Sounded quite reasonable to me as press reviews go - don't forget they do need to compare and contrast, but I think they do it badly, the problem is with the way they assume everyone wants the most powerful machine with the most gadgets and is looking for "excitement".
I used to like excitement, which is why I had a succession of superbikes, these were all exciting, but spent little time at speeds that would not see my licence torn up on the spot, or would not almost certainly be fatal if something suddenly appear in front of me, or I lost control - all very exciting :exclaim:
I also cannot see how a bike that hits 60mph in under 4 seconds and tops 130mph can be described as unexciting, maybe not laugh out loud ridiculously fast, but in my experience you can have a lot of excitement below 100mph unless you spend all your time on straight roads in which case you want either a Hayabusa (for speed) or a Goldwing (for comfort)
I would say if your looking for a superbike on stilts then the Yamaha is not for you, but for most people it is fast enough, the fact it is not fast for a 1200 - well odd how the press never said this about the last GS model which had almost exactly the same power, why is it European and American manufacturers can make large engines with modest power outputs and it is fine, but any Jap bike must produce at least 150bhp per litre or else it is shite.
Surely the Yamaha engine is in fact under-stressed / in a low state of tune, which bodes well for not needing a rebuild every 50k, and for being extremely unlikely to drop a valve or throw a rod.
The review more than anything shows the difference between a Journo and an owner, they get jetted off to a bloke-fest in a nice hotel with free booze by night and go out on adrenaline / testosterone fuelled road race on someone else's bike by day, they should be flown 3,000 miles from home and have to ride the bike back, 50% of the way with the Mrs on the back.
