Little two-stroke rippers like this Honda NSR150 SP epitomize Honda’s 1990s golden age, when the company saw fit to make even their entry-level machines look and feel special. Even on a 150cc starter bike, Honda went all-out, giving it an RC30-aping single-sided swingarm, and a GP-replica Repsol paintjob. You might not be going as quick…
Continuing our recent trend featuring flawed homologation specials comes this Ducati 916 SPS that is, quite tragically, missing its original engine. A truly original example would be pretty pricey, so that missing engine means it might be possible to pick this one up for a relative song. And that’s no bad thing because there’s more…
To celebrate its 50th anniversary. Yamaha busted out the paint booth and the option sheet to create a limited run of hopped-up versions of their R1 literbike. The 2006 Yamaha R1 LE delivered the perfect birthday present to the storied brand, showing that Japanese brands were indeed capable of and interested in building special versions…
Our pals at Iconic Motorbikes have come through once again with a surgically clean example of a classic sportbike we children of the 1990s lusted after in the bedroom wall poster days. This one is in excellent-but-not-perfect shape, and is a one-owner machine with fewer than 10,000 miles on it. It shows some minor scrapes…
I’m always torn when considering bikes like the Ducati 749R: on one hand, they’re rare and increasingly valuable and should be carefully preserved. On the other, there’s really no point to them as roadbikes, since they’re uncomfortable, high-strung, and obviously more valuable than a more common 749S that offers very similar performance with less of…
Hmmmm. A grey-market two stroke. I doubt anyone on this site will complain, as these illicit smokers have been in our DNA and part of our regularly scheduled programming since the beginning. And if you are going to collect something deliciously rare, why not opt for colors and livery that are slightly less common? Thus,…
Ducati paid Paul Smart less than a grand to ride their newly-minted 750SS to victory in the 1972 Imola 200, which is insane value for money when you consider that that one race would solidify Smart’s reputation as a racer and give Ducati’s new Desmos the street cred they needed to thrive. The brand and…
Bologna showed off the bike that would become the 2002 Ducati MH900e at the 1998 Intermot show, on the 20th anniversary of Mike Hailwood’s comeback win at the 1978 Isle of Man TT. In true Italian fashion, it took another two years before the bike was ready for orders, which opened online at 12:01 a.m.…