24 Kawasaki EX250-F2 Ninja

More suds, more duds, more fun.

38 Suzuki GV1400 LXE Cavalcade

Keep looking, Martha, it probably has a built-in escalator too.

15 Yamaha ’88

The year of the small, the economical, the unexpected.

And the 14,000-rpm FZR400S. Whew!

31 A Splash Of La Carrera #5

To race around Mexico means facing certain

whimsies of fate. . . .

By Chris Hoden field

32 Point West And Gas It?

Some lessons you have to relearn every time.

By Paul Gordon

45 Demo

The ‘ ‘Big Six' ’ lay out a buffet of

hardware in Estes Park, Colorado.

By R. James Roach

48 Galloping Suzuki GSX-R50

Smarter than a horse, more genteel than a mule.

By Ken Vreeke

48 Full-Honk Yamaha YSR

Toomey Tunes' High-Output pipe produces YSR speed and

noise, and fear and loathing from the neighbors.

By Ken Vreeke

56 A Brooklands Birthday

Ancient eagles gather at the touchstone of speed.

By Michael Jordan

64 Norton Rotary Rocket

Whirling Star outside the British Worldbeater tradition.

By Mat Oxley

75 Hot And Cold Running Gloves

Which really keep your hands warm? The ones that stay cool.

By Paul Gordon

52 Euro Enduro Twins:

Cagiva Elefant 750 & BMW R100GS

Paris-Dakar by way of Varese and Munich. By Bruno de Prato

7 Ed‘\ior\a\/Virus/Phil Schilling

8 Bits/ Curb Your Yam/Tim Carrithers

10 Letters/Decisions

12 Head On/Full Circle/Brent Ross

14 ~[OC! Initiations/Kevin Cameron

...and don’t require a valid competition li-

cense or a century of riding experience

to appreciate. In Toronto, the company

unwrapped three new models: a liquid-

cooled 50cc screamer, a 250cc V-twin

cruiser, and a 400cc street/sport

weapon.

Backstopping the new stuff are some

familiar profiles, and, in line with a shrink-

ing market, there were also some con-

spicuous absentees. Cut from the 1988

lineup are the FJ1200 (still produced for

Canada), the SRX250 (1987 models are

still available) and the XT600 (only the

XT350 remains). The big news lies else-

where, and much of it is smaller than

expected.

About 200 cubic centimeters smaller.

The FZR400 is big news both because of

what it is—the razor’s edge of Yamaha

sport-bike technology—and what it

isn't—a 600.

Why take the risk on a high-tech, high-

priced 400 in the land where the per-

ceived cut-off for serious sporting hard-

ware takes place at the half-liter level?

The answer lies with Honda's stunning

CBR600 Hurricane, introduced just last

year, which instantly set the 600cc class

standard for high performance com-

bined with an economical price.

Honda’s CBR didn’t just catch Yamaha

with its pants down, it tore them clean...