Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126673
RS850R . 'For those of us with any interest in the historical aspect of competition motorcycle development, the policy of the J apanese manufacturers toward their obsolete machinery is a source of constant disappointment: it's also ultimately short-sighted. Instead of retiring a championship winner to a factory museum , or even loaning it out on semi-permanent display elsewhere, they treat the bikes as being completely disposable, so that after it's done its job, the next appointment is with th e crusher. That's disappointing because it means that successive generations will have no appreciation of that company's skills on the race track in finite terms, and short-sighted because they 're passing up the chance of some great PR in later years: imagine if Luigi Taveri 's five-cylinder 125 Honda hadn 't by more or less devious means escaped being sent back to Japan -or the couple of 250 sixes that survived. Each time they appear, people who never saw them in action in their heyday can ma rvel and appreciate the eng ineer ing thai went into producing such jewels, 10 Honda 's undoubted advantage. H Yamaha could let us see and hear th eir 125cc V4, or Suzuki the 50cc twin , they too could reap similar ben efits. So what 's that got to do with the RS850R V4 Honda that Wayne Gardner won the British TT FI title with in 1983? On ly that two weeks a fter m y ride on the bike on a crisp and sunny November day at Sneuerton. the bike was being broken up: the engine was being sent back to Japan to have a knife put through it , while the chassis was to be sold, presumably to a privateer to put a standard engine in for next season . OK , so the 850cc version has fulfilled it task-but how sad that 15 years from now the next generation won't be able to appreciate it. Shame. Thus thanks to Barry Symmons, team manager of Honda Britain, I was able to sample a bike that by the time yo u read this story will be no more. And what makes that even more regrettable to me persona lly is thai it is/was unquestion abl y th e finest raci ng motorcycle I've ever had th e privilege of riding-and th at includes the 500 GP Honda and its like. Obviously, such a sweeping statement has to do with my own preference for big four-strokes , but viewed subjectively the RS850R was simply th e most confidence-inspiring bike I've ever sat on. I rode it as h ard as if I was on m y o wn racer s, just because it invited it , and was repaid with a I min. 13 sees. Sneuert on lap tim e seem ing ly without trying. T he bik e induces such faith in its o wn a bilities that yo u find yo urself going faster and deeper an d deeper into co rne rs, still with absolute safety. I'd say th is bike could be ridden fast by more riders who aren 't in th e top rank of ra cers than any other I know: it ver y nearly doesn't h ave a sing le vice, th e engine like th e U.S. Superbike has a vast power band with even more torque, and th e handling is almost perfect. What else is there? With its steel tubular chassis and wet clutch engine, the RS850R weighs 376 pounds totally dr y - without oil, water or fuel. The works alloy fram e used in the World Championship Series and Bo1 d'Or saves around 12 p ou n ds on this, but only th ree of th e 25 RS750/ 850/ 920R s made for 1983 boasted this feature, though the small batch of 750s bei ng made for sale 10 private teams for '84 will have it ; however, at around $30,000 each there unsurprisingly hasn't been a rush to sign checks th is big on the part of the relatively inpecunious teams th at make up the bulk of the TT FI fie ds . • - .. _ 1 3 on "8 ond "5 _ lllrough moll or'lMr only. 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