If you’re shopping for a rare homologation Honda from the 80s or 90s, it’s usually not that hard to be sure you’ve got the real McCoy. Does it have a V4 and a single-sided swingarm? It’s probably the real thing. But Ducati was a much smaller organization, with much less in the way of financial…
It may not look like a sportbike or a race-replica to riders weaned on GSX-Rs and Repsol Hondas, but this classic blue-and-white Suzuki GS1000S is both. In fact, this upright, bikini-faired, four-cylinder monster is one of the original “superbikes,” and competed on road and track against other air-cooled inline fours from the Japanese manufacturers. “Bigger…
“Ram air” was a very 90s gimmick with dubious benefits, especially on the road, but they gave bikes of the 1990s like this Suzuki GSX-R750 SRAD a distinctive style, with oversized fairing nostrils and large intake tubes that curved through the rider’s view and into the top of the tank to pressurize the airbox. Well…
Ducati’s modern era really started here, with the 851. The air-cooled Pantah engine, with its rubber cam belts, was a step forward, compared to the bevel-drive twins and set the stage for Ducati’s move into the future. But it was the liquid-cooled, four-valve version of their classic L-twin that finally brought them fully into the…
Launched at almost the same time, MV Agusta’s Brutale has always lived in the sleeker F4’s shadow. Styling aside, it was just a little bit lower-spec, a little less focused, a little too practical. Like that’s a dirty word. I happen to love the design, although it’s hard to argue that the F4 isn’t a…
After languishing in infamy for a few years, Ducati’s 999 is finally getting a bit of respect for being the impressive machine it has always been. If the 999 had been built by anyone other than Ducati, and it had been the follow up to pretty much any bike but the 916, its praises would…
Suzuki’s GSX-R750 brought endurance racer performance to the masses. It may not have been the first bike to use a full fairing wrapped around lightweight aluminum monoshock frame and a four-cylinder engine, but it was the first bike to make that formula accessible to ordinary mortals, and it popularized the format. Prior to the GSX-R’s…
Designed to resemble their race-winning TT1 machines and the very last bike built before a buyout by Cagiva, the Ducati F1 was a bit rough around the edges but, in spite of a kit-bike feel and build quality, was a true thoroughbred. The F1 and its variants languished in obscurity for a while, since it…