The bigger the better, right? That’s what my missus always tells me and, as far as bikes are concerned, a lot of people would have you think the same way. Who can blame them? With capacity comes horsepower and with horsepower comes bragging rights… and, let’s face it, we all need a few of those every now and again. More tangibly, bigger bikes often make life easier, from general tootling around to pulling whopping wheelies, so it makes good sense. Then you’ve got the technological side of things, which typically sees the bigger bikes get the best bits before, even if, the scraps are handed over to smaller siblings.
Yep, when you stop and think about it there’s no wonder the once bustling 600 class stood no chance at fending off the lures of the litre bike offerings, which have dominated so princely they’ve pretty much killed off the supersport scene. It was a devastating blow when Suzuki, Triumph and Honda pulled their 600s from the market, and Kawasaki’s disappearance of the 636 only pained the sector further. But the good news is the Kwak is back, and it’s better than ever, as Boothy and Carl learned first-hand this month on road and track in a (slightly) sunny Spain. Just for good measure and to make sure no one got lonely, they also took a GSX-R1000R, representing the bigger bore brethren, to help gauge which capacity ticks which boxes.