The bikes of 1983
The fastest road bikes were nudging top speeds of 150mph for the first time in 1983, but they’d also become fearsomely unwieldy. No wonder then that a new wave of more agile 750cc machines made their debut, and so too did a 350cc two-stroke twin that offered a means of getting your kicks without breaking the bank.
It was a year of significant technology changes in all fields. Motorola launched its mobile phones in the US; Microsoft released its word processing program (a few months before the first Apple Macintosh computer), compact discs went on sale in the UK and US President Ronald Reagan touted his Strategic Defence Initiative, dubbed ‘Star Wars’.
Music was dominated in the UK by the New Romantics such as Culture Club whose Karma Chameleon topped the singles charts, while Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean (from the Thriller album) spent a lot of time at the top as well during the hot July and August. If you saw a movie, it was likely to be Return of the Jedi. You’d probably pay for the tickets with the newly-minted British one pound coins, and if you drove a car, you’d have to use the seat belts by law for the first time.
Things were changing in motorcycle sport too. Freddie Spencer won his first 500cc Grand Prix world title on a Honda two-stroke triple, just pipping Yamaha V4-mounted Kenny Roberts, who later in the year announced that he’d be packing up racing. At the Isle of Man TT, Rob McElnea won the six-lap Classic Senior TT race on a 1000cc Suzuki, after leader Norman Brown ran out of fuel, while Joey Dunlop won his first of six Formula 1 TT races on the trot and Tony Rutter won his third TT F2 race for Ducati.
In the US, the AMA had anticipated that Superbike racers were getting too hot to handle, so for 1983 cut the
