Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I HISTORY tie bigger and heavier than race enthusias ts had hop ed . Sporty in design and appearance compared to the opposition, H onda' s new 750 was u nfo rtu natel v expensive to m od ify a nd had a head design th at mad e improved flow d ifficu lt. Non et heless, teen-age sensatio n Fred di e Spencer was an instant hero . w he n Honda return ed to AMA racing with a CB750F-based superbike in 1980, facing off against the 1000cc en tries of series Champ Wes Cooley on a Suzu ki a nd Eddie Lawson aboard Ka wasa ki equipmen t. O th er s ig nifica n t 1979 s p ortsters included the Dayt ona Special RD400, a much-b etter-l o oking a nd tidied-up (revi sed foot peg mounts!) two-stroke. Al so hittin g th e dealer floors was Ducati's black and gold 9005S, the first mass-pro d uced ve r sion o f the ir legenda ry early '70s 750 Des mo Super Sport race bike. The torqu e y V-twin was slo w ly revised throughout the decade, and by 1979 the steering geometry was shortened to the point that pilots could get a 900SS aroun d tight corners. For yea rs Italian bikes built a reputation based on st iff chassis design , but as sus pensions imp roved, tr ad ition al sportbikes ' slow geome try and rock-hard ride gave way to compliance combined with improved tire performance. Although no powerh ou se, th e Ducati De sm o V- twi ns proved that a balanced m achine could beat th e d y n o -h a p p y Japanese fours . In 1981 Kaw asaki fin all y gave th e Z1/ KZ1 000 range a major retooling, and the n ew J m od el was a n imm ed ia te r o ad -t est and race -track success. Still a two-valve design, th is Kaw asaki spa wned the Edd ie Law son replica stree t bike, a sty ling and graphics tribute to th e Rob Mu zzy-l ead works team' s AMA Honda rewrote t he book with its V-four-powered Interceptors in 1983: The all-new machines handily won the race off the sho wroom floo r. Even so, the 1993 AMA Superbike titl e went to Wayne Rainey (left) aboard a more co nventional GPz. 14 Ahistorical persepective of th emodern sportbike Lightweight sales rece ived a healthy kick In the pants In the '80s with the introduction of two models: Yamaha 's watercooled RZ350, a direct descendant of t he air-coo led RD models of the 7 0s; and Kawasaki's 55QGPZ. whi ch si gnaled the onrush of 600cc Supersports. Both were light, fast, hyper-hand ling. by Mu th , the "Kat" had a s hark-like appearance, with silver and blue pai nt, a low d rop-n osed fa irin g, clip-ens a nd hydrau lic anti- dive forks. No t pa rticularly comfo rtable , the Katan a was brutally fast, but unsu ccessful on the track. Suzu ki u.s. got a sleeved-down vers ion for AMA racing, bu t even David Aldana couldn't tame the beast. The largel y ign ored mid-displ acem en t sportbike m ar ket received so me new player s in 1982, and Kaw asaki' s GPz5S0 was the most successful. Based on the '81 twin-shock debut GPz, the '82 bike had a linkage-ope rated rear shock, st ro ng fr am e a nd fo r ks, and modern styling. Loved by ma gazine testers, the GPz 550 poin ted the way to the current 600 Supersport playground . title. Tru ly awesome was the real Lawson replica, a 2S-copy lim ited-p rodu ction , Mu zzy-b u ilt ru n of real racers tha t floo ded the AMA grids in 1982. Go ing the big ge r -isbet ter route in 1981 , H o nd a and Suzuki p unched ou t successful models, Suzuki with their four-valve GS1100 sports tou rer while Honda produced the CB900F. Hond a also began offering "Eu ro kits" for their sportie r models, allowing owners to get serious with an improved riding position. Yamaha's 1981 lineup s ta r te d the "tu ning fork" manufacturer in a d irection that they still tend to follow, yielding some quirky, alternative machines . Although no t available in th e U.S., the RD350LC was the most successful sportbike wo rldwide that year. With watercooling, a single-shock rear suspension and twin d iscs, t ~ e ligh tweigh t "boy racer" RD took over th e world's race tracks and helped popularize the term squid. Yam aha also ex plored th e dormant Brit bike market with the ir cru iserbased XV920, a tw o-valv e, fou r-stroke twin with sing le-shock rea r end and enclosed chain in a Vincent-like package. The most shocking machine of 1981 was Su zuki 's radical 1100 Katana, a res tyli ng of the very-fast GSl100 that proved th e Japanese had watched th e "Star Wars" movies! Styled in Germany , A di ffer ent m id dl ew eight so lu tion was presented by Yamaha's shaf t d rive, V-t wtn . water-coo le d Vision . Th e Vision's engine served as a stressed member, hanging from the upper fram e with no lower cra dle. Gr ace d with a powerfu l motor, the Visio n was sadly heavy an d somewhat odd-looking, and was eventuall y repackaged as a sports / tourer. In the early '80s, tu rbocharging was a big deal in the automotive world, and the m ajor Japanese manufactu rers all had a crack at forced-ind uc tion bike building. The year 1982 saw a big tu rbo p ush, and H o nd a attracted the most attention. In what turned out to be a demo nstration of engineeri ng ability, Honda "tu rboed" their general-purpose, com m uter-oriented CXSOO, an acrossthe-fram e, push-rod V-twin with shaft drive. Packaged with a la rge fairing and . state-of-the-art chassis com ponents, the CX showed that Honda could transform a bike w ith re-engineering and add-oris, including fuel injection and eng ine mana gem ent systems . At the sa me tim e, Hond a' s race de pa rtment p ro d uced a fla t tr ack CX, tu rn in g th e m o tor 90 degrees to pl ace it Harley-st yle in th e chassis , th e n redesigning for chain dr ive. The 1983 Hond a CX650 Turbo is still considered bv manv to be the best of the breed , and"has become very collectab le. : Kawasaki s ta r ted the turbo craze when their American branch offered a Mr. Turbo kit, installed, as a new mod el

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