In the early-mid 80s I was a Honda and Suzuki fan. The GS1000, then 1100 and Katana were stellar bikes with amazing engines. Honda had a huge variety of bikes during that era, from the inline fours to the V-4 engines in the Interceptor/Magna/Sabre bikes. While the V engine had some engineering issues, once fixed, they were real beasts. Honda sold a turbo bike then! I also had a love the aspro CX-650 twin, what a nice bike to ride. The Gold Wing was the king of touring bikes, Honda completely reinventing the segment. Anyone that's ridden the H-4 instantly fell in love with the engine. The older naked GW1000 was one of my all time fave machines.
Yamaha wasn't really on my radar back then save for the Ringy-Dingy bikes, which is something I'd still love to have.