25 Years Ago December 1986
25 YEARS AGO DECEMBER 1986
ROUNDUP
It was only a matter of time, but I’m finally old enough (42) that motorcycles featured on the cover of Cycle World 25 years ago are bikes I once owned when they were actually current. Right there in the upper-righthand corner is my very first sportbike: a Honda CBR600F.
•A special section, “1987 New Model Preview,” featured entries from Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Cagiva, Ducati, Husqvarna, KTM and the aforementioned Honda. Coolest bike? Had to be Yamaha’s AMA Superbike homologation special, the FZR750R, of which only 200 were imported to the U.S. that year.
• In Roundup, two motorcycles caught my eye. First, there was the one-off, HRC-buiit Honda RVF750, which was ridden to a commanding victory in July’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race by Grand Prix stars Wayne Gardner and Dominique Sarron. The other bike was the Ducati prototype that competed in the Bol d’Or 24-hour race. Powered a liquid-cooled, 90-degree, 750cc V-Twin with belt-driven overhead cams and four desmodromically actuated WUHMBHI valves per cylinder, the trellis-framed machine was the precursor to the 851.
•“The Death of T.E. Lawrence” revisited the life and mysterious death in 1935 of the man whom Winston Churchill called “one of the greatest beings of our time.” Lawrence was killed while riding one of his beloved Brough Superiors. Seventy-five years later, the circumstances related to Lawrence of Arabia’s death remain a mystery. Blake Conner
