A hot issue! Hot pink, that is. But the bikes were also hot: “Built for Speed II” lined up five hopped-up musclebikes in a big performance shootout. Jay Gleason, all 135 pounds of him, ripped the bikes through the quarter mile, while legend Don Vesco ran them for ultimate top speed. The Vance & Hines Yamaha FZR1000 and Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1100 were naturally aspirated, Fours N’ More’s GSX-R1100 and NOS Systems’ Honda Hurricane were running nitrous, and Mr. Turbo’s Suzuki Katana 1100 ran, what else, a turbo. The Yoshimura bike sprinted a 9.77-second 145.39 mph to rule the strip, while the NOS Honda hit a 174-mph top speed. Amazing numbers back then, but now you can just see your local dealer and save the nitrous for parties. The Headline of the Issue award goes to “Berms of Endearment,” a story of editor Ron Lawson and his ATK 604 thumper project bike. He ran it as a moto, enduro, and dualsport machine in the year he worked on it. Interesting note: The rear brake is mounted on the countershaft and, said Lawson, it either didn’t work or would get so hot it locked. He loved the electric start. Except when the bike would start itself after he closed the garage door… Finally, the Vintage Rockers Cycle Club, a small band of Ace café-inspired riders from Santa Cruz, California, was the springboard for a piece on Rocker culture being reborn in America. Which stands as proof that café culture never really dies but simply gets reborn by the next generation of enthusiasts. Been watching the custom scene in 2015? 
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