Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

, I-----'----=--..:....--'-_~ Ahistorical persepective of the modern sportbike HISTORy"' .. 1 8 Mc Lau ghlin s pe n t years get ting th e world racing au thorities, the FIM, to recognize superbike racing, and the worl d series finally ope ned at Donington Park, Engl and, on East er 1988.lronically, a Japan ese four di d n't win, but in ste ad former GP ace Ma rco Lucchin elli gave th e Du cati 851 a winning d ebut. Th e next-fastest bike was a five-valve Yama ha-powered Bimota. While the Ducati 851 would eventuall y become a n 888, th en gro w even larg er as it h ead ed to three W o r ld Superbike cro wns, th e popul ar Itali an marque didn't win th e first Superbike world series. That honor went to America n Fred Merkel , h andling H ond a' s brand-new "homologation spe cial," the V-four ROO. . With 'strict rules govern ing approval of models for World Superbike, at least for th e big Japanese builder s, Honda qu ickly figured that a limited-edition bike ge ared toward the tr ac k would form the be st attack. The RC30 wa s backed up by a huge range of so called "kit" parts, offering more speed, as well as con venience, to the s p r in t and Endurance racing teams. Th e partially hand-built RC30 was com pact, li gh t, and p owe red b y a n im p roved ver sion of th e long-running V-fou r. A sing le-side d swing arm made re ar -wheel ch anges a sn a p, but al so gave the bike a di stinctive appearan ce. Th e front for k w as al so trick, se tt ing new s ta nda rds for compliance. Even th ou gh it wo n tw o s t ra igh t World Championship in the late '80s, the ROO is best remembered as a fabul ou s ope n road pe rformer, and we ll-use d versions still excel at fast public stree t races like the Isle of Man IT. Whil e the RC30 wasn 't avail able in th e U.5. for several yea rs, two smaller s po r t bike s o f so m e im p o r ta n ce hi t America in 1988. The aluminum-framed, four -cylind er Yamah a FZR400 was great fun to ride, and is s till seen ' in great n u m be rs at local rac e tracks . Sadly, sm aller sportsters wer e almos t as expensive as th eir bigger brothers, and th e FZR400 w as th e la st of the CB400Finsp ired breed. Speaking of H onda, th e 1988 GT650 H aw k was significant: RC30-type aluminum frame (actuall y called the RC31) with single-sid ed swi ng arm, powered b y a th re e-valve-p er cylinder, watercooled V-tw in . The H awk was a grea t handl er, and had a ret ro look since it w a s d eli ve red sans fai r ing. On the downsid e, it was slower but not much cheaper than the CBR600, so the Hawk didn't move well until it was discounted as non- current. While rider surveys still in dic at e that non- fair ed , m od ern tech bikes should sell, all of the subseque nt attem pts have also been disappointing. For 1989, Su z u k i r ej o in ed th e hom ol o gat ion specia l m a rk e t with a vengeance, the non-U.S. (but very collectible ) GSXR750RR vi r tua lly tr ack ready, and a big improvemen t o ver 1988's revised short stroker. The '88 will be best remembered for the introduction of four pot Nissin front brakes, the offthe-shelf stocker getting the same stopper s that factory ra ce rs u sed th e year before. The big-ticket, hand-built bike m arket pea ked in '89, since this was also the year o f Yamaha ' s lim ited -ru n, ve ryexpensi ve aWOl. A good selection of kit parts made the beefy Yamaha almost as attractive to privateers as the lon g-ru nning GSXR. Some OWs are still racing compet iti vely today, ofte n fitted with 1000cc eng ines rather than the orig ina l, more-expens ive-to-maintain 750cc powerp lan t. Yamaha was bu sy in th e spo rtbi ke d ecessors, the .1991 Ninja turned out to be the GSXRs of the mid-'90s. As perform ance parts becam e w idely available and tuners got used to the straigh tforwa rd, re liab le a nd easy to se rv ice engi ne, the ZX-7 became the "DIY" bike of choice. Even an adjustable swingarm pivot was av ailable for the ZX-7R. At the NASB final at Daytona last October, most of th e fron t-runners we re aboard var ious versions of the early '90s ZX-7! 1991 will also be remembered for the first major revision of Honda's best-selling CBR600, the F2 version an imm ed iate star on the track an d even more popul ar as a "do-ev erything" s tree t machine. Suzuki's major development of the season was also a signi ficant one, th e latest GSXR com ing stock with a works-t yp e m ale sli de r or " u psi d edown" cartridge-equipped fork. The next yea r, Suzuki launched the long-awaited new GSXR, but the tilted.blo ck, spar-fra me-o rien ted hopefuls would be forced to wait a little longer. The 1992 Suzuki wa s water-cooled, but (Above) Ducati never strayed from Its tr ademark desmodromlc-valved V-twin and f inally developed the concept Into a world beater with Its 851 Supe rblke In the early '90s. Subsequent in carnati ons of the machine have brought the Italian marque numerous champions hips . (Right) King of speed: Tra ci ng Its roots all the way back to the or ig inal Ninja 900 of 1984, Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-11 is st ill the fastest production motor cycl e In existence . (Below) Full circle? For now, it appears as th ough the rededi cated Suzuki GSXR7SDT may set a new benchm ark for all other mach ines to follow. Then again, rumors pers ist t hat the Big Four are experiment ing with high -performance Vtw ins a la Ducatl. Stay tu ned•• market in '89, since the FZR750, FZR400 and aWOl were joined by the new star of the middleweight ranks, the FZR600. Light and ag ile, th is FZR had a s tee l, d e lt a-b ox frame an d a fo ur-valve eng ine, complete wit h an exha ust syst em EXUP power valve just like the OW's. This budget trend seemed to confirm that the Japanese builders d id not want to go th e fu ll racer rou te in the 600cc class, probab ly d ue to th e s teadi ly depr essing relationship between the yen and d ollar. Wh ile the Japanese market 400cc machines we re alumin um-framed, four-stroke fou rs that th rived as high revvi ng sc reame rs , th e foreig n 600s were more conservative in execution. Another '89 Yam aha of note was the FZRI0 00, 'a d elt a-bo x-framed sportste r with sligh tly m ore co m fo rt th an th e 750s, just as much handling abili ty and lots of gru n t. Man y in sid er s view th e FZRlOOO as the first big bike that really hand led, a nd th e " EXU P" (as it w as called in European markets) was a solid sales success. Up until the FZRI 000, Suzuki had th e "pure spo rts" big bik e m arke t a ll to them sel ve s w ith the . GSXRllOO. Kawasaki's 750s, first the conventional Ninja and later the spar- frame d ZX-7, we re good bikes that lagged somewha t behind their opposit ion in stock form. This changed in 1991, w he n the Ni nja line recei ved e no ugh r efin em en t to make the ZX-7 and it' s ZX-7R homologation rela tive major sales an d raci ng players . . Smoothe r and less boxy th an its pre- otherw ise the bike was similar to previous m odel s, w ith an "o ld -fas hioned" twin-loop aluminium frame that placed the carbs behind the motor. While ru m o rs circulated th at the marketing department at Suzuki didn't want the GSXR to look like all the oth er s po rts 750 s, th e wo rk s te am s s till coa xed impressive per formance from the sem i-ne w desi gn . Underl ining the growing size of the 600 spo rts m arket in th e U.S., Suz u k i even produced a sleeve d- dow n GS XR6 00 so le ly for Amer ican u se. Ev en th ou gh the GSXR600 was in ma ny ways supe rior to th e ot he r en tries, it st ill lost the AM A series to Honda's CBR600F2. _ 1993' s road kin g wa s undoubted ly Kawasaki's ZX-ll, a machin e design ed for street, not track, that still offers unrivaled perform ance. The previous ZX-I 0 model was also big and fast, with forced air induction that sea led the airb ox an d equalized th e pressure throughout th e carb sys tem. Howe ver , the '93 ZX-ll achieved a better balance, w ith a stiffer frame and sus pension, improved runn ing gea r and a m ore con ser vati ve appearance. Top spee ds in stock form of well over 170 mph d efinitely add ed to the ZX-ll's reputation. Hard-core sport riders were drawn to Honda' s all-ne w CBR900RR in 1993, a completely new bik e th at revived th e 1000cc power / 750cc siz e and weight concept. Far more agg ressively presented than its bigger and sma ller CBR relatives, the sho rt wheelbase 900 had knifeed ge, track-type handling that tended to eithe r en thr all or di sturb rid ers. In the han d s of ex perienced tuner s like ex w orks H ond a man Mike Velas co, the CBR900 was soon a racer that could lap at fu ll-works Su perbike lap times on some tracks.

• Cover