25 Years Ago July, 1979

25 YEARS AGO JULY, 1979

ROUNDUP

Suzuki’s the cover GS1000L of this month’s graced issue, along with the words, “You asked for it, you got it...Suzuki,” a play on Toyota’s then-popular advertising slogan. “The finest superbike made grows longer, lower and wider for the American rider,” said the editors of the Japanese bike-maker’s latest spin on its long-running air-cooled inline-Four.

• There also was a lot to like about the XR250, Honda’s mid-displacement four-stroke trailbike. Even if the suspension was underdamped during high-speed going, the back-of-seat tailbag came loose and the little headlight wasn’t adequate for finding your way home in the dark, the XR was touted as fun to ride.

• “Fun” also described the RD400F Daytona Special, last in a long line of air-cooled two-stroke Yamaha streetbikes. “It’s pretty difficult to not feel sporty when the front wheel is hopping two feet off the ground and pedestrians are staring and pointing,” read the test.

• In “Roberts on the Mend,” reigning 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts was back on track-and winning the Austrian Grand Prix-after breaking his back while testing the latest Yamaha YZR500 in Japan two months before the start of the 1979 season. “Before this,” Roberts told Executive Editor John Ulrich, “I’d never spent any time in the hospital,

I’d never broken a bone.”

Matthew Miles