What bike was the 1/4 mile king in 1979 and 1980?

[mharrington]

I know the 1978 XS1100 was the first bike to break into the 11s and thus was king that year but what bike ran the fastest 1/4 mile in 79 and 80?

[GaryF]

I'm not sure about 79 but in 1980 Suzuki came out with their GS110EX the one with the square headligh. I'm pretty sure that was the quarter mile king that year
Possibly the only bike I would swap my SH for

[crazy steve]

The XS11 was only 'king' for a short while; it's main claim to fame is it was the first bike to turn sub-12 second times. Both Suzuki and Kawasaki introduced bikes in '78 that equaled or slightly bettered the XS's times (depending on which magazine test you read), but when Honda brought out the CBX in late '78 it became the new 'king' with 11.60 times, with times as quick as 11.55 reported. The CBX kept the title through '79, but in '80 Suzuki came out with the GS1100 and re-took the 'quickest' title. Yamaha didn't have a contender until the V-Max came out in '85.

[mharrington]

I like that in the late 70s the 1/4 wars were at full steam- like Detroits muscle cars thru the 60s. I do like the TSCC 1100 Suzuki. Supposedly lots of low end. Oh if I could own a Jay Leno condition version of each!

[mack]

Gs1100

In 80 I had a friend who bought the GS1100.It was the super bike of that year voted in by cycle world. We did a lot riding together and he could consistently get a half bike length on me in a 1/4. We did long rides every weekend. All week he'd be tweeking his bike to get ready. I'd just hop on mine and turn the key and away we'd go. Half way through the ride, everytime, rick would ask if he could ride mine back. I've never let anyone ride Hermes so he was out of luck. Another guy in the regiment had a CBX. He didn't get much riding in as it was almost impossible to keep tuned. Looked good though.

[cywelchjr]

I think that's the thing to remember, that while there were others that took the 1/4 mile crown, for the most part those are in the junk yard now. Many of the ones that beat the 11 in the 1/4 were rather hard to tune and were not very good riders for daily riding. The 11 is a good daily riding bike, and still is to this day, which is something that few bikes of that era in it's class can say. And I still get guys who recognize it on sight, even though I've got no decals on it.

[mharrington]

The fastest 1/4 does not translate into the best bike but it sure is fun to compare. I was about 10 when the Mad Max movie came out. The bad guys and the cops had some smoking hot big Kawasakis. I guess Ill need to have a few of those in my fantasy bike collection. The six cylinder Haonda and that frankenstein KZ1300 Kaw scare me- I dont want to do any maint and repair on 6 cylinders!

[crazy steve]

You have to remember that this 'war' was waged mostly in the press; there was probably a bit of 'smoke and mirrors' going on too. In every case, there was factory reps/techs hovering in the background during these tests, and later tests of 'real' regular-production machines usually failed to duplicate the times that were initially reported. IMO the XS gets the nod as the best 'all around' bike, while the GS was the 'racers' choice...

[mharrington]

I know many car magazines of the day ran faster times out of musclecars than competent owners could. In the 80s Mr Jay "Pee Wee" Gleason was the man for incredible 1/4mile times. Drag race times do not make a bike but it makes for good bench racing. Speaking of drag racing- the 2 strokes from Yamaha and Kawaski were rockets. the Suzuki GTs didnt have the acceleration of the RD and H series Kaws. I am surprised the liquid cooled 2 stroke GT750 Suzuki was no faster than the equal displacement 4 stroke bikes. A big oil burner should have been an overpowered death trap like the cool Kawaski H bikes.

[crazy steve]

I know many car magazines of the day ran faster times out of musclecars than competent owners could...

Ain't that the truth! I recall seeing a TV 'shootout' sponsored by one of the car mags in the 90s of all the 'big' musclecars of the 60s. They kept out the thinly-disguised limited-production race cars like the Ford Thunderbolts and Hemi Darts, it had to be a model anybody could buy, and you had to run it as it came off the showroom floor. No slicks, headers or any other 'upgrades'. Interesting results...

If I remember right, the winner was a Hemi Roadrunner, but the surprising 2nd place was a Boss 429 Mustang. The heavy hitters like the 454 Chevys, Cobra Jets, Hemi Cudas, Buicks GS cars didn't do so well, most being unable to put the power to the ground or being choked by the factory exhaust. Winning times? IIRC, the Roadrunner was the only car to break into the 13s and just barely, while the Boss managed a 14 flat. All the rest were mired in the mid 14s....

[mharrington]

You could tell when a magazine received a factory prepped car being passed off as a dealership available car- a "Wringer". Im a mopar guy myself and many mopar fans are proud of the 12.90 sec 1/4 mile time run in 1969- by Ronnie Sox in a stone stock 1969 440 six pack Road Runner. While Ronnie Sox was the man at shifting a 4 speed that 12.90 time was never to be duplicated by anyone else in a bone stock Runner (The 69 six pack "A12" runners did run faster than the other 440 six bbl mopars of the time) Also in the 60s a 389 GTO actually had a 428 under the hood for a magazine test. On a humorous note the 1/4 times from any stock Harley Davidson from the 70s had to be measured with an hour watch! An add for the 1980 Yamaha XS650 Special claimed 13.86 while the same year 1200 Sportster was 14.30....Oink

[motoman]

the 60s a 389 GTO actually had a 428 under the hood for a magazine test.///////not intending to stray off subject, but was a 421 SuperDuty under the hood.......

[blkryno]

Yea my cousin used to get pissed when my 71 450 Honda would stay right up with his bad ass sportster. Of course if I wasn't wearing that heavy helmet I might have just passed him by. Then he really got mad a few years later when I bought my 81 XS Special and wouldn't let him ride it. But I really didn't think he could handle it.

blkryno

81 11 SH (83 Venture cct, Tkat fork brace on )
79 11 SF (83 Venture cct on the shelf for it.)

Semper Fi

Loud Pipes
Draw Cops

[mharrington]

There is a site in my favorites that lists nearly every bike ever made with specs. It seems that if info was not available for a model of 70s bike than info from that brands next bigger or smaller bike is substituted. Ex: 1000cc inline 4 bikes with running 13s and 750cc bikes running low 12s. Still a nice "Reference" site.
A coworker used to brag of all the high dollar mods in the early 70s his dad had done to a Harle- that it outran a Z900 Kaw in the 1/4 mile. I pointed out how his dads Harley was modded to the point it would soon self destruct and the Kaw was probably showroom stock. I told him if the same mods were done to the Kaw than the Harley would once again be seconds slower in the quarter than the big 900.

[b1lock]

b1lock

I had a friend for awhile, about ten or twelve years ago, who spent a lot of money trying to make his sportster faster than my 79 XS. He'd come around with his new pipes or carb or screamin eagle widget and tell me how much it cost him. And I'd tell him I paid $900.00 for mine and it was reliable to. He grew to hate that bike!