Motorcycles We Loved in the 1980s

The 1980s was a vibrant period of motorcycling in Britain. In bikes a golden era saw a dominance of Japanese bikes and evolution from old, twin shock 'UJMs' into racer-replicas, fully-faired tourers, screaming strokers and turbos. Behemoths like Suzuki's GSX1100 gave way to the Suzuki Katana and Kawasaki's revolutionary GPz900R. The mid-decade saw the first racer replica, Suzuki's GSX-R750, GP replica two-strokes like Yamaha's RD500 and turbo-charged follies such as Suzuki XN85. Yamaha's FZR1000 EXUP and Norton's F1 rotary sports came along. In bikesport, GPs were dominated by an American invasion of Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson while Broton Dave Thorpe grabbed glory in world motocross. And on the street, hooligan 'LC Johnnys' evolved into Simpson Bandit wearing 'streetfighters' and day-glo bedecked road racers on GSXRs. All of this and more is remembered in Phil West's fascinating book.