I have no idea what you guys at the other side of the channel were riding in the early eighties if you were 20 years old, but here in Sweden we were riding Honda SOHC 750 with Clip-ons and Devil 4-1 systems.
Sometimes they were equipped with Dunstall parts, sometime with a Muscle Machine body kit from a Swedish company.
A Few Rickman framed Honda or Kawasaki bikes.
I remember some Kamikaze crazy boys on Kawasaki H1 or H2 two strokes, blinding and choking the rest of the world with unburnt thick twostroke oil...
Other bikes that were common were Kawasaki Z650, Z1000 and Suzuki GS750E/GS1000E.
My self I got my first brand new bike in '81 and it was a SR500 with wire wheels.
Beeing 20 in the early eighties here in Sweden usullay meant that one had to rely on bikes that were 5-10 years old to be affordable.
Also Sweden have always been focused on Engine size, so our bikes were usually bigger then 750 cc.