Honorable Mentions

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Cagiva Gran Canyon

Cagiva’s funky-but-fun, Ducati 900-powered Gran Canyon is a shoo-in for a Ten Best award. Only problem is, in which class? Is it the Best OpenClass Streetbike? The Best Dual-Purpose Bike? The Best Standard? Suffice to say, it’s the Best OpenClass Dual-Purpose Standard. And one of our favorite rides-regardless of class.

Suzuki SV650

If the Suzuki SV650 had come out in 1994, it would have been named Best Bargain Bike, no contest. And if the SV had come out in 1988, it would have been named Best 650cc Streetbike. This year it’s a strong runner-up for Best Standard. Light, agile and eager with maybe the best-ever middleweight V-Twin motor, all yours for a mere $5699. What are ya waitin’ for?

Yamaha V-Star 1100

Bargain Cruiser of 1999? You’re looking at it: The $7799 Yamaha V-Star 1100 offers all the chrome-plated, teardrop-tanked, lowriding, piston-pounding appeal of other V-Twin mega-cruisers, but costs literally thousands of dollars less than its Japanese contemporaries-not to mention about 60 percent of the price of a Twin Cam Harley...

Yamaha YZF-R1

What kind of world would we live in if Yamaha’s YZF-R1 went away empty-hando ed from Ten Best? Not one that we would A want to live in, anyway. Suzuki’s ^ GSX1300R Hayabusa is the fastest thing on two wheels, and a worthy winner of this year’s Best Superbike honors. But when it comes to laying waste to a wriggling ribbon of road, the R1 is still Cycle World's weapon of choice.

Yamaha TTR250

Go ahead, push the button. Isn’t that a lot easier than kickstarting? Even purists agree the magic button is a wonderful addition to a dirtbike-particularly an entry-level dirtbike-as long as it doesn't add much weight. And that’s exactly the case with Yamaha’s new TTR250. The only question is, where’s the dual-purpose version?