It’s common for manufacturers to fudge things a bit when identifying their cars and motorcycles. Often, the name specifically referred to at least the approximate size of the engine, but liberties are often taken, especially when the displacement changes, but the name stays the same. The Mustang 5.0? Actually 302ci works out to 4948cc, which…
Modern supercars and superbikes have too much power. There, I said it. The only thing keeping 95% of owners from launching themselves into the scenery are the sophisticated traction control systems that do their best to interpret your inputs and give you what you think you want, instead of what you’ve actually just asked for.…
Values of Ducati’s wasp-waisted superbike have been shockingly low, considering their status as one of the most important, and most beautiful superbikes of the modern era. Sure, an SPS or 998R might pull decent money, but examples of the garden-variety 916 and especially the more refined Ducati 996 were available for as low as $4,500…
By 2001, the entire quarter-liter sportbike class was basically dead, leaving the Aprilia RS250 Cup a bit of an orphan. Yamaha TZR250 production ended in 1995, Honda’s NSR250R in 1996, and the Suzuki RGV250Γ held out until 1998. But I guess Aprilia still had some of the older 90° RGV250 engines lying around, so they…
Certainly one of the most sought-after bikes of the 1990s, today’s Featured Listing RVF750R RC45 was the follow up to Honda’s extremely successful VFR750R or RC30. Ultimately, the RC45 didn’t have the same success in racing as their earlier RC30, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. The RC45 was every bit as polished and…
Two-stroke sportbikes of the late 1980s and early 1990s followed a very similar format: aluminum beam frame, full fairing, racy ergonomics, and a small two-stroke powerplants packing cutting-edge technology and serious power per cubic inch. But the formula wasn’t really the result of a lack of imagination, it was convergent evolution: the class was ruthlessly…
In 1991, “retros” weren’t really a thing yet. Kawasaki was dipping a toe in with their Zephyr, and Honda’s GB500 had been around for a bit. Both bombed here in the USA, where chromed, raked-out cruisers or hard-core sportbikes represented both the impractical, polar extremes and the majority of the market. But it was pretty…
Speaking of 400s… This grey market Honda VFR400R NC30 looks for all the world like it’s bigger, 750cc brother, the superbike homologation special VFR750R, also known as the RC30. The two machines can be pretty hard to tell apart, and just the smaller headlights and narrower real wheel give the game away without looking closely.…