The 1980s represented a wild period for motorcycle manufacturers. Everyone was throwing technology at the performance problem, and all Big Four vendors went full speed down the Turbo road. Little did they know it would be a dead end street. But while it lasted, the glorious promise of liter-bike power in a mid-sized motorcycle ruled…
It’s hard to describe what the 1993 Honda CBR250RR meant to the riding masses to audiences in this country, as riders here have never been required to buy starter bikes before moving on to more powerful machines. If you can get your license and qualify for financing in the United States, whatever race replica you…
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…
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…
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…
In the annals of grey-market antics, the NC30 is a much loved platform. With a high-reving, 24-valve 16 valve vee four, this is a smooth four stroke that makes us (temporarily) forget the smokers that came before. Light in weight but heavy in sound and presence, the baby RC30 is a gem to ride and…
This 1990 Honda VFR400R was imported from England wearing a body kit that mimics the almighty RC30, the 750cc WSBK rocket that these beginner-friendly ultralights were intended to mimic. Rather than let the bloodline do all the work to sell these things, though, Honda made them standouts in their own right, with sweet-handling chassis and…
The 1995 Honda NS-1 might not have quite the racing prestige that the Derbi GPR-50 we featured last week mustered, but has a cult following across the pond for being a tight-handling, practical city whip and mount for new riders. The little rippers weighed just 200 pounds dry, which was handy for making use of…
