Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ~ , . r- .... (1) ..0 8 (1) (Abo ve) The Ad ler MB250. the pattern for 1 9 6 0 s Japanese two-strokes. (Bel ow) The 1 9 6 8 Honda CB750. w ith a then-astounding 67 horsepower. ;> o Z (A bove) Harley-Davidson started bu ilding bikes in 1909. This 19 5 5 Big Twin came w it h lot s of chrome. (Below) A 1 9 5 0s BM W RS500 w it h bevel -ca m-drive engine . in stead of a ca m ch a in. T h is 250cc m ot o r was ca lled th e NS U Max a nd it produced 17 horsepower a t 6000 rpm . A sport Ma x in the hands of a good tu ner cou ld ma ke 30 horsepower at 7000 rpm. T hat type of horsepo wer co u ld n ' t be prod uced by th e production Ad ler two-stroke twi ns; · only rea ll y ·good tuners could bring u p that type o r power. T he Adler two-stroke was sta te-o r-the-art in fas t two -stroke motorcycles. but with buyers interested in fo ur-strokes, Adler ha d to close its doors in 1958. Bu t Adler's lega cy li ved on, a nd the two-stroke made its m a rk u nder another name, on th e other side of the world ; wisecracks said riders had to file th e Adle r trademark o ff th e castings of the first Yama ha two-strokes. In Europe in th e 1950s, th e ear ly m o torcycle riders bought sma ll cars durin g th e m otorcycle recession. Man y m ot orcycle manufacturers built litt le cars with mo torcycl e engines in th em a nd most d id not su rvi ve. The j ap anese engi neers built fine r and fin er mo torcycle engines. In 1946, Soich iro H onda ca me u pon a statio nary engine a nd tho ught the engine co u ld dr ive a bicvc le. There wasn ' t en o ugh gas av a ilahl e in j apa n at th is time an d he di stilled pi ne tree ro ots for fuel. This was postwar Ja p an ; 1946 was th e fir st vear a woman co u ld vote in j apan. ' Three yea rs lat er. boxer joe Louis finished h is 25th title defense a n d H onda built his first real motorcycle. The Honda Drea m didn't use exotic pine-tree-root fu el a n d was powered by a sma ll , single cylin der engin e. From thi s day o n , a n exp losio n in develop ment sta rted, In 1961, Honda wo n road ra cing Wo rld Champio n ships in bo th th e 125 a nd 250cc classes. A year la ter the o ne-mil lionth Honda left the production line. Wh en H onda came on the racing scene, journa lis ts were a m azed by the race team 's excellent o rganization; la ter th ey found ou t th a t the men worki ng o n th e bi kes were not ordi nary mechanics but rath er engineers fro m H onda R&D. Expense d idn 't stop H on da a nd they didn ' t back o rr fro m a ny dram atic designs. H onda design ed fo ur cylinders si milar to th ose built by MV Agu sta and G ilera; th ey buil t a five-cyl inder, fo ur-valve I25cc engi ne that would rev to 21,000 rpm a nd a six cylinder for the 250cc class. T he y made sure that the new bikes not o n ly looked a nd so unded spectacular, but a lso 1I'0n races. In 1965. a t th e Isle of Ma n , the Suzu ki race team used oi l mixed at a ratio of 5; I in th eir two -stro kes; th e The latest S uzuki GSXR750. the Special Edition. w ith 105 horsepower. bikes sm o ked so much as they left th e starti ng line th at after a h alf an h our, th e smoke still h ung in the a ir a nd burn ed spectators' eyes. In 1968, H onda shocked th e world with the C B750, the forer u n ner o f rod av's modern superbikes, It was revo lutionary, with fo ur cylinders, 67 horsep ower, four ca rbur etors and four ex ha ust p ipe s th a t were very impressi ve for look s, The cr it ics said it would ne ver last, How cou ld a n vo ne control such a bike a t h igh speed ? It wo u ld be u nr id ea ble; Honda cla imed a n unheard-of-for-pr oduction -motorcycles top spee d of 125m p h. T he cri tics were all wro ng. The C B750 was a good , ridea ble moto rcycle , And now toda y's 750s a re up to 105 h orsepo wer and th e new Suzu ki GS X R750 makes 130 horsep ow er when fitted with a racing kit . That's p retty stron g co m p ared to th e first m otorcycle, a machine wit h a wooden chassis and a 0.5-horsepower, 250cc engi n e. • 17

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