25 Years Ago January 1986
25 YEARS AGO JANUARY 1986
Futureshock! Suzuki’s stunning concept bike, the FalcoRustyco (Latin for “white falcon”), was prominent on the cover of this month’s issue. Newsstand buyers were enamored with this sleek, center-hubsteered, 400cc square-Four with its unique hand controls and fluiddrive transmission. A quarter century later, this issue remains the single best-selling edition in the nearly 50-year history of this magazine.
• The rest of this issue surely positively affected sales, as well. Jam-packed within the 82 pages were full tests of the 159-mph Kawasaki Ninja 1000 and “betterthan-ever” Honda CR500R, plus previews or riding impressions of the new-for-1986 Yamaha FZ600, Radian, FJ1200 and Fazer, as well as the Kawa-saki 1000GTR (known stateside as the Concours) R Bßj and groundbreaking Suzuki GSXR750 and 1100 repliracers. I l\ :
• Also ■ tested, the FireAero “half motorcycle, half car” met an untimely demise at Carlsbad Raceway when Technical Editor Steve Anderson flipped the wedge-shaped three-wheeler while attempting to complete a U-turn. Ouch!
• Capping this issue was Michael Scott’s Race Watch report detailing Freddie Spencer’s historic 250/500cc Grand Prix double. “Winning one world title is tough; two nearly impossible,” read the subtitle to the story. “Freddie Spencer made it look easy.”
Matthew Miles
