WORDS:ROB BEAN
IMAGES:DOUBLE RED
Back in 1997, Ducati’s V-twins had been clearing up in WSB for years and, through greater availability, were starting to make an impact, not only in the British market, but in the British Superbike Championship too. Japanese manufacturers tried, but failed to get the big twins outlawed, so Suzuki and Honda started to look towards producing their own. And instead of diving straight into racing, and potentially looking silly by not getting it right, they opted to produce sports focused road bikes first.