Looking to start your own vintage race team? Well today’s brace of 1991 Yamaha TZ250s and a whole raft of included spare parts is ready to help you do just that, just add trailer. And talent. Sports two-strokes from the 80s ands 90s are very rare and desirable these days, with fresh imports from Japan…
Not every exotic needs to try and tear your arms out as soon as you twist the throttle, and not every rare motorcycle needs to cost a packet to buy or run: sometimes our need to be just a little bit different clashes with life’s practical considerations. For riders in that particular situation, may I…
With so many “paint and tape” special editions, it sometimes seems like there were very few standard MV Agusta F4s actually built… But the 1078 RR312 is more than just some flat-black paint with a famous name slapped on it. The RR312 throws any pretense at race-eligibility out the window with a big-bore motor and…
The DB1 was the quintessential Bimota, packaging a reliable Italian powerplant into a lightweight package with excellent handling… Wait, what? Actually, in spite of what you might expect, the belt-driven, SOHC Pantah engine is very reliable when properly maintained, and can be tuned to make good power. Sure, the 75 claimed horses don’t sound like…
The impossibly exotic Gilera CX125 still looks futuristic today but, while the fully-enclosed bodywork and unusual suspension appeared radical when new, the underlying mechanical bits are surprisingly pedestrian. Sure the bike handled well, but the 125cc two-stroke single powering the CX is far from the exciting, sophisticated engine you’d expect, considering the bike’s striking design.…
Cagiva’s Raptor was a followup to the Ducati Monster by the original bike’s designer, Miguel Angel Galluzzi. Powered by Suzuki’s powerful, reliable and, most importantly, low-maintenance v-twin in both 650 and 1000cc flavors, the Raptor attempted to recreate the magical Monster formula for Cagiva. Unfortunately, while it was better in pretty much every quantifiable way…
With only 1500 ever made, the 1994 Honda NSR250R SP is one of the most desirable and exotic two-stroke sportbikes of the 80s and 90s. It checks all the boxes: snarling two-stroke v-twin with a manic powerband? Carburetors matched to an exotic ignition system that used plastic cards to load different maps? Single-sided PROARM swingarm? Cassette-style six-speed gearbox?…
If you’re looking for a pristine, collectible example of Honda’s RS125, you should probably just move along. Nothing to see here. The original engine is long gone, lunched by a previous owner. That’s no real surprise: these were pure racebikes, and never built to last. The durability required for a roadbike means that everything is…