It’s a shame that we never really got any of the incredibly focused quarter-liter sportbikes from Japan here in the USA. Luckily, a few have sneaked in over the years, followed by a veritable flood of Japanese market bikes that have been brought over in recent years, since most are now over 25 years old…
Big nakeds have finally come of age here in the US, with trick, high performance options from all of the major manufacturers. They’re the perfect bikes for affluent, middle-aged folks who can’t handle the crippling riding position of hard-core sportbikes, but still have a taste for speed and the skill to appreciate thoroughbred handling. But…
Today’s Kawasaki GPz900R “Ninja” is one of the most iconic Japanese sport bikes of all time: the image of Tom Cruise racing a Tomcat along a runway, with just a pair of sunglasses, a bomber jacket, and his million-dollar smile to protect him from bugs traveling at 221 feet per second was burned into the…
Update 8.21.2020: This bike has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc It’s still amazing to me that bikes like this MV Agusta F4 1000R can be had for so little money. Sure, modern bikes blow them into the weeds, especially in terms of their usability: a 200hp motorcycle would have been considered terrifying and…
Update 8.17.2020: This Katana has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Introduced in 1981, Suzuki’s Katana looked so radical and futuristic that it polarized the motorcycling community. Since the GSX-R that followed a couple years later really set the standard in terms of styling for pretty much every sportbike that followed, the Katana ended…
Update 8.17.2020: This bike has SOLD to an RSBFS reader! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Putting a numbered plaque and some bling on your moribund sportbike is a time-tested method to generate some buzz. It works especially well if you’re a storied, but slightly skint manufacturer of moribund Italian sportbikes. But parts-bin engineering doesn’t…
If you’re looking to sample MV’s four-cylinder wail but can’t contort yourself into the cramped riding position required of the utterly gorgeous F4, the Brutale 750S manages to pack most of that bike’s thrills into a much less painful package. Somehow, there are people out there who don’t like these, but I love the looks.…
The sad thing about being a serious motorcycle geek is that most people don’t really understand my obsession with and enthusiasm for weird motorcycles. Even other motorcyclists. I was thinking about this today as I was poring over the engine of a friend’s Velocette Venom, trying to suss out the function of the little cable-actuated…