Inflation: 1985 Yamaha RZ350

The collector world is on a tear. After years of pandemic caution, the floodgates are open and trading has resumed with gusto. With that activity comes excitement, renewed interest in classic models, and the commensurate rise in pricing. Yes, values are going up; and that is not just conjecture. As Blair, Tootie, Jo and Natalie…

Pictures don’t do it justice: 2005 Honda RC51

In a long line of homologation race machines, the Honda RC51 stands out as a unique accomplishment. Ever the engineering powerhouse, Honda played with the rule book and utilized a Me Too philosophy to break the Ducati juggernaut in WSBK by developing a Japanese take on the Italian machine. Since twin-cylinder machines had a distinct…

The Year That Was: 1985 Yamaha RZ 350

Really a bike that needs no introduction, the Yamaha RZ350 had a brief couple of year fling in the States until the EPA shut them down for good. Today’s clean looking 1985 model has been mistakenly listed as a 1984 – however unless you lived in California, the differences between the years were minor and…

Holy Bat Signal! 1993 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade

If you’ve been following any of the CBR-RR craziness lately, there have been a few that recently crossed the auction block on Bring A Trailer (BaT) for BIG money. Like 50 Large Grovers (as in Grover Cleveland, not Grover the Muppet) big money. Like always, these were pristine, relatively low-mileage examples of the breed. They…

Angrier Bees: 1984 Yamaha RZ 350

The Yamaha RZ350 is just one of those bikes. It wasn’t particularly rare or super fast in the day (in stock form it struggled to compete with the 550s of the day). It wasn’t even super irresponsible for a two stroke, harboring lean burn technology, oil injection, an exhaust power valve to broaden the torque…