25 Years Ago April,1981

25 YEARS AGO APRIL,1981

Side-by-side Secas in red-andwhite livery made the cover, one a stocker, the other a machine set up by Yamaha for production racing. Inside, Yamaha’s new XJ550 was said to be on par with Kawasaki’s GPz550, while its high-revving engine’s wailing exhaust note, compliant suspension and comfy ergonomics earned high praise.

• Tucked away in the back of the magazine was a full test of the new BMW R80 G/S. A pair of the 800cc adventure-tourers was taken on a 2400-mile loop of Baja California, fed bad gas, dragged through gravel, mud and sand, and the final verdict was that, “Almost any trip can be made with the confidence the bike will endure.” Endure it has, for the GS (no slash anymore) remains a popular model for the German bike-maker.

• “The Ghost of Motorcycle Future” was the lead story in Roundup and utilized an illustration of a street motorcycle morphing into a dirtbike. The tale that followed was how dirtbike technology was making it to streetbikes and offered that a Yamaha YZ465 motocrosser with lights and shortened suspension could make a heck of a streetbike. It does, but it took Suzuki 24 years and the DR-Z400SM to do it!

• Dirt testing included hammering the aforementioned YZ465.

All that roost-chucking twostroke power earned the bike the moniker of “Hole Shot King,” but the previous year’s version was said to have better handling.

Maybe shortened suspension and street tires would have helped?

Mark Cernicky