The 1990s was the last ‘golden era’ of motorcycling in Britain – particularly for today’s nostalgia-driven, 50-something bikers. Ground-breaking sports bikes included the likes of Honda’s original FireBlade, Yamaha’s R1 and Ducati’s iconic 916, with Britain’s Carl ‘Foggy’ Fogarty taking the latter to glory in the new World Superbike championship. A new breed of ‘hyperbike’, first led by Kawasaki’s 178mph ZZR1100 then Honda’s CBR1100XX Super Blackbird and Suzuki’s Hayabusa, took performance higher than ever before.
It was also the decade that saw the return of historic British brand Triumph, Ducati’s novel Monster 900, Honda’s oval-pistoned NR750 and Yamaha’s wacky hub-centre GTS1000. All of these and many more are remembered and celebrated in Motorcycles We Loved in the 1990s.
