Kyosho pre-1989 R/C motorcycles

Kyosho pre-1989 R/C motorcycles (Click on images, below, to view them larger)

Back in the early days of R/C modellling, Kyosho was one of the very first R/C model companies to have a model range covering everything. Of course, this product policy is continued till this day.
One aspect of R/C racing was motorcycles... Kyosho made two basic R/C motorcycle models: One electric and one gas-powered. They both were 1/6 scale and by today's standards, were marginal in appearance, while they were mechanically very functional.
The electric motorcycle was modeled after a famous motorcycle of that era, the Suzuki Katana. It even had a rider, dressed in fabric suit and wearing a plastic helmet. The chassis looks like metal to me, and it should be, as the total weight of the bike was 1350 gr (today's motorcycles weigh around 650 grams!) The motor was a small RS380 Mabucchi, and the battery was a 5-cell 6-Volt 1200mAh NiCd affair. In those days electronic speed controllers were rare. So, what more common than two full size servos and a mechanical speed controller?! The suspension consisted of a telescoping front fork and dual rear coil-over shocks. These all were only spring equipped.

The gas model was also 1/6 scale, but this one was powered by a 0.10 gas engine! The chassis was made of high tensile alloy steel. The cycle parts of the gas powered bike were almost identical to the electric bike's.
The engine was gas powered and displaced 0.10 cu.in. It was mounted sideways on the chassis and had a starting cone on the crankshaft end. It transfered the power to the transmission via a rubber pulley, and from there to the wheel a real metal chain was used.
The exhausts were twin, exiting from a single exhaust port, dividing right after and finishing on either side of the rear wheel like those days' true "megaphones"!
Its performance should be incredible, judging by today's 1/10 R/C cars using 0.10 engines. Kyosho says something about 50 km/h (30 mph) which is totally believable... The scale factor was not really high. This bike was a racing implementation of a two stroke Yamaha of that era, complete with a plastic bodied rider and side protection metallic bars...