36 YZF World View '

What the Euros are saying.

38 Super Duke

Motard to the maximum.

-by Brian Catterson

42 1996 KTM Duke

Simply electric.

44 Of Man and Machine

Entering the Neutral Zone.

48 Ode to Mr. Max

Riding the 1997 V-Max.

-by Steve Anderson

PHOTO BY BRIAN BLADE!

51 Mod Max

V-Four dream machine.

54 Thundercross!

A talc of factory Thumpers.

-by Jimmy Lewis

60 Matchless MXer

Motocross’ missing link.

CWTHSTS

30 Yamaha YZF600R

The T-Cat gets its traveling papers.

52 Long-Term Wrap-Up

Triumph Sprint 900.

64 Blue Job Chrome Polish Cure for blue tubes.

66 Map Mate Route rangefinder.

67 JFF First Aid Kit Onboard ouch aid.

68 Bones’ Last Ride

The skeleton’s back in the closet.

-by David Aldana

10 UP FRONT

Million Mile Man.

-bv David Edwards

12 LEANINGS

Minibike flashback.

-by Peter Egan

14 TDC

Rising duty.

-by Kevin Cameron

PHOTO BY KINNEY JONES

18 Letters

20 New Ideas

22 Roundup

88 Service

94 CW Showcase

102 Slipstream

IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO KNOW WHEN TO RUN WITH THE PRIZE. YAMAHA SNATCHED I

the AMA 600 Supersport Championship back in 1994 with its then-new I

YZF600R. But the following year, faced with the prospect of suffocating under ■

a revised CBR600F3 and an all-new Kawasaki ZX-6R, both of which featured

power-boosting ram-air induction, Yamaha abandoned the class and its number-

one plate. So began the factory’s two-year hiatus from 600cc competition.

But you can’t bask in the shadow of yesterday’s triumphs indefinitely, espe- j

cially in a sales class as sport-intensive as 600s. Enter the 1997 YZF600R, I

scheduled to be in shops this September, a little later in California. With super-sexy I

bodywork, revised suspension, upgraded brakes and a forced-air induction system of its I

sport start line and in dealership showrooms.

Yamaha put things in motion by extracting

class-leading performance from its existing

YZF’s 599cc, slant-block, liquid-cooled inline-

Four. Bore and stroke remain the same at 62.0 x

49.6mm as does the 12.0:1 compression ratio

Lighter, forged-aluminum pistons replace cast

slugs and run in a lightened cylinder

block. Adding to this is a new

lightweight ignition rotor, fur-

own, the YZF looks set to put Yamaha back in the hunt for 1997, both on the super-...