Part 2: The Power of the Beast!

Don't forget where All This Came From!!!

If you don't know.... Google: Walter Kaaden as All This is: From HIM




Pass the Kleenex!!!

Another interesting trend here in Japan aside from the ever growing fever of Naked bikes..., bring on the Suzuki GW250!, is the long-lost UK trend of Monkey Bikes!! Hey-hey!! with the Monkeys!!! They are still seriously big here!!! Crazy!!! But remember, people here are generally quite small, so for some tiny people these little dinky Monkey bikes are ideal! I have seen one Honda Monkey bike simply labelled: Ape! On the tank, and it seems to have really caught on, as I see them quite often out & about...

Now this Monkey magic is not at all in vain..., as they are quite agile & sometimes equipped with naughty pipes & quite fast!!! Which is ideal for conquering scooter infested traffic! And believe me they have lots & lots & Lots of scooters here (a lot more than in London) that are just a pain in the arse & for some retarded reason, convince other riders that it's good & safe to ride on the inside (near the kerb!) of the road when riding & overtaking!!! Could you be any more dangerous?!!!
Thank God!, that most of the Superbike riders here do not ride like that!

Oops! Sorry!, They must have seen the Honda Ape!!!

Right!, enough of that Monkey Business!!, back to the Superbikes!!! So the next development here was, as Switch mentioned before, the GSX-R 750 Slingshot

  The legendary GSX-R 1100 Slingshot above in the black & white pic

And the rare GSX-R400 above in the mountains in Kyoto!

Slingshot carburetors... And the awesome GSX-R1100 Slingshot poppin a wheelie below:

Also, and to my surprise, around the same time as the first GSX-R bikes were evolving into slingshots from 1987-1990 there were also a few baby GSX-R's born! GSX-R 250's! Five of them!! ...I'm sure if Bob Farnham got his hands on the SP one of these, it would keep up with the 750's!!! Here are the two models worth noting out of the five produced: 1988 GSX-R 250R

And my favourite, the 1989 GSX-R 250R SP above

Now Bob Farnham, who I mentioned above, was & still is one of the best "Race Tuners" in the UK & I remember some of my brother's bikes getting much much faster after a visit to his workshop... This RGV that Bob Farnham tuned was reportedly faster than a GSX-R 750 after a Bob Farnham tune!!! Crazy!!!

The next major development in terms of technology & leading-edge speed for Suzuki, was the introduction of the SRAD (Suzuki Ram Air Direct) models form 1996 onward, which also paved the way for more SRAD models with more & more weight-saving features all around the bike focusing on strength, using magnesium, and speed gained by having less weight.

Rizla GSX-R 600SRAD K1 above.

So, what were the other major bike companies doing when Suzuki went up from old-school Gixxers to the SRAD bikes???

 

Competing heavily of course!!!

1991 Marlboro YZR500 & Rothmans NSR500

1989 ZXR-750

VFR 750F I remember how popular these were back in the eighties & early nineties! They were everywhere!!

The Honda RC45 (VFR) in action above...

The legendary FZR1000 Genesis. Yamaha have always been a force to be reckoned with..and this

Now what Superbike blog would be complete without the race Legend Barry Sheene?!!
And also Kenny Roberts & Randy Mamola...here are the men that pushed the sport so so hard, in all
their racing glory:




 Barry Sheene on his signature RG500:

This guy was the GP Superstar of the 1980's! A shop owner engineer that I found in Kyoto, Obaku, still had a set of his racing leathers on the wall in his bike shop!!!

The Legend that is Barry Sheene...corner power wheelie:

Sheene leading Kenny Roberts before his second bad accident which led to him retiring from GP racing:

There was a BBC2 show on today all about Bary Sheene, with comments from all his biking peers that are still around and feedback from other industry reps... The bottom line was: "Will there ever be another Barry Sheene? Can there ever be another Barry Sheene??" It was a great show & basically showed how great 1980's GP technology was....and perhaps how far ahead of its time it really was!

He couldn't stay away from the action though....even after retiring & doing some other motorsports,
he went back into bikes as a race commentator in Australia where he had moved to.


Kevin Schwantz following in Sheene's footsteps:

The Slabside GSX-R750...., the bike that changed the world & propelled the superbike craze...

And it's head designer Etsuo Yokouchi.

I don't now about you but I need a beer! Then it's time for Part 3!!! To see my other pages just click on Newer or Older Posts buttons at the bottom of this page...










Awesome Sitemap

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/part-1-where-did-all-these-mad-bikes.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/part-three-after-slabby.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/busas-decade-of-road-rule.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/part-4-ultimate-test-isle-of-man-tt-2011.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/superbikesit-all-started-with-gsx-r-750.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/bring-speed-best-1990s-2-strokes-part1.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/bring-speed-best-1990s-2-strokes-part2.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/where-will-future-take-us.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/where-are-all-fast-2-strokes-look-what.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/guy-martin-formidable-force.html

http://gixxerlovers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/racing-at-suzuka.html










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