Saturday, February 21, 2009

New standards part I

Somewhere in the 1990's standard bikes made a comeback. A new breed grew out of the street-fighter phenomena of the 1980's. Manufactures began capitalizing on this new trend with stripped down sport bikes of their own. Ducati broke new ground with with the Monster in 1993. Essentially a bare bones Super Sport went on to become the company's most successful model. Triumph, hot off the heals of the Hinckley revival, introduced the Speed Triple in 1994.

Ducati Monster 1993-

Triumph Speed Triple 1994-


The Japanese manufactures eventually came around and offered their own versions. Honda used the CBR900RR engine to create the 919 (Hornet 900 in Europe). Yamaha debuted the FZ1 with a detuned R1 engine. Kawasaki and Suzuki came late to the party, perhaps because they already had naked standards (the ZRX and Bandit, receptively) however they were more traditional and steel framed.

Yamaha FZ1 2001-
Honda 919 2000-
Kawasaki Z1000 2003-
Suzuki SV1000 2003-07


Both Honda and Suzuki had early answers to Ducati in the 1990's with semi-naked V-twins. Honda had the Nighthawk VTF1000, and Suzuki had the TL1000S.