39 Kawasaki Voyager XII
For touring riders who prefer filet mignon, but are saddled with
a tube-steak budget.
50 Yamaha Virago 1100
After almost a decade, Japan's Harley impersonator has the
act down pat.
SPECIAL FEATURE
28 Bimota YB6 And Yamaha FZR1000
Look what happens when you throw wads ofcash at a big-bore
Genesis engine. Avanti!
FEATURES
37 Federico Martini: The Man Behind The Machine
The ingegnere explains the design of his final and best Bimota.
by Bruno de Prato
44 BMW K1
A Roman ride on Bavaria’s first real superbike.
by Tyrone van Hooydonk
54 Revival
H/e spruce up a 1982 GS1100 for fun and profit.
by Tyrone van Hooydonk
58 The Secret Life Of Eddie Lawson
The champ gets hairball on four wheels for a change.
by Ken Vreeke
63 Special FX Redux
Turning down the volume on the Flying Jukebox.
by Charles Everitt
67 Project DTX: Prologue
AMA and Cycle chemists search for a new dirt track formula.
. 81 Book Review; -Motorcycle Touring, An International
Directof^WS’W^'
The guide..tp-tiding;in Shangri-La and other destinations.
byKen.Vrqeke. yr
DEPARTMENTS
F??7 Editdnal/SteVe Ariderson
8 T D Cl Fall From Grace/ Kevin Cameron
10 Letters/ Shobert And Magee Crash
16 New Products/ Wild Child/John Burns
19 Bits/ The Untouchables/Tyrone van Hooydonk
82 Pipeline/ Power Plays/Jim Greening
Before the first Virago hit U.S. shores in
1981, Japanese motorcycle companies
had followed an unspoken agreement
that the big V-twin niche was reserved
for America’s own manufacturer. Yama-
ha slyly skirted the unspeakable by mak-
ing the Virago a different sort of ma-
chine-one that nicked rather than blew
away the Milwaukee bull's-eye. It was an
immediate success.
But once Yamaha’s toe was in the
door, there was no closing it. Other Jap-
anese factories throbbed their way into
America’s garages with their own V-en-
gined customs. By 1984, Yamaha mar-
keting experts couldn’t help noticing the
success of Honda’s Magna and Shadow
750s—far closer H-D clones than the Vi-
rago. Buyers responded to the addi-
tional flash, and to the more traditional
Yankee look.
While the Japanese manufacturers
were just beginning to open point-blank
fire at one another on the sport bike
front, many American motorcyclists—58
percent of new bike purchasers in 1983,
to be precise—cared little about those
machines. Of a total 400,000 street mo-
torcycles sold in the U.S. that year,
233,000 were "cruisers.”
In 1984 the Virago’s loins were re-
girded accordingly. Twin shocks re-
placed the original Monoshock rear end,
footpegs were mounted way up front on
the engine cases, twin chrome pipes
flowed from the exhaust ports, and a
sissy bar sprouted aft of a more stepped
seat. The more American Viragos
moved like proverbial hotcakes, and a
lesson was learned. Custom cruisers
didn't need LCD instrument clusters and
sophisticated on-board computers, like
the ’82 XV920 Virago had; they needed
simplicity, and style, and big throbbing
engines.
That 1984 Virago is still with us today
with even more throb. Its original 981 cc
diplacement was obtained by boring its
920cc predecessor 3mm larger; and in
1986, a stroke increase pushed dis-
placement to its current 1063cc size.
Though flywheel weight was also added
with the stroke increase for smoother
power delivery, the air-cooled, two-
valve, oversquare Yamaha still is the
most free-rewing of the big twins as well
as the smoothest
Speaking of rpm, tables turn very fast
■n the international motorcycle business,
in sobering contrast to the 233,000 cus-
toms sold in 1983, the motorcycle indus-
try sold just under 92,000 last year ac-
cording to a Yamaha official—and a