1991's Ten Best Bikes

1991'S TEN BEST BIKES

This year's shining stars

FEW THINGS ARE AS SATISFYING as seeing a task through to the end. Completing something, especially something meaningful, feels good. Selecting the best motorcycles of the year is just such a process of completion, a 12-month cycle in which every member of this magazine's staff is involved.

We spend a great deal of time and resource evaluating motorcycles. Then we write about what we've learned. We could let it all end with the tests and comparisons we produce. But doing that just doesn't carry sufficient weight; it wouldn't bring the process to a proper sense of closure. To do that, we collate everything we've learned, process the information we’ve developed, and produce a short list of the year’s very best motorcycles. We call that list the Ten Best Bikes, and we've been doing it for 16 years.

Selection of these machines does not come easily. Each of the editors who produce this magazine has his own list of right and true candidates for the Ten Best list. But each list is different, and those differences, arrived at and settled honestly, are what make the Ten Best voting a horse race. We've ridden all these bikes, commuted on them, toured on them, raced them, worked on them. So each of us feels strongly about the bikes that make the final cut.

Just as those who make it to the final roster on a sports team are the strongest contenders, so are the twowheeled finalists we're talking about here. The cut is not arbitrarily arrived at. It is made instead by vote, after much discussion and consideration.

The editors here, each with widely divergent backgrounds, values, educations. experience, riding styles and taste in equipment, rarely agree on much. So expecting us all to agree on the Ten Best Bikes of 1991, from a field of 190 production machines, was expecting a lot. But it happened. It always does.

The result is the all-star team of bikes that follows. They're the Ten Best Motorcycles of 1991. But, less formally, they're also our 10 favorite motorcycles, made up of the one bike in each category that we would all, to the last man. be happy to own.

At least until next year's crop.

Best Superbike: YAMAHA FZR1000

Yes. there are bikes with more engine. if straight runs are all that interest you. But you will have noticed by now that straightaways are connected by corners. So. one must have options. The FZR makes such options possible, and does so with a balance no other bike in its class is capable of. Neither the bike's frame nor its engine needed much attention this year, so Yamaha wisely chose to leave them alone. But it did ante-up a smooth, droop-snoot fairing and a state-of-the-art upside-down fork.

Those two changes are minor in nature; to say they have transformed the FZR would be a distortion. What they have done is raise the FZR's level of performance by the last few' increments it needed. The bike now has the handling, the smoothness, the

horsepower and. yes, the balance, to rise to the top of its class.

Certainly there are others that have taller top speeds. But in this category, because of its polish and poise, the FZR 1000 is the motorcycle to own.

Best Open Streetbike: DUCATI 900ss

A Ducali? A persnickety Italian VTwin is the Best Open Streetbike for 1991? We're kidding, right?

No. we're not. Just as we always do, we judged the candidates for this category on performance, quality of finish and on total impact. The 900SS came up a winner. In a field of very exciting motorcycles, we found the 900SS the most exciting.

The bike is. in its blood-red paint and gloriously shapely bodywork, very beautiful. With its plush seat and high-set clip-ons. it is also comfortable. at least by sportbike standards. And with oodles of torque, good brakes and quality suspension, it is an absolute blast to ride. And,

ves, its engine makes a wonderful symphonic racket.

Actually, in adc Best Open Streetbike

Actually, in addition to being the

900SS is something else

of 1991, the as well: It is, with a list price of $7900, a modern classic that real people can afford. Better get yours while they last.

Best 750cc Streetbike: HONDA VFR750F

Seven-fifty? A magic number. It was the displacement of the last few Triumph Tw ins, and of what may be the most memorable Honda of all—the original 750 Four of 1969, the motorcycle that completely revamped the way a generation of motorcyclists looked at its machines. For years, 750cc was the engine displacement that meant speed. And it remains the

size of the most exciting four-stroke racebikes in the world, the Superbikes. So, any bike named Best 750cc Streetbike is going to have to be pretty special.

The Honda VFR750F is every bit as special as it ought to be. With its 16-valve, four-cam V-Four. and a single-sided swingarm, it's a combination of elegant and ingenious en-

gineering, beautiful styling and finish. and rip-snortin' performance, all wrapped in a comfortable, userfriendly package that rides as smoothly as a touring bike, yet exhibits handling inherited from the RC30 ultra-sportbike.

The best 750 of the year, the best, in fact, for a good while? It's an easy choice. Got to be Honda's VFR750F.

Best 600cc Streetbike: HONDA CBR600F2

If there's a more hotly contested class in the streethike sales wars than this one, we can't imagine what it could he. The 600 class is hot because the bikes in it deliver a stunning mix of technology, performance and aflbrd ability. That makes them desirable flot only as streetbikes, but also as supersport racers.

Whether you’re looking for a 600 as a streetbike or as a racer, the key word is balance. Yes, the bike has to have an engine that will propel it to velocities that make it competitive. But it’s also got to handle and stop, and it's got to look great. The CBR600F2 has what it takes. Honda has long understood that there’s more to a motorcycle than performance, and that’s what vaults this bike ahead of its competition. In addition to its other attributes, it is comfortable, reliable and beautifully finished. It is a complete motorcycle, a machine any enthusiast would be proud to own. fhe CBR600F2 is a winner.

Best Under-500cc Streetbike: SUZUKI BANDIT 400

It’s pretty tough not to like something that revs to the moon, is as nimble as a hummingbird and, at $3699, is very easy to buy. The Suzuki Bandit 400 has those attributes. But in addition, what makes it so likable, beyond its tube-frame, red-paint good looks, is that it constitutes a look into Suzuki’s future.

First, unlike the engines of the rest of Suzuki’s sportbike line, the Bandit’s engine is liquid-cooled. There is a clue here. Very soon, perhaps even for 1992, liquids will cool the engines of the GSX-R lineup.

Second, the Bandit is a preview of a motorcycle we strongly suspect is on Suzuki’s drawing boards. For want of a better name, think of this phantom as the Bandit 750.

But these speculations are beside the point. The Bandit 400 stands very firmly on its own two wheels. Once you learn to explore its stratospheric rev range, the bike runs like a missile. And its crisp, neat chassis makes it handle like a roadracer. Great bike, especially for smaller riders, in a class that we hope will become increasingly populated in the years to come.

Best Touring Bike: HONDA GOLD WING

Few motorcycles can lay claim to a territory the way Honda's extraordinary Gold Wing has laid claim to the world of touring.

When you think about it, you begin to understand the reasons for that. You see that touring is every bit as specialized a use as endurance racing, and that a touring bike, to be truly successful, has to be equipped to do things other bikes just can't. It’s got to have convenience, carrying capacity, coverage and comfort. The Wing, in any of its three configurations, has all that in spades. It's got every convenience item you can think of, including, on some models, an electric reverse gear and multi-adjustable windscreen and passenger footrests. It’s got luggage that will swallow an immense amount of gear. It's got the best full-coverage fairing in the biz. And, by virtue of its plush suspension and well-padded seat, it is supremely comfortable.

For all these reasons, amid a number of eager competitors, the Gold Wing owns the touring market. And, for the same reasons, amid the same competitors, it owns this award for the eighth straight year.

Best Standard Bike: KAWASAKIZEPHYR 750

Call 1991 the Year of the Standard. and call this decision a tough one. settled only after much discussion and a few raised voices. After years of class dormancy. almost all the manufacturers have rediscovered the do-everything, standard-style motor cycle. And what a choice they've given us, everything from Honda's

Nighthawk 250 to BMW's K75 to Suzuki's GSXI 1000 to Harley-Da vidson's 1340cc Sturgis.

When we factored'in looks, price. size, comfort and performance, how ever, two contenders stood above the rest: the Honda Nighthawk 750 and the Kawasaki Zephyr 750. At $3995, the Nighthawk is the bargain bike of

ried it to the Of'winner’s circle. But for $700 more, the Zephyr, styled like a mini-Superbike from the '70s, comes with better suspension, stronger brakes and a zippier motor.

It all boiled down to this: The Honda is less expensive, the Kawasaki is more fun. The Zephyr wins.

Best DualPurpose Bike: ATK 604

A dual-purpose bike that works equally well on the street and on the dirt? Sorry, folks, it ain’t gonna happen. The requirements for those two

ATK has delivered a premium piece of equipment that comes complete with fuel injection and electric start, just like a high-tech streetbike

uses are too different. Compromises have to be made. The big. ATK Thumper makes its compromises in favor of dirtability. and we applaud that. might. But this one also wears semiknobbies, is built around a beautiful, high-strength frame and is suspended by some of the finest suspension componentry money can buy. Yes, this bike is expensive. That’s because it isn’t built cheaply.

This is a world bike. It’s assembled here, around an American-built frame, from pieces largely sourced in Europe. It’s a world-class machine that will make you remember how much fun it used to be to ride direct from your driveway to your favorite fireroad. Other manufacturers very soon w ill show their own dirt-biased, electric-start dual-purpose bikes. Those bikes are going to have to be verv good indeed to be better than the'ATK 604.

Best Enduro Bike: KTM 250 E/XC

This year has to be a happy time for enduro riders: There is no shortage of excellent enduro bikes from which to choose. For the KTM 250 E/XC to have beaten out this field for the top honor says a lot about the commitment of this tiny Austrian company to enduro riding, American-style.

Nearly all the bikes this year have terrific suspension, but the KTM offers an almost magical mixture of comfort and control.

If the KTM is ahead of the rest of the field in the suspension department, it’s also got them beat in the engine department. The bike’s 249cc engine is responsive throughout a very wide powerband, and is quick to rev, but rarely upsets the rear tire’s grip on the riding surface.

The chassis provides high-speed stability that more than matches the engine’s top-end power, and this combination of excellence, assembled from pieces that clearly are all top quality, makes the E/XC the bike to own, and indeed, the one to beat.

Best Motocross Bike: YAMAHA YZ250

To find a definition of the word. "competitive.' never mind your Funk & Wagnall's. Just check out the motocross wars. Now. that~s competi tive. To compete in these wars. you've got to have heavy artillery. and this season, the artillery's name is Yamaha YZ250.

Yamaha has always been close, but this year, the company hit its targets spot-on. The YZ’s suspension is calibrated so that it works beautifully for riders of all abilities, and that characteristic Yamaha straight-line stability has not been compromised, even though the bike’s handling through corners is quicker than it's ever been.

Quickness also is the hallmark of the YZ’s engine. With a powerband as wide as an MX starting gate and a fat. solid midrange, this engine also pumps out plenty of high-rpm pow er.

What Yamaha has made this year is a terrific racebike, with a solid, narrow chassis, powerful brakes, and the engine and suspension to put a rider into the winner's circle.