25 Years Ago September. 1980

25 YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER. 1980

Righteous bike freaks among you would look past "Moto Guzzi’s Exotic V50” on the cover and head right to the Hesketh 10OOcc 90-degree V-Twin superbike. The prototype, built by Lord Alexander Hesketh of England, was being considered for series production but, “If Team Hesketh does it all, the price will be high,” noted author Allan Girdler.

• Closer to the mainstream was a full test of the Harley-Davidson FXB 80 Sturgis, notable for its use of belt primary and final drives in a mostly chain-Harley era. “Having about the same torque as an International Harvester Loadstar, the Sturgis is quite comfortable with the engine spinning 2700 rpm at 60 mph,” read the test of the $5687 machine.

• These days fuel-injection is commonplace, but in 1980 editors said the injected Kawasaki KZ1000G1 Classic had, “the staggering complexity of an onboard computer.” The big, custom-style Four offered similar performance to carbureted versions but ran better when cold. Still, the $4199 MSRP was $750 more than the Mk II, which was deemed too high a price for too little gain.

• We’d tell you about the Kawasaki KX250 test (“It’s a nice bike, but...”), except for the fact that we found a photo of a bearded young man from Wisconsin in the front of the magazine. “Motojournalism should have a rookie-of-the-year award so Peter could win it,” said then-Editor Girdler about our man Egan. Twenty-five years later, a lifetime-achievement award might be more appropriate.

Mark Hoyer