2004 Yamaha FZ6 vs. 2004 Honda 599 vs. 2003 Suzuki SV650 | The $7000 Solution

*Overall rating is independent and not derived from category scores.

*Performance with test-session weather conditions corrected to sea-level standard conditions (59 degrees F, 29.92 in. of mercury)

Off the Record

Ford
Age: 50
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 235 lb.
Inseam: 32 in.

I looked forward to riding these puppies. For some reason I never seem to get any seat time on the 600s that ebb and flow through the MC garage like underaged fly girls through Snoop Dog's hotel suite. I'm anything but a middleweight: Could it be that the 600s cower behind the cruisers when they hear my thundering steps on the concrete stairs? Regardless, these nakeds let me catch up and climb aboard for once. And I have to say that my favorite day-in, day-out 600 isn't even in here: It's the still-for-sale, still-worthy Yamaha YZF600R. No, it's not naked, but neither is the FZ6. And for a few dollars less than the naked Honda you get great ergos, adequate wind protection, full-adjust suspension, a great, flexible motor and still-simmering looks. I'd ride the wheels off it as is. Or find a crashed one, strip off the fairing, get out the flat-black Krylon and build my own Anglo-Asian Speed Four. -Dexter Ford

Cook
Age: 40
Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 190 lb.
Inseam: 32 in.

I've been a vocal critic of Honda's fondness for unusual or proprietary technology that often amounts to nothing more than tech for tech's sake. By loading up on pet theories like a teenager filling up on the bread before dinner, Honda's planners often seem to have no room left for the goodness. Or maybe it's just the accountants, I don't know. Either way, Honda, just because someone else uses the same or similar technology doesn't make it wrong.

Here's hoping the 599 signals a shift of sorts for Big Red. This motorcycle is utterly low tech-steel frame, carburetors, no-knobs suspension-yet works amazingly well and is astoundingly honest. Perhaps by spending less time vetting new technology, Honda's development personnel had the chance to take one more swipe at the carburetion, spring and damping rates, and ergonomics. In a lot of ways, the 599 reminds me of older Hondas, with anything technologically avant-garde hidden artfully behind thorough development and hours of polishing-with the result being motorcycles real people can own and enjoy. -Marc Cook

Boehm
Age: 41
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 225 lb.
Inseam: 32 in.

I really, really wanna like the Yamaha. It handles well, is comfortable and offers a list of standard accessories that would make some much more expensive bikes blush. But like so many good-but-not-great motorcycles these days, a few poor details drag it down. It buzzes bothersomely above 5 grand, feels as peaky and midrange-challenged as a 600 super-sport and has a way-clunky driveline. Too bad. The Suzuki's faults (funky styling and old-tech suspension) are much easier to stomach-and there's that lovely, throbby engine. I'm rapidly becoming a V-twin fan in my old age; inlines are just too frantic and tense for me, while Vees are loping, slow and relaxed. And I'm way too frantic and tense in my everyday life to put up with that type of performance in a daily-rider streetbike. I could ride the Suzuki every day, and often do. The CBR1000RR's inline-four? That's another story entirely. -Mitch Boehm