It's a reasonable thing for most enthusiasts visiting this illustrious webzine to expect our reviews of motorcycles to be conclusive. After all, when we factor in the talents of our current crew of "volunteer staff", our collective experiences span nearly a century of riding and getting to know just about every make and model of bike available for the past 30 years. So plucking out the best should be as easy as getting out of bed, right?
Oh, if only it were so easy. Sometimes even the pros are left scratching their noggins like a small party of confused chimps. Such is the case with the 2009 crop of Japanese Supersports.
Riding a bike closer to the edge of its performance envelope – especially in this group of race-developed steeds – will make known things about a bike's character that street riding simply cannot expose. Thus it's time to for us to move on to the second half our evaluation in our annual Supersport Shootout.