Favorite '80s bike?

[Crash Cash]

A friend just asked me: "For decent power and handling, what was your favorite '80's bike?" Now that's a heck of a question... I think for me it's a tie between a Honda CBX and an Suzuki RGV 500 Gamma. I think that inline-6 was a work of art, and typical Honda over-the-top engineering, and the RGV was about as close to a 500GP bike as you were going to get. What do you think?

 

[airboss]

Kawasaki's Vulcan 750, liquid cooled, shaft drive, good lean angles for a cruiser style bike, introduced in 1985. Last production year was 2006, I wore one of the early models out, and started on an 06 model before trading it for a VFR.

 

[NightShine]

Favorite '80's bike? Why the one I rode of course!

Bought new in 1982, Honda vf750s sabre. Water cooled V-4 engine, drive shaft, 6-speed (with gear indicator! ), and self-canceling turn signals.

 

[TriggerT]

No question for me, it was the V-Max. Not good handling but do I even need to comment on the power?

 

[kurt]

My 1981 KZ1000

 

[angus]

V65 Magna

 

[J-DADDY]

Owned a 1983 Suzuki GS750E. Great bike, illness forced sale in 1989.

Currently considering a 1983 Suzuki GS1100E. 10K miles. A real "looker" in yellow!

 

[jmdaniel]

My 1981 Yamaha XJ750R Seca, bought brand new. Well, all 632 miles of it, until I crashed and totaled it.

Not a sip of booze on a bike since....

 

[spudmanz]

My 1983 Honda VFR 1000 was the tits

 

[cadman]

my favorite '80's bike is my 1980 XS1100 G. i bought it back in '84. its the only '80's bike i have owned..

cadman

 

[dj bill]

in 88 i bought a gs 1150es and had to sell it when i bought a new house,when my friend bought a 79 cbx and i was on my bad ass kz750 twin (not bad ass ) i had envy big time.

well i got both in the garage now.

gs 1150 es at gs rally in yosemite 7/08

cbx in front of casa

 

[Crash Cash]

Favorite '80's bike? Why the one I rode of course!
Bought new in 1982, Honda vf750s sabre. Water cooled V-4 engine, drive shaft, 6-speed (with gear indicator! ), and self-canceling turn signals.

I had one of those!! Same color AND it had the Hondaline fairing and tail rack. It had one of the first full LCD dashes and I think it had a fuel gauge too. It also had a probe in the battery to tell you if you were having battery problems. Unfortunately it needed the expensive OEM battery with the extra hole for this to work. Plus that big honking V-4 was a torque monster.

Did you know it had an RCA 1802 microcomputer in it to run the dash? The self-canceling turn signals worked with a pot on the triple tree, and there was a lookup table of steering angle vs speed to decide to turn off the signals. I disassembled a dead dash, and extracted the code and disassembled that too. (Sorry, that was the computer geek side peeking out)

 

[Scab]

1983 GL650

 

[Calimus]

Man, I know Alabama was always a little behind the times, but by 83' I didn't think you'd have to ride your bike to the outhouse, geez Dave.

While I wasn't exactly old enough to play in the game at the time (Though I at least had a Honda 50 to my name) my fav bike's was the pair of V65's that my father had. Also, the GPZ1100 that my uncle had. Lots of awesome memories of those bikes at the local drag strip.

 

[Niehart]

Yamaha 1982 Seca XJ650 Turbo! Grey with red & black strips, full fairing, black chrome exhaust and boost turned up to 11 pounds. Too much fun ... never had it on the dyno but know that stock, HP was 90 horses and with the boost turned up to 11 pounds and a few other goodies, it was a giant killer.

 

[jordylad]

1984 Kawasaki 900 Ninja was the business.

Started the whole Supersport bike craze.

Awesome bike, I had mine from 84 - 90.

 

[Scab]

Man, I know Alabama was always a little behind the times, but by 83' I didn't think you'd have to ride your bike to the outhouse, geez Dave.

Behind the times? Hell, that was 2001!

...and it was a long walk.

 

[Big Sky]

1983 CB1100F Honda. I owned three; rode two - one to 23,000, the other to 33,000. This bike was the beefed up 900F and was in Europe in '81 and '82, only in the USA in '83, then just for that year 'cause the 1000 Interceptor was due in '84. These are rare and beautiful (red and white or blue and white) and very functional - in the day. Twin shocks, skinny tires wouldn't make it these days. I think they were 108 hp at the shaft and 96 at the wheel and would run neck and neck with the Kaw GPZs and Suzis of that time. My wife and I, with soft saddle bags, tank bag and tail pack on a luggae rack toured the northwest, even out to the west shore of Vancouver Island on the "F". Never any trouble.

 

[Bungie]

1983 GL650

I had an 82 CX650E. One of my top 3 bikes of all time. (FJR!, VFR and the CX). Sold it in a moment of pure stupidity. Now a buddy in Edmonton has a cherry low mileage one and I'm fighting the urge to pick it up - better to remember my bike fondly and save my money.

Thats a big outhouse... is it a two-holer?