What’s that? You want a simple, lightweight adventure bike with LCD instruments and no cruise control that won’t break the bank? Something Japanese, with a huge dealer network so you won’t be afraid to leave the neighborhood? Well you can’t have it now, and you couldn’t have it 25 years ago either, cause I’m pretty sure Suzuki never imported the XF650 Freewind to the US did they? You can probably blame the Freemasons or whoever it was that also quashed the 200-mpg Rochester Quadrajet. But Yossef got to ride it in Europe or somewhere, and five years later the wind theme continued with the first V-Strom.

Looking back upon it through 20-year thick vino rosso-colored glasses, I remember really liking the 2002 Ducati 999. Probably because so many others did not; following that 916 shape was never going to be easy. But reading the old road test, the faint praise is palpable. Oh well, at least there’s a gratuitous crash pic of our new intern, Sean Alexander, on some other motorcycle. The look of Terblanche’s design has only grown on me over the years, but that could be because I haven’t seen a 999 in probably a decade. I do still have the t-shirt.

Tommyguns Roderick has left the building. Well, not like Elvis; he’s still alive and well. But he’s left the MO building. Not that we have one anymore. Ten years ago, though, TR was at Auto Club Speedway riding a pair of tasty KTM RC8 R sportbikes, which at the time were a small but interesting part of the Austrian lineup. At the time, electronic niceties like traction control and quickshifters were novelties; now they’re ubiquitous, and we’re all the safer for them. Or are we? As the great Donald Canet once observed, “rain tires simply allow you to crash at a higher rate of speed.” 

Wow, 2012 doesn’t seem like such a long time ago, but nearly all the motorcycles we fawned, toadied, and shamelessly groveled all over are nearly all gone or usurped. And not even that missed, thanks to the machines that superseded them. The best of them are still around, though: Honda NC750X and PCX150, BMW K1600, and 1000RR, Tuono… Your best new tech, the Thin Film Transistor display on the new Ducati Diavel, has become ubiquitous. Sadly, the SOLFX Transitions faceshield introduced by Bell helmets, has not. Whirled without end, amen.

All we learn from history, goes the current cynical wisdom, is that we learn nothing from history. Then again, maybe we do? For instance, I just learned this morning that Yamaha is still stamping out the FJR1300ES 20 years after the original 2002 FJR1300 hit our shores. Well, they’re still selling them anyway. I remember FJ1100 very fondly, FJ1200 was the tool for inhaling great draughts of western landscape at ludicrous speed… all before this first liquid-cooled FJR blew our moldy sport-touring socks off. (Note Minime’s acting out by spelling three of four names wrong in only the first 2.5 lines of copy. Is there an Editor in the house?)

Oh, look what turned up in this morning’s search through the archives: a 2002 Suzuki SV-1000S review/Spanish travelogue by our dearly departed friend/former fearless leader Sean Alexander. Well, I mean, he’s not departed departed; he’s only moved to Hawaii with his lovely wife Natalie to live the good life – while we who must remain go on living just the same. We miss you buddy. Good times…

Today a Motorcycle.com photo shoot is at least a half-day affair involving thousands of dollars worth of Canon’s finest gear and millions of pixels. Twenty years ago, it was a 10-minute errand on the way to lunch at the FlatCat on Normandie, with Clavin’s clapped-out Olympus and half a roll of film. And let’s not forget to stock up on Sparks on the way back to the office. I had completely forgotten about the Triumph Bonneville America, but it feels like we liked it.

We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay, twenty years ago, betwixt the Twin Towers collapse, the Axis of Evil calling-out, and the going-after of Saddam Hussein. Before all that, you could traipse around the world on airplanes without the shoe removal and body cavity search. After, well, it’s a different world. In those days, my children, you could get a great new BMW R1150 RS naked bike for under $10k and not be too concerned about the polar ice caps. Now, you can still get an R1250R “roadster,” but it’s more like $15k, and your conscience wonders if you should go for the new CE O4 electric scooter instead?

Inflation, inshmation: A new Kawasaki ZX-14R is only $600 more than it was ten years ago, and a new Hayabusa, well, it’s $18,799 – which is $4500 more than in 2012. But if you wanted the fastest Kawasaki today, you’d need a supercharged one like the Ninja H2, which is more like $30k (and worth every penny). Which makes the new-for-’22 Hayabusa a comparative bargain. You deserve one. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for either one.

Hmmmmm, I remember really liking the 848 Streetfighter for an everyday Ducati ten years ago, but Tommy “Guns” Roderick was less than complimentary when he rode the thing around Italy at its introduction. High strung, nervous, and “a testicle-harrowing experience” thanks to a forward-sloping seat, TR concluded the 848 was a motorcycle he wouldn’t want to spend more than an afternoon on. Ouch.

It only seemed fitting, after posting a 2022 BMW K1600 B review last week, to revisit Herr Duke’s review of the original six-cylinder Bavarian butt missile ten yeas ago. The basic building blocks really haven’t changed; only the electronic controls and features have stepped up over the years. The biggest surprise is what hasn’t changed much. The 2012 GT with Premium Package sold for $24,540; the 2022 bike with PP is listed at $28,285.

Post-916 and pre-999, Ducati hit a sweet spot in the form of the 998. Still taking the form of Massimo Tamburini’s 1994 masterwork, but powered by the greatly evolved Testastretta V-twin that powered Troy Bayliss to the 2001 World Superbike championship, the 999 was the best of old and new, the apogee of the 916 curve. Well, now it’s just old. But you know what I mean.

Shut UP, no way was this 20 years ago! Maybe this 2002 Aprilia Mille R stands out in memory because the year after 911 was so uneventful? First we invaded Afghanistan, then Congress approved the Iraq War Resolution – and Dick Cheney was acting POTUS for a few glorious hours while George W. Bush had a colonoscopy. In other words, the crazy hadn’t really even begun. Anyway, the first four-cylinder Aprilia was still way off in the future – along with a host of unknown knowables – and if you’d asked Minime or me if the world needed a four-cylinder Aprilia, we’d have probably given you a blank stare. Why?

You kind of have to give Harley-Davidson credit. In 25 years, the Electra Glide Standard has only gone up by $6934 (to $19,429), and in that time H-D’s best-selling bagger has gotten about a thousand times better. Okay, maybe not a thousand times, but way better. And you get like 40 more pounds of it, too. Makes you wonder how many 25-year old motorcycles are still around, and still in the same basic form? Salute.

One quarter-century ago, the Vietnam war was still sharp in the rearview mirrors; 25 years on, that southeast Asian conflict and its combatants have begun fading into history, as a litany of fresher US military interventions have sprung up to keep our soldiers, sailors and airpersons occupied – many of whom weren’t yet born in the Vietnam era. Eventually there won’t be enough real estate in our nation’s capitol to memorialize all of them, but in 1997 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was only four years old, the wound was still fresh, and a great excuse for a ride on your Harley. Hats off to all you veterans on this Memorial Day weekend.

Here at modern MO, we probably wouldn’t publish a road test of a new Honda without a few photos of the thing in action. Twenty years ago, though, there was probably a perfectly reasonable-sounding excuse: My dog ate the film, a bear ate the photographer… Most probably, somebody slud the shiny new Honda 919 down the road on the way to the shoot, and the show had to go on. Who knows? They shouldn’t have called the color “Asphalt.” In any case, this CBR900RR-based naked has become something of a cult classic, well loved by people who love Hondas. Enjoy the tiny studio photos and full spec chart.

Twenty-five years ago, the 1997 Kawasaki ZX-6 had not yet grown an “R.” It came with a centerstand, dual exhausts, and weighed 430 pounds full of 4.8 gallons of unleaded fuel. The leaded stuff hadn’t been phased out until one year earlier, which may explain a lot about the mental condition of many of us Boomers. It was a great, inexpensive, do-anything motorcycle in other words. I haven’t seen one in years, you? Take it away, Billy B.

In 1997, Harley-Davidson owned 49% of Buell Motorcycles and a lien on Erik Buell’s house; outwardly, the relationship appeared to be somewhat symbiotic. The M2 Cyclone was almost the last of the tube-framed Buells, while the first turbocharged XB fuel-in-aluminum-frame bike was on the drawing board. It was close, but sadly, none of it quite went according to plan…

Ten years ago, the www and Motorcycle.com had finally established a bridgehead, and were attacking on all moto fronts, including the video one. Shame about the cheesy music, but that’s how copyright law works. If you’re not feeling Harley’s new Sportsters, perhaps remembering the SuperLow will stimulate your affection glands – though our main complaint ten years ago was, wait for it – two inches of rear-wheel travel. 

One score (that’s 20) and no years ago, Honda re-sampled possibly its greatest hit – the 750 V-four Interceptor it had been building since 1983. A perineal favorite of sophisticated riders ever since its inception, not to mention winner of a slew of roadracing championships, the new 2002 VFR800 gained a few pounds, a fashionable undertail exhaust, and Honda’s VTEC variable valve system. It remained one of the slickest sporty tourers of all time, and Honda must’ve lost money on every one. The Gen 7 VFR800 that replaced it, circa 2014, was somehow neutered and overpriced, and when the last VFR quietly disappeared a few years later, few mourners were in attendance. Sad. 

How many 25-year old motorcycles are still being sold anyway? The Honda XR650L springs to mind, but other than it, it’s too early on Easter Sunday to investigate further. Granted, the Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic has undergone enough changes as to really not be the same machine anymore, yet that indelible American profile, architecture, and riding experience remain the same. Roll away the stone…

SEO wasn’t a thing 20 years ago, far as I knew anyway: I had to read down pretty far to even find the names of the three bikes we compared in the 2002 Open Twins Shootout. They were Aprilia Mille R, Ducati 998, and Honda RC51. 2002 was also the year one Colin Edwards rode the RC51 to the World Superbike Championship in highly dramatic fashion, over Troy Bayliss on the Ducati. These were the bikes everybody wanted in 2002. Having proved its point, Honda soon said sayonara to the V-twin, settling back in again with its inline-Four inclination. Sad, that RC51 was a pip.

For a while there it looked like Triumph wanted to play the superbike game with the rest of the world. But slimming down the 955i Daytona by losing its original one-sided swingarm, and other weight-saving measures, sometimes seemed more like cost-cutting ones. And maybe Triumph sensed the imminent demise of the superbike a bit earlier than some others. Screw it, let’s build Speed Triples instead, and maybe a smaller one as well… Herein, T. Rozenfeld damns the Daytona with faint praise: “Long live the British eccentricity!”

And while we’re on the topic of great Suzukis, 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of its very successful V-Strom, and possibly the real beginning of the Adventure Bike era that BMW semi-invented. About the turn of the century, the leading edge of Boomers began looking for motorcycles that didn’t hurt their aging backs, but still made them look like swashbuckling action heroes to people who didn’t know any better. Suzuki followed its usual formula to great success: Keep it light, simple, powerful and affordable.

Well lookit that: I was already a Buell apologist 20 years ago. The low-handlebarred XB9R was Buell’s first with the sweet Verlicchi fuel-in-frame design, but it was the XB9S that came out the following year that we still covet. Meanwhile, taste may finally be catching up to the new Ducati 900SS Pierre Terblanche designed in 1998.

There were a lot of transitions going on at Motorcycle Online 20 years ago, not the least of which involved its founder, Ashley Hamilton (top left), pictured with her friends and MOites Sister Kim and Ray. I was entitled Editor in Chief as I recall, but they mostly told me where to jump and how high.

In 1997, Bill Clinton started his second term, nobody was sure if the Titanic had sunk or not as the Leonardo di Caprio film had just debuted – along with the Toyota Prius in Japan. Love was in the air, the median California home price was $186k, and what the hell was Motorcycle Online? What could possibly go wrong?

Once upon a time, Honda’s mighty V-fours ruled the road. Now, they don’t even make one anymore. In the case of the last Magna 750, that’s maybe not such a bad thing. Maybe have a look at a Rebel 1100 DCT instead? Take it away, old Billy Baroo.

One thoughtful stop if you were traveling back in time 25 years, would be Rimini, Italy. You could pop into the Bimota workshop and tell Signores Bianchi, Morri, and Tamburini, NO, for the love of God, DON’T DO IT! IT’S NOT GONNA WORK!!

It’s all the chattering classes can yak about now, but 25 years ago ADV was just getting off the ground! There were BMW GSs before it, but the grand dame R1100GS came around in 1994, and has been holding court ever since. Triumph’s Tiger was one of the first would-be usurpers: Will the new Tiger 1200 launching next month finally make the surp stick? Anyway, this 1997 Adventure Tourers test was a great MOment in time, especially from one Patrick Ciganer, Guest Commentator, at the end.

A few years after the original M900 Monster attacked America circa 1993, Ducati expanded the repertoire with the 1997 M750 Monster – a simple, air-cooled, four-valve V-twin putting out a massive 68 horsepower. What I learned today: “In cold weather conditions you can turn on a petcock found on the oil cooling system and warm up the carburetors quickly using engine oil.” For reals?

Twenty-five years ago, “Open Superbikes” meant something entirely different than what it means now. The GSX-R1100 was the most optimized of these for the race track, but one year before the first Yamaha R1, all four leaned more toward high-performance sport-tourer than to anorexic track tool. For most of us, that wasn’t a bad thing at all. As a class of motorcycle, this one doesn’t really exist anymore. Or does it? When the Suzuki Hayabusa arrived in 1999, the other three just faded away. Forgive the tiny photos while you remember this 1997 Open Superbikes epic was originally posted with videos, lost in the mists of time. Download that on your Dell desktop with Linux and smoke it. 

Twenty-five years ago was three years before Al Gore conceded a too-close US presidential race to George W. Bush, as we collectively decided to kick the global warming can down the road a bit further. Honda’s first bike with a catalytic converter was also three years in the future – the VFR800FI. Just before all that hit the fan, 600cc Japanese inline four-cylinders were all the rage: carbureted, basic, cheap, and expendable. Ninety horsepower in a 420-pound package was all you really needed. And in 1997, the top 600s were still even pretty good streetbikes. The MO crew was positively giddy over all of them.

A quarter-century ago, we all squinted a lot since the world was so lo-res, pixellated and buzzy. Harley’s 883 Sportster was still the best-selling motorcycle in the US – $5,345 with laced spoke wheels – and all the other players badly wanted a piece of that middleweight cruiser action. Only one of them could beat the 883, though, and it wasn’t the Suzuki. Sad. But kinda fun in a dull, processional sort of way.

Still no score and twenty years ago, yours truly came to work at MO for the first time (where I apparently found it my duty to insert a lot of parentheticals signed Ed). I think the 2002 Triumph Speed Triple was one of the first bikes we reviewed upon my arrival. That’s me resting on the couch after performing the horn mono for Minime’s Kodak Brownie, which took a lot out of me. Calvin “Clavin” Kim moved onward and upward, and now does something important at Porsche North America. Those were the days my friend.

If it’s 2022 then 25 years ago must’ve been 1997, when Motorcycle Online was still trying to gain traction in the moto mediaverse. Probably not helped along by Editor Plummer writing that new riders should skip the Suzuki TL1000 and just go straight to the morgue. There were videos of the Sport Twins in action, though, which seem to have been lost in the sands of time, but must’ve been a treat to watch over your dial-up modem. The Suzuki did well in this little comparison in spite of the abuse, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one. The SuperHawk on the other hand, has become a bit of a cult favorite, and still warms the old cockles occasionally.

Well I’ll be. Triumph doesn’t even make a sport-tourer anymore; they’ve all been phased out in favor of adventure bikes, looks like. The Honda VFR1200F that was supposed to be its competition is also long defunct, and the BMW K1300S has also left the building. What happened to big sport-tourers like the Triumph Sprint GT anyway? We must’ve evolved while nobody was looking.

This sweet Honda lost out to the Triumph Speed Triple ten years ago, mostly for a deficit of horsepower. But now that all ten-year old motorcycles are archaic compared to the current crop, we like it even better than we did then. The Honda CBR1000R was  light-handling, easy-riding and even nice to look at.

Honda brought out the old and the new to Willow Springs Raceway. The old: The 1995 CBR 900RR. The new: The 1996 CBR 900RR. Normally, motorcycles add weight with age, but not the CBR. It’s back lighter and stronger than ever.Honda made a big deal of “Optimized Mass Centralization” four years ago, when the CBR nine was first rolled out. Translated, the jargon means if the weight is in the center of the bike, it handles better. So the lighter all the extremities are, the easier it changes direction. And while we’re lightening, why not lighten the big stuff too? That design credo introduced a 900cc sportbike with the weight of a 600 class machine. Four years on, OMC is still the word, and the new RR is the lightest, most powerful yet.

Today’s Church of MO intro has nothing to do with the Honda Fury or Star Stryker, but some might like to know that in searching through the archives, I came across some entries by The Highwayman in the old MO Forums, this one in reference to a story about Keith Code’s California Superbike School:

If it’s Thanksgiving it must be time for the tryptophan to kick in, along with MO’s highly coveted Motorcycle of the Year awards. Why not take a moment, as we rush headfirst into 2022, to reflect on all the bikes that took home the trophies ten years ago, the class of 2011.

Once upon a time a decade ago, the original mandible-dropping Suzuki GSX-R750 celebrated its 25th birthday, and Pete went to Alabama with a banjo on his knee to ride it. We can’t remember the last time we rode one, but would you look at that: Suzuki will still sell you a brand new GSX-R750 for just $12,599. The curb weight spec says 419 pounds. Maybe it’s time or a good old-fashioned 750 Supersport shootout? Party of one…

Ten years ago, il Duko travelled to Italy to bring us news of the Ducati 1198 SP, “a regal and raucous red ride.” That’s SP for Sport Production, nomenclature Ducati has used for decades to designate some of the high-end models in its superbike series. This lineage stretches back to the 851 SP, which debuted in 1989. Exciting!

The Honda Helix came to the US in 1986 and ran `til 2007; MO gave it the old once-over 25 years ago. With its long wheelbase and massive 244 cc performance, the Helix achieved cult status in Japan, and weenie status here in the land of the free. Hey, it was 1996! With a nose that appears to have served as the model for Matt Groening’s Simpsons characters, the Honda Helix still looks every bit as weird today as it did then. You know you want one.

And so it came to pass, ten years ago, that Trizzle, Pete and Duke did verily pilgrimage to Buttonwillow. And so we give a shoutout to the shootout of the most exciting new 2011 ZX-10R against the most exciting superbike of the year before, the BMW S1000RR… you know the drill. 

“Easy to ride, measurably comfortable and stylish to boot,” concluded D. Gingerelli’s review of the excitingly overhauled H-D Sportster ten years ago – now with radial tires! To see how far the Motor Company has come in the decade since then, check out the actually new 2021 Sportster S: It’s almost enough to give one hope.

What? Where was I ten years ago when the FZ8 got here? O, that’s right, Cycle World. No wonder I blocked it out. 

Suzuki launched this cruise missile in 2006, right when the US housing market was experiencing a little froth, and every new three-car garage in the land needed a big custom cruiser. Can we get stucco? O how you can  get stucco! A liquid-cooled 1783cc V-twin (109 ci) in a 764-pound package was the recipe, and in 2011 this Limited Edition baby was even badder to the bone. Suzuki will still sell you a brand new one for $15,299. Take it away, Joshua Placa…

I actually didn’t mind being seen on this “custom cruiser” ten years ago. Yamaha’s answer to the Honda Fury had the chopper look and sound, but offset triple clamps and a revvable, oversquare 1312cc V-twin with four-valve heads made it also a functional, fun-to-ride motorcycle. America must’ve agreed; a quick run through Cycle Trader finds prices about twice what I would’ve expected for a ten-year old Japanese cruiser. Or maybe Yamaha’s marketing ploy worked? It’s a STAR, man!

Tomorrow, we embark on a great crusade: the 2021 Lightweight Nakedbike comparison. So it’s probably an excellent time to look back 10 years ago, to when Pete, Trizzle, and Duke compared, lamented, proffered, proclaimed and opined re: the three most powerful naked streetfighters of the day. Let us harken… 

Normally we’d save this M-G review for next year, when it’ll be a nice, even 20 years old. But since it’s Moto Guzzi’s 100th anniversary this year, and since Yossef’s visit to the Mandello factory/museo to ride this one is as high-quality as MOtojournalism gets, we’re making an exception. Happy anniversary, Moto Guzzi. And happy Guzzi-ing, Yossef.

Oh, look, there was a new Kawasaki KLR650 ten years ago, too. Okay, the big redesign was in 2008, but MO didn’t get around to testing one ’til ten years ago. Anyway, they built the first one in 1987, which has to make the Killer one of the longest-running models in Kawasaki’s line-up, even if it was missing for a couple years. Kudos is one of our go-to words, and in this case it actually fits… Kudos, big K, on Donner, on Blitzen, on KLR.

Few readers know that MO’s own Troy “Trizzle” Siahaan began his motorcycle career as a hard-core cruiser guy/’do-rag model before forming a successful boy band, then later becoming MO’s superbike specialist. Maybe even fewer remember Triumph’s foray into the big-inch cruiser market ten years ago. The Thunderbird and the Thunderbird Storm have left the building, but you never know when they might be back.

Years later, we learned that the 984 cc Sportster-based engine in the Buell XB9R was supposed to have been turbocharged to the tune of 150 horsepower. A last-minute Harley-Davidson-induced change of plan scuttled that, but if  the turbo had happened, the whole arc of Buell would’ve bent much more toward justice. As she stood, the 9R never quite caught on. But we’d still give our left ventricle for a clean XB9S, preferably with blue translucent gas tank cover… 

Funny, we just bumped into a travelling nurse riding one of these, with 60,000 miles on it – and still running strong, of course. Not to be outmarketed by the Euros, naturally Yamaha USA had to give the new “R1 for the real world” their own name when it got here. Yamaha Fazer 1000? Isn’t that a little too Trekkie? How about FZ-1? Done!

Twenty-five years ago, Yamaha had an 849 cc liquid-cooled 270-degree cranked parallel Twin in a steel birdcage frame, but the TRX850 faded from view before it even made it to America. Today, 270-degree parallel Twins and trellis frames are all the rage. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Twenty-five years and two days ago, we had this to say about Honda’s numba-One selling motorcycle in the USA – Honda CBR600F3. Did it say something wrong, or did our taste just change? Show me something more masochistic and expensive, please…

We’re still not over the OVER Racing Project, the crazy high-end Japanese racing parts purveyors who were the Bimota of Japan in the ’90s, and probably still are. It was their oval aluminum tube frame that inspired Suzuki’s first SV650 a few years after this 1995 piece. Sadly, Los Angeles’ The Garage Company, OVER’s importer, is no more. But there is an OVER website if you’re feeling lucky, along with a FAX number if you’re feeling really lucky and nostalgic.

One-quarter century ago, MO was just getting off the ground but had not yet retracted its landing gear. Even then, luckily, Suzuki GSX-R750s were expendable enough that Suzuki loaned us one for review. Which was kind of a big deal, because MO’s terrible twos coincided with the year Suzuki blew out all the stops to create a much lighter, much more compact, and much more powerful 1996 GSX-R750. The race to build racebikes for the street was on.

The devil made Ducati do it. The power of MO compelled Pete to take it for a ride, ten years ago.