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

You think you know which bike is best on track? Think again.

Twists. Turns. Suspense. Being the track portion of our mega 7-bike Heavyweight Naked Bike Shootout you’d think we’re talking about the sinuous nature of racetrack testing. No, sir. This is the plotline that would come to define this test! After conducting the street portion, some would say the outcome basically worked out as expected. Which would mean the track portion would follow suit, right? Well, as the late, great Nicky Hayden once said, “That’s why we line up on Sunday.”

If these tests were foregone conclusions, then we wouldn’t even bother showing up, and in our case, we would be lining up on a Monday and Tuesday. But that’s beside the point. What we have with the Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory, BMW S1000R, Ducati Streetfighter V4S, Kawasaki Z H2 SE, KTM 1290 Super Duke R, MV Agusta Brutale 1000RR, and Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS are seven of the biggest dogs in the naked bike category. With more than 1100 horsepower on tap collectively, it’s only right to let these things stretch their legs on a track. Naturally, we were happy to oblige.

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

2021 Heavyweight Naked Bike Spec Shootout

The Test. And The Testers

Here’s the deal. Carter’s at the Track were awesome partners in allowing us to join them at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California for not one, but two days of riding. Despite the seven-hour slog from our SoCal digs to T-Hill, the trek was worth it to experience what’s personally my favorite track in California. With a mixture of fast corners, tight hairpins, elevation change, and importantly two long straights, this is the place to go to let these dogs eat.

As it turns out, however, the weather gods had other plans in store for us as rain on the first day meant we’d have to jam two days of riding into one. Not ideal by any stretch, but when life throws you lemons…

To level the playing field from a rubber standpoint, Pirelli provided Supercorsa SC (not to be confused with the SP) tires measuring 120/70-17 front and 200/60-17 rear. Some readers might remember Pirelli’s Supercorsa TD, or Trackday, compound from a few years ago. These were specifically formulated to provide great grip without the need for tire warmers. Pirelli has since reshuffled its nomenclature and now what was once the TD tire is the SC2 front compound and SC3 rear compound we’re using for this test.

Full disclosure: we did end up using tire warmers for this test. It wasn’t the plan, but chilly ambient temps in the morning, combined with a slightly damp track and a packed schedule meant we couldn’t waste any time waiting for the tires to warm up. Nor could we risk tossing a bike down the road on cold rubber.

As for the test itself, we followed our usual procedure. Each rider would hop on a bike for as many laps as they needed to make their impressions (or determine what setup changes may be needed), then they’d come back and note down their thoughts immediately. Changes would be made (if possible), and the rider could go back out to see the difference. Rinse and repeat for all seven bikes. With only one ride day and seven bikes to test, the schedule would be jam-packed. Data was recorded on all the bikes, but because we never had clear laps, outright lap times will not be published here. However, a future story about what we learned from the data on all seven bikes is something you can expect.

Who’s riding the bikes, you ask? This time around we’ve assembled quite a cast of testers. In addition to Yours Truly and the Bossman Brasfield, Shiv Pathak, owner of Open Flash Performance, joined us. He’s personally owned, ridden, and tuned most of the bikes in this test, so his input would prove very valuable. Then we brought our ace, Mark Miller. With AMA championships to his name, Miller is also the fastest American around the Isle of Man TT. His resume clearly speaks for itself. Last but not least, we had a last-minute surprise guest tester – Ken Hill. One of the country’s elite motorcycle coaches, Hill is not only a personal mentor and coach of mine, but his training has helped several top racers across the country. He’s a hell of a rider, too.

After a full day of riding, we’re glad to report that not a single bike went down, and smiles were had by all. But how did they fare? For that, each tester filled out the trusty MO Scorecard, as is standard procedure. Just as we did with the street test, the final rankings below are based solely on our subjective ratings. But our overall scores combining subjective and objective points are included to help paint a clearer picture. As we promised before, the results were very surprising.

The Results

Seventh Place: MV Agusta Brutale 1000RR

This was the one we thought would shine on track, but as it turns out, not so much. With its decidedly sporty riding position, it was clear the Brutale preferred to be on track. Here, one can take full advantage of that aggressive seating position and firm suspension.

All of the testers agreed the low bars and high seat felt more at home at Thunderhill, but both Miller and I had a hard time figuring out where to put our heels. As silly as that sounds, I found myself having both my heels splayed out by the passenger pegs on both sides, while Miller found the swingarm blocked his foot from being comfortable. And lest you forget, being comfortable is pretty important when it comes to going fast. Miller went on to call the swingarm interference with his left foot “Unacceptable” in his notes.

Awkward foot placement aside the MV does assert itself much better on the track than it did on the street. The chassis is actually fairly impressive when it comes to stability and direction changes. Miller noted he was impressed at the amount of feel he had at the rear while exiting corners, while Shiv was impressed at the amount of roll speed he could carry through T-Hill’s fast and never-ending Turn 2.

Initially, all of us were unimpressed with the soft suspension damping and abrupt fueling from the MV, but simply pressing buttons proved to be quite the big help to change the semi-active suspension from its softest setting on the street to proper firmness on the track. But it wasn’t just the suspension that benefitted from button presses; after also adjusting the engine braking and throttle sensitivity, Ken Hill came away pleasantly surprised with the Brutale, noting its “nice, linear powerband.”

Others – as in the rest of us – weren’t quite so impressed. Yes, the fueling was slightly better after changing the mapping with Miller calling the bike “deceptively quick”, but for all the noise that engine makes, we expected it to deliver some power eventually. We noted on our street ride about the lack of bottom-end and mid-range, fully expecting the Brutale to come alive on the track. But it doesn’t. Long gearing doesn’t help its cause, but as Miller also points out, “the motor needs a bigger rush somewhere.”

Another notch in the negative column is the overly intrusive ABS, which you can’t do anything about (thanks Euro5). The ABS intervenes entirely too soon, and once it does, it intervenes entirely too much. Before that point, the Brembo Stylemas are actually quite good, but after ABS kicks in, it forces you to run wide and blow the corner, as myself, Miller, and Hill can all attest to after all coming back at various points with eyes as wide as football fields. After adapting to this by applying the brakes earlier, lighter, and longer, Hill was able to set a surprisingly quick lap time. He clearly got along better with the MV than the rest of us, resulting in his personal fourth-place ranking compared to dead last from the rest of the peanut gallery.

So, despite its nice chassis, the awkward riding position, snatchy throttle, and finicky ABS – not to mention its $33,800 price tag – the MV Agusta Brutale 1000RR finishes firmly in last place in our rankings.

2021 MV Agusta Brutale 1000RR

Sixth Place: Kawasaki Z H2 SE

Can you believe the Kawasaki, a bike that has no business being on a racetrack, didn’t finish last in a racetrack comparison? In case you didn’t catch it from our street shootout, the supercharged engine in the Z H2 really does make up for a lot of this bike’s shortcomings. Never had any of us had so much fun riding a bike on track not caring one bit about the corners. Each turn was just an obstacle getting in the way of a straight section and an opportunity to whack the throttle wide open to get the supercharger spinning.

Let’s get some things out of the way right off the bat. The Z H2 SE is a heavy bike. It’s the heaviest one here by a big amount. When you actually do try to ride it quickly on track, the pegs touch down almost instantly and some, like Shiv, found the seat – the same seat that was super comfy on the roads – to be too scalloped and prohibitive from getting your knee down. Your mileage may vary on the seating position, but the Kawi absolutely carries its weight around and drags its pegs on the ground really easily. This is a street bike, first and foremost, and it shows.

Despite the fact we were willing the Kawi to do something it wasn’t meant to do, there are more surprises than just the stonking engine. With its electronic suspension firmed up to handle track duty, the fork handled the stresses we put on it quite well. Ken Hill noted how supportive the fork felt throughout its stroke, but especially at the bottom of it while braking hard. It was a sentiment others shared as well. Its gearbox, which you could shift in either direction without the clutch, also earned high marks. The Stylema brakes were mostly well-received, except TT ace Miller called them “meh.”

What I didn’t expect to see in our tester’s notes were terms like “wiggly,” “wags,” and “shimmies,” coming from Shiv, Mark, and Evans, respectively. All of them were in reference to the rear of the bike playing bucking bronco getting on the power on corner exit. The Kawi likes to dance. Not in a scary way, mind you, but enough to let you know the chassis and shock are hustling to keep things in check. In an environment where composure is key for going fast, the Z’s protests are quite enjoyable in a way we’d never expect to like on a track bike. Still, as Ken points out, a proper shock to handle track duty (and raise the rear ride height), along with higher rearsets could really transform the Z. Unsurprisingly, it lapped the slowest of all seven bikes, but with those two modifications, we think it could cut the deficit dramatically.

2021 Kawasaki Z H2 SE