What becomes of those bikes that once topped Superbike's litre sportsbike test? Simon heads to the sanctuary to let three former winners out for a play with a 2005 Honda Fireblade to see how they measure up in today's world.

Suzuki has built the ultimate riding machine - and they did it two years ago, with the K5 GSX R1000. Have they meddled too much with the K7 version? And is it good enough to beat Yamaha's new R1, the Honda Fireblade and Kawasaki's ZX-10R. Only this, the most comprehensive test you'll read, will tell you.