Forgive us, please, for the trendy Day-Glo colors that dotted our October 1990 issue—on the cover and in several layouts. Far more important, however, are the rare bikes that appeared on this cover: a Wankel-powered Norton F1 (“Norton’s Back!” Really?) and the 1991 Harley-Davidson Sturgis. For our motocross audience, we gathered five of the top 250cc MXers and had them tweaked by local tuners such as White Brothers Cycle Specialties and Race Tech. Our winner of this “Special Forces” test? An especially potent RM250 that was ported and had its suspension tweaked by SCR. “The faster the rider went,” we reported, “the more the bike liked it.” Our annual Ten Best list had some expected winners (the Honda Gold Wing as the Best Tourer) and one big surprise: the Harley-Davidson FXRS-SP as the Best Standard. We tested this straightforward Harley against the likes of BMW’s K75 and the Honda Hawk GT and determined that it deserved the title for this simple reason: It delivered a “thumping good time every time it is ridden.” In this month’s Race Watch, we took a close look at racer Freddie Spencer. In “Fast Freddie Rides Again,” Camron Bussard documented Spencer’s accomplishments while deftly studying if the hugely talented American three-time world champion still had what it took to be a winner in 1990 and beyond. It concluded with Freddie making it very clear that he still wanted to race: “When I consider not racing, I only have to remember how I feel when I don’t. When you’ve done something your whole life, it becomes awfully important.” 
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