1987 Hondas
1987 HONDAS
A PPARENTLY' AMERICAN HONda thinks that bad weather is the ticket to good sales performance next year. Because in the company’s 1987 street-bike lineup, which has just been officially announced, are two all-new motorcycles named “Hurricane.” These pure-sport models are the same basic machines referred to in the Honda section of our ’87 Preview issue last month. They carry the “CBR” designation in Europe, and have simply been retrimmed and renamed for America.
No relation to motocross legend Bob Hannah, the Hurricanes use allnew 600cc and lOOOcc liquid-cooled inline-Four engines that are fully enclosed within streamlined bodywork designed to punch small, but very fast, holes through the air. Steel framework hides under their plastic, and 17-inch wheels are used at both ends of both bikes.
In addition to this pair of neverbefore-seen motorcycles, the lineup includes two other models that have been extensively redesigned and restyled from stem to stern: The 1100 Shadow and the 700 Magna. The big Shadow has gained a Harley-esque exhaust and a Big-Twin-replica gastank profile; and its engine, which still displaces 1 lOOcc, has been given more bottom-end power. More surprising is the change from a fivespeed gearbox to a four-speed. Harley dealers—and motorcycle magazines—have been begging for five speeds in H-D Sportsters for years, but Honda seems to believe that the route to success in the V-Twin custom market involves copying even questionable Harley practices.
While the Shadow has merely been redesigned, the Magna 700 has been redirected from a general-purpose cruiser to a custom-styled hot-rod. Using a shiny, highly polished update of the 1982 Magna engine (two VFour generations behind the latest VFR engine), the new Magna is longer, lower and more powerful than its predecessors. Its flame-red bodywork and upswept mufflers aim it squarely at the mini-V-Max market, turf that’s currently owned by Yamaha’s 700 Fazer.
PREVIEW '87
Hurricane season approaches
Perhaps more telling than the new bikes are the models that have not returned to Honda’s lineup for 1987. Gone is the Aspencade SE-i, all the Nighthawks, the V65 Magna, the VFR750, the 500 Interceptor and the 500 Shadow. Blame the devaluation of the dollar versus the yen for their demise; the motorcycle market has been tough in the last year, and even Honda has found need to consolidate and economize. Only 10 pure street machines remain, the fewest since the early 1970s. The returning six models are two Gold Wings (Interstate and Aspencade), the VFR700, the 700 Shadow, and the 250 and 450 Rebels, all of which are largely unchanged from their 1986 versions.
That same rising yen has also contributed to the sharpest price increases in recent years: the 700 Shadow, for example, is up to $3998, a long way from the original 750 Shadow’s price of $2998 just four years ago. And of the all-new models, only the suggested retail price of the Honda 700 Magna cruiser—also $3998—has been decided as of this writing.
But while 1987 is unlikely to be remembered as a year of motorcycle bargains, it might be remembered for another reason: As the year Honda pared its offerings down to a precious few, allowing only the best showroom performers to survive. 0
