Video: 2017 superbike shootout

2017 sees the return of two huge names in the superbike class in the guise of Honda’s Fireblade SP and Suzuki’s GSX-R1000R. Both Honda and Suzuki were left behind when the BMW S1000RR moved the goal posts in 2010. It made 190bhp and came dripping with electronics, but now, 7 years later, Suzuki and Honda are back, and ready to challenge the competition.

To find the best superbike of 2017 we took the two new bikes and put them up against last year’s winner – the Ducati 1299 Panigale S – and the four other top superbikes. The BMW S1000RR, Yamaha R1M, Aprilia RSV4 RF and Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

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We put them through their paces at Rockingham Motor Speedway, to see which one is the fastest on track and took them to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground to measure their acceleration, top speed and braking performance. We also took them to our dyno to find out how much power they make, and then we spent two days riding on the road in Wales in torrential rain. It’s the most in-depth superbike test we’ve ever done, and the winner is revealed in the above video.

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