Pretty much the only way this Honda NSR250R could be more desirable would be for it to be in Rothmans colors. Honestly, I’m not even the biggest fan of race-replica schemes, but nobody does them like Honda, and the Repsol colors are a close second. But even in its “generic” colors, the MC28 version of…
When I got into bikes, it was easy for me to indulge my existing bias towards European machinery, since Japanese bikes were garishly colored and festooned with neon graphics, with silly names [Ninja? Katana? Really?], owned by posturing riders who thought t-shirts, sweat shorts, and high-top sneakers were appropriate riding attire. Welcome to New Jersey,…
Today’s Featured Listing is a bit of a flashback. We posted this very clean Bimota SB6R in April of last year and, although it didn’t sell at the time, the owner has been doing what you should do with an Italian exotic: enjoying it, racking up an additional 1,300 miles. That means it’s still collector-bike…
Endurance racing doesn’t have much of a following here in the US, but it’s popular in Japan and Europe, and the French especially seem to love it. If you’re not familiar with the Bol d’Or, it’s a long-running 24-hour race held in France, literally the “golden bowl.” The second-generation of Aprilia’s v-twin superbike managed to…
Ducati’s original “round-case” v-twin may be one of the most beautiful engines of all time but, while tower shafts and bevel gears may be a very precise way to operate valves, they sure aren’t an economical one. Think about the shimming that must be done during assembly; it’s a very labor-intensive way to construct an…
The entire class of 250cc two-stroke sportbikes has alwasy been forbidden fruit for US-based sportbike enthusiasts. The last real road-burning stroker was the RZ350, a bike that can certainly hang with much more modern machines and punch well above its weight, but the 18” wheels and bikini-fairing mark it out clearly as a bike from…
Racebikes are different than other bikes we feature on RSBFS. Where the goal for many collectible roadbikes is absolute originality, or at least limited, period-correct updates, the whole point of a racebike is that it’s a rough-and-tumble artifact, a bit of living history, and battle scars are okay. If the machine in question is historically…
Created to celebrate his 2008 WSBK title win for Ducati, this Troy Bayliss Replica 1098R features the Aussie’s racing number, along with livery matching the bike he rode during the very last race of his career, sans sponsor logos. Ducati’s status as a sort of “Ferrari of Motorcycles” puts them in a tricky position. MV…