Honda CBR1000RR

Honda's Fireblade revolutionised the sportsbike market in 1992, setting new standards in performance, handling and excitement, but over the years - like all of us - it has become slightly more civilised, and now even comes with optional luggage. Could the Fireblade's fire be fading? Chris Moss finds out.
Racetracks are the only place to test the latest generation of road-going superbikes. Their huge power and speed dictate no other environment is sensible enough to sample them to the full in any sort of safety. That's clearly what Honda thinks too. and the Losail MotoGP track was the venue chosen for the press to ride its new 2008 Fireblade.

BMW HP2 Sport

ONCE A BASTION OF TWO-WHEEL CONSERVATISM KNOWN PRIMARILY for sensible, durable touring bikes with superior saddlebags and high technology, BMW has done something strange: It's added plastic sliders to the cylinder heads of its latest, most performance-oriented bike ever. Further, those plastic, replaceable inserts are mounted in carbon-fiber valve covers. Crazy times, yes. but, get this: those covers enclose dual overhead cams. And there wasn't a saddlebag to be found at the recent BMW HP2 Sport press launch.

Suzuki GSX-R750

It's a two-year-old model so what's it doing here? Can Suzuki's middle Gixxer match new contenders?
Try as the Honda and Triumph might, but there's no kicking sand in this reluctant bully's face. Even though the pair dance round the Tarmac track and take to the local roads like natives, the Suzuki feels like it can deliver a knockout blow at any point of its choosing.
But rather than the GSX-R750 feeling like a clumsy blunderbuss, blasting its way past its diminutive but daring rivals, the Suzuki somehow feels every bit as cultured as the Honda and ultimately delivers a kick that not even the Triumph can match.

Honda CBR600RR

Since the original CBR600RR was released in 2003, Honda has boasted claims of kinship to its far-off relative, the RC21IV MotoGP racebike. Sure, the RR shared technologies with the purpose-made Grand Prix racer, like Unit Pro-Link suspension and such, but in reality, that's where the similarities stopped. The bike was overweight from its inception and was more street-focused than any other 600.

BMW R1200S

After a year's hiatus, BMW's sporty S-model Boxer returns to the company's lineup, leaner, meaner and with 85 more cc of displacement. It's the most powerful Boxer engine to date, cocooncd in the sportiest chassis ever to house a Bavarian flat-Twin. The result is an enticing package.

Ducati 1098

When Ducati introduced its 999 in 2003, the bike's radical styling caused quite a stir. Certainly the sensually shaped 916, 996 and 998 models preceding it proved a very tough act to follow, and sales suffered as a result. But with the new 1098, which is fresh from the ground up, it's visually apparent that Ducati has a winner here.