These days, you can walk into a dealership and choose between various fully faired sports bikes that look a lot like the racebikes we see on TV on the weekends, but this wasn’t always the case.

In 1949, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, or FIM, established a world championship for road-going motorcycles, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, motorcycle enthusiasts built their own race replicas in the form of café racers.

That would all begin to change in the 1970s, as the race-replicas emerged, shaping the superbikes we know today.

1969 Honda CB750

In 1969, Honda introduced what’s been credited as the world’s first superbike, but it didn’t have any fairings, it was a naked bike — what’s now referred to as UJM, or Universal Japanese Motorcycle.

Unlike the British single-cylinder and parallel-twin bikes, and the American V-twins, the CB750 had a transverse-mounted, overhead camshaft, inline-4 engine, and it ran smoother than any other bike on the market. It also had an electric starter, a kill switch, and front-mounted disc brakes long before they became mainstream. To make things even better, it was low maintenance, too, and so it skyrocketed Honda into greatness.

1972 Kawasaki Z1

Honda’s CB750 may have been the bike that started the whole high-performance four-cylinder street bike thing, but Kawasaki took it to the next level with its Z1. It wasn’t as innovative as the CB750, nor did it handle and brake as well as the Honda, but it had more power, which made it the king of the superbikes.

The 1972 Z1 had a 900cc four-cylinder engine, and it was the first large-capacity, Japanese four-cylinder to feature double overhead camshafts. With 82 hp, it had a top speed over 130 mph, which was unheard of in a Japanese bike from the early 1970s.

1973 Yamaha RD350

Yamaha took a different approach to sports bikes with the 1973 Yamaha RD350. It didn’t have the brute force of the CB750 or Z1, instead, it was a lightweight, two-stroke model offering an unparalleled power-to-weight ratio.

The RD350’s performance and affordability made it extremely popular among racers and performance enthusiasts, and it was pivotal in the evolution of sports bikes. The principles it was built on led to other, more refined, powerful models, such as the RD400F Daytona Special. Yamaha soon became known as a manufacturer that built affordable high-performance bikes, making them the top choice for street and track racers.

1974 Ducati 750SS “Green Frame”

In 1974, the Ducati 750SS “Green Frame” put the Italian brand on the map. Ducati may have been founded in 1926, but it was the 1974 750SS that gave the brand mainstream appeal.

Paul Smart rode a Ducati 750 Imola Desmo racer to victory at the Imola 200 race, resulting in a limited production version of the race bike — the Super Sport 750, commonly referred to as “Green Frame” (for obvious reasons).

1978 Suzuki GS1000S

Suzuki launched the GS1000S in 1978, the same year Barry Sheene won his second consecutive 500cc world title on a two-stroke Suzuki RG500. The GS1000 was Suzuki’s first model in the liter-class, and with 87 hp, it was a force to be reckoned with.

The year it was launched, a Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000 won an AMA race at the Daytona International Speedway and also took home a victory at the first Suzuka 8 Hours in July of the same year. It was eventually replaced by the GSX1100, which served as the basis for the revolutionary GSX1100S Katana.

1981 Suzuki Katana

The legendary Suzuki Katana revolutionized motorcycle design but was not universally loved when it debuted. However, the critics were silenced when they discovered how the 1100cc, 115-hp Katana sliced through the air to reach a top speed of 147 mph.

Suzuki then built a homologation special with a 998cc engine eligible for international superbike racing and loaded up with performance parts.

Kawasaki Ninja GPz900R

The Kawasaki Ninja GPz900R became an overnight success after appearing in the 1984 cult classic movie Top Gun as Tom Cruise’s Maverick character’s motorcycle of choice. This was before Suzuki introduced the game-changing GSX-R750, and the Ninja GPz900R was the epitome of high-performance street bikes.

Its 908cc four-cylinder engine was the first 16-valve unit installed in a sportbike, and with 115 horsepower, it became the first road bike to smash through the 150 mph barrier, topping out at 155 mph. Unlike many modern sports machines, it was also comfortable enough to use as a daily rider and could even handle some touring.

1985 Suzuki GSX-R750

In 1985, Suzuki introduced the now-legendary GSX-R750. It looked just like the four-stroke, four-cylinder racebikes that duked it out on the world’s racetracks every weekend, but it was affordable and reliable.

The GSX-R750 also packed advanced technology, and it was light, which helped it slow down faster and go around corners without riders feeling like they were wrestling André The Giant. This was the first of the modern-style superbikes we know today, inspiring a whole new breed of performance-hungry motorcyclists.

1985 Suzuki RG500 Gamma

Over the years, motorcycle manufacturers have gifted us mere mortals with GP-derived sports bikes, such as the Ducati Desmosedici and Honda RC213V-S. Well, at least those with tons of cash to spare could buy them.

From 1985 to 1987, Suzuki sold the RG500 Gamma, which was practically identical to the GP bike. It had a 498cc twin crank, square four, two-stroke engine with flat-slide carburetors that produced 95 horsepower. Weighing only 385 lbs, it was lightning quick, and being a two-stroke, it took a skilled rider to get the most from it without high-siding in a corner.

1988 Honda VFR750R RC30

The VFR750R is a road-going homologation special and basically Honda’s World Superbike Championship-winning RC30 race bike but fitted with mirrors and indicators.

It’s one of the most sought-after Honda motorcycles, as only 3,000 were made. By now, the market for fully-faired superbikes was well-established, and over the following decades, the bikes would only get faster and more powerful. Sadly, this focus on building the fastest and most powerful sports bikes made them less capable for road use, which is why we’re now seeing the rise of the middleweight sports bike segment.