It all started at the Nurburgring. The year is 2001 and John is on his hot poop Ducati 998R, bellowing out of bends and shredding back tyres, at one with the world. Until he looks in his mirror and espies young Chapman sitting 2 feet behind, whistling quietly to himself and taking a line at least 10' tighter through the bends.

Try as he might through the ensuing turns, and with the benefit of countless Ringmeister courses, John can not turn as tight as the upstart Chapper's GSXR750 trackday special.

Now John is not one to be out-turned lightly. Suddenly the Ducati was a slow steering old shed and something had to be done, he couldn't have everyone steaming up his inside. Forgetting such relevant topics as counter-steering, upper body strength and sheer aggression, he blamed his misfortune on the Duke.

Normal logic would dictate that, as it was a GSXR750 turning so tightly, he would plump for a similar bolide. But no, John's logic dictated that if a Gixer 750 could do that, a GSXR600 would do even better. So the Ducati was consigned to oblivion, replaced by a spanky new blue and white 600. One just had a slight doubt about the suitability of a 600 to John's riding style. Always a man to preach the slow in, fast out mantra, he could get away with this on a torque monster Ducati, but a 600 requires rather more of the fast in, less fast out method. Initial impressions on the road were OK, but he wasn't getting away from the following lads as envisaged.

So, off to the Ring, which after all was the whole reason for buying the Gixer. The bike was trailered so no screaming 600 for 300 miles of flat out motorway. And at the circuit? Hmm, a qualified success perhaps, but I've never found it easier to follow John. Suffice to say, the 600 has been removed from John's affections as he suddenly realised that the 1000 he already owns handles nearly as well but has ten times more torque. Doh.

On the road the bike is good, although a bit of a pain in heavy traffic when 600cc torque makes opportunistic queue hopping a bit of an effort, but it's fun watching the rider revving the nuts off it to get some decent forward motion. The advantage of a 600 doesn't really show on the Queen's public highway, there's not enough space or grip to really exploit its potential for barelling into bends at ludicrous speeds. Fat torque is more use, but think of those insurance premiums ....