and recalled the time he was lead-
ing the 1981 Senior TT in the Isle
of Man by a comfortable margin
on an OW48R, when the gearbox
broke flat out in top gear around
the fast sweeper at Ballacrie, just
after Ballaugh. Ouch…
Thanks to the attention of his
quality team of race mechanics,
headed by Kel Carruthers with
Nobby Clark and Trevor Tilbury
alongside, that wasn't a problem that Roberts
ever encountered in a race in 1980—and it
also didn't feature on the impeccably restored
reverse-cylinder bike at Assen. On this, a gear-
shift linkage which kept going over dead center
before Everett fixed it for me, and underdamped
fork settings which had the front wheel chatter-
ing a little on some of Assen's banked, sweeping
turns, were all there was to worry about.
With 18-inch slicks now unobtainable, Wilson
runs his bikes on treaded Avon race tires, which
probably have at least as much grip as the
Goodyears that KR used to race with 20
years ago, and certainly allowed me to
appreciate the Yamaha's key advantage
compared to its more powerful rivals—its
more capable and forgiving handling.
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 12 MARCH 24, 2020 P65
The OW48R's
piston-port
engine wasn't as
powerful as the
more explosive
disc-valves motors
of the Kawasaki
KR500 and
Suzuki RG500.
Smaller, Faster
The OW48R feels quite modern for a 40-year-
old racer, low and compact in build with a bal-
anced setup and tight riding position, especially
compared to the taller, rangier stepped-cylinder
square-four Suzuki which was its main rival in its
championship season.
It steers really well, and not only on faster turns
as at the end of the Assen main straight, where I
could maintain an improbably high turn speed after
flicking down four gears in swift succession on the
race-pattern gearbox while squeezing hard
on the front brake lever to take advantage of
the surprisingly potent brakes for such pe-
riod Japanese stainless steel kit. Kenny told
me he did not like them in a long race, but
in shorter track outings they work okay—and
I'm usually very dismissive of 1970s brake
technology. Not this time.
But the Yamaha also steered well, flicking
from side to side in the chicane, where its low, compact
build and short 51.15-inch wheelbase made changing
direction quickly easy and confidence-inspiring.
Despite being so short by later 500GP stan-
dards—but thanks also to the low center of gravity—
the Yamaha was also stable over bumps. Although
the Monocross rear end isn't as compliant as
modern rear suspension, it's still a big improvement
over the twin shocks it replaced. Suzuki took a long
time to come up with their Full Floater rising-rate
rear end as an answer to the Yamaha monoshock
system, whose long nitrogen-charged DeCarbon
shock with its separate gas canister, is fully adjust-
able for compression and rebound damping.
The Yamaha's
Monocross rear
suspension
was a marked
improvement
over the twin
shocks used by
the Suzuki.
