25 Years Ago February 1984
25 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 1984
As a teenager stuck (riding a clapped-out Batavus moped (illegally!), I was smitten with the promise of freedom and coolness of this month's coverbike: the Honda Nighthawk 700S. It was billed as `A happy marriage of Nighthawk style and Interceptor performance," and the conclusion was, "There's nothing it can't do." Waaav better than a moped. but out of my reach at S3398.
• Not too many pages later was a full test of the Harley-Davidson XLX Sportster. "It seats one. It doesn't have a radiator, a shaft drive, banks of solid-state instruments. There are no multi-anythings: not valves, nor pis tons.. .And we love it!" Claimed power was 56 horses, some 24 down on the Nighthawk 700, while price was $4599.
• While both of the above bikes were pretty cool, the feature of features was "The Exotics. All You Need is the Money: a Guide to Custom Frame Kits."
Lead photo was of a Birnota SB4 powered by a Suzuki GSI 100 engine and costing a princely S 13,989! Egli, Harris. Magni, Martin aiid Rickman all made the pages, with no-engine prices for most starting at around S4000. The full boat Egli with a 180-horse turbo-and nitrous-equipped 1200cc Kawasaki engine was Si 8,500. All you need is the money. indeed!
• In racing. Eddie Lawson was un touchable in the Superbikers TV race at the now-defunct Carlsbad Raceway in Southern California. A precursor to supermoto. the part-dirt. part-asphalt race on converted motocrossers (and a few straight-up dirt-track bikes) was easily won by the then-new Team Marlboro Grand Prix Yamaha star. The future four-time world champ beat Doug Chandler, Broc Glover, Andre Malherbe and a bunch of other huge nanies. -Mark Hoyer
