9795_MCCStreetBikesofthe80s

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JODY SPYCHALLA

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BACK TO THE FUTURE: HONDA CX650 TURBO The ‘80s were a time of innovation, and the production of Honda’s first turbo motorcycle captured the attention of Dean Stuckman.

PLASTIC FANTASTIC: 1985 HONDA VF1000R

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1989 NORTON COMMANDER ROTARY

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BIG NOISE: 1981 LAVERDA JOTA

CAREFULLY REVIVED: 1981 DUCATI PANTAH 500SL Dave Eulberg’s restless and passionate search for a Ducati Pantah paid off.

BIGGER BROTHER: 1984 YAMAHA FJ1400 Pat Conlon created his own beefed-up FJ, taking the engine size from 1,097cc to 1,350cc, creating what he calls the FJ1400.

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1980 KAWASAKI MYSTERY SHIP Alan Smith saw a Mystery Ship in 1980. “I thought it was the coolest bike made. I wanted one.”

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CULT CLASSIC: 1985 SUZUKI GS1150E Strong, fast and reliable, stock survivors of this bike are now rare.

NICK CEDAR

MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

The VF1000R was the bike America wanted, and got ... eventually.

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FUTURE MOTORCYCLE: 1985 HONDA NIGHTHAWK

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1982 KAWASAKI GPZ 750

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1981 HONDA CB900F

KATANA CRAZY IN OHIO Down an alley off Main Street in Willoughby, Ohio, stands an innocuous, two-story brick building. Inside lies the culmination of one man’s 35-year obsession with a unique and groundbreaking motorcycle, Suzuki’s incredible Katana.

1980 DUCATI 900SS The starting point for Cameron Jones’ amazing transformation was a somewhat sad and neglected 1980 Ducati 900SS.

Bombproof and easy to ride, Nighthawks continue to be an excellent choice for a first bike that a rider won’t outgrow in four months.

The boys at Kawasaki knew a sporty image sold bikes, and the new GPz for 1982 showed just how sporty a Kawasaki could be.

Something of a cult bike, John Davy was lucky to find this lowmileage CB900F that had been parked for years.

Under the storm trooper uniform of plastic lies an engineering novelty, the Wankel rotary engine, that never quite took command of the motorcycling world.

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Steve Gurry’s Laverda Jota, with its orange paint a fireball in the evening sunshine, is often the loudest bike in the parking lot — and that’s before Steve even starts the engine.

1982 KRAUSER MKM1000 Far away is close at hand when your vehicle just happens to be deluxe rolling luggage.

BRITISH TO THE LAST: 1982 TRIUMPH T140S Changing hands and administrations created the “Co-op Bonnie.”

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Never a volume producer, Laverda survived by being able to command a premium price for street versions of its highly competitive endurance racers.

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Street Bikes of the ‘80s

www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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ROBERT SMITH

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1986/1988 LAVERDA SFC1000

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ROBERT SMITH

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HOOLIGANS ONLY: YAMAHA V-MAX Yamaha’s V4 bruiser continues to be to this day a significant model in the company’s lineup. At the time, it was a radical departure from Japanese design.

ROLAND BROWN

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KEN RICHARDSON

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BACK TO THE FUTURE Honda CX650 Turbo

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Story by Greg Williams Photos by Jeff Barger

A visitor to Dean Stuckmann’s home in Newton, Wisconsin, would be whisked back to the early 1980s.

At the time, new technologies were launching that changed the way people watched movies and listened to music, and Dean appreciated new technologies such as the Sony Betamax videocassette player and Pioneer LaserDisc player. He still has both of them, set up and functioning, in his home entertainment system.

“I’ve always really been into new technology,” Dean says of his earlyadopter status, and that passion carries over to his interest in motorcycles. He continues: “Early in 1981, when motorcycle magazines began running stories about the first Honda CX500 Turbo, I thought the bike was really something special. I went to my dealer, Wickman’s Cycle Service in Manitowoc, so I could be the first to get one.” Dean traded his Honda CB750F and put money down on a brand-new 1982 CX500 Turbo — sight unseen. Part of the deal included the dealer’s wall poster and sales materials, pieces of ephemera Dean continues to maintain in his personal collection. Almost four decades and 77,000 miles later, he’s also still got that CX500 Turbo. But that machine was really just a gateway to his ultimate Honda — the rare 1983 CX650 Turbo.

Turbo fever We can’t talk about Honda’s CX650 Turbo without first discussing the CX500. Honda launched the CX500 Turbo in 1982 as a technological tour

de force, but they were not the first motorcycle manufacturer to use a turbocharger to stuff more fuel and air into an engine for more power. In the 1930s, British and European race teams were experimenting with superchargers — a slightly different method of forced induction where a “blower” takes its power from a crankshaft pulley, compressing the fuel/air charge.

A turbocharger, by comparison, uses waste exhaust gases passing over a turbine, which in turn spins a compressor wheel to cram a dense fuel/air mixture into the combustion chamber.

The result? Greater power in a smaller powerplant.

Kawasaki, working with Californiabased Turbo Cycle Co., launched a turbo-powered bike in 1978 with the Z1RTC, but it was a bike some called a crudely developed concept and didn’t last past the 1979 model. Honda was next with the CX500T of 1982, and it bristled with advanced computer control systems to ensure everything worked as intended. Honda wasn’t alone, as Yamaha was right behind with the 1982-1983 XJ650LJ Seca, and in 1983 Suzuki introduced the XN85.

Kawasaki didn’t roll over, coming out with its own turbo-powered bike for 1984 and 1985 with the ZX750E1.

The CX500 In planning for a turbo-powered bike, Honda chose the tried and true CX500 platform. Tough and reliable, www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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1984 YAMAHA FJ1400 engine: “… while the FJ’s somewhat the dry lake bed the FJ was second only Engine: 1,350cc air-cooled DOHC inline four, 82mm x dated specifications might pale when to Honda’s VF1000F, 145.9550mph 63.8mm bore and stroke, 10.5:1 compression ratio stacked up against the glittering crevs. 146.8187; the Honda was fourth(1,097cc, 74mm x 63.8mm bore and stroke, 9.5:1 comdentials of its classmates, its sheer, quickest at the drags, prompting Cycle pression ratio stock) Top Speed: 146mph (period test) mind-stretching power renders such Guide to declare in its article: “The Carburetion: Four Mikuni 36mm comparisons null and void.” absolute King of Hyperformance for Transmission: 5-speed, chain final drive In that same issue, Cycle Guide went 1984 is Yamaha’s brightest new star, Electrics: 12v, electronic ignition on to state that the FJ1100 “is an the FJ1100.”

Frame/wheelbase: Dual downtube box-section perimincredibly fast motorcycle, a point Later that year, Cycle magazine coneter steel frame/58.3in (1,481mm) forcibly driven home anytime you roll ducted a similar top-speed shootout Suspension: Upside-down cartridge fork w/adjustable preload, rebound and compression front (Kayaba fork open the throttle … It starts pulling among various big liter-class bikes, w/adjustable preload and rebound stock)/Penske 8987 right from basement-level rpm, and also at El Mirage, where the FJ1100 shock w/adjustable preload, rebound and compression revs quickly to the 9,500-redline, or notched 146mph on the radar gun. rear (adjustable preload and rebound stock) past, if you wish.” Just how quick and “The FJ’s ability to overshoot redline Brakes: Dual Galfer 12.6in (320mm) discs w/Yamaha R1 fast the FJ was when compared to its and connect with its rev-limiter in calipers front (dual 11.1in/281mm discs stock)/Pyramid competitors became clear elsewhere top gear complicated our top-speed Plastics 8.6in (218mm) disc w/Yamaha R1 caliper rear (10.6in/270mm disc stock) in the issue’s Speed War II: The Sequel testing,” concluded Cycle’s editors.

Tires: Michelin Pilot Road 3 120/70 x 17in front (120/80 x article that pitted the FJ1100 against Adding to the confusion of deciding 16in stock), 180/55 x 17in rear (150/80 x 16in stock) six other big-bore candidates in a nojust which bike was absolute fastest, Weight: 520lb (236 kg)/535lb (243kg) stock holds-barred contest at the drag strip Kawasaki’s Ninja 900 and ZX1000R Seat height: 29in (737mm)/30in (762mm) stock and nearby El Mirage Dry Lake for a Ninja weren’t foiled by their rev-limitFuel capacity: 6.5gal (24.5ltr) top-speed run. At Carlsbad Raceway’s ers, allowing them to hit full stride at Price then/now: $4,999/NA quarter-mile strip the FJ stopped the 150 and 158mph, respectively. clock at 10.681 seconds (125.34mph), But top-speed and quarter-mile topping all other competitors in the field; next closest was performance aside, the FJ1100 wowed magazine testers of the Suzuki’s GS1150ES at 10.742 (124.13mph). In top-speed runs at day based on its road manners and handling acumen alone.

Wrote Cycle Guide’s Paul Dean in his review for the June 1984 best will be determined by how they stack up to the present issue about the FJ1100: “… there has to be something superbenchmark bike, the Yamaha FJ1100.” natural about a bike that looks, feels and, when asked to do so, acts like the pole-sitter at the Bol d’Or, yet is as docile and Morphing civilized around town as your sister’s Vespa.” No doubt the Considering Cycle’s prophetic words, let’s leap forward into bike’s rigid perimeter frame, connected to the pavement by the next millennium, where we catch up with FJ1100 owner fully adjustable suspension riding on and lifetime enthusiast Pat Conlon. avant-garde 16-inch wheels and tires, This is a man who understood from played a major role in the bike’s civilthe get-go back in 1984 that there ity around town as well as its aggreswas something clearly special about siveness around tight turns.

Yamaha’s first FJ1100. He purchased But, as mentioned already, the midhis 1984 FJ1100 — VIN number 000303 ’80s was a time of excessive experi— from Champion Motorcycles in mentation among motorcycle manCosta Mesa, California, in early 1984, ufacturers, who searched endlessly and he’s owned the bike ever since. He for ways to improve the performance knows the bike rather intimately, too, of their flagship models. Clearly, the having put nearly 150,000 miles on it editors of Cycle saw the writing on when these photographs were taken a the wall when, at the conclusion of few years ago. their January 1985 issue’s top-speed Your mind isn’t playing tricks on contest article, they wrote: “Good as you, and no, I hadn’t ingested any the FJ1100 is, we know better than mind-altering stimulants before (or to proclaim it the permanent world after) I snapped these photos — champion of Super Sport technology. although Pat’s bike is a 1984, it clearSuperbike progress marches on in ly has bits and pieces that Yamaha leaps and bounds … Whether these hadn’t even dreamed of when the first new machines advance the state-of- The front now wears 320mm Galfer wave FJ1100 rolled off the assembly line. I’ll the-art, lag behind or parallel today’s rotors gripped by calipers from a 2002 R1. let Pat take up the story at this point. www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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NORTON’S ROTARY

1989 Norton Commander

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Story and photos by Robert Smith

As most people know the story, Norton quit making motorcycles after Norton-Villiers-Triumph declared bankruptcy in 1975. Yet that wasn’t the end, because while Norton did indeed disappear from the U.S., the company continued for almost 20 more years developing, perfecting and producing rotary-powered motorcycles.

Beginnings It’s not surprising that most U.S. motorcyclists have never heard of — much less seen — a Norton rotary. Built in very small numbers and never sold here, the Norton rotary represents a mostly unappreciated chapter in the convoluted story of the fabled British marque. Yet once upon a time, Norton believed the rotary was its future.

Invented by German engineer Felix Wankel in 1929 and further developed in the 1950s at NSU, the Wankel — or rotary — engine (see sidebar) offered simplicity and smoothness thanks to its lack of reciprocating parts as well as a high power-to-weight ratio and compact size — desirable attributes for a motorcycle engine. In the 1960s, interest in rotary engines blossomed, and by the end of the decade BSA Group started development on a suitable rotary engine, hiring engineer David Garside to run the program. Starting with a fan-cooled, single-rotor, 294cc Fichtel & Sachs engine, Garside’s team established their basic requirements for a Wankel motorcycle engine, building a prototype fitted into BSA-group cycle parts.

To move forward with the project, BSA either had to buy a license to build Wankel engines or contract F&S to build engines for them. Although BSA was in dire straights, in the summer of 1972 BSA’s board of directors voted to purchase a Wankel license from Audi-NSU, and by 1973 Garside’s team had designed an air-cooled, twin-rotor, 588cc rotary engine making around 70 horsepower.

Although Garside’s unit was small and compact for its power output, heat buildup was a major issue, especially around the combustion zone. To avoid the extra weight and complexity of liquid-cooling, Fichtel & Sachs had tried cooling the rotor by drawing intake air through its center before feeding it into the engine, but this meant the charge was heated in the process, reducing combustion efficiency. Though an intercooler would have been ideal, Garside opted instead for a plenum chamber in the intake tract where the air could lose some of its heat. It worked well enough and allowed the engine to run efficiently without a cooling fan.

In 1973, BSA merged with NortonVilliers, part of the Manganese-Bronze group.

Though a much smaller company than BSA, Manganese-Bronze was in a stronger financial position and the “merger” effectively became a www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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BIG NOISE FROM BREGANZE 1981 Laverda 1000 Jota

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Story and photos by Robert Smith

I’m standing outside the Fox and Fiddle pub on the Langley By-Pass in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, with Steve Gurry and his 1981 Laverda Jota, its orange paint a fireball in the evening sunshine. It’s the loudest bike in the parking lot — and he hasn’t even started the engine.

Then he thumbs the 1,000cc triple’s starter. The tarmac shudders as the beast comes alive with a bellow, its raucous beat echoes off the pub wall and stray gusts of exhaust beat at my face. It has the seething, restrained menace of an offensive lineman just before the snap.

Steve climbs aboard, slips it in gear and idles the Jota toward the highway entrance, the engine thrumming its rhythmic beat. He pulls out on the street, checks traffic and cranks the throttle wide, ramming open the pumper jets in the three big Dell’Orto carbs. With a snarl like a top fuel dragster, the Jota rips away, firing two rooster tails of raw gas high into the air. It’s pure theater.

Laverda and the Jota Every successful bike maker has a standout model, the ne plus ultra, the one where everything comes together perfectly, producing a classic bike that exemplifies the brand. For Triumph it was the Bonneville, for Moto Guzzi the Le Mans and for Indian the Chief. For Laverda, it was the Jota.

Not for the first time in motorcycling history, the Jota is the result of an enterprising salesman telling the factory what it should build. In the 1950s, it was U.S. distributor Bill Johnson who persuaded Triumph to build the Bonneville; Joe Berliner asked Ducati for a police bike and got the Apollo; and it was U.K. Laverda distributors Slater Brothers who came up with the idea for the Jota.

Production of Laverda’s 750cc twin was barely underway in 1969 when the factory announced intentions to produce a 1,000cc triple, promising to show a prototype at that year’s Milan show. General manager Massimo Laverda claimed the new machine would be both lighter and narrower than the new Honda CB750’s 471 pounds and 22 inches. These were

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MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

Street Bikes of the ‘80s

ambitious targets, but the only one Laverda missed on was the timing. Though the company showed a 1,000cc triple at Milan, it was a single overhead cam design clearly based on the twin, and it was soon abandoned. The final prototype, shown in Milan in 1971, was an all new inline 3-cylinder engine with chain-driven double overhead cams, a new duplex-cradle frame and a Laverda twin-leading-shoe front brake.

Production of the 1000 eventually got underway in early 1973, still with the drum brake, though for 1974 a revised version, the 1000 3C with dual Brembo disc brakes at the front (a few early 3Cs wore a single disc), was announced. In a prescient move, higher performance camshafts, designated “4C” became an available option. Even in stock form, though, the 3C was the bike to beat, with a tested top speed of 133mph.

For 1975, the 1000’s specification was revised again, this time with Laverda’s own cast wheels replacing the wire spoke

Borrani rims, and with a third brake disc added for the rear wheel to create the 1000 3CL (L for lega, meaning alloy). The rest of the Jota story comes from across the English Channel.

The English connection In April 2003, I was riding through rural Herefordshire, England, when a familiar red, white and green roundel on the front of an unremarkable industrial building caught my eye.

“Slater Laverda,” said the sign. Of course, I had to stop and go in. Behind the counter was the friendly and self-effacing Richard Slater: the Richard Slater, now gray-haired, but still full of energy. It was around 1970 that Richard and his brother, Roger, became the U.K. importers for Laverda.

Richard showed me around his parts inventory and the restored bikes he had for sale, and also invited me to look up Roger, who lives in the U.S., when I returned home.

With less than 4,000 original miles, the Forbes Krauser is barely run in.

Acquiring an MKM — or two Phil Rose has been motorcycling for some 35 years, starting out aboard a 1974 Honda CB550. He moved on to a Kawasaki GPz750, and then discovered BMWs. At this point, Phil began working with mechanic Darrell Messerle and they began restoring vintage /2 BMWs. These

days, instead of restoring motorcycles Phil tries to buy bikes in good original condition. Currently, he has 26 or 27 machines in his Massachusetts-based collection.

Phil wound up with the ex-Malcolm Forbes MKM1000 in a roundabout way. Nine years ago, Phil looked at three MKM1000s owned by a Long Island collector, but at the

Krauser upgrades: 4-valve cylinder heads Although exclusive, the MKM1000 wasn’t actually any faster than a stock BMW R100RS. “The whole thing about the MKM1000 is the frame,” collector Phil Rose says. “Then, it’s the fiberglass bodywork, and finally, the 4-valve heads.” Ah, the allure of the Krauser 4-valve heads.

According to Phil, Krauser developed a special performance 4-valve head kit to bump the 980cc BMW boxer’s horsepower from 70 to 82: He also increased compression from 8.2:1 to 10.2:1. “Krauser sold the 4-valve kits as race parts, and a lot of people made the mistake of thinking the heads were ready to go right out of the box — they really weren’t. They had to be massaged and

finished,” Phil says. According to a 1982 article in BMW News, the 4-valve heads were being tested on MKM1000s with kits to be available by early 1983 priced at $1,100.

Included in the Krauser 4-valve head kit was a pair of Mahle pistons and rings.

The pistons were machined with pockets to match the valve layout. There was no problem fitting the new pistons, but the heads required porting and polishing to clean them up. Also, there were short, hollow pushrods constructed of two parts — the rod and a small end cap. If left unattended, there was a distinct possibility the rods would take on oil. “If oil got into the short pushrods, it would change the weight of the valve

train and stress the valve train,” Phil explains. A BMW cam should last some 100,000 miles without issue. A stressed cam, thanks to oil-filled Krauser push rods, could self-destruct in 30,000 miles.

“They need to be welded together and machined and polished to seal them up,” Phil says.

One of the MKM1000s Phil purchased from the Long Island collection was a single saddle or Monoposto (no. 065) machine fitted with the special 4-valve heads. In exceptional original condition, the engine had been built by renowned Krauser specialist Perry Bushong of Fort Worth, Texas, employing all of his tricks learned racing Krauser-powered machines. — Greg Williams

Krauser 4-valve cylinder head (left) and the unique Krauser frame exposed (above).

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time couldn’t afford to buy one of them, let alone all three.

Then, in 2011, when a deal fell through on another MKM he was pursuing in Canada, Phil discovered the Long Island MKMs were still for sale.

“I had a lot of cash because I’d sold two bikes to fund the purchase (of the Canadian bike), but he sold that one to someone else,” Phil says.

“On the collector’s website, there was still a picture of an MKM1000. I sent him a note asking if the bike was for sale, and I got a call the next morning at 8:45. I made a deal to go and look, and I took my money and my van.”

It came to pass that this time Phil bought not only one, but all three MKMs — one of which was the Forbes machine. “I was told the collector had bought the MKM from Forbes’ son, and I had the title and Malcolm Forbes’ keychain. There are a lot of high-end bikes that have his name attached to them.” In this case, however, Phil has a New Jersey Certificate of Ownership proving Forbes’ ownership of the bike.

As purchased, the Forbes MKM1000 (no. 061) required a minimal amount of work to return it to roadworthy condition.

Phil freed up the brakes, rebuilding the master cylinders and calipers using factory replacement parts, which, he points out, are all still available from any BMW retailer. He dropped the oil pan, cleaned it out, changed the oil filter, added fresh oil and changed all the drivetrain fluids. The 40mm Bing carburetors were stripped and serviced.

Because the machine had such low miles, no bearings needed replacement, and even the Metzeler tires are original to the 18-inch rear and 19-inch front wheels.

Yet while the bike was mechanically sound, cosmetically it needed some TLC. “Of the three MKMs, the Forbes bike was in the worst shape,” Phil says. “He just didn’t seem to care about the bike.”

For example, when a radar detector had been mounted to the fairing, two holes were drilled to bolt it in. “I cleaned it up, filled the holes, and touched up the paint and the decals. It looked 1,000 times better when I was done with it.”

The front footpeg rubbers, which are actually cut-down left-hand Magura handgrips, were the only rubber bits Phil replaced. Phil got the bike back into proper shape, and after adding a couple hundred miles to the odometer he sold the Forbes MKM to the founder of beemergarage.com.

Phil still has the other two MKM1000s in his collection, however, including a 4-valve equipped example (see sidebar at left).

“It’s typical 1980s BMW,” Phil says of riding the MKM. “On a racetrack it might be different, but on the street it’s like riding an R100RS. But you do notice a difference because you’re in a riding position that cants you more forward, and you definitely feel the change in rake and trail. The Krauser frame is what really grants you exclusivity, and because of it the MKM has become one of the holy grails of BMW collectors.” MC

Two (mostly) of a kind: MKM1000 bi-posto (left) carries no. 061; build plate on 4-valve mono-posto (right) carries No. 065. www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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