P110
CN
III LOWSIDE
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
W
hat is it about stuff
from previous eras
that get us all gooey,
especially where motorcycles
are concerned?
It's a topic I've been mincing
over ever since we started test-
ing our Kawasaki Z900RS a few
weeks back around the Malibu
hills, one that's always made me
curious when applied to not just
motorcycles, but anything that
can get the blood going.
Take cars, for example. The
car industry is rife with names
and shapes that take you back—
Mustang, Miata, 911, 500—all
names that became famous
probably before you were born,
with shapes that evoke memo-
ries of a time that exist only in
your memory or on film stock.
Personally, I have a massive af-
finity for 1960s and '70s Formula
One, of names like Stewart,
Cevert, Andretti and Brabham,
all gods in my book, because
racing was more romantic, more
dangerous, more heroic and just
downright cooler then.
Music is probably the perfect
example of it being better in
your day—whatever day that was.
My mate back in Australia has
this theory that once you turn
30, you stop liking new music. I
don't totally agree with that but I
can see his point. I'd way rather
listen to Pink Floyd's Comfort-
ably Numb than anything in the
current Top 40—and that song
was made years before I was.
As for motorcycles, I've found
the more they change, the more
people wish they stayed the
same. Rose tinted glasses are
in full effect right now, with bikes
like Yamaha's XSR range, Hon-
da's new retro-styled CB1000R
and the Z900RS that looks like a
kid who has dressed up in dad's
clothes dominating the press at a
time when bikes have never been
more advanced—or intimidating.
BETTER WAY BACK WHEN
