It took Bimota 10 years to come home to Ducati for an engine, and after the DB1, nearly ten more for the DB2. Worth waiting for, the 904cc desmodue was a great powerplant, good power and torque from a not overly complicated engine. This 1994 model is a totally collectible serial number 001. 1994 Bimota…
A little something to brighten your day, this very yellow Ducati 900SS is pretty hard to miss: sell it to your significant other as a “safety feature” when trying to justify a purchase. Very few bikes look good in this color but I think the early to mid-1990s 900SS is one of them. In fact,…
Today’s classic and very striking Honda CB1100R was based on the CB900F and built to homologate Honda’s big-bore sportbike for endurance racing. It was powered by a 1062cc version of their air-cooled four that featured plenty of exotic go-fast bits, made 115hp, and motivated a claimed 520lbs dry. That figure sounds pretty portly by today’s…
Ducati made a pretty good number of their updated, Pantah-engined Super Sports between 1991 and 1998, so these aren’t especially exotic. But it’s rare to find any bike that old in this kind of condition. Powered by a 904cc version of the air-cooled v-twin and backed by a six-speed gearbox and a nice, rattly dry…
A very rare Japan-only thug that would seemingly have been ideal for the US market, the Suzuki GS1200SS was unfortunately never sold here. It featured retro endurance-racer bodywork and the big, understressed four-cylinder from the long-serving Bandit, packaged with modern running gear to create a bike that was slightly ahead of its time. On paper,…
Right now, the early 90s air/oil-cooled Ducati 900SS is a serious sportbike bargain, although today’s limited-edition Superlight clearly bucks that trend. With limited production, distinctive good looks, lightweight bodywork, and that classic yellow and white color combo, it’s easy to see why Ducatisti swooned over these when they were new, even if nobody else really…
Today’s Laverda Ghost will certainly have a predictable share of haters, but it offered up a unique, stylish alternative to bikes like Ducati’s Monster. Powered by an air/oil-cooled, four-valve per cylinder 668cc parallel-twin with Weber-Marelli fuel injection that put a claimed 70hp through the six-speed gearbox, the bike was down on power a bit when…
Introduced in 1981, the GSX1100S “Katana” was styled by Hans Muth, formerly of BMW and appeared to have been sculpted by someone wielding its namesake. So much for “conservative German design”! The new bike was powered by Suzuki’s 1074cc, air/oil-cooled four-cylinder hung in a relatively conventional twin-shock frame. While the technology under the skin was…
