Origins of SUPERBIKE racing and Kevin Cameron’s Superbike book

Where did Superbikes come from and why did we start racing heavy, flexible 1000cc streetbikes of the 1970s? Kevin Cameron talks with Mark Hoyer about the origin of Superbikes, how racing these streetbikes blew up in popularity, and how they led to the spectacularly good motorcycles we have today. There is no better basis for this conversation than Kevin Cameron & photographer John Owens’ new book, Superbike: An Illustrated Early History. Learn about Superbikes and how this amazing book came to be on this week’s Cycle World podcast.
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[@RandallSoong-pp7ih]

Thank you Mr Hoyer and Mr Cameron(one of my all time favorite writers!) I sure do miss holding your magazine in my hands

[@richardho5955]

I am so blessed and I give thanks that I grew up riding motorcycles, and still do. As a 17 old kid just out of school in South Africa in 1975, I bought a Suzuki AS50cc motorcycle and got a subscription to Cycle Guide, then Cycle, then Cycle World, as well as Motorcyclist! Hooked on motorcycles from then on, and on the road to a lifetime of adventures with friends on motorcycles. DT250, XT500’s, XJ750, VF750 Interceptor, GPz900R, VFR750F, multiple Fireblades, a Shadow Aero 1100, R1200GSs…the list goes on! Needless to say, Kevin Cameron has been a constant in my life, I’m fairly technical and a reasonable home mechanic. Kevin has the ability to explain very technical engineering into readable stories and keep it interesting. I enjoyed Phil,Schilling, Gordon Jennings and other a tech Editors but Kevin is top of the pile! And yeah, I’m still riding, mostly a GS1200 and intend to until I no longer can…ride safe! 🏍️👏🇿🇦🍺

[@64faffi]

I remember always going for Kevin Cameron's TDC followed by Ed Hertfelder's Duct Tapes before reading the rest of Cycle magazine. So very different content and style, yet so great in their own way.

[@tinytim9413]

Kevin has been a guiding light and an inspiration to me during my road racing endeavors and my street riding for as long as I can remember. I still look for and read everything he put out. Thanks Kevin!

[@user-nl6st8eu5x]

I tuned racebikes for Quebecois riders in the late 80's and early 90's, hitting some of the AMA races. I remember rolling our bike to tech, with Kevin and Jewel Hendricks as the judges of rightness. we had nice little chats, "oh hi Ken..." breezed through, zero stress, while in Canada, some tech guys wanted cam chain tensioners lockwired, and other such idiocy. it was a real pleasure to meet intelligent guys !

[@drgallup]

It's a great book, my sister gave me a signed copy for Christmas. It's especially meaningful to me because I bought one of those first '83 VF750F Interceptors. I went to the Boston motorcycle show, took a good look at it, went home and put a deposit down. Then signed up for the Kieth Code California superbike school. I was riding an '81 RD350LC that I'd brought down from Canada. The RD had great handling too but the VF had so much more top end. One of my friends still has the VF.

[@Rollin_L]

I was told by one of the fellows at Team Honda, from the 1025cc Superbike days, that they consulted the engineers/designers from Japan about the issue they were having with cam chain breakage. The American Honda guys were asked how much horsepower they were making. The figure given was received with raised eyebrows and shocked faces. The Japanese simply stated that they had never designed these engines to withstand that much horsepower. They did resolve the cam chain issues in time. When at Honda later on, Rob Muzzy told me- him being at Kawasaki during that time- that he had known the solution to their problem. (A different type of cam chain, or a particular manufacturer, can't recall specifically.) He was quite content to let his Honda competitors figure it out for themselves, of course. But the level of innovation, experimentation, just the pure adventure of taking a street bike and trying to make it go faster than it was ever designed to, that is what made Superbike racing what it was. It is similar in that regard to the original NASCAR series, a bunch of hot-rodded street machines. To me, that was much more interesting than what racing in most classes has become today. It may well have been the time at Daytona that Kevin mentions, in 1982, that a story occurred that I was told about. The Speedway garages were not available after a fixed time in the early evening, the teams all having to leave. I understand that the Honda guys were rebuilding the engines in their hotel rooms during the night. Without letting the particular hotel staff know, of course. (I've stayed at the same place, it was a bit classy for engine garage work, lol.)

[@RickyJr46]

The book is splendid, and so is this podcast! Mark, your mention of the mirror telephoto lens brings to mind another racing photographer who used them very effectively, the talented Mush Emmons.

[@markmcintosh7095]

I really enjoyed the early years of Superbike. King of the Baggers reminds me of it.

[@user-zs9vk1wr1r]

Bravo!! I began my education about the technical side of motorbikes from Kevin’s Sportbike Performance Handbook & his column in Cycle World. More Kevin & Mark, please & thank you!!!@

[@jesus2400]

Please keep the podcast going Cycleworld has redeemed itself.

[@RichardCummins-ni4em]

I well recall an excellent Cycle World article re the Rob Muzzy / Eddie Lawson Kawasaki, a work of art built by a man who realised tractability out of corners wins races. Brilliant work gents, much appreciated. Early days the go to carbs were 29mm Mikuni, excellent gear but "superseded" by the CR31 Keihin which spat a lot of guys off with highsides, the best riders could tame them but they were a curse for your average bloke.

[@user-ej1us6en5l]

From my 1963 Yamaha YDS3 to my current Motus, I have followed both of these wonderful fellows..Msrs Cameron and Hoyer. Thanks for the decades of ideas and conversation. The inspirations from both of you keep me riding. Tom Baxter Denver, Co

[@chrismoody1342]

I could listen to this till these men can’t recall anything more. I’m interested because I lived thru those days as huge motorcycle enthusiast, but to young to afford to race. However I can relate because I own one of those 1/4 mile pigs; a 75’ Z1b. Still have it today. Plus my Canon FTB manual camera and my 100-200 mm F5 lens. I used to photograph a local SCCA race. Contrast all this to todays ZX6R which just smokes the Z1. Everything is different today but the excitement still burns within.

[@dontustin6405]

Great video, i am in my mid 60s so have watched(from mostly afar, i am in NZ)the evolution of todays Superbikes. When i was high school age or just after, starting seeing these great pics in the US bike magazines we got in NZ at the time, Cycle World & Cycle of Cook Neilson, Reg Pridmore and many others on these bikes and new names entered our vocabulary like Yoshimura. Then Graeme Crosby came home to race a summer series in NZ on a Z1 superbike (Marlboro Series) against Pat Hennan, Randy Cleek & Gregg Hansford & many others(all GP bike mounted) That Marlboro Series put superbikes on the map in this country.Magic.

[@user-zs9vk1wr1r]

Bravo!! I began my education about the technical side of motorbikes from Kevin’s Sportbike Performance Handbook & his column in Cycle World. More Kevin & Mark, please & thank you!!!

[@user-ej1us6en5l]

Thanks to you both. From reading CW since 1963 or thereabouts (because of which I smuggled my Yamaha YDS3 into my basement to my present Motus which is a wonderful bygone bike) both of you gents have kept me riding thru many medical and other setbacks. I met both of you at an early CW dinner at Indy Moto GP (RIP) and still find the finest ideas from the exchanges between both of you. I will always be nearby in Colorado. Tbaxter

[@jameshisself9324]

Great video! The vintage Superbikes at the time were hot rodded just the way we would today- off the shelf special parts in some cases, but a lot of the time it was just new ideas. Some worked, some didn't. Seeing the aerospace origins for a lot of those changes was particularly captivating for me with my aerospace background. I still love racing to this day mostly for the hardware due to it's parallels with aviation. No baggers please. Kevin said it- 2 wheels, a motor, a place to sit and the rest is extra. Baggers have 'extra' superfulous bs for nothing other than as novelty. Well that and to put out the 'we don't take this seriously' vibe so HD can show up and act like they really don't care if they lose.

[@dukecraig2402]

You can talk all the smack on them you want but Harley Davidson is the only pure motorcycle company in existence, when Honda wins a race it isn't Honda Motorcycles it's Honda Corporation, when Kawasaki wins a race it isn't Kawasaki Motorcycles that wins it it's Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Harley Davidson is the only motorcycle company that's strictly a Motorcycles company and not a division of a multi billion dollar corporation, even Indian, which isn't the real Indian motorcycle company by any stretch of the imagination, is a division of Polaris Industries which is a 9 billion dollar corporation with hands in everything from the automotive to the defense industry and farms out all of it's engineering under contract, and yet the winningest motorcycle racing engine of all time is the XR750 Harley Davidson engine, and no, the AMA never rigged the rules to favor Harley Davidson, crybabies who have no clue about the history of flat track racing who just can't stand the fact that Harley was good at something claim that and pout like children over it, the rule that restricted OHV engine's to 500cc was not enacted in the 60's to protect Harley from the likes of Triumph and BSA as people are always claiming, that rule was enacted in 1932 when there was over 150 motorcycle manufacturers in America and long before anyone ever brought a foreign bike on American flat tracks, the rule was enacted to keep flat track racing from being dominated by a single company, it was to keep a single company from being able to price out private racers which is exactly what Kevin talks about happened with Superbikes, the whole idea was to give the most talented riders the ability to win and is the exact reason why the greatest Superbike racers from back in the day all came up through flat track racing, the sliding technique perfectly fit those early Superbikes that had engine's that produced far more power than the suspension and tires could handle, American flat track racers could get right on those bikes and were right at home sliding sideways around the corners on them while everyone else was losing control and wrecking trying to keep up with them, all the greatest road racers came up through flat track from Kenny Roberts to Nickey Hayden. And as far as bagger racing well at least those guy's are out there racing and not just flapping their lips which is all you Valentino Rossi wannabes do when you put on your costume every weekend, any one of those guy's would tear you up around the track of your choice on any bike you'd want. A big mouth don't make for a big man, and so endeth your lesson for today.

[@jameshisself9324]

@@dukecraig2402 TL/DR Any time you want to race or duel, bring it on.

[@marcoluoma3770]

I have long said that I would read anything Messrs Cameron or Egan would care to write down. With PE in (deserved but heartbreaking for us) retirement, Mr Cameron will always have my full attention. Book on order. Thanks, guys.

[@pauldulworth2768]

I got into street bikes because of superbike racing in the late 70’s and early 80’s. My first street bike was a 2000 ZRX1100 because I read about Eddie Lawson in all the magazines.

[@richardho5955]

I had a ‘99 ZRX1100…a fabulous motorcycle…seller’s remorse ever since! 🏍️👍🇿🇦

[@jamesonpace726]

Ah, the olde guard, thank gawd & thank you....

[@chrisdecker8630]

Found me a gem in the sand 😃

[@classiccycleconnection9334]

How about several podcasts highlighting say 2 brands of bike per episode from Gen1 Superbike ? Hon-Kaw, Duc-Guzzi, BMW-Suz, etc?

[@jamesonpace726]

Ha. I beat a kid on an '85 Interceptor with my '72 bmw r75/5 on the streets of SF a long time ago. But, only 'cuz he was a kid....

[@robertcrosser5946]

Do any current fuel injection bike systems have O2 sensors

[@vxe6vxe6]

Hey Kevin, where do you think the state of two stroke engine development would be today if the manufacturers had dumped as much money into the two strokes as they did with the four strokes? Do you think a street bike based on KTM's TPI or TBI?

[@michaelrubbo7467]

Wonderful conversation. Question to either of you. How much in your opinion did Superbike have on the impetus for HD to develop the FXR frame to improve handling performance of their Big Twin lineup?

[@dukecraig2402]

None, that was all a response to dealing with the age old vibration issues of the 45° V twin engine with a knife and fork style bottom end, the 5th gear was an answer to America's ever increasing interstate highway system, the 55 MPH speed limit enacted in the 70's gave the old 4 speed transmission a reprieve for a few year's but the 5 speed transmission's time had come, it was time for Harley to start incorporating some modern touches. However, it was motorcycle racer and Harley employee Eric Buell who designed the 5 speed rubber mount chassis while working there, so one could say that there probably is at least some Superbike DNA in the design, but racing wasn't what was on Harley's mind when they task their engineering department with designing the 5 speed rubber mount frame.

[@micyclesport]

Kehin CR's are beautiful

[@markpavletich747]

True. But FCR,s are truly sublime.

[@vxe6vxe6]

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying."

[@chrisscott1547]

If only his books weren't so expensive.

[@impalaSS65]

Really? Only have the one about performance tuning, that wasn't very expensive. Not that I recall, anyway.

[@chrisscott1547]

@@impalaSS65 Checking now, I see it for $35. When I watched the video and searched for it, I found it $90+ Don't know what's changed. Anyway, keep up the good work!