The words "boom-boom" don't just signify the staccato exhaust signature of a 90-degree V-Twin; they also represent a salvo of shots fired from the Far East aimed directly at the heart of Italy.

Yes, Japan has finally focused its enormous engineering talents on big-inch V-Twin sportbikes. The Land of the Rising Sun has bombarded us with an endless barrage of potent sportbikes able to blast you past 150 mph in a single deep breath (yours, not the bike's). But even we truly demented speed junkies can only take so much of this b~ fore we do the inevitable: Ask for more.

"How about something different?" we asked, eyeing the seductive shapes produced by Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Bimota. "Something with some personality and a big, lustyV-Twin?"

Japan paid close attention, took copious notes, then went back to the drawing board and came up with some thing original except that Honda's new VTR1OOO Super Hawk shares bore-and-stroke figures with Suzuki's new TL1OOOS, which in turn shares them with the thunderous, 996cc racing version of Ducati's 916. Oh, and these new Japanese V-Twins also are within a couple of shades of Ducati red. So, perhaps these are not the most original designs. But we can't think of a better target to shoot for than Ducati's terrific Twins.

This Japan-versus-Italy comparison is really a two-part question involving the street and the racetrack, so, we invited the most appropriate Ducati for each test: the 900 SP for the street and the 916 for the track. Let's go to the streets first and see how the TL and VTR match up against the 900.

We needed some serious saddle time to properly sample the charm and personality of theseV-Twins. You can't guzzle these bikes down like cheap beer and expect to under stand them. What better way to appreciate their subtleties than road-tripping from LA to Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, visiting as many of the squiggly lines on the map as possible? Off to work we went!

Jason Black and I packed the TL and VTR, then headed north to meet Editor Nick Ienatsch, who had ridden the 900 SP up to Honda's Rs125 and Rs250 introduction at Laguna Seca the previous day. We'd join forces there and find the twistiest way home all in the name of hard labor, of course.

Climbing north out of balmy Los Angeles, it wasn't long before we were confronted with ominously dark clouds and plummeting temperatures. We layered up and plugged in our Widder Lectric vests for the chilly drone up Interstate 5 to test the Twins' travel-worthiness. A short way up the road, it became apparent that the Suzuki's fairing offers significantly better wind protection than the Honda's, making the weather on the TL feel a good 10 degrees warmer.

Cruising at a relaxed, 85 mph up the fast, flat floor of the San Joaquin valley, we soon discovered the biggest shortcoming of traveling with the Japanese Twins: the need for gas stations every 120 miles or so. The VTR's low-fuel-warning LED (which, unlike the incandescent bulbs in the low-
fuel lights on both the Ducati and Suzuki, cannot burn out) started flickering at 91.3 miles. Hmm, must be a pessimistic gauge, I thought, comforting myself. Five miles later, Jason pulled along side, frantically pointing down at his fuel tank. We barely made it to the next Chevron while running on fumes with only 115 miles on our tripmeters. The Honda netted a very disappointing 31.5 mpg while cruising at less than 5000 rpm in top gear; the Suzuki did only marginally better at 32.5 mpg. By comparison, the Ducati 900 SP averaged a miserly 45.8 mpg for the 1000-mile trip, theVTR1OOO 33.8 mpg and the TL1OOOS a dismal 32.2. Jason was not amused. "That's enough reason for me not to buy one of these bikes," he fumed. Obviously, with the need to stop so frequently, this was going to be a long trip. It quickly became something we would curse under our breath at every fuel stop. While we're in a complaining mood, no one on the staff cared for the digital LCD odometers on the Honda and Suzuki, either. The ignition needs to be on to read or reset them, and they force you to choose between odometer and trip meter rather than allowing you to view both at the same time.

Back to the road. With nothing but a seemingly endless expanse of straight, empty asphalt for another 100 miles, we got to work conducting roll-on acceleration comparisons. Starting from top gear at 60 mph (1,elow 4000 rpm), the Honda pulls smartly away at an increasing rate as the revs build through the midrange, enough to hold a six- to eight-bike advantage before we enter into triple digits and shut down. Repeating the test in lower gears, the Honda's advantage holds until midway through a third-gear run from 60 mph, at which point the Suzuki finally gains an advantage as its revs hit 8500 rpm. Above that speed, the Suzuki slips smoothly away. The TL1OOO does buzz unpleasantly above 7500 rpm, but that is higher than we usually rev most Twins on the street.

Other characteristics become apparent as we open the throttles in anger. Most notably, the Honda engine thumps out its power in the strong, distinct pulses you expect from a 996cc V-Twin, a thump- thump cadence absent from the Suzuki's deceptively smooth, quick-revving power plant. The Super Hawk's power hits hard by 4000 rpm and signs off at about 8500, whereas the Suzuki must be at 7000 rpm or better before it finally comes on, then I pulls hard to its 10,500-rpm redline like a' inline-Four. Cruising between 65 mph and 90 mph we find the Honda, like the Ducati, purr along with smooth, relaxed power pulse thrumming through the handlebars and pegs. But the Suzuki catches a hand-tingling frequency at 5000 rpm, or 85 mph in top gear-an uncharacteristic trait for 90-degreeV-Twin, a design that offers perfect primary balance. As a result, the TL the least Twin-like of the group. Fortunately, the Suzuki is blessed with excellent mirrors-the better to see you with, my dear officer. My internal radar picks up a fast-moving black Mustang at six-o'clock, and I immediately roll back to a legal 70 mph. Frustrated, the California Highway Patrol pursuer seethes, sitting in my blind spot for a few miles before pulling alongside, glaring into my faceshield and then speeding off to the next exit. On the Honda, with its curiously small, triangulated rear- viewers, or the Ducati, with its low, narrow, constantly vibrating reflectors, I would've been nailed for sure. Peeling off the interstate none too soon, we top off the tanks and head west on Highway 198, a rollicking, roller coaster of a two-lane road that winds mischievously over rolling green pastures. Both V-Twins demonstrate ample ability to wheelie over third-gear rises and to handle with ease the trickiest comers we can throw their way. The Honda in particular, with its virtually bottomless powerband, is able to square off dirty, decreasing-radius corners and charge out of them without so much as a downshift. The Suzuki usually responds more favorably to one downshift, very similar to a typical Open-class inline-Four, but makes up for it with light steering and quick-flick agility. We motor our way happily into Monterey just in time for dinner, still wondering which bike will emerge victorious.

The next morning, after rendezvousing with Ienatsch, we fire up the bikes in the cool, coastal air and notice that while the two carbureted bikes-the Ducati and the Honda-rumble happily in fast, full-choke idles, the fuel-injected Suzuki spits and coughs in an unruly manner reminiscent of some Dell'Orto-equipped Moto Guzzis.

Very curious. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Once the engines are warm, we mosey over to Laguna Seca for a photo session with photographer Bill McMillan, then we're off on a convoluted itinerary back to L.A.

As we wiggle our way south down the breathtaking Pacific Coast Highway (and its equally breathtaking road construction- did that sign read "road destruction"?), we start to get a feel for the distinct personalities of these machines. The dirty roads offer enough surprises to reward a bike's forgiveness, something all Twins offer but that the Honda has in abundance. The Super Hawk's long, low chassis might not respond as lightly as the TL's, but it offers superior damping control and feels to have a lower center of gravity. The Honda also gives the rider the best traction feedback through the front end and, as a consequence, inspires the most confidence.

The Suzuki, on the other hand, pitches a bit more on its shorter chassis, which lacks rebound damping at the rear end. This is especially noticeable once the rear suspension's innovative, rotary damper gets heated up by the rear cylinder's exhaust pipe, which is routed very close to the shock. The TL unquestionably is a fine-handling motorcycle, but it never feels as planted as the either the Honda or the Ducati.

Speaking of Ducati's retrotech 9OOSS SP, despite giving up 92cc and two valves per cylinder, it nonetheless acquits itself remarkably well against its more modern adversaries. Though it runs short of breath at 7000 rpm and feels comparatively slow above 80 mph, the air-and oil-cooled Italian feels satisfyingly powerful at more real-world speeds. The 900's carburetion suffers badly from partial- throttle leanness that makes it lurch below 4000 rpm, and its clutch is the most difficult of the bunch to operate smoothly; yet in the 4000- to 7000-rpm range, nothing else purrs along as sm6othly or as happily.

The Ducati's ergonomics are a mixed bag, with our smallest tester raking it on top and our other testers disliking the too- swept-back, upright, narrow bar position enough to rank it last. Regardless, every- one chose the 900 as the best-sounding bike of the trio, hands-down. There's no beating the exotic mechanical sounds of a dry clutch and desmodromic valvetrain.

Between the time we spent basking in the sun during lunch outside the Gorda Cafe and rolling into Los Angeles under a shroud of darkness, many things came into focus. While the Japanese bikes do outperform the Ducati in just about every measure of performance, save for the ever-critical fuel mileage and range, the 900 SP still has a bit of mystique they haven't captured. The press brochures for the Super Hawk and the TL1OOOS make heavy use of adjectives such as "visceral" and "distinctive," and relative to other Japanese bikes, these two most certainly are. They've been polished and refined to the point where they lack the more primitive, raw character and feel (and critical shortcomings) of the Ducati.

That lack of sophistication is not some thing everyone will notice, and neither is it something everyone who does notice will prefer; but it's heartening to see that there's still some of that intangible magic available, the kind you go to Italy to get.

From the moment the very first rumors of Japanese V-Twin sportbikes began to circulate, everyone immediately asked the same question: "Wonder how they'll stack up against the 916?" The Mighty Duck, you see, is in the enviable position of being the standard by which not only all high- performance Twins are judged, but all sportbikes in general, winning six of the past seven World Superbike Championships tends to do that.
Honda and Suzuki insist, however, that their V-Twin sport machines, the VTR1000 andTLl000S, were not designed as race- bikes, But both also acknowledge that perhaps as early as next year, there will be SP (Sports Production) versions of each for that intended purpose.
Still, there's no way to avoid comparing these ~ new V-Twins with the acclaimed 916.With these questions in mind, we embarked on a two-day thrash at Willow Springs roadrace circuit, preceded by trips to the dragstrip, the top-speed location and the dyno, all in search of answers.

STRAIGHT-LINE SPEED

The quarter-mile and terminal-velocity results are an interesting split between horsepower and aerodynamics. As the dyno charts indicate, Suzuki's highly tuned TL10005 holds a clear power advantage and puts it to devastating effect at the strip. Its scorching time of 10.64 seconds at 130.2 mph puts it in the same class as the Open-class four-cylinder machines, and far ahead of the otherV-Twins. The Super Hawk edges out the Ducati in the 440-yard dash, thanks to stronger midrange power and a friendlier clutch, transmission package that help it get off the line more quickly and cleanly. The small, sleek Ducati, however, slips through the wind so efficiently that it posted the fastest top speed of the day, less than one mph up on the Suzuki but five clear of the Honda. All of these bikes, however, would have recorded slightly faster speeds had they not been forced to contend with a side wind that affected their performance equally in both directions.

On Willow's 2.5-mile, high-speed road course, things were more decisively Ducati. The Italian stallion's narrower focus, which had greatly compromised comfort on the street, became a valuable asset on the racetrack. Its compact chassis and tight seating position made the 916 feel like a Grand Prix bike in comparison to the street-oriented Honda and Suzuki. Ditto for its taut suspension, which can be a bit punishing on the street but offers unparalleled control on the track. And although the Ducati has the heaviest steering and the slowest-revving engine, it also has unflappable stability.

All this, when combined with the 916's virtually unlimited ability to lean, allows cornering speeds that only a SuperSport - prepared racebike could even hope to match. Consequently, the 916's best lap time was an impressive 1:28.41.

Surprisingly, the Suzuki ran a close second to the Duck, clocking a highly credible 1:28.95. We say "surprisingly" because the TL1OOO's easily flickable chassis felt up to the task, but was let down by a shortage of rear-suspension damping provided by the high-tech rotary damper. Despite its sophisticated design, the damper would get hot and fade because of exposure to the tremendous heat pouring off the rear cylinder's exhaust pipe, which is routed very close to the damper.

The Suzuki's fuel injection also gave the most abrupt on-off throttle transition, while the carbureted Honda proved the smoothest. But it was the TL's hard-hitting, high-revving power that swallowed up the straights the quickest and its class-leading brakes that stopped the hardest, making up for most of what the bike might have lost when it was bobbing slightly through the corners.

Honda, meanwhile, had cautioned us that the VTR1000's chassis does not respond well to sticky, race-compound tires. Which explains why the Honda clocked its quickest lap time-a 1:30.21 on the stock, street-compound Dunlop D204s. Spooning on a set of Dunlop's super-sticky D207s (which worked better on the other bikes, providing more traction, better feedback and faster lap times than any other DOT tire we've ever tested) turned the Honda into a head-shaking monster that wobbled around Willow in the high 1:31s. Evidently, the increased traction of ultra-grabby tires winds up the Honda's softer chassis like an enormous mainspring; one time, in fact, we saw its front end spring off the ground over mid-corner bumps that fed heavy loads into the chassis. With the stock tires, though, the Super Hawk was an absolute sweetheart. Its bottomless power delivery and velvet-smooth throttle response made it the easiest of three to ride at a moderately quick pace.

Once the dust had settled, our testers concluded that while the Honda and Suzuki do outperform the Ducati in a few areas and make better-balanced all-around streetbikes, the 916's racetrack supremacy is secure-for now. But we can't help but wonder how much more quickly the TLlOO0S would lap the track with revalved suspension; and we can hardly wait to see what Honda's and Suzuki's forth- coming SP models will bring. We're sure it's enough to keep the lights burning late at night in Ducati's engineering department at the Bologna factory.

A Ducati 996 streetbike, anyone? Our mouths are already watering.

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