Handful of bees: 1985 Yamaha RZ350

The Yamaha RZ350 represents the last available road-going two stroke available in the U.S., and it brought to bear the full might of Yamaha’s research and development into oil burners up to that point. In ’85, the bikes paid tribute to King Kenny Roberts, sporting his factory bumble bee livery and his signature on the…

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Bonhams Las Vegas 2018 Preview

Update 1.26.18: Now updated with sale values where available, including the RC30 which sold for $92k! Congratulations buyers and sellers! Full sale report on the Bonhams website. -dc Bonhams also has a motorcycle auction next week in Las Vegas. The don’t have as many lots but certainly have some gorgeous bike available. In particular the…

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Pie in the Sky: $90k 2008 Ducati Desmosedici RR

To the average sportbike addict, the 2008 Ducati Desmosedici RR stands alone among race replica bikes as the one that nailed all the details and defined the genre in a taught, carbon fiber-clad package. Honda saddled its RC213-VS with electronic nannies, a restrictive exhaust and a collectors-only asking price. Ducati engaged in no such silliness.…

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Mecum Las Vegas 2018 Preview

While the collector car world kicks off it’s auction season this week with the Scottsdale auctions, motorcycle collectors and enthusiasts wait for the following week for the Las Vegas events with their exclusive motorcycle events. Here are a couple dozen that stood out to us with most coming from two collections at the Mecum auciton.…

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Smart Bargain? 2006 Ducati PS1000 LE

The world of Ducati is littered with factory limited edition models. Many of these editions are simply visual; a different color of paint or a splattering of carbon fiber accessories. But make them in few enough numbers, and they become far more rare and desirable than the standard model on which they are built. Consider,…

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Late Two-Stroke: 1995 Suzuki RGV250

The waning light of the two-stroke era really brought out the best Japan had to offer, with a spate of lightweight 250cc road racers with DOT concessions that would pull the front wheel more or less at will. Suzuki’s RGV250 v-twin topped the heap, with prodigious power, decent reliability and years of development to keep…

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Biaggi Replica: 1996 Aprilia RS250

Things were coming up Max Biaggi in 1996, as the Roman was in the middle of a string of three 250cc Grand Prix world titles and his storied rivalry with Valentino Rossi was still nearly half a decade in the future. The Italian claimed his trophies aboard Aprilia’s fantastic RS250GP, so the factory threw some…

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Oval-piston wonder: 1992 Honda NR

Back in the early ’90s, Honda was still known for pushing boundaries with build quality, poise and panache unrivaled among its competitors. Throughout the decade, Big Red claimed some truly great accomplishments that dragged motorcycling further toward the coming millennium. But in ’92, Honda spat out one of its craziest street creations on record, the…

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Nice Original: 1996 Kawasaki ZX-7R

As the fall riding season winds down on the East Coast, the sportbike market has tightened up, with the year’s choicest machines long since spoken for or mothballed for another shot at a big sale come spring. There still are some gems to be had, though, and this 1996 Kawasaki ZX-7R is one. 1996 Kawasaki…

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