ROAD TESTS
22 Yamaha XVZ12TK Venture
Yamaha's weapon to take the Gold out of Gold Wing.
48 Honda XR350R And XR500R
Not just playbikes, and new from the computer up.
68 Suzuki GS750ES
Dial ‘ ‘ES ’' for Extremely Sporty.
SHORTS
57 Suzuki GS1100E
The multi-purpose 1100 Superbike.
78 Kawasaki KX125
The green brand of lightning.
91 Can-Am Sonic MX
Maybe you can't win in Open Class motocross,
but it's a hell of a thumper.
FEATURES
32 Product Evaluation: Pacifico Sound-Pak
Could you hum a few bars?
45 The 10,000-Mile Question, Answered
In part, at least. Curiosity and the Conti Supertwins.
62 Product Evaluation: Tour Master Rain Suit
It never rains in California formore than four straight winter days.
SPECIAL FEATURES
105 Daytona ’83: The Ego-Battle
Big corporate egos, few winners, many sparks.
By Phil Schilling & Mark Homchick
117 Daytona '83: At A Glance
The results for those who hate proseful suspense.
TECHNICAL
114 Daytona '83: The Machinery
Variety is the honey of the pit-lurker. By Kevin Cameron
COMPETITION
120 Old Faces, Remembered Places
Do I know you?
DEPARTMENTS
9 Editorial/W Turbo Bye/Phi! Schilling
10 The Duct Tapes/Miller TimelEd Hertfelder
13 Letters/FaMnd Bald
16 TDCISeal Of Approval! Kevin Cameron
18 Head On/ClueslBuzz Buzzelli
20 PipelineM Little HelplJim Greening .
42 Checkers/Two In A RowlMark Homchick
84 Bits/Coaf & Tie Optional/Ken Lee
Meet the new King Of Touring, Yamaha's new-for-1983
XVZ12TK Venture. The Venture so excels in nearly every
performance category it sets new standards for heavy-
weight, pure-touring machines. The Venture takes full mea-
sure and more of Honda’s Gold Wing, the royal yardstick of
long-distance traveling.
To know how the Venture outperforms Honda's GL tour-
ers, understand first what the Interstate and Aspencade
can—and can't—do. The Honda GL is great for compress-
ing long interstates and transforming straight highways into
pillowy armchair softness. The GL never ruffles its cargo . .
except on twisty roads. Gold Wings detest snotty, twisty
roads; on such venues a fully loaded GL grinds along on its
undercarriage, bounding from sidestand to muffler brack-
ets and on anything else trapped between the giant flat-four
and the tundra. Specialization: Where the GL works, it
works really well. And conversely.
So widely accepted and commercially successful was
the great-open-spaces Interstate brand of riding that no
other manufacturer challenged it, tech for tech, gadget for
gadget, until Yamaha planners figured America needed a
better Gold Wing, one without its well-known limitations, at
the Gold Wing’s price. The seed of the XVZ12 grew for six
or seven years.
Now, a short history lesson. Several years ago, in 1975,
Yamaha began work on a European endurance racer
powered by a non-counterbalanced, 90-degree V-four. This
machine led the way to the 550cc Vision, which essentially
was the endurance racer sawed in half lengthwise, with
added counterbalancer and its V-angle tightened to 70 de-
grees. It shared the racer’s narrow valve angle, downdraft