If you wanted a lightweight backroad weapon decorated with speedblock graphics in the late 80s and early 90s, your choice was clear: a Yamaha TZR250. The first TZR was powered by a liquid-cooled parallel twin and the last had the familiar 90° v-twin layout shared with Aprilia, Suzuki, and Honda. In between, Yamaha’s 1989-1990 3MA…
Hot on the heels of the RGS posted by Tad D on Sunday, here is a very lovely 1999 Laverda Formula 750s Formula edition for sale on ebay UK. I will admit to being biased about the bike posted below; its one of my personal favorites. The Formula editions were the top of the lineup…
Suzuki’s RGV250Γ shows up on this site from time to time, but it’s been almost a year since we featured that v-twin powered bike’s predecessor, the RG250Γ. Two-strokes were the best way to get both power and light weight out of the same package in the 1980’s and, instead of the later bike’s v-twin, the…
Yamaha made a name for itself in the US building giant-killing two-stroke parallel twins that powered the RD and later RZ models like this 1985 RZ350. The 347cc engine reatured liquid-cooling and made over 40hp stock, with plenty more available with careful tuning. While Honda largely focused on their heavy, but very sophisticated two and…
Designed as something of a poor-man’s Ducati 916, with a trellis frame clearly intended to evoke that more exotic bike, the Yamaha TRX850 is a rare and odd duck in the US. It’s far from beautiful, but possesses a chunky charisma, and although it was never imported to North America, these aren’t particularly rare overseas.…
If you’re in the market for a practical exotic that will turn heads and won’t break the bank to buy or to run, this virtually new MZ 1000S deserves a closer look. As much as we’d all probably love a garage full of weird exotica, for budgetary and space reasons, many riders are forced to…
Laverda was one of the unfortunate casualties of the Japanese onslaught of the 1970’s. Confronted by reliable, affordable multis from Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Honda, many Italian and British companies found themselves in dire straights, unable to compete in showrooms or on the street. And while many marques have seen short-term resurrections courtesy of…
The 1981 Yamaha TZ250 more than just an evolution of their 250 GP machine, it was a complete reworking that shared almost no parts with the older bike. It included an entirely new engine designed around features from the proven TZ500 that were intended to increase both power and reliability. Keep in mind: the TZ250…