To say that the Honda Hurricane CBR600F took the world by storm in 1987 would almost be an understatement. The Hurricane revolutionized the sports bike world forever, and it was not apologetic for the disturbance it caused.
The Hurricane performed like nothing before, setting new standards across the board. Winning all of the major AMA races it entered in its inaugural year, the CBR600F made the rest of the sports bike community stand up, take notice, and do their best not to be blown away.
The development of the CX500 Turbo comes from previous decades of horsepower wars between Japanese and American bikes. Riders cared more about the power of the bike than an excess of features, and would readily gobble up an odd looking bike or less than amazing ride if they can get there faster.
CX's line replaced the CB550, which was very popular in its own right. The lineup offered some new features that weren't common on bikes yet, including liquid cooling, a long mounted engine, and air free tires. The new platform initially had to compete with the powerful Suzuki GS750, a sportbike of the day. These sportsbikes sold very well despite having some reliability issues and sometimes having no limiter, which could readily lead to destroying an engine.
For Kawasaki Motorcycle & Engine Company, the dream of achieving success in the ever-competitive arena of motorcycles started with wings and not wheels. Prior to 1962, Kawasaki was more known for making aircraft than making motorcycles but after requiring struggling company Meguro Motorcycle Company in 1963, Kawasaki was well on its way to producing some iconic motorcycles. Well, sort of.
We recently did a little bike run through Indiana out to a rural property with a group of fun loving riders from all different states and Matthew Nebel came down from Cleveland with a great group to get away for a bit. We noticed right away he wasnt riding your average XS650 and after a few pits stops and close inspection we realized that he had something pretty unique that needed some light shed on it so more people could come to dig this ever evolving patina proud Yamaha chopper. We shot some photos and talked with him a bit about why he chose this for his daily rider.
Michael prides himself on his budget builds. One of the ways he’s able to keep costs down is by capitalizing on his talent for utilizing found items in his his builds. For example, that’s a mini Heineken keg under the seat that houses the battery and electronics.
