Paris motorcycle show 2007 The Paris Show was the scene of the first great new bike unveiling for 2008. This was our first chance to kick the tyres and drool over next year’s new models.
Honda kicked off the show with the unveiling of its revamped Fireblade. The designers have taken a new direction with this flagship, giving it a unique, sober styling that will appeal the people most likely to buy it, ie, older males with spare money and refined tastes. Honda claims the Fireblade has the best power-to-weight ratio in its class and although it won’t reveal the bike’s weight, power is up to 175PS at 12,000rpm. Honda also unveiled an updated 680cc Transalp V-twin trail bike – a machine traditionally used more for long-distance touring than off-road work. Finally, Honda introduced its revised CBF600 and the faired option CBF600s, which come with new engines and modified bodywork.
Suzuki also starred at the 2007 Paris Motorcycle Show by unveiling three new models – the new GSX-R600, GSX-R750 and the DR125SM.
Suzuki’s GSX-R600 now gets more power, advanced electronics and a more compact engine and chassis, although styling-wise it’s not much different to last year’s stunning model. And we’re relieved to see it didn’t go the way of its big brother, the GSX-R1000 with the bulky twin-exit exhausts.
The GSX-R750 gets the same mods as its smaller sibling, but now it too comes with the Suzuki Drive Mode Selector, like the GSX-R1000. This means a toggle switch on the handlebar that lets you choose between three power modes. 
The learner-legal DR125SM is a brand new addition to the Suzuki family. It gets trendy super-moto styling and is powered by a fuel-injected, 124cc single cylinder, 4-stroke engine.
Yamaha also unveiled its 2008 motorcycle line-up to the French. For the grown-ups it includes a revamped YZF-R6 and for the kiddies, an ultra cool, R6 lookalike YZF-R125.
Despite the all-new bodywork, the new R6 doesn’t look very different to this year’s model – and just as well since we love the sharp looks we first saw in 2006. But the overhaul’s radical nevertheless with an all-new frame, engine, swingarm and suspension. The 2008 R6 comes with the same Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake (YCC-I) variable length inlet tracks the R1 got last year, which Yamaha claims increases power throughout the rev range. The R6 is the first middleweight to benefit from the technology. And of course, the airbox and exhaust are updated. The engine also gets the highest compression ratio ever seen on a Yamaha production machine. Price will stay roughly the same as this year’s model, at around £7,000. 
Moving on to the teenage treat, and Yamaha hopes its new YZF-R125 will knock Honda’s CBR125 off the top spot of the small bike category. Indeed, the baby CBR isn’t just a top-selling learner bike, it’s also been a top-selling bike as per overall UK sales figures!
The all-new engine is a 124cc liquid-cooled single with a four-valve head and fuel injection, harnessed by a six-speed gearbox. The chassis meanwhile is a steel replica of the R6’s Deltabox beam frame. Unfortunately it gets neither the radial-mounted front brake caliper nor the upside-down forks of the super sexy Aprilia 125. But it is a four-stroke compared to the Aprilia’s racier two-stroke. The R125 should also cost around the same as Honda’s £2,599 CBR, while Aprilia’s little jewel sells for a mighty high £3,869. Finally, Kawasaki has also been busy re-vamping its sport line-up – namely its litre bike, the ZX-10R.
Not everyone will like the new bike’s bullhorn exhaust. In fact, it’s pretty ugly – but the rest of the bike is a vast improvement on last year’s model. The ZX-10R has moved back to its more angular, sharper design of 2004=5. But the headline news isn’t the style, the weird exhaust or even the indicators embedded in mirrors – which are rapidly being adopted by all manufacturers. It’s the new traction control system – or ‘torque management system’, as Kawasaki calls it. This retards the ignition timing to reduce power when excessive rear-wheel acceleration is detected. Although we’ll confirm this once we test it, it looks as if the system can be used for driving out of corners at high lean angles without spinning up the back tyre, turning us all into Valentino Rossi’s. Hooray! The engine and chassis have been tweaked too for less weight and more power – expect it to make around 180PS.
Kawasaki has also launched an all-new learner bike, the ZZ-R250. The Ninja 250 looks like a ZX-6R MiniMe, although its 249cc parallel-twin engine is a revised powerplant from Kawasaki’s GPX250R and ZZ-R250. Power is just 29PS despite the learner legal limits of 33PS, and it weighs 152kg dry.
And in what might be an effort to stave off the threat of Suzuki’s revamped Hayabusa, Kawasaki unveiled a 2008 version of its ZZR1400. Engine tweaks are claimed to aid Euro 3 emissions compliance as well as boost power across the rev range. Like that was needed!
BMW was no stranger to the sports bike party either. The Bavarian manufacturer, keen as ever to ditch its boring old fart image in favour of a younger, trendier one, launched the HP2 Sport. This is an air-cooled boxer twin based on the R1200S. With power at 130PS and a weight of just 178kg dry, this is the lightest, most powerful twin BMW ever produced. The spec sheet’s pretty hot too – it comes with high quality Ohlins suspension, a quick shifter to go up the gears without shutting off, an aluminium billet yoke, beautifully sculpted rearsets, a 2D data screen fit for a small race team and a one-piece carbon fibre subframe and seat unit, the lot fitted as standard.
Finally, KTM has added to its line-up of bikes powered by its 690cc single-cylinder engine with an all-new version of the Duke - the manufacturer’s first real road bike launched in 1994 – and the SMC and higher spec SMR supermotos.
We’ll bring you road tests of these machines as soon as they become available. |
