[adouglas]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here for a sec.

I ride a GSX-R750 on the street, and have an R6 track bike. I used to have a newgen Ninjette, originally stock and later jetted and equipped with a full exhaust. So I've got a fair bit of first-hand experience.

I believe that the whole OHMYGODYOUWILLKILLYOURSELF "unforgiving" "light switch" power delivery thing is vastly overblown. It's not like that. The power is formidable, sure, but if you've got any kind of self-control at all, it's not going to grab your skull like an alien face-hugger.

Can you get in a lot of trouble on a supersport in a big hurry? Of course you can... IF you ride like an idiot and get in over your head. It's all in the right wrist. On a Ninjette you can really whack the throttle. On a supersport, you can't... on street or track. It's quick... but it's not a "light switch" by any means.

I like to say that on the Ninjette, the party starts at 9,000 rpm. Ride a supersport like that on the street, and trouble awaits. If you get into the power band on any supersport you're by definition riding outside both the law and the boundaries of common sense.

So don't ride like that. Duh.

Go look up some stock dyno charts. You'll find that the GSX-R750 and SV650 are nearly identical up to about 7000 rpm. At that point the SV levels and then falls off, while the GSX-R keeps on going. Compare the SV dyno charts to an R6 and hey, look at that... the SV makes MORE power and MORE torque at the RPMs you typically use on the street. So does that mean the SV is "unforgiving?" Of course not. It really is all about the rider.

R6s kill inexperienced riders not because they're hard to manage, but because the inexperienced riders who get drawn to that bike tend to be young, male, full of testosterone and therefore more likely to think with the small head than the big one. They "need" more power so they go looking for it by choking the chicken -- I mean yanking the throttle -- I mean... oh hell. You know what I mean. Don't be that guy and you'll be fine.

So in terms of power delivery, the GSX-R750 and SV650 are very close under REAL WORLD street conditions. That's part of why I chose the 750 as my first real supersport. I rarely rev the engine faster than 7 or 8k because I don't have to... and it would be stupid to do so anyway.

Having said all that, supersports are not the world's greatest street bikes. They cost a lot to insure. Tires are far more expensive and wear out faster. They don't exactly sip fuel. They're high-profile theft targets. Low-speed maneuvering can be a hassle. Is the ride awesome? Hell yes. But it's like buying a Ferrari and using it to commute.

Most of my street miles are commuting. On a typical day my 17-mile commute takes between 45 minutes and an hour. The GSX-R is not a machine that's well-suited to that particular mission.

If I were to go out today and buy a bike for the kind of riding I actually do most of the time, it'd probably be an FZ-07 or maybe an FZ-09. I rode a Ninja 650 at a demo day about five years ago (so not the current generation) and it was a "meh" transportation appliance. Never ridden an SV, but I like the motor. Side-by-side with the Yamaha, I think it's lacking something. Triumphs are cool and sound like sex but the bug eyes really don't do it for me.