Unfit For Purpose: Birth of the Superbike, from local tracks to the world.

<p>Find us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/cw/CycleWorldPodcast</p><p><br></p><p>Purpose-built production racebikes were available and pretty affordable in the early-to-mid 1970s, but humans will race just about anything. So as streetbikes started to improve and the term &quot;superbike&quot; was born, it didn&#39;t take long for people to start racing production bikes at local tracks. One of the most famous was Cook Neilson and Phil Shilling&#39;s Cycle magazine Ducati was born as the California Hot Rod, while Butler &amp; Smith BMW&#39;s Udo Gietl turn the R 90 S into a race- and championship-winning bike. Kawasakis and more hit the race track, too. At first, modifications were limited, but once the first AMA Superbike Championship was launched in 1976--an idea and its class rules born on an empty California apartment floor in 1975 between John Ulrich and Steve McLaughlin--the motorcycles evolved quickly. Join Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Cheif Mark Hoyer for a discussion about the birth of the Superbike.</p>