Could 2006 be the year of the trackbike? Looks like it's shaping up that way.

Sharper than a Punji stick and lighter than a Bazooka, the new R6 is equally effective slicing and dicing up a racetrack. image by kevin wing

A relatively new term in American motorcyclists' lexicon, trackbikes can be loosely defined as sportbikes used primarily for hard-core twisty-road blasting and track-day sorties. Monte Lutz, from Sportbike Track Time, a nationwide trackday provider, has seen his business grow 35 to 40 percent per year since 2000. He says, "The track is a natural outlet for sportbike riders to explore and realize the incredible potential of these machines in a controlled, closed-course environment. No law enforcement, SUVs or gravel—it just makes sense to get on the track!"

Recognizing this trend, at each sportbike press intro, companies are talking more about how each new ride makes a better track-day weapon than its forbearer instead of ballyhooing the tired "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" philosophy. To wit, at the official unveilings of all three sportbikes Soup has tested this year—the CBR1000RR, ZX-10R and now, the R6—company bigwigs bragged about making lighter, more powerful, sharper-handling race replicas that are tighter-focused, easier to convert for track-day use and make better racebikes.

Intense competition-in the showroom and on the racetrack-has led to better motorcycles coming down the pike sooner. The result of this battle for bragging rights and marketing ammunition has been a shortened product-development cycle utilizing cutting-edge computer technology that spits out bikes that are closer to race-winning platforms than ever.

As proof of this formula, Yamaha's shining star of the moment, Jason DiSalvo, took a freshly minted, Formula-Extreme-prepped 2006 R6 to Dunlop's annual Daytona tire test in December and proclaimed, "The FX bike was unbelievable. The thing does everything I want it to do," it's just shy of perfect."

Foreshadowing things to come, DiSalvo laid down a 1:42.084. This is a full .7 sec. ahead of Erion Honda's Josh Hayes, his most serious Formula Extreme title combatant, and nearly 1.6 seconds ahead of factory Honda rider Miguel DuHamel, who had blood in his eyes looking for a sixth Daytona 200 victory to etch his name in the record books as the undisputed "Mr. Daytona."

Then, in regulation pre-season testing, DiSalvo and the new R6 fired the opening shots heard round the paddock. At the early-February test at California Speedway, the little dude on the little bike posted an astounding, sixth-fastest time on the 2006 R6, besting a bevy of 1000cc Superbike and Superstock runners, just 1.4 seconds behind mighty Mat Mladin's tried-and-true Gixxer and .4 seconds faster than Ben Bostrom's Testrastretta terror.

This competition for sales success is why factory teams have seeded Daytona's Supersport (and now Formula Extreme) ranks with their top Superbike guns in big-buck, bonus-fueled frenzies. The very fact that the AMA got away with making the Daytona 200 (once known as "America's most important race") a battle of 600cc "mini Superbikes," is further proof that the middleweight class is an important one.

The Thin Red Line: It doesn't really rev to 17,500 rpm. So what?

Because it's been a big topic of discussion among the motochattering classes, let's tackle this tachometer snafu. Although the OEMs are historically guilty of playing fast and loose with dry weight and horsepower claims, we don't think that Yamaha intentionally tried to mislead the public via advertising and marketing claims of the new R6's zoomy redline. In fact, our own Dean Adams said "Honestly, we here at Soup were skeptical of the 17.5k redline all along, or at least we were after we heard DiSalvo's R6 on the banking at Daytona last December during the Dunlop test. Because it didn't sound like the R6 was red-lining at 17,500 rpm—it sounded like it was red-lining at 280,000,000,000 rpm." Giving Yamaha the benefit of the doubt, we think that the motor actually zinged up to 17,500 rpm when the marketing folks got their info from the engineering team in July 2005, but along the way from pre-production to true production, the marketing hype was extinguished when engineers realized that the motor wouldn't offer the desired reliability singing at such a falsetto. Remember, marketing hype's just that-hype. At this point, it's fair to mention that no sportbike makes peak power anywhere near its actual, theoretical or marketing-imagined redline. While the deadline for disgruntled customers to return their R6s hadn't been reached at the time of this posting, Yamaha said that only a "handful" of bikes had been given back to dealerships for refunds.

To prove that DiSalvo's gushing wasn't just, well, gushing, Yamaha invited journalists to scream the new R6's little heart out at not one, but two racetracks in the same day.

Looking to demonstrate the potential of what it calls "the most advanced production motorcycle Yamaha—or anyone else—has ever built" on diametrically opposed roadcourses, the Tuning Fork Folks rented Willow Springs' big track, known as "The Fastest Road in the West" and its little troublemaking neighbor, The Streets of Willow, a tight, technical undulating ribbon of asphalt that roughly approximates the street-riding experience. By day's end, I spent about three hours crouched behind the R6's windscreen, enough to offer first impressions of the machine.

This test was just days after Yamaha admitted that the R6's motor didn't rev to the 17,500 rpm it bragged about in marketing materials (a number erroneously published in the electronic and print media). In a bold and unprecedented move, the company is buying back bikes from owners whose purchases were based on this outrageous claim, only to be disenchanted when learning that the motor spun to just 16 grand.

During the R6's tech briefing, Yamaha officials confirmed that the motor didn't rev to 17.5, but insisted that this didn't hurt its performance. They also divulged results from their own dyno testing: 112-horsepower and a soft rev limiter that kicked in at 16 large. Although the bike's tachometer still climbed to 17,500, nobody at the intro missed the additional 1500 revs or questioned the bike's peak power. Most were more interested in learning about this tack-sharp track-day weapon's impressive list of "firsts" for a Brand Y 600, including a complete set of all-titanium valves, fly-by-wire throttle, EXUP exhaust valve, slipper clutch and high- and low-speed-adjustable suspension, front and rear.

Quickly and candidly dispensing with this communications snafu, the marketing team went back to its PowerPoint presentation to show us why the new R6 was the most radical 600 of the year, comparing it to a 250cc GP bike for the street....and track.

Howling desert winds, temps reaching the low 50s and stock Dunlop Qualifier tires didn't offer prime conditions, but nonetheless, our man was the last journo to call it a day. image by kevin wing

After the 45-minute tech and PR session, I swung a leg over my little, yellow test bike, number 0065. It was imminently clear that the R6 fits five-foot-nothing, former 250 racer DiSalvo like a glove. Although at 5'6", I'm taller than my diminutive fellow New Yorker, reaching the R6's narrow, forward-mounted clip-ons past the shorter, lower, more R1-like fuel tank was an easy exercise in weighting the front end. Lots of room to slide back on the seat and generously rear-set pegs complemented this racier riding position, allowing for a compact tuck and making for an aggressive track-attack posture.

Willow's horsepower-rewarding big track was our first testing arena on this blustery day in late February. The bike's stock, street-biased Dunlop Sportmax Qualifiers—swapped with fresh ones at lunchtime—were the only meats on this day's menu. Even during half-speed sighting laps, it was soon clear that the Yammie's peak-power-biased motor was relatively anemic until an indicated 9000 rpm, picked up real steam at 11G and then dropped off a bit before 16K, but when kept in its sweet spot, the thing flat-out ripped! This is precisely what DiSalvo said—and proved—during the pre-AMA CCS races at Daytona: "I ran in one race with the big bikes and I passed almost all the 1000s. Our bikes are really fast."

Tucked in on Willow's long front straight, the R6's intake and mechanical dynamics built up a wonderful soundtrack. Let's leave description of the new bike's exhaust note to Soup's Dean Adams. "The sound that R6 made on the banking was unlike any bike's howl I've heard in fifteen years of going to Daytona," said the bossman. "At speed the Yamaha R6 FX bike sounded unholy, like the opening scream on Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song."

All of these assessments jive with a well respected website competitor's recent witnessing of a 2006 R6 strapped to Dynojet's latest torture device. Yamaha's baddest middleweight pounded out a class-leading 111 horsepower at 14.5k-—shy of its long-extinguished and well-hyped redline of 17,500 rpm, with peak torque of 44 lbs.-ft. 3000 clicks earlier. This power party was shut down at 16,000 when the R6's rev limiter kicked in.

For comparison's sake, 2005 R6s (the kinder, gentler 2006 YZF-R6S) made between 101.8 and 105.3 ponies at 10,300 rpm in various magazine comparisons last year. It was also found that the 2005's nearly identical torque peak came about 500 rpm earlier than the revamped mill's. That said, the new-for-'06 R6 makes at least six additional ponies 1000 rpm higher in the powerband, confirming Yamaha's claims of a stronger '06 motor that is tuned for steam at big revs.

This horsepower was made in the old-fashioned way: The more oversquare 2006 motor has a higher compression ratio (12.4:1 in 2005 versus 12.7:1 in '06), bigger valves with more lift and a higher rev ceiling (honest!) to produce these numbers.

Out of the dyno chamber and back on the racetrack, the R6's revolutionary fly-by-wire throttle and high-tech fuel-injection ironically conspire to make their presence unknown. The complete system offers seamless operation: super-smooth, jerk-free roll-on response that is crisp and linear-even in the toughest situations found in The Streets' maniacally tight, bumpy turns.

Although such a fly-by-wire system nearly lead Colin Edwards to disaster on more than one occasion when riding Aprilia's MotoGP bike, Yamaha has the technology pretty well dialed in. Here's how it works: A twist of the go-stick sends the request to a fuel-injection-dedicated CPU, which determines engine load, rpm and gear selection before deciding how far to open the 41mm throttle bodies—simple!

While the R6's fuel injection was spot-on, its slipper clutch—another of the bike's firsts—wasn't quite as transparent as those fitted to other production bikes. The new clutch is a cable-actuated, 17-plate (2 up on 2005), sprag-type slipper unit that slightly disengages to slip a bit upon deceleration, theoretically giving the bike more stability upon braking and downshifting during corner entry. In actual use, the clutch kept the rear end settled until asked to perform in the most stressful situations. Once up to speed and charging the corners, I got the R6 to wag its tail; it happened unintentionally at first, but consistently when looking to repeat the scenario. Although I have yet to ride another slipper-equipped 600, this wasn't a concern with 2006 ZX-10Rs and GSX-R1000s recently tested. On a positive note, the R6's slipper doesn't transmit any feedback through the clutch lever, making it feel like a conventional unit.

Daytona: What Will a Little 600 Do?

On his Formula Exreme bike, DiSalvo would have put the 600cc rocketship 12th on the Superbike grid with his 1:41.015, just three seconds off Mladin's 1:37.075 pole time; would have taken the Supersport pole from teammate and nemesis Jamie Hacking (by just 126/1000 sec.) and was just two seconds off his own Superstock pole performance of 1:39.185. These numbers easily bettered DiSalvo's 2005 qualifying performances. Last year, he could only push his R1 Superstocker to a 1:39.910 and the Supersport-prepped R6 to a 1:44.690. DAYTONA 2006 FASTEST OVERALL QUALIFIERS 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:37.075 2. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:37.558 3. Ben Bostrom (Duc 999F06), 1:38.012 4. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.338 5. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.398 6. Neil Hodgson (Duc 999F06), 1:38.490 7. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.574 8. Tommy Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.905 Superstock Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1 LE), 1:39.185 9. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:39.429 Superstock Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:39.712 Superstock Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1 LE), 1:40.063 Superstock Jamie Hacking (Yam YZF-R1 LE), 1:40.074 10. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.470 11. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.807 Formula Extreme Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR600RR), 1:40.928 Formula Extreme Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:41.015 12. Eric Wood (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.047 13. Steve Rapp (suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.048 14. Jason Pridmore (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.064 15. Norino Brignola (Duc 999R), 1:41.387 16. John Haner (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.423 Supersport Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-6RR), 1:41.552 Supersport Jamie Hacking (Yam YZF-R6), 1:41.668 17. Marty Craggill (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.760

The transmission's redesigned shift mechanism made clutchless upshifts easy and otherwise worked beyond reproach. This box has an ultra-tall first gear—that takes the bike to 80 mph—and tighter ratios throughout that help keep the little motor on the boil. On the big track's front straight, fifth gear was engaged around the start-finish line a quarter-mile away and was held until around 150 mph before downshifting and holding third until the entrance to Turn 3, where a jog down to second gear was carried (up to 104 mph) until short shifting to third before the crest of Turn 6's drop-away. From there, it was fourth gear through Turn 7. With a good drive, fourth could be carried through the harrowing, 150-mph Turn 8-9 combination. A raging wind and shrinking cajones sometimes necessitated a quick shift to third to put the demanding motor back into its narrow powerband at the apex of 9 in preparation to do it all over.

Willow's most wicked corner combo was a great place to feel the R6's high-speed stability as the track speed and wind velocities kicked up. When I wasn't squirming around trying to get a grip on the bike with my knees and elbows in the faster, longer bends, it was dead solid.

True to form, the R6's new, GP-inspired Deltabox frame and swingarm are more rigid in all the right ways—vertically, horizontally and torsionally. Its sexy, blacked-out frame uses a combination of aluminum castings and plates that build what Yamaha calls a "straight connection layout." This design moved the swingarm pivot up 20mm closer to the straight line that can be drawn from it to the steering head.

At Daytona, DiSalvo commented on his racebike's handling: "I rode the 1000 and the R6 back-to-back a few times and it's then that you can really see how fast the 600 changes direction. Man, that 600 steers well...better than any 250 I ever rode. It flicks side to side like a 125-it's almost scary when you flick it hard-you think that the front wheel is almost going to come off the ground."

Back at The Streets of Willow, tight, flip/flop corners enabled verification of the 1999 AMA Horizon Award winner's quick-flick theory. After engineers applied the latest mass-centralization magic, steepened the rake by a half-degree, added 2mm of trail and shortened the wheelbase by 5mm for 2006, the new R6 positively rails corners with nary a thought or nudge on the stubby, 10mm narrower clip-ons. All this, while offering good feedback from the front end, which now carries 1.5 percent more of the bike's weight.

Three Flavors for 2006: Street, Sport or Race, take your pick

With 2005's "Supersport' sales figures up 275 percent over eight years ago, Yamaha decided to attack the middleweight category this year with three 600cc sportbikes. On the cushy, comfortable side of things is the $7099 YZF600R, which was introduced in 1997 and has, basically, been left alone since. Next, claiming that last year's R6 was more street-focused, Yamaha decided to keep it in the 2006 lineup-with a conventional, rather than upside-down, fork--renaming it the R6S and selling it for $8199. Then, of course, we have the subject of this test, the $9199 YZF-R6, which has enough newfangled technology and changes from its predecessor that it can be called all new. With three favors of 600s in the corral, to build demand for the 600R and R6S, the high-zoot model will be coming to our shores in limited quantity. How limited? Yamaha doesn't give out production figures and would only say that they're not bringing in as many as last year, but we'd venture to guess somewhere between the 500-unit racing-homologation requirement and 1000 units.

Although DiSalvo said "We won't have to worry about the suspension setup because we'll already be pretty close on a baseline setup," during a break in practice for the Daytona 200, in the short amount of riding and wrenching time given on the Willow tracks, we didn't get the suspension sorted enough for me to fully explore my abilities or exploit the bike's true potential.

Before heading out on the big track for the first time in our morning sessions, Yamaha's tech folks immediately lightened up the preload at both ends from their pre-determined settings for my 160-pound, leather-clad self, but stuck to their compression and rebound calculations. Throughout the day, at both tracks, we incrementally softened the bike up to better allow it to track bumps, stay on line and transmit more feedback. Despite these efforts, time considerations kept us from realizing an optimum setup. Nonetheless, I'm confident that I could dial in the R6's maze of high- and low-speed suspension adjustments with time, patience and few simple tools.

New Yamaha recruit Eric Bostrom echoed my initial feelings during Speed Week, "Most of our biggest improvements have just been in the suspension, because I think the thing is kind of particular...the bike is real sharp, so it wants to bring out a lot of problems. So when you nail it down, you have an amazing motorcycle, but if you miss it a little bit, you end up with a bike that is hazardous." Now, I wouldn't have gone that far (and I'm not even on Yamaha's payroll!), but you get the idea.

In addition to finding the 600 classes' most sophisticated suspension, a look around the little bike reveals fresh ideas and style all over the R6's curvaceous landscape—from the upper fairing's new ram-air inlet to the svelte tail section. It's clear that transforming the stock R6 into a DiSalvo-, Bostrom-, Hacking-ready track weapon is an easy task. The mirrors, front signals and rear fender/license plate and signal-signal mount unbolt simply. The shift pattern can be swapped to a down-for-upshift setup without rearsets, the peg feelers unscrew, a lap timer is built into the new dash and the aftermarket is ramped up to support what it reckons will be a popular track tool.

This leads us full circle. Although the new R6 impressed me with its silky-smooth fuel injection, quick, free-revving nature, middleweight-leading power output and awesome chassis, in all fairness, I must admit to being an open-class streetbike devotee. While not a slovenly, short-shifting, open-bike weenie, I genuinely enamor 1000-plus cubic centimeters of pure, unadulterated, um, thrust when ricocheting from one canyon curve to another.

That said, I like little bikes. An NSR50 currently graces my garage. I've also owned a couple wailing 125cc motocrossers and an FZR400, raced WERA's 600cc Production class on a CBR600F2 and advised Cycle World's Peter Egan to just "rev 'er to ten grand" when he was dumbfounded by the lack of acceleration this bike exhibited in a terribly wrongheaded comparison of twin-cylindered wheezers against Honda's best-selling sportbike of all time.

The new-for-2006 comes in three color schemes: Dressed in Yamaha's latest blue jeans, a bad-ass blackout treatment and the 50th Anniversary Yellow/Black getup. As far as we're concerned, all Yamahas should wear the Bumble Bee motif, no matter what color shirt King Kenny wears. image by kevin wing

My love affair with big-inch streetbikes coincided with a T-shirt slogan from the not-so-PC 1980s that heralded experienced sportbikers' uncanny ability to "go in slower and come out harder." After exploring SoCal's canyons with crazies who rode everything from 250cc Suzuki Gamma two-strokes to wildly modified middleweights through my formative apex-carving years, I slowly adopted this tongue-in-cheek mantra. Once seduced by open-class power on the street, I began speaking softly and carrying a big stick, wielding the famous proverb Teddy Roosevelt used to describe his early 20th century foreign policy.

Riding on the public roads is one thing; doing hotter and hotter laps around a racetrack during a trackday or a race is another. For my money, 600s are the ultimate track bikes. Their combination of light weight, low-effort flickability and non-intimidating power delivery are the very attributes that make them safer and more desirable for me on the racetrack than open-classers.

If this is the year of the trackbike, then this new-tech R6 might be the one to have: It looks to be the strongest, most sophisticated—and maybe even lightest and most nimble—middleweight trackday weapon available in 2006.