25 Years Ago July, 1982
25 YEARS AGO JULY, 1982
A test-packed issue featured the brand-new Honda V45 Sabre on the cover. This 750cc V-Four shared powerplants with the also-new V45 Magna, considered more of a custom than the sporty Sabre. Honda’s liquidcooled V-Four was like nothing that came before it. It wasn’t the quickest 750 Cycle World had tested at the time, but its 12.16-second, 108.43-mph quarter-mile figures were just a hair off those of Kawasaki’s class-leading GPz750. Great brakes, performance-oriented suspension and a dash that reminded CW editors of an arcade video game made the Sabre one of the most interesting bikes of ’82.
• It should be no surprise that the Harley-Davidson Sportster was celebrating its 25th anniversary 25 years ago, seeing as how this year it’s celebrating its 50th. Cost of a Sportster XLS back then? Just $4670.
• On the dirt front were tests of the race-ready Suzuki RM250Z and Yamaha’s IT175J, which editors called “a motocrosser in enduro disguise.”
• Managing Editor Steve Kimball somehow convinced Feature Editor Peter Egan that he should ride “monkey” in a Watsonian sidecar (bolted to a Suzuki GS750) and attend the sidecar Brass Monkey Rally in Prescott, Arizona. Egan liked the idea that he didn’t have any responsibilities:
“You can’t steer, lean, make suggestions or do anything else that has the slightest effect on your destiny, so you learn to leave it all in the hands of the driver (capable or otherwise) and gaze contentedly at the scenery.” -Blake Conner
