25 Years Ago August 1984
25 YEARS AGO AUGUST 1984
ROUNDUP
Lots o' tests in this issue, headlined by "Yamaha's FJ1 100 Street Racer," as that breakthrough motorcycle is described on the cover. With its 125-hp engine,
16-inch wheels, trend-setting perimeter frame and 10.87-second quarter-mile performance, the FJ was summed up in the last two words of the test: “the best.” Two other Yamahas—the IT200 enduro and XT600 dual-purpose—also were tested, along with Kawasaki’s KX125 MXer and Honda’s 500cc V-Four Interceptor, referred to as “A backroad dancer with a 12,000-rpm heart of gold.”
• Tech Editor Steve Anderson penned “The Gearbox,” the fourth entry in his “How Motorcycles Work” series. Anderson used straight talk and dead-simple illustrations to explain in great detail the manner in which various types of motorcycle transmissions deliver power from the clutch to the final drive.
• The August, 1984, issue is of personal significance to me: It was my first as Editor of Cycle World. Actually, I had come on board late in the previous month, after practically all of that July issue’s material had been compiled, so I functioned more as facilitator during that short period than I did as Editor-in-Chief. But accepting that position was the best career move I ever made, and the 25 years since have been nothing but a non-stop, thrill-a-minute ride. And it ain’t over yet. -Paul Dean
