Looking at the history of the 916/996/998, it’d be easy to think that you were just looking at regular bumps in displacement as allowed by homologation requirements, especially considering that the bike itself appeared mostly unchanged throughout its development, minor changes in graphics aside. Even this very exclusive Ducati 916 SPS really looks like a…
Slathered in Kawasaki’s traditional lime green, the ZX-7RR was the homologation version of their 750cc superbike. It wasn’t quite as trick as Honda’s RC45, but its more pedestrian underpinnings make it a bit of an underdog, and the bike had surprising success and longevity for a machine that was updated in 1996, as you can…
Long before “mass centralization” became a popular marketing buzzword for sportbikes, Honda was investing its bubble economy-inflated budget in a bike that took advantage of that very concept, the exquisitely-engineered VFR750R, otherwise known as the legendary RC30. Honda was so invested in sportbikes at the time that it actually sold an I4 and a V4…
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…
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…
Ah, the 1986 Suzuki GSX-R 750. There are plenty of reasons to love “slabbies,” from their awkward-but-functional bodywork that signalled a move to full fairings for the sportbike crowd, to their no-apologies approach to out and out speed, to the fact that decent ones are fast becoming prized collector bikes. This example is a clean…
Somehow, whoever owned this 2001 Honda RC51 managed to keep it mostly off the road in its 18 years, showing remarkable restraint in the face of a bike that built a legend for itself under the likes of Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Joey Dunlop. Fast, reliable and uncompromising, the RC-51 took the fight to…
For all the accolades it’s received, the Honda VFR750 RC30 is a subtle machine. To the uninformed, it doesn’t look all that special, especially now that single-sided swingarms have become fairly common. The proportions are good, it’s very compact, and the colors are classy: it’s a handsome bike, but doesn’t appear to be much more…