Letters

LETTERS

Euro Hondas

Regarding your article on the Honda CBR 1000 (“A Bike We Deserve,” CW, July, 1989), are you sure that we deserve or even need a 998cc, four-cylinder, 16-valve, liquid-cooled, 556-pound, 132-horse-power motorcycle?

Five days a week, I fire up my 1965 BMW R 50 and commute to work. It usually takes over a half hour to make the trip as a large amount of my time is spent putting along between cars that are stopped. Does anyone believe that I could make the trip any faster on a CBR 1000?

How about a CBR 1000 road test involving a couple of weeks of splitting lanes on the Santa Ana Freeway while riding to and from work? How do you think it would stack up to my BMW with 173,000 miles on it that still gets 53 mpg?

Burl Estes

Mission Viejo, California

The answers to your questions are yes, yes and exceptionally well.

We are three devoted readers of your magazine and hardcore bike fans. The reason we are writing you is because we are all displeased by how many of the Japanese imports are not touching American soil. We would like to see more bikes like the Honda RC30 brought to America. We also don’t believe in laws that restrict these bikes: We really don’t like people who put limits on our toys.

Mark Koerber Dan Grant Pat Feigley Wheaton, Illinois

More 750s

I really enjoyed your July issue, especially the article about the kinder, gentler sportbikes from Kawasaki and Suzuki (“Kings of the Hill!”). If only Honda and Yamaha would wake up and offer us their version of the same, then we'd really have an exciting 750 streetbike division.

Carl D. Tesoro West Islip, New York

And they'd all be equipped with “thousand points of light" high beams, no doubt.

Return to motorcycling

In college I had a Honda 400F that I thought was the finest machine created by man. After college I put it in storage and entered a world of cars, career and marriage. Last year, I got the 400 tuned-up and rediscovered the joy of motorcycling. This year, I decided to get serious and bought a new Honda Hawk. What a great machine. The Hawk’s power, handling, braking and rock-solid feel make the old 400F pale by comparison.

I’ve read all about the high cost of motorcycles, but I paid about $3700 for the Hawk and insure it for $200 per year. In today’s world, that’s a bargain for this much technology. And, yes, the selection of standard bikes is limited, but the few out there are fine machines. As a 35year-old Chicago banker, I guess I’m one of those enthusiasts Honda is trying to bring back to motorcycling. The Hawk has brought me back: After being away from motorcycling for over 10 years, I have returned and the thrill is back.

Mark Gallagher Wheaton, Illinois

Real sticker shock

I read in your May, 1989, issue some complaints about the price of U.S. motorcycles. Well, I'm from Malaysia, and you guys should thank God that you’re Americans. Over there, the price for bikes above 500cc is at least $ 10,000.

Zamri Che Abdullah Bloomfield, Connecticut

I recently bought a copy of Cycle World and while going through it -read “Sticker shocked,” in the Letters section. I've enclosed a copy of a price list of motorcycles sold in Spain from the Spanish motorcycle magazine Solo Moto. You will notice the price of a Honda CBR600F is 1,2 19,000 pesetas. At the current exchange rate, that works out to $ 10,508.62. Now, that’s what I call sticker shock!

Stan Leek FPO, New York

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