Ten Best Bikes 2002
BEST TOURING BIKE
Honda GL1800 Gold Wing
THERE WASN'T MUCH MOVEMENT IN THE TOURING CATEGORY this year, unless you were aboard a Honda GL 1800 Gold Wing, which returns to collect its second consecutive Ten Best trophy. Then, there was almost perpetual motion. The bike that coined the term "luxury tourer" received a stem-to-stern makeover for 2001 with a new aluminum chassis and larger-dis placement, fuel-injected flat-Six engine, and returned this year largely unchanged. As reported in our original 12-day, 12,000mile test, how the GL manages to be so large and luxurious yet feel so small and sporting is beyond us. We're just glad that it does. As are the tens of thousands of owners racking up hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles per year.
Suzuki V-Strom
THE TROUBLE WITH THE TERM "STANDARD" IS that the manufacturers keep redefining it. Case in point is Suzuki's new V-Strom. While the Paris-to-Dakar-inspired styling, longtravel suspension and Bridgestone Trail Wing tires hint at it being an adventure-tourer, the DL 1000 has no off-road pretenses, and with power from the potent TL1000 Twin, it'll flat smoke any BMW GS, Cagiva Gran Canyon or Triumph Tiger. Throw a leg over the tallish saddle, grasp the widish handlebars and close your eyes, and visions of Universal Japanese Motorcycles dance through your head. It's just that this USM was designed for an imperfect uni verse populated by rough roads with graveland sand-strewn corners, all of which the V-Strom takes in stride. If American Suzuki would only do something about the ridiculous name (V-Storm, anyone?), it just might be the perfect motorcycle.
Yamaha FJR1300
MAYBE IT'S GOT SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE HYPHEN, but the Sport-Touring category tends to vacillate between extremes. This year, the pendulum swung away from last year's sporty winner, the Aprilia RST 1000 Futura, and back toward the touring side of the spectrum in the form of the Yamaha FJR 1300, a 2003 model that will go on sale later this year. As you'll read in this month's road test, the FJR combines cruise-ship comfort with a motor that would probably propel an ocean liner at a good clip, all wrapped in a classy-looking silver pack age. Best of all, its price undercuts its competition by many thousands of dollars, making it a real money-saver. Hey, that's hyphenated, too!
BEST SUPERBIKE
Suzuki
GSX-R1000
IT'S NOT EASY BEING KING. THOUGH THE MIGHTY GSX-R 1000 CAME OUT OF THE BOX A WINNER IN 2001, ALL MANncr of pretenders to the throne have been trying to knock it off ever since. Honda went back to the drawing board to bring out a revised version of its CBR-RR, Kawasaki tweaked its ZX-9R, Yamaha fuel-injected its YZF-R1 and still the GSX-R rules! It's not just the 145 horsepower arriving at the 190mm-wide rear Bridgestone that gives the big Gixxer its advantage-though that certainly helps. No, it's more the way in which the long-stroke motor puts the power to the ground that lets it consistently turn quicker lap times and quarter-mile times (in the high 9s!) than its competition. It'll probably take a street version of one of the new 990cc four-stroke Grand Prix bikes to dethrone King GSX-R. And Suzuki's got one of those, too.
BEST OPEN-CLASS STREETBIKE
Honda
Interceptor
SOME BIKES YOU have to adapt to, others adapt to you. The Honda Interceptor is definitely one of the latter. As you'll read in this issue's "World's Best Streetbike" comparison, the fuel-injected 781cc V-Four is the embodi ment of the term "user friendly," seemingly greeting all who ride it with a welcoming hand shake. New on the VFR this year is VTEC, which employs two valves per cylinder below 7000 rpm for maximum midrange torque and four valves above that for maximum top-end horsepower-the best of both worlds. As before, the Interceptor is equipped with Honda's Linked Braking System as standard, and options include anti-lock brakes, a remote shock-spring preload adjuster and-praise the Lord and pass our overnight bags!-hard luggage. So the Interceptor finally makes good on its promise as a sport-tourer. This marks the record 13th time that the VFR has copped Ten Best brass. Lucky us.
TEN BEST BIKES 2002
What has 20 wheels, 29 cylinders and puts out 873 horsepower?
THE MESSAGE ON OUR COMPUTER SCREENS READ "CLOCK UPDATED TO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME" THIS morning, which means it's that time of year again. No, not time to spring ahead; we did that on Saturday night. It's time to select Cycle World's Ten Best Bikes. This marks the 27th occasion that the editors of this, "The World's Largest Motorcycle Magazine," have met to select the year's standout machines. Only this time, we didn't adjourn to some trendy Newport Beach eatery for lunch; we had a series of meetings, some over meals, sure, but most during gas stops and Chinese Fire Drills as we traded off the more than 100 motorcycles we've tested since 2001 `s "Ten Best Bikes." Each and every one of which we rode on the street and/or the racetrack, clocked at the dragstrip, ran past the radar gun, strapped to our in-house dynamometer, weighed and measured. We adjusted handlebars, levers and mirrors, twiddled damping knobs, hammered on preload collars, peered through sightglasses, wiped dipsticks, checked tire pressures, lubed chains, polished fairings and wiped enough insect carcasses off windscreens to ensure that there will never be a sequel to A Bug `s Life. We wore out a pressure washer, changed tires until we were blue in the face and our knuckles bled red, and used gas, boy did we use gas: more than $25,000 worth, according to our credit-card receipts! Please don't tell the accountants. All, in a roundabout way, to determine the 10 bikes that appear on the following pages.
Normally, the Ten Best selection process is about as cordial as a Mideast peace talk, but this time around, after the most comprehensive testing program in this magazine's 40-year history, the voting was unanimous. Or maybe we were too tired to argue.
Gotta go now. There's a 2003 model that needs miles put on it...
BEST DUAL-PURPOSE BIKE
Suzuki DR-Z400S
TWO YEARS AGO, Suzuiu's THEN-NEW DR-Z400S nabbed Best Dual-Purpose Bike honors, only to be unseated by the Husqvarna TE 610E, whose legendary offroad capability was enhanced by electric starting for 2001. This year, the dayglo-yel low (or blue) Suzook is back on top. In the past, the DR-Z400S was distanced from its dirt-only brothers, the kick-start DR-Z400 and electric-start DR-Z400E, by three things: its street equipment, emissions-friendly CV (rather than flat-slide) carburetor and softer, street-oriented suspension. This year, the S model gets the dirtbikes' fork and shock, greatly improving its off-road worthiness while retaining its street capabilities. See you at the trailhead; we'll be the ones riding up, not unloading from a truck.
BEST ENDUIRO BIKE
KTM 400 E/XC-G
THE LAST TIME WE HELD A BIG ENDURO shootout, we included two KTMs: the Goliath 520 E/XC Racing four-stroke and the Davidesque 200 E/XC two-stroke. And, in true Biblical fashion, the little guy won again. This year, though, we stumbled upon a third KTM that strikes a perfect compromise: the 400 E/XC-G. This Racing four-stroke pro duces power close to that of the explosive 520, but is notably more usable. And despite weighing almost as much as the 520, the 400's lesser crankshaft inertia lets it handle almost as nimbly as the 200. Most of all, the E/XC-G is California green sticker-legal-which is good news for everyone, as the Feds consider adopt ing Golden State emissions standards nation wide. If EPA-friendly dirtbikes are this good, we say, "Bring `em on!"
BEST MOTOCROSSER
Honda CRF450R
EVER SINCE 1998, WHEN YAMAHA released its YZ400F, motocrossers have accused Honda of letting the FourStroke Revolution pass it by. But no, Big Red was just studying the competition, and prepar ing to unleash the best MXer ever. The same thing happened in 1973, when Honda pro duced its first two-stroke, the CR250 Elsinore. And, like history repeating itself, Honda's 2002 CRF45OR sprung from the drawing board a winner, edging out the KTM 520 SX and Yamaha YZ426F to win our January issue's "Main Event" four-stroke MX comparison, and then topping last month's "3x3" shootout against the Yamaha YZ250 and YZ25OF, as well. In case there were any doubts, Nathan Ramsey's win in the Pontiac, Michigan, Supercross proved just how good the CRF is.
BEST MIDDLEWEIGHT STREETBIKE
Honda CBR600F4i
THE CBR600F4i RETURNS FOR AN encore appearance this year, due to the fact that-for once-there wasn't much change in the highly competitive middleweight class. The CBR wins again because, like its bigger brother the Interceptor, it manages to be all things to all peo ple. On the one hand, it's a haul-ass sportbike, capable of winning 600cc Supersport nationals in the right hands. On the other, it's an accommo dating streetbike, content to commute to work, school or the mall. Honda has been accused of producing bikes that are so seamless, they're a bit bor ing. And in general around-town rid ing, the CBR only reinforces that impression. But point this wrist-rocket down a twisty backroad, yank the throttle cable and the CBR says, "I'll show you boring!" After that, you'll never utter the b-word again.
BEST CRUISER
Harley-Davidson V-Rod
FUNNY THING, BUT IT TOOK MILWAUKEE TO SHOW JAPAN THAT WHAT AMERICANS REALLY WANTED WERE FRESHLY STYLED HOTrod cruisers, not Big Twin clones with comparable looks and performance. The irony is that after years of the Big Four pro ducing ever-more American-style V-Twins, Harley-Davidson itself built a cruiser around its high-tech VR1000 Superbike motor, a path that any one of the Japanese makers could-and, in retrospect, should-have chosen. It didn't hurt that the V-Rod was slammed to the ground and clad in attention-getting aluminum bodywork. In the process, the venerable American manufac turer created a new, more youthful image for itself, and became the undisputed leader of the burgeoning Power Cruiser class. It's a script so unlikely, you'd think it came from Hollywood-except it happened in Milwaukee.
HONORABLE MENTIOINS
Buell Firebolt XB9R
If there were an award for the Best Air-Cooled, Belt-Driven, Pushrod Twin-Cylinder Sportbike, the cool new Buell would be a Ten Best shoo-in. Unfortunately for Erik Buell and Co., those sorts of contrived categories are the domain of our friends on Wilshire Boulevard, thus the Firebolt only merits an Honorable Mention here. The fact that it was one of the 10 bikes chosen for this month's "World's Best Streetbike" comparo is pretty high praise, though
Yamaha Road Star Warrior
Mad Max's new ride, the Road Star Warrior finished second in our March issue's "Super Cruiser" shootout, edged out only by the Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Yes, it's ironic that Yamaha built an air-cooled, ohv, 1600cc V Twin with an aluminum frame only to get tromped by a liquid-cooled, dohc, 1130cc, steel-framed Harley. So what? The Warrior still kicks ass, and you can buy two of them for what your Harley dealer gets for a V-Rod.
Yamaha YZ250 & YZ250F
Take your pick, two-stroke or four, Yamaha's pair ofYZ25Os are the tops of their respective heaps. These were two of the three bikes chosen for last issue's "3x3" MX showdown, and one of them would have won Best Motocrosser if it hadn't been for a certain four-stroke Honda. If it weren't for a photo shoot gone awry and that pesky Ricky Carmichael kid, Yamaha's David Vuillemin might even have been Supercross Champion'
Yamaha FZ1
Last year's Best Open-Class Streetbike and third place in this issue's "World's Best Streetbike" comparison are testimony to the FZ1's wide-ranging appeal Add to that the fact that the Yamaha was the second least expensive bike in that comparo (edged out only by the $300 cheaper Honda CBR 600F4i), and you've got the bargain of the century. Never mind that the century is only a couple of years old...
Kawasaki ZX-12R
Kawasaki can again lay claim to the title of the World's Fastest Streetbike. The 176-mph ZX-11 reigned supreme from 1990'99, when it was unseated by the 194-mph Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa. But in the wake of a recent manufacturers' pact to limit top speed to 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph), our 2002 ZX12R went exactly that fast while our'02 Busa went "only" 184 mph. If top speed is your bottom line, Kawasaki rules!
