25 Years Ago April 1985

25 YEARS AGO APRIL 1985

Cycle World's cover plugged designed for motorcycles multiple surfaces of terra firma. Pictured were full-dress touring machines from Honda and BMW, while teasers included a MX Missile Shootout and a test ride on the ultra-radical Bimota Tesi.

• The first thing that grabbed my attention in the table of contents was a test of what was said to be the best trials bike of the time, Yamaha's four-stroke TY350.

• Editor Paul Dean's editorial discussed how Hollywood's nega tive depiction of motorcycle riders could be partially repaired by then-new television series "Street Hawk," which centered around a vigilante crime fighter who rode a futuristic, high-flying, all-terrain pursuit motorcycle.

• In the two-bike touring compari son, BMW's K100RT, being 200 pounds lighter than the GL1 200 Gold Wing Limited, offered I `IUmc~ excellent handling I on tight, bumpy I the testing didn't mountain roads, but take place in the Alps; it instead -~ was conducted on the highways and byways of the U.S. Not surprisingly, the Gold Wing, a bike designed and developed spe cifically for the wants and needs of American touring riders, topped the Beemer by a wide margin.

• Bimota flexed its engineering muscle and created the Tesi after engineer Federico Martini was inspired by the hub-steering Elf endurance racer. Elf may have beat Bimota to the punch but the Tesi ultimately found its way onto the showroom floor, not just the racetrack.

• The 250cc MX conflict was dominated by the Kawasaki KX250 on all counts, including power, handling and ergonomic layout.

Mark Cernicky