The Ten Best Bikes of 2000
The Ten Best Bikes of 2000
And 10 more from the millennium before
KEEPING ABREAST OF PREVAILING TRENDS IN THE fast-paced information age can be downright dizzying. Especially when said trends are headed in every conceivable direction.
Just look at pop culture. The public is bonkers over "The XFiles" and the "X Games," NASDAQ stocks an NASCAR stock cars, the Backstreet Boys and the Beastie Boys.
Things are no less confusing in the warp-speed world of motorcycles. The status quo changed dramtically during the year leading up to this, the 25th anniversary of Cycle World's Ten Best Bikes. One moment two-stroke motocrossers and four-cylinder superbikes were the norm, the next it was Thumpers and Twins! Bigger is better, yet light is right. High-tech steals the headlines, yet retro-style tops the sales charts. We've got "restricted" 187-mph streetbikes to ride on our 65-mph freeways, and
street-licensed dirtbikes to ride in the "roadless" wilderness. As a group, we're getting older and having kids, but we're_more than ever-the two most popular motocross classes are Vet and Pee Wee.
What's motorcycle enthusiast to make of all this? Fort you, the staff of Cycle World has its collective ng n motorcycling's erratic pulse, and has distille all this disjointedness into one cohesive opinion. The stat of motorcycling, presented in 10 parts.
While we were in a reflective mood, we seized the opportunity to pay one last visit to the 20th century, and named the Ten Best Bikes of the Old Millennium as well as the New. So now you've got twice as many reasons to fire off a scathing letter!
Next time we do this, it will be 2001. Which begs the question: Where's HAL when we need him?
Best Superbike
SUZUKI GSX-R750
JUST WHEN YOU THINK IT'S COME TIME TO READ THE 750CC Sportbike class its last rites, well, it isn't. Suzuki storms into the ER, electric paddles in hand, shocks the GSX R750’s inline-Four heart into new life and promptly gets the old boy on a serious weight-loss program.
Tums out, its post-surgery fitness level is better than ever, and despite all the pressure from the V-Twin brigade and bevy of liter-class four-banger lightweights, there hardly seems to be a more versatile or more capable streetbike-cum-racetrack tool.
How’s that? Near-170-mph top speed puts it among the 900cc
elite. Its 398-pound dry weight makes it lighter than any 600cc sportbike on the market. Need awesome chassis feedback at the limit? Got it. Flickability and lean angles that’ll leave you dizzy? In spades. A 124-horsepower, 14,000-rpm wail equaled in frenzy only by the joyful screams inside your helmet? Waahhh! It’s all here. Tidy response from the disinfected fuel injection and full cosmetic surgery are just icing on the cake.
Yes, thanks to the GSX-R, the 750cc inline-Four is alive and well, and feeling faster than ever. The classic Superbike has a new lease on life.
Mark Hoyer
Best Open Streetbike
HONDA CBR929RR
THE LINE BETWEEN BEST SUPERBIKE AND BEST OPENClass Streetbike is always blurry, but rarely more so than this year. The difference is that the former is judged largely on outright performance, whereas the latter must by definition excel in the real world.
Which brings us to the new-for-2000 Honda CBR929RR. The stated goal of Project Leader Tadao Baba’s “Bigger Circle” design philosophy is to make the CBR work well for riders of all skill levels. His efforts are validated by the fact that the 929’s predecessor, the CBR900RR, was voted Best Superbike three times (1992, ’93 and ’95) before garnering Best Open-Class honors in 1996.
In typical Honda fashion, the 929 is supremely user-friendly. There’s no need to adapt to the bike’s quirks, because it doesn’t have any. The CBR utilizes Honda’s “pivotless” chassis design, wherein the swingarm pivots in the engine cases. And this, combined with optimized chassis flex and the long-overdue adoption of a sportbike-standard 17-inch front wheel, results in remarkable handling. The result is a Superbike that’s super on the street.
Brian Catterson
Best Middleweight Streetbike
KAWASAKI ZX-6R
UNSEATING LAST YEAR'S CLASS-WINNING YAMAHA YZF-R6 took some doing, but Kawasaki already had the basics in place. In a category where performance, versatility, comfort and price are all held in equally high regard, the newly updated Ninja ZX-6R stands out.
Not only does the green machine rival the YZF’s rawedged performance, it does so without sacrificing an ounce of civility. It possesses an ease of use and level of competence that will prove popular with novice and expert riders alike. Sweet handling, deep lean angles, a generous spread
of power and roomy ergos head the list of the 6R’s commendable traits, and make it such a fine steed to live with every day of the week.
So, if life seems to be getting a bit dull, perhaps all that’s needed is a fun new way to commute.. .or sport-tour.. .or carve up canyon roads...or attend track days. Middleweight machines have historically wrapped all this and more into one bike. The ZX-6R is a vehicle on which to explore such activities-even when you’re in no great rush to get there.
Don Canet
Best Sport-Touring Bike
BMW R1150GS
ELLO, 'ELLO,'ELLO, WHAT'S ALL THIS THEN? A KNOBBLY tired, hiked-fender dual-purpose rig as CW's Best Sport-Tourer! Sport-tourers are supposed to be sleek land-missiles, able to deliver you and your kit to the far horizon in speed unci style. This thing’s about as aero as your Aunt Blatty!
So noted. But get past the GS’s lunar-rover aesthetics and you’ll discover perhaps the best sightseeing platform ever to roll on two wheels. Big, thick saddle, height-adjustable for those not in the NBA. Two-stage heated handgrips as
addictive as opium. More than enough backroad chops to embarrass smug sportbike jockeys, thanks to bags o' torque, never-ending cornering clearance and the leverage provided by that dirtbike-wide handlebar. And should your own private road less traveled include dirt, gravel and the occasional creek crossing, nothing with saddlebags even gets a whiff of the 1 150.
Still don’t think a jumbo D-P bike makes the world’s best sport-touring device? Take a lesson from the GS: Expand your horizons.
David Edwards
Best Touring Bike
BMW K1200LT
BIGGER. BETTER. STRONGER. FASTER. YES, BMW'S K1200LT is the modern-day two-wheeled equivalent of Steve Austin, old-school television's "Six Million Dollar Man.” No, you won’t find six cylinders in the engine bay, but this bucks-up full-dresser gobbles superslab-not to mention twists and turns—better than anything in its class. Which is why, for the second year in a row, the LT is Cycle World's Best Touring Bike.
The fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, four-cylinder luxo-tourer is offered in three trim levels: Standard, Icon and Custom.
All have anti-lock brakes, catalytic converters, electrically adjustable windshields, handy reverse gears and replaceable fairing bumpers to minimize tip-over damage. Optionswise, we’re crazy over the thicker “soft-touch” seat upholstery (with two-stage heated bun-warmers!) and the saddlebag-mounted compact-disc player. New this year is a chrome appearance package, which spiffs up an already eye-catching presentation. Lots of brainpower expended here on BMW’s part. Take it from us, the bionic Col.
Austin would love it!
Matthew Miles
Rest Cruiser
HARLEY-DAVIDSON DEUCE
NOTHING SAYS “LET’S ARGUE” MORE THAN POLITICS, religion or Harley-Davidson. But some things are so clearly right, you just can’t fight. Welcome to the world the of the Harley-Davidson FXSTD Deuce. Yeah, when Milwaukee pulled the cover off this one, pretty much everybody went, “Ooh...”
The clean, tight styling has just enough notes to tell your eyes what they need to know. It’s a brilliant visual execution that makes other “custom” cruisers look cluttered and terribly illproportioned. And while the clone world still spins its wheels
with the Evo motor and chassis that are quite literally a drag in comers, H-D is moving ahead with the healthily horsepowered and hop-uppable Twin Cam 88 (in this case the sublimely fine Beta counterbalanced version), and a nimble, easy-to-handle chassis that not only rips through comers in a way that makes you smile, it also cradles you in the finest kicked-back riding position we’ve ever encountered. In other words, the Deuce lets you wear cool like a comfortable old pair of jeans. Looks like Willie G. & Co. caught ’em with their chaps down again. The Deuce is the new truth.
Mark Hoyer
Best Standard
KAWASAKI ZRX1 1OO
WHAT EXACTLY IS A STANDARD MOTORCYCLE? THAT was the subject of some debate during this year’s Ten Best voting, not all of it friendly. Used to be that “standard” was synonymous with UJM, for “Universal Japanese Motorcycle,” which came to mean an unfaired, four-cylinder performance bike. These days, however, the term is liberally applied to everything from supermotards to retro-bikes.
But while the standard landscape has changed substantially, the best example remains the same. With its 96-horsepower,
ZX-11-derived engine, Kawasaki’s ZRX1100 is the quickest, fastest and most powerful bike in its class, And it’s arguably the best-looking, particularly in Kawasaki Racing Green livery, which evokes images of the early-’80s Superbikes raced by Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey. Moreover, at $7299, it’s an outstanding bargain, one of the biggest bangs for the buck in all of motorcycling. The only bad thing about the ZRX is that it still isn’t sold in California, thanks to that state’s stringent emissions standards. Golden Staters, take that as one
more excuse to visit Las Vegas...
Brian Catterson
Best Dual-Purpose Bike
SUZUKI DR-Z 400S
NO MATTER HOW WE TRY, ATTAINING TRUE PERFECTIN is impossible. There are no perfect human beings, no perfect situations, and in spite of what the manufacturers tell us, no perfect motorcycles. Nowhere is this more accurate than in the dual-purpose category. Not that we’re dissing the genre. But after 25 years of CW's Ten Best Bikes, dual-purpose models have always, without fail, been dubbed “compromised.” In other words, far from perfect.
And yet, the unthinkable has occurred in the form of Suzuki’s DR-Z400S. Sharing the dirt-only DR’s engine and chassis, the S model got a bit of retuning a la emissions and some regearing for healthier streetability. Suspension, too, was tweaked, but that’s a longer story. Anyway, the bottom line here is that the 400S holds its own in gnarly off-road terrain, transitions to canyon-carving like nobody’s bloomin’ business and may be the best urban commuter ever to lock horns with a pothole. No compromising here.
But is the bike true perfection, you ask? All we can say is, ride the DR-Z for yourself and find out. We already know.
Wendy F. Black
Best Enduro Bike
KTM 520 E/XC
LIKE A SKIPPING RECORD (REMEMBER THOSE?), WE'RE picking yet another KTM as Best Enduro Bike. This time it's for the same old reasons-and for a few new ones, too.
KTM practically wrote the book on how to build an enduro bike, and the company still follows its own rules. First, make the bike as top-flight and as leading-edge as current motocross bikes. Don’t cut corners. Second, tune it for off-road. Don’t just hang lights and attach a spark arrestor, make it a true enduro bike. And third, R&D the
snot out of it. These are the same bikes that are winning World Enduro titles, National Enduro championships and GNCC races.
This year we pick an all new KTM, the 520 E/XC Thumper. It could just as easily have been the 400 E/XC, the same bike, less a chunk of motor. Not only do these bikes typify everything that makes a great enduro, they are at the forefront of dirtbike technology, with seriously super fourstroke engines, and a weight and agility that are unprecedented. Oh, yeah, all this and electric-starting, too.
Jimmy Lewis
Best Motocrosser
HONDA CR250R
MOTOCROSS IS ABOUT AS COMPETITION-ORIENTED AS A category gets in the Ten Best. It's all about racing and winning. And the competition is tough. With the recent re-introduction of capable four-strokes, there’s never been a wider range of MXers to choose from.
What you need is a bike for which there are no excuses-you can make those up easily enough yourself, better to start with none. Our pick? Honda’s CR250. In the past, a troubled bike not quite right, the year-2000 model got the full makeover and came out a new machine. From its redefined riding position to
the works-like suspension to its manageable monster of a motor, everything about the Honda operates in unison. A big change from individually great parts that somehow refused to cooperate. In winning the Ten Best, the CR beat out healthy competition-namely, Yamaha’s sonic YZ426F, Suzuki’s rippin’ RM250 and KTM’s rompin’ 520 SX-mostly by being a better integrated package. It’s a bike that tackles all kinds of tracks, and works well for all kinds of riders.
And you thought Honda was getting serious about fourstrokes...
Jimmy Lewis
