Battle Royale: 7-Way Heavyweight Naked Bike Shootout - Street

The big boys in the naked bike category duke it out on the street.

Welcome to Motorcycle.com’s 2021 Heavyweight Naked bike Shootout. If you haven’t noticed, 2021 has been the year of naked bike shootouts here at MO. We’re dubbing it Motorcycle.com’s Naked Summer, and it has all been building up to this moment – seven of the biggest, baddest naked bikes on the market today. We’ve teased the bikes on our Youtube channel for days now, and we’ll also assume you’ve already seen the specs for these seven monsters in our Spec Sheet Shootout, expertly crafted by Dennis Chung.

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The players? Well, check them out for yourselves:

• Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory: New and improved for 2021, the bones are still the same basic bike we’ve loved for over a decade.
• BMW S1000R: We’d yet to ride this updated version of Bavaria’s naked missile, and with all the changes done to it, a strong showing looks promising on paper.
• Ducati Streetfighter V4S: I mean, it has the word fighter in its name. It was meant for this test.
• KTM 1290 Super Duke R: Whenever there’s a battle royale, KTMs are ready to party. None more so than the 1290 SDR.
• MV Agusta Brutale 1000 RR: A rolling sex symbol, if its performance can match its looks, then the MV will be a runaway hit.
• Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS: The most focused and aggressive Speed Triple to date, Triumph has finally bulked one of its most popular motorcycles to compete in this class.

For those following along, you may have noticed that’s only six bikes. What’s the seventh, and final, bike? None other than the Kawasaki Z H2 SE (standard version linked here). Some might call it an outlier, and maybe it is, but it’s a naked bike, priced similarly to the others and features similar components. Most importantly, it has something none of the other bikes here offer: a supercharger. Don’t threaten us with a good time, Kawasaki because yes, we will let them roll.

These seven motorcycles are as trick as they come in the 1000cc (and above) heavyweight naked bike field, and it only makes sense that we save the best test for last. With the most horsepower, sharpest chassis’, and most sophisticated electronics available in the category, this is the cream of the crop for those who enjoy the performance of a big sportbike but want the all-day comfort and usefulness of a naked.

Before we go any further though, let’s address an elephant in the room: Yamaha’s MT-10. Or rather, the lack of one. Since it hasn’t won any previous versions of this test, nor has it been updated for 2021 (which is not the case for the recently announced 2022 version), the difficult decision was made to leave it out this time around (despite my objections, let the record show…).

So, enough with armchair quarterbacking based on a bunch of numbers and figures. It’s finally time to ride these seven bikes to see exactly how they shake out against each other. First up, the street portion.

The Test

As usual, Ryan took each bike and put them on MO’s digital scales with a full tank of gas. We also put each bike on the dyno, this time courtesy of Jamin Mathis, owner of Wrench Motorcycles and owner of the MotoAmerica Twins Cup team by the same name. Jamin warned us his dyno reads lower than most, which appears to be true when we compare these numbers relative to other dynos we’ve used. Nevertheless, all the bikes were placed on the same dyno, so the results should be relatable to each other.

Since this is the street portion of our shootout, we followed the same protocol as we did with all of our other naked bike tests this year. We made multiple runs through our 100(ish)-mile test loop, complete with city slicking, freeway drumming, and of course, canyon carving over a variety of pavement conditions. This would prove a good test of the bike’s comfort as well as its chassis and suspension. As an added bonus, all but two of these bikes are equipped with electronic suspension. The semi-active function of these suspenders are tailor made for conditions like this, so it will be interesting to see how they work in the real world.

Unlike our route, which has remained the same over the course of our various naked bike tests, the cast of testers looks a little bit different than before. In addition to myself, Evans, Ryan, and John, Mike Vienne, proprietor of Championship Cycles, joined us for the ride as well. A skilled rider who also builds bikes that are as much go as they are show, his opinions on these seven examples of exotica are not only valued, but also come as an interesting contrast to our jaded outlooks.

The Results

As usual, we kept mental tabs on how the bikes performed, and also kept written tabs on things like weight, price, fuel mileage, and more. Those specific metrics can be found on the Spec Chart Shootout and also at the bottom of the page. After putting each bike through its paces on public roads, talking amongst ourselves about things we liked and didn’t, it was time to tabulate our scores on the trusty Motorcycle.com scorecard. Ranked in a number of both objective (price, weight, power, etc.) and subjective (engine, suspension, grin factor, etc.) categories from 1-10 (except the Engine category, which is rated from 1-20), the scorecard came through this time with some surprising, and not so surprising results.

In a break from tradition, however, the results you’ll see below come from our subjective scoring as opposed to our overall scoring which tallies both objective and subjective scores together. Why? Because with the exception of the $33,800 MV Agusta, we think that once you’re willing to spend 20-large on a motorcycle, a little bit here or there won’t be a deal-breaker (We wouldn’t know. We’re poor). Instead, the bikes should speak for themselves. So, without further ado, here’s how each stacked up:

Seventh Place: Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS

This one doesn’t seem fair. Triumph has made arguably the best Speed Triple so far and here it’s mired down at the bottom of the pack. This just goes to show how fiercely competitive the class is. That Triumph, arguably one of – if not the OG – of the class brings up the rear of this field should tell you something. However, just because it didn’t rate highly here doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things to love about the new Speed Triple.

Personally, I loved the way the Triple roars once it gets high in the revs. The fuel mapping was one of the best in this test, and that signature three-cylinder sound and personality are as lovable as ever. Also lovable is its neutral ergos and fairly nice seat. This is a bike you wouldn’t mind riding as your daily because it can do a little bit of everything, keeping it true to the original. Being the lightest here at 432 lbs, it’s easy to toss into turns and move it around as you wish. Light is right, and the Speed Triple is a perfect example. It changes direction nicely and steers with confidence.

So why did it rank near the bottom? Well, for one, the quickshifter on our particular test bike was malfunctioning. That was a bummer but obviously doesn’t reflect on all Speed Triples. More importantly in this company of amazing motorcycles, the Speed Triple didn’t stand out from the crowd. It didn’t do anything necessarily wrong. The others simply did them better. That’s how cutthroat the class is.

Evans:

Although Triumph has said repeatedly that the Speed Triple is a street bike first, the stiff suspension says otherwise. It’s hard to explain how one factor can make such a big difference in riding experience, but it does. I don’t think that these issues could be tuned out without new springs and possibly revalving. That unpleasantness aside, the Triumph steers nicely, and the engine is supremely capable but just isn’t as flashy as most of the others. Consequently, I ranked the Speed Triple near the bottom of the list on the street.

John:

In a bunch of motorcycles with big personalities, the Triumph just seems a bit staid, and boring isn’t the word, or is it? I mean, in no way are any of these bikes boring, but it’s all relative, and there’s just nothing about the Triumph that stands out besides its lightness – and that’s not really obvious from the saddle. It is a comfy freeway traveler if that’s important. I never got over when they plucked out the bug-eye headlights.

Ryan:

The Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS is an excellent example of the level of refinement the British-based manufacturer has been delivering as of late. For a bike to live with, the Speed Triple delivers a smooth ride in terms of throttle response, power delivery, and chassis character. The suspension is set decidedly sporty and firm from the factory, but the Ohlins units offer plenty of adjustment. Whether bouncing around town, commuting, or blasting through the canyons, the Triumph delivers. In this class of fierce competition though, the Speed Triple’s overall performance doesn’t quite stack up to the top four. Six out of the seven bikes we tested here are bound to make any performance-minded nudist blush.

Mike:

I had high hopes for the Speed Triple – according to Triumph, it’s the most technologically advanced, fastest, most powerful Speed Triple to date- a clean-sheet redesign. In the past, it’s been a favorite of mine both for its usability and its uniqueness. Unfortunately, I felt that the previous R bike suffered from an overly stiff suspension that even the wailing banshee of the 1050cc motor couldn’t make up for. Triumph carried over many excellent traits from the previous version (slim, comfortable ergonomics, respectable fit and finish) however the suspension still feels harsh and the new 1160cc motor just doesn’t punch the way other bikes in this class can. I wish Triumph had rewritten the script for the Speed Triple, but instead, they seemed to have just cribbed from it.

2021 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS

Sixth Place: MV Agusta Brutale 1000 RR

If looks translated into performance, we could stop right now and call the MV Agusta Brutale 1000 RR the winner by a landslide. Alas, we actually have to ride the bike, and that’s where the MV starts to falter. To put it bluntly: the Brutale was absolutely uncomfortable to ride in so many ways. Combined with its $33,800 price tag, the highest here by a mile, and its overall last-place showing starts to make sense. Surprisingly though, despite the fact it was the bike all of us tried to ride as little as possible during our street ride, its stunning looks were enough to just edge it out of last place on our subjective rankings, Evans and Mike so enamored by it to give it a 4th place ranking.