Cw 25 Years Ago March 1990
CW 25 YEARS AGO MARCH 1990
These were the days for 600cc supersports: “Hot Damn!” the cover declared on the arrival of Kawasaki’s all-new ZX-6. The little Ninja used its 36mm Keihin carbs to make 100 horses, spin to a then-astronomical 14,000-rpm redline, and run a super-solid 11.36-second quarter-mile, all while being a great streetbike. “The result is, without doubt, the most powerful, best performing production 600 ever made,” we declared.
MSRP was $5,499 and no-fuel weight on the Cl/V scale was a beefy 461 pounds.
-> Bimota was the unlikely builder of an unlikely bike: the Bellaria YB-9 sport-tourer fitted with a Yamaha FZR600 engine. It was the first Bimota to be assigned a name and was generally touted as Bimota’s best all-around bike.
-> “Big Sid's Passion” was a profile of the late Sid Biber-
man, a man who was large in stature and spirit, having devoted his life to the great Vincent marque. There was also "Vincentology 101: The complete idiot’s guide to Vincent identification.” It did have some good information, but the real complete idiots were those of uswhodidn’tbuythe relatively cheap Vincents available in those days. Black Shadows now fetch an easy $100,000.
-Mark Hoyer
