Somewhere In The Middle
What's a middleweight? That question weighed heavily on our minds as we pondered this month's cover story, wherein we compared a quartet of 650-675cc motorcycles with one, two, three and four cylinders. Thus the title,"1-2-3-4."
Thing is, those four machines are really lightweights in today's biggeris- better market. Yet they would have been considered heavyweights not too many years ago.
Flash back to 1949 and the inaugural season of Grand Prix roadracing, and the premier category was for 500s. While four-cylinder machines from Gilera, MV Agusta and Honda soon came to dominate, that first world championship was won by Englishman Leslie Graham on a humble 45-horsepower AJS twin. The 500s held sway until 2001, at which point the then-two-stroke machines were making just shy of 200 bhp and flirting with 200 mph. The following year the series switched to 990cc four-strokes that made upward of 250 bhp and went as fast as 215 mph. Progress? Or overkill?
That sort of escalation isn't limited to racing, of course. In '69, Honda dropped the bomb that was the CB750 Four, the first mass-produced, road-going superbike and the blueprint for the Universal Japanese Motorcycle. Today the CB750 Four lives on as the Nighthawk 750, an unassuming entry-level standard, while Soichiro's honor is upheld by the mighty 180-bhp CBR1000RR.
How can it be that what was once a superbike can now be considered a beginner's bike? It's all a matter of perspective.
Middleweights such as Suzuki's SV650 are still our pick for entry-level streetbikes owners
Consider Triumph's 500 and 650cc twins, which were unabashed performance bikes from the '30s through the '70s. Designer Edward Turner would turn over in his grave if he saw the current 865cc Bonneville, a mellow retro-bike. Likewise, Harley-Davidson's 883 Sportster was the King Hell streetbike when it was introduced in '57. Today, bikers call it a bitch's bike.
Those bikers shouldn't be too condescending, however, as the 1340cc Big Twins they love so much are virtual middleweights in today's cruiser market-though you might not want to point that out in the wrong crowd. Modern big twins measure 1700, 1800 even 2000cc, and it doesn't stop there-consider Honda's 1500cc six-cylinder Valkyrie or Triumph's mind-blowing 2300cc Rocket III triple. I'm not even going to mention the Boss Hoss, powered by an automotive V-8
Further examples? When Massimo Bordi's Ducati 851 Superbike debuted in '89, it was more than a match for the ubiquitous 750cc fours. Today it takes the 1198cc 1098R to uphold Italian pride against the current 1000cc fours, while the new 848 is considered a middleweight supersport. Don't got me started on Hayabusas and ZX-14s
Where will it end? Tough to say. High-performance motorcycles could someday be legislated out of existence, or made inconsequential by manufacturer-agreed speed or power limits. As it now stands, bikes are universally speed limited to 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph). And while there are no universal power limits, France has enacted a 100-bhp limit. Let's hope that idea doesn't catch on!
Or common sense could prevail. It has happened before-like when the MotoGP displacement limit was reduced to 800cc for the '07 season.
As we rode our quartet of thoroughly capable middleweights this past month, the one question that kept coming to mind was, "How much motorcycle do we really need?" The honest answer is, not as much as we think.
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