HERE’S THE THING. ALMOST all the bike “reviews” you read aren’t really proper assessments of the bike. To call them “reviews” is conceptually true. The bike is being reviewed, per se. But is it really? Or are you just being fed the specifications re-worded?
You’ll note the word “test” has largely disappeared from the headings. “Review” has replaced it. Understandably so. It’s almost impossible to “test” new bikes by pushing them to their limits on a public road. In the modern age, these limits are so far outside the skill-set of most reviewers (me included), the only thing being tested is the rider’s skill-set, not the bike.
The late Ken Wootton once told me the last bike he was kinda able to “test” on a public road was the Yamaha Thunderace back in 1996. “You gotta go to a racetrack to see what’s what on these things,” he said, then went back to running what was once a great bike mag.
Ken wason the public highways to see what it could really do.
