25 Years Ago December 1984

25 YEARS AGO DECEMBER 1984

Inside, the first thing that grabbed my attention in this “Preview ’85” edition was the coverage in Roundup from the Cologne Show in Germany. The then-new GSX-R750 (which would hit our shores a year later) opened the section, followed by images of a pair of not-for-American-consumption two-strokes, including Suzuki’s RG500 Gamma squareFour and Honda’s NS400R V-Three. Also pictured was the crowd-favorite prototype Bimota Tesi. Sweet!

• Outside of the aforementioned exotics not destined for our market, there was a bunch of significant new bikes featured in the special section that were coming to the U.S. The Honda Shadow 1100 and V-Four-powered VF1000R highlighted Big Red’s offerings, while Kawasaki’s Ninja 600 was not only radical for the day but much-anticipated. Yamaha was not to be left out, offering the brandnew V-Max and FZ750.

• A full test of Honda’s CR500R, which got liquid-cooling for the first time, was heralded as a big improvement for an already potent motorcycle. Said editors, “The fact remains that last year, the CR was the best Open-class motocrosser available, and this year, it’s better.”

• Team America, including rid ers David Bailey, Johnny O'Mara, Jeff Ward and Rick Johnson, beat the world's best 500cc MX riders at the Motocross des Nations in Finland, besting the Belgian team by seven points in the two-moto format. Two weeks later, the same team destroyed the competition in Sweden at the 250cc Trophee des Nations.

Blake Conner