I got some of my buddies together and we headed to the backroads. I decided it was finally time to open her up and see what the bike will do. Two of my buddies were on an 06 R6 and an 06 GSXR 600. After a few good pulls we decided to go at it. My buddy on the R6 and I let em go a few times. We started in 3rd gear and pulled to about 120ish. The F3 kept up all the way to around 13K rpms and thats when the R6 took off; I had to shift and he still had several thousand rpms to go. Anyways, I know my F3 doesn't stand up to the modern 600s but it still did admirably for its age. It was fun to get the F3 out and wrestle with the modern machines.

 

I have definitely been wondering how the good old F3 would do against a modern bike in a "real world" test (aka street and backroad riding - not the track). Sounds like it did well. Did you notice your buddies having an advantage during cornering?

 

i dont know about not standing up. I raced a 03 gsxr 750 we started in third and shut it down around the 10k in 5th. sidebyside the whole race. inching back and forth a little. I also raced a 02 r6 and he was three or maybe four bikes back by 120 or so. but my f3 is also .30 over and has aftermarket cams. but I hold up fine with new bikes.

 

I wish there would have been some corners out there but it was all straightaways. It wouldnt have been a good comparison anyways on account of my lack of experience. I can tell you this though, I've ridden my buddies R6 in some turns and it didnt fell as agile as the F3. My bike is stock save for the slip on D&D (which is starting to become obnoxious) and has only 8K miles on and is in great mechanical shape. But like I said before when I hit a bit above 13K and had to shift, the R6 was still in its power band and had several more rpms to go so it pulled away. It was a little frustrating but I was proud of the F3 for doing what it did. To me its not really about having the fastest bike out there...although one day it may be