These timelines are based on US models (mostly) some overseas models are shown in grey. Now there's plenty of missing and incorrect information. Keep in mind this is the first draft. I hope to make several revisions to these charts.
Flat Track racing is one of the oldest forms of motorcycle racing. It is probably the most American form of cycle racing as well. Flat track racing involves modified street bikes racing around a dirt oval. The bikes are not equipped with front brakes, instead racers pitch their machines sideways and drift through the corners. This makes for some exciting racing. The sport's roots go back to the 40's and 50's. At the center flat track was the Springfield Mile at Springfield Illinois. The Mile was the Daytona 500 of flat track racing. In 1954 the American Motorcycle Association took control and organizes the sport today. In the 1950's Harley-Davidson dominated the sport withe their flat head twins. In the 1960's English twins from Triumph and BSA started to take victories form Harley. In the 1970's Harley Davidson introduced their over head valve XR750, the bike they continue to race to day. In the 70's however Yamaha decided to enter flat track racing and produced the incredibly powerful TZ750 which Kenny Roberts raced to victory with.
Indian Scout
Harley Davidson KR750
Triumph T140
Yamaha TZ750
Honda RS750
This is a time line of all the major Italian marques. The chart shows the years each manufacturer produced motorcycles. You may notice some companies cease operation only to be restarted later. This time line may not be %100 accurate or complete, but it gives a general idea of Italian motorcycle history.
Here's a a taste of the Kawasaki time line. This is the KZ/Zephyr/ZRX family tree. More time lines are on the way.
I wanted to take a break from the muscle bike series, so I'm posting another time line. It's the Honda CBR time line, and it's only part of the complete Honda time line (though it's probably my most accurate one). Note the lines in grey are models that are/were not available in the US.
Honda VTX
Kawasaki Mean Streak
Yamaha Warrior
Harley Davidson V-Rod
Triumph Rocket III
Victory Hammer
Suzuki M109
In the early 1980’s the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers decided they wanted a piece of Harley’s cruiser action. The market filled with Honda Shadows, Suzuki Intruders, Kawasaki Vulcans, and Yamaha Viragos. None of these bikes could really be considered muscle bikes however. But in 1985 Yamaha took the idea of the cruiser and added an interesting twist, they gave it the most powerful engine in the industry. The Yamaha VMax was born. Even today the VMax can be considered the quintessential muscle bike. It was powered by a liquid cooled dual overhead cam V four that made 145 horse power which was packed into a cruiser type chassis. The rest of the manufacturers fallowed suit with the Suzuki Madura and Honda Sabre and Magna each of which were V four powered cruisers. Kawasaki took a different route with their Eliminator a traditional inline four in a drag bike type design. These bikes began to fade away in the 80’s and 90’s with only the original VMax surviving. The VMax continued on in its original form until 2009 when it was redesigned.
While the CB was hot bike for the day, I don’t feel that it was a muscle bike. The CB did feature a powerful engine, but it also featured a long list of other refinements that transformed it into something new. The CB introduced a new generation of motorcycle, the generation of the universal Japanese motorcycle (or UJM). This era had its own standout muscle bike, called the Z1. In 1972 Kawasaki wanted to upstage Honda and their CB750. To do so they created the Z1. Parked next to one another the CB750 and the Z1 looked very similar, they both had air cooled inline fours, they both had electric starts and disc brakes. The Kawasaki however had a 900cc double over head cam engine that made over 70 horse power. Honda’s single overhead cam 750cc engine made about 60. The Z1 is to motorcycles what the Hemi Cuda is to muscle cars (the Z1 was arguably the only vehicle on the road that could out run a Cuda). It had a beast of an engine and was painfully fast. As a typical muscle bike the Kawasaki’s chassis was not up to the task of managing all that power. The brakes were insufficient and the handling was downright dangerous. Still the Z1 was the bike to beat in the 1970’s. The age of the UJM continued to build up and each of the big four introduced bigger and better bikes. Kawasaki had their Z1 (KZ900) and KZ1000, Suzuki had their GS1000 and GS1100, Honda had their CB900/10000/1100, and Yamaha had their XS-11. Much like the rise and fall of the muscle cars in the late 60’s and early 70’s muscle bikes peaked in the late 70’s and early 80’s. In the early 80’s the motorcycle industry in the US nearly crashed and hit rock bottom in 1984. This nearly put an end to the excess of the UJM, but it ushered in a new area the era of the metric crusier.
The origins of muscle bikes can be traced back to the early days of motorcycling. In early twentieth century the big inch bikes like Harleys, Indians, and Excelsiors could be considered the earliest ancestors of the muscle bike breed. It wasn’t until 1957 however, that a true muscle bike was born: the Harley-Davidson Sportster. As you may know the Sportster, otherwise known as the XL, was Harley’s answer to the British invasion. It was, and still is, Harley’s “small” bike. Though it was small for a Harley it was big for anything else. The Sporty’s 900cc V twin was a monster in world full of 500’s and 650’s. In the late sixties nothing could beat the XL’s acceleration and speed (…well maybe a Vincent). This high performance image didn’t last however. In 1969 Honda caught everyone by surprise and introduced the CB750 for ever changing the face of the motorcycle landscape. Rather than trying to keep up with Honda, Harley switched gears so to speak and the Sportster began to be marketed on “attitude” rather than performance (not unlike modern Harley-Davidsons). One can only wonder what the XL would be like had H-D allowed the bike to evolve into a performance machine. The very same bike that caused the Sportster to branch of also kicked off the beginning of entirely new generation of motorcycle, and an entirely new generation of muscle bikes. (To be continued)
