark-plugs per cylinder and air-cooling. A full line of factory accessories means the Multistrada can be easily configured for track days, cross-country tours or nearly anything in between.

SUZUKI GSX-R750

It’s a simple fact of life: More costs more. As in the Suzuki GSX-R750 costs more than the GSX-R600. And the GSX-R1000 costs more than the 750. Ditto displacement: Bigger slugs equal more power. More importantly, at least in this context, just how manageable is that power? Does it catapult you forward toward the next comer, or sideways and off-line? One thing is for certain, everyone who rides Suzuki’s all-new GSX-R750 comes away asking the same question: Might this, biking’s last 750cc repli-racer, be the finest sportbike in the world?

HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER 1200S

Long-time coming, those large, steel-and-rubber mounts that support the all-new 1203cc Sportster engine. Now, unlike in past years, the V-Twin’s movement is constrained to a vertical plane. As a result, vibration is minimized to a point where the rider no longer feels the need to visit his or her dentist on a bi-weekly basis for a filling check. Sad to see all that soulful shaking vanquished? Not us. This is a much improved, much more pleasant motorcycle. Yet at the same time, it retains the much-copied styling that made it a hit in the first place.

YAMAHA FZ6

Middleweight standards come in all colors, shapes and sizes. Not to mention prices. Arguably the best bang for your buck in this popular, broadly focused category comes in the form of the Yamaha FZ6, an aluminum-framed all-arounder with a half-fairing, nicely padded seat, up-pipes and the 14,000-rpm zip of the YZF-R6 repli-racer’s fuel-injected inline-Four. Bonus points for the standard-issue centerstand.

SUZUKI RM250

If there weren’t such a thing as a Honda CRF450R, the Suzuki RM250 would be the bike. With the bark of a factory motocrosser but running on pump gas, Suzuki’s venerable two-stroke is as close to a works racer as you will find on a dealer’s showroom floor. Out on the racetrack, it feels as if Suzuki used titanium rather than steel for all the fasteners and wheel axles, and that its suspension components should be anodized funny colors. But it didn’t, and they aren’t. So, a true works bike the RM isn’t. But it sure works like one!