Not long ago, on an Island in the middle of the Irish sea, the 44T wrecking crew embarked upon a quest to find the very best production sportsbike over the mountain section of the Isle of Man TT course. And we found it. You?ll find no spoilers here, but I will say the winner was the most expensive bike on test. If that doesn?t give the game away, I don?t know what will. Anyway the winner, which was roughly £25k, was absolutely incredible; but when asked if it would be the one I?d buy, my honest answer would be no. Because, if you ask me, the perfect superbike might cost you £25,000, but you won?t find it in a showroom. And this is why?

Shelf life

Off-the-shelf-superbikes of the 21st century are, as a rule, very good. In fact some of them are nigh-on perfect. But none of them are 100% perfect, in every way. They?re built to suit everyone, or at least to suit the average sportsbike rider, but everyone?s different; we?re all different weights, different sizes, we all ride in different ways and want different things from our bikes. So for the manufacturers to make a production bike ?perfect? is impossible really, unless you?re talking about making it perfect for the 1% of the motorcycling population that are ?average?.
So if I had £25k to spend on a superbike, I wouldn?t spend it on a bike that cost £25k out the crate. I?d look for one that cost nearer £15k. In fact, I know that if I looked hard enough, I?d be able to find a Kawasaki ZX-10R or a Suzuki GSX-R10...