Bad old days.

[Ivor biggin]

Anyone here remember the early 80s when all the Jap bike manufacturers raced to produce the most ugly bike on the planet? The 70s and great bikes like the Suzuki GTs, Norton Intercepters and Kawi`s H2 were gone and now we were left with Honda CB Customs, Yamaha Maxims and Kawasaki's (god it still gives me nightmares but I can`t remember it`s name) cruiser.
I don`t think there has been a darker age in motorcycle production.
Pity the fool who owns one of these monstrosities but I can see it now with it`s Vetter fairing and milk crate bungied to the rear fender.
IB.

[sportbikecalgary]

Anyone here remember the early 80s when all the Jap bike manufacturers raced to produce the most ugly bike on the planet? The 70s and great bikes like the Suzuki GTs, Norton Intercepters and Kawi`s H2 were gone and now we were left with Honda CB Customs, Yamaha Maxims and Kawasaki's (god it still gives me nightmares but I can`t remember it`s name) cruiser.
I don`t think there has been a darker age in motorcycle production.
Pity the fool who owns one of these monstrosities but I can see it now with it`s Vetter fairing and milk crate bungied to the rear fender.
IB.

yep the Kawasaki Spectre

http://www.motorcycleminnesota.com/030104/10/image2.jpg

1100 cc's of Black and gold styling miscues. Didn't they come with gold fork boots for a couple seasons? I had the sporty KZ650SR and was embarrassed that Kawi would put out this black and gold ugliness. after that I went through the 80's on a CB900f2. ..and you wonder why I have a distrust of cruiser bikes.

What about the Yamaha 650 Special? It was pretty 'special' but they sold a gazillion of them. Nothing for horsepower, no brakes to speak of... the rubber mounted handlebars would move 4 inches back and forth!
http://www.650motorcycles.com/01XS80G.jpg

[metalredneck]

Don't forget the Madura! Or the Indiana! *shiver*

[Uwe W.]

Hmmmm. I had, still have, a 900F too and still think it looks pretty good. Katanas were really hot looking then, and have aged quite well.

[sportbikecalgary]

Hmmmm. I had, still have, a 900F too and still think it looks pretty good. Katanas were really hot looking then, and have aged quite well.

I think 900 F's were a deal back in '81 and '82 I was goingto trade my KZ 650 in on a GPZ 550 and beside it in th showroom for an extra $300 was a non-current '81 900F. Mine was nicknamed the Road Warrior by my friends as it went everywhere and refused to die. The 19 inch front worked well on gravel roads. It was long and heavy which made for a super stable touring bike. The 'F2' designator indicated the Hondaline full faring and although it added a good 35 lbs to the weight of the bike, it was a fantastic addition. At 50,000 km I tossed in a wiseco 1063 kit and went for another 20,000 before I sold it. I toured all over Canada with it, I raced it at Gimli, it's the bike I learned motor mechanics on. Unfortunately, I also learned quite a bit about helicoils and proper torque specs while working on it.

The last time I saw it on the road (around 75,000 km on it) was with a friend riding it on a 1500 km trip. It blew the rings on the #2 cyl and immediately pressurized the cranckcase and wanted to pump oil everywhere. We were 600 km into the trip with the problem surfaced. What happened? On the side of the road, we diagnosed the engine failure and cleaned the air filter. Then we rerouted the oil lines so they didn't go back into the air box and made it so they would just drain onto the ground. Then we continued on the rest of the trip!

We kept the speeds down to 120-130kph... and there were no issues other than soaking the riders left boot in oil. Turning left was a bit sketchy, but not enough to make you slow down. The 900F motor burned through a litre evey 125 kms and to get us home it took about 8 litres... It was a bit ugly in gas stations when the oil slick started to flow away from the bike. Our solution was to make him fill up last so we could make the quick exit... before the gas station attendent phone the B.C. enviro police on us. :) You'd think losing a cylinder would make it run rough, but pulling up to the guys house on the outskirts of Calgary, the bike still pulled through 175 kph! In the guys garage was a spare 900F motor he was planning on rebuilding, within a week it was swapped out and the beast is still on the road daily and tearing it up. Mind you it's a bit lethargic without that 1063 kit.

Here's a picture from that oil-soaked trip with the rider (not me) behind the bike
http://68.146.12.230/Neil/Bikes/3VG_2004/_0097.JPG

So.. don't think I was lumping in the F-bike with those crappy cruisers.

[Uwe W.]

Unfortunately, I also learned quite a bit about helicoils and proper torque specs while working on it.

Same here. Stripped the front brake line splitter when converting to lower bars. I bought my first torque wrench the next morning.

I recall those fairings, but wanted something more modest at the time so I fitted the headlight off a Suzuki and the fairing off a Honda (650 I think).

Mine hasn't been used for a couple of years, but I have plans to install a set of spoked wheels, clip-ons and a few other goodies to cafe the bike. I've repainted it a few times over the years; here was the first repaint from stock

http://www.vorg.com/bc/images/Uwe 900F.jpg

[Hayabusa]

Remember the times though. The Chev Citation was for sale in that era.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/chevrolet-citation-2.jpg

The AMC Pacer had been in production from '75 - '80...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/1975_AMC_Pacer_base_model_frontrightside.jpg/800px-1975_AMC_Pacer_base_model_frontrightside.jpg

So we were still reeling from that as well and there had to be four or five of them still on the road.

Puts things in perspective a little 'don't it?

[YellowDuck]

OMG Chevy Citation. If it wasn't for you, I would have forgotten about that for the rest of my life.

Dammit.

[Paddy]

my mother owned one of these briefly. It was a four on the floor with horrendous brakes.She hated it so much, even though she couldn't really afford to, she gave it to my brother and I and was not at all displeased to see us quickly turn it into scrap. It was found on it's side on a back-street industrial park one day, don't ask me how.
Honourable butt-ugly mention must go to the Seca and Radian, for in my humble opinion, they looked and sounded like shit.

[KZDon]

Heck, you can still buy a Citation, brand new. The same basic chassis and motor went through the Cavalier and Sunfire and are now in the G5 and whatever Chevrolet calls their current version of the same thing.

[metalredneck]

Yes, the Specials were special, in an olympic sort of way. However, the ol' 650 paint-mixer engine is still one of my favourite low-power mills.

[Plain Peter P.]

THAT one cracked me up!

[GMCdriver]

Heck, you can still buy a Citation, brand new. The same basic chassis and motor went through the Cavalier and Sunfire and are now in the G5 and whatever Chevrolet calls their current version of the same thing.


You don't actually believe that do you? That the Cobalt and the Citation are the same vehicle?

The Citation was built on a FWD adaptation of the old RWD X-body platform and had a 2.5L Iron Duke engine(cam in block design) or a 2.8 L V6.
Those engines made their way into the first Cavaliers that were built on the J-body platform(a purpose built FWD platform that was 800lbs lighter then the old X-bodys) but the engines didn't even make their way to the end of Cavalier production let alone into the Cobalt.
The Cobalt came out on the Delta platform that was designed for the Opel Astra, Opel Zafira & Saturn Ion and has DOHC, VVT equipped, Aluminium block engines, a far cry from the same engines as the Citation.

That's like saying that my old 1980 KZ1000 is still available, it's just being sold under the name ZX10R now.

[TimP]

Dear GMCdriver,

Welcome aboard! I hope you like it here.

One of the tools most used for effect on this forum is hyperbole. I mean, we really, really, really like to make gross generalizations and blanket statements that are 'way over the top, just to see how people respond. Mostly it's fun, but sometimes it's difficult to know whether the writer is serious or not. I usually assume a smiley face just got left off...

Thanks for the detailed description of all the effort GM has gone to to make vehicles, such as the Cobalt, that are, on paper at least, vast improvements over the steaming piles (ie. Citations, etc.) of yesteryear. Trouble is, nobody cares.

Manufacturers through the ages have found out the hard way that the perception of quality in the mind of the consumer is a one-way street. The direction may be upwards (be seen to be making continuous effort to offer ever-more-reliable, high-quality products at a fair price. Toyota is the oft-cited example of this, whether it's true or not) or downwards (implement "efficiencies" to reduce costs and stay competitive by gradually reducing the quality until everyone knows you're making shit. Pick any of the Big Three for a colloquial example). The truth about individual product quality is somewhere in between, but once you've set your direction, it's a really tough slog to convince people otherwise.

As far as most people are concerned, a GM is a Ford is a Chrysler, they're all "Citations" even if they're Cobalts, and none of them are Toyotas. True or not, everyone believes Toyotas are golden while GM makes crap. It's gonna take some mighty effort far beyond cutting 800 lbs from the chassis to change that mindset. Personally, I hope they make it, but I bet they won't.

[metalredneck]

Get My Coveralls?

Garage Man's Companion?

I still like: JEEP: Just Empty Every Pocket.:D

[Ivor biggin]

I still like: JEEP: Just Empty Every Pocket.:D

Or Fiat: Fix it again Tony.
I.B.

[Sidecar Bob]

Personally, I always liked the look of the Honda CBxxxC models. And the original Secas. But I agree that the above mentioned Kawis & the Madura probably had design input from Morgentaller.

If you want to talk about bad cars, don't forget the Volare/Aspen and the Fairmont/Zephyr. I don't think anything needs to be said about them except that they are, fortunately, no longer available.

Of course, I have never understood how anyone could get excited about a car anyway. They all pretty much look the same to me - dangerous obstacles to the normal use of the road by motorcyclists.

If you want to talk about the early '80s, though, you must also remember that there were some truly good & worthwhile machines made then. I know - I own a couple of them.

[Malks]

We had a Citation as a fleet vehicle back in the early 80's. That thing was a total piece of shit and spent more time in the shop than in use.

However, I had two 1980's bikes and was quite satisfied with them both. They were both 1984 models; a Yamaha FJ600 and a Suzuki GS1150EF. I owned the Yamaha first and rode it for over 10 years. When I sold it I bought the Suzuki and kept it until I bought the ST. I found both to be reliable and thought they had a nice design; OK the headlight on the Suzuki was a little big, but at least it lit up the road really well.:rolleyes:

A friend had a Yamaha 650 Spacial and while is was slow and did not stop well, I always liked the look of it because it reminded me of my '69 BSA Lighting.