The mid-1980s were an exciting time for motorcycling, with lots of interesting technology coming to fruition, but in other ways it was hard going for an industry hit hard by the demise of our local manufacturing facilities and the introduction of new laws which made it harder, and more expensive, to get into motorcycling.
The Japanese manufacturers had a near monopoly on the industry and British manufacturing appeared to be dead. Outdated Triumph Bonnevilles were being made only in small numbers by a specialist called Racing Spares in Devon – no-one yet knew about all the work being carried out in secret by John Bloor to bring the brand back to life – while Norton’s hopes of survival lay with a machine with an unusual rotary engine, which was being sold exclusively to police and the RAC.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Italian industry was more or less bust, although Cagiva had just bought out Ducati and gave us a glimpse of the future with designer Massimo Tamburini’s first creation for the company – the Paso 750. BMW’s range was sturdy and came with a pipe and slippers image while, over in America, Harley-Davidson sold in huge numbers at home but was derided by most British bikers.
And bike sales weren’t great. Sources suggest around 120,000 motorcycles were sold in the UK in 1986, with just over a million bikes registered on the road. Those numbers were significantly less than they had been 10 years previously, but not so different to today’s figures.
Many of those bikes on the road remained UJMs, the generic (and slightly derogatory) term given to the Universal Japanese Machines which were so popular in the 1970s, even though the bikes rolling out of showrooms in 1986 looked quite different.
Honda’s massive selling Super Dream (which came in 250 and 400cc versions) was a common sight on the roads but was in its final year of production. The legislation brought in three years earlier to restrict learners to 125s, when they could previously ride 250s, was still having a massive impact on small bike sales and, arguably, dealt the British motorcycle industry a blow from which it would never fully recover.
The early-80s fad for turbos had come and gone, but four-strokes were definitely the way ahead. Inspired by racing, sporty two-strokes still had their place but were on the wane. Yamaha had dominated the sector with the RD350LC in the early Eighties and they stayed ahead of the game when it introduced the TZR250 in ’86.
Quarter-litre bikes like the TZR and Suzuki RG250 were still popular, although 500cc strokers like the RD500LC and Suzuki’s RG500 Gamma promised much but fell short with buyers, who preferred big four-strokes. Yamaha obliged with the FZ750, while Suzuki’s GSX-R750 became an icon. Both were introduced in 1985 and continued to be big sellers in 1986. Suzuki also introduced the ultimate bad boy motorbike in ’86: the GSX-R1100!
But Honda were not to be outdone and introduced the VFR750F. Where UJMs had been across the frame fours, the VFR was a V4 and was beautifully engineered, featuring a very modern aluminium beam frame, full fairing and a complex gear driven camshaft system.
It was Honda’s second attempt at a road going V4, a configuration it famously used in racing, and it needed to be good as the previous effort had been a PR disaster, due to weak camshafts destroying the engines. The VFR was more sports tourer than race replica and was a hugely competent all rounder, although some did even make it to the racetrack – with ‘Flyin’’ Fred Merkel winning the 1986 American Superbike Championship on one. It spawned the VFR800, which remained a staple of Honda’s range into the 21st century. A real legend!
Kawasaki didn’t have much to crow about when it came to new models for 1986, but they didn’t need to. The GPZ900R Ninja went into the year as the fastest motorcycle in the world and played a starring role in the year’s biggest movie, Top Gun, where it was ridden by an up-and-coming actor by the name of Tom Cruise.
The manufacturer did introduce a faster, 1000cc, GPZ1000RX as a potential replacement for the 900. The two models co-existed for a while, but the 900 would ultimately outlive the bike it was intended to replace. The 1000 did have the honour of being the world’s fastest motorcycle in 1986, with a top speed of 160mph, but in a fashion-conscious world it didn’t have the cache of its rivals and only remained in the range for a few years.
It's hard to believe that these bikes are now 40 years old, qualifying for classic motorbike insurance and historic vehicle status, because for some of us the memories feel like yesterday. Motorcycles have evolved and changed massively though, as we discovered when we rode a 1985 Kawasaki GPZ900R Ninja back-to-back with a BMW S 1000 RR, and when we pitched a Honda XBR500 against a modern day BSA Gold Star.
What we weren’t riding in 1986!
It’s also interesting to see how the motorcycling landscape has evolved. Today’s marketplace is highly segmented, with categories including sportsbikes, retros, cruisers and adventure bikes, and although distinctive motorcycle types were being established in the 1980s, by 1986 we still generally had standards, sports, customs and off-road styled machines.
Retro bikes weren’t really a thing 40 years ago. Sure there were traditional bikes like Honda’s XBR500 and the Triumph Bonneville, but on the whole buyers were looking for something more distinctive and modern.
Sports bikes had become race replicas and touring bikes were going down the route of full dressers like the Honda Gold Wing and Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, while the term ‘adventure bike’ had yet to be coined. All motorcycles offered an adventure, if you thought about it, but manufacturers were starting to offer big road bikes with some off-road capability.
This genre of ‘dual sport’ bike (or big trailies as they were colloquially known) was kicked off by BMW, with its R80G/S, in 1980 although competitors of the time, like Honda’s XR600 and Yamaha’s original Tenere were raw single-cylinder machines with niche appeal and traditional off-road ergonomics. It would be a few more years before the Honda Africa Twin and Yamaha Super Tenere would take us closer to the bikes we know today.
There were also very few scooters seen on the road in 1986. While twist-and-go 125s are everywhere in today’s city centres, usually in the hands of delivery riders, back then couriers (and there were plenty of them in the days before the internet) used mid-sized motorbikes like Super Dreams and Honda’s CX500, which was the dispatch rider’s go-to bike.
Scooters were limited to traditional geared Lambrettas and Vespas, or little autos with shopping baskets on the front. Honda’s C90 Super Cub remained a popular seller with commuters, although it remained classed as a small step-through motorcycle rather than a scooter.
Interestingly, there also remained a market for mopeds. The 1977 legislation, which restricted speeds of sporty 50s to 30mph, had blunted the appeal of the ‘sixteeners’ but, with car ownership remaining out of reach for most teens, 50s and 125s still proved popular with youngsters looking for independent transport.
All of the Big Four Japanese bike makers offered 50cc mopeds and 125cc learner bikes (often with 80s and 100s in the mix too), something that’s not the case four decades on.
