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THE HISTORY OF MOTORCYCLES PT. 11
By: Melanie Schwarte
The 1980’ s brought many changes to American pop culture. The birth of Pac-Man and Microsoft Windows paved the way for technology to supersede human interaction, and the assassination of John Lennon ushered in the downfall of music as we knew it. By the end of the decade we saw the Berlin Wall fall and inflation rise to record levels. What impact did this have on the motorcycle world? Well let’ s just say that Japan was doing far more than selling the first compact disc players the world had ever seen. Japanese bikes were quickly becoming hotter
Sturgis
Harley-Davidson 1340 Softail than an 80’ s teen girl wearing Love’ s Baby Soft.
Though motorcycling had been popular for years, it became more accessible to some riders due in part to the many low-priced and easy to ride Japanese models on the market. To capitalize on the growing market the Japanese began to leave behind the designs that had originally helped them explode onto the motorcycle scene in America. Some developments that emerged earlier in motorcycle history quickly became standards in the 80’ s … water cooling, shaft drives as opposed to chains, and virtually any modification that could boost performance and speed. An interesting aspect of many 80’ s bikes was the plethora of modern high-technology additions including electronic instruments with basic computers and LCD displays, 6 speed transmissions, and triple disk brakes.
Some noteworthy Japanese bikes of the 80’ s include the Honda V45 and V65 Magna. Introduced in 1982, it was one of the original 80’ s cruisers with a 750. In 1983 the V65 was released as an 1100. Many saw this as Honda challenging Harley-Davidson by indicating engine size in cubic inches( Harley’ s standard measurement) versus cc’ s. The Magna would evolve through the decade into the Super Magna, but would never gain as much respect on the American market as the Honda Shadow. American buyers preferred the more“ Harley-esque” appearance and performance provided by the Shadow.
Prior to the split between performance bikes and cruisers became as prominent as we see today, Kawasaki decided to take the engine from their legendary“ Ninja” and equip a low slung cruiser frame with it. What they produced was the Eliminator … a 900 cc( later a 1000 cc) water cooled inlinefour with a 6 speed transmission that produced over 100 HP in a sleeker and lighter model than Honda’ s Magna.
Suzuki produced the Madura 700 and 1200, and the models certainly combined power and style. Another example of an 80’ s v-4 cruiser, but was quickly abandoned by Suzuki after only two years of production … a fact
14 Thunder Roads Magazine Louisiana / Mississippi | August 2018 | www. thunderroadslams. com