Cw 25 Years Ago
CW 25 YEARS AGO
MAY 1989
The past 25 years basically cover the entire length of cover subject Jay Leno's Tonight Show career. In 1989, Leno, pictured here with his Vincent Black Shadow, was just a Monday night fill-in for Johnny Carson, but it was immediately clear to us back then that the recently retired Tonight Show host was a complete and total motorcycle nut. His collec tion at the time included Harleys, a Cagiva Paso, a second Vincent (a Black Knight), some Brough Superiors, and a Honda CBX.
-> Multiple let ters complained about the price of motorcycles in 1989. Read ers cited the $11,000 Honda Gold Wing, $7,700 Yamaha FZR1000, and $5,000 Honda 600 Hurricane as over the top. Using an inflation calculator, those prices adjust to $20,665, $14,466, and $9,393 in today's dollars. Interest ingly, the current versions of those bikes are even pricier: The Yamaha YZF Ri, at $14,290, is actually very close, but the Gold Wing, at $23,990, and the CBR600RR, at $11,490, are con siderably more.
-> In Race Watch, a certain Frenchman was touted as the `next big thing." He went on to win the 250 MX world cham pionship that year, followed by the AMA 250 SX, 250, and 500 MX titles in 1991 before turning his focus to Grand Prix racing. Remem ber him? Jean Michel Bayle.
Blake Conner
