Here is a beloved model smoker that was actually available to riders in all 50 States – for a brief period of time. The last of the true factory two strokes, the Yamaha RZ was 350 cubic centimeters of power-valved, parallel-twin goodness. Competing against the contemporary likes of the GPz550, GS550E and FJ600, the little…
Known here mostly for bigger GT’s, Laverda tried to tap the European mid-size market in the 1970’s with a 350 and 500cc twin. A single marque race series was developed to drum up interest, pre-dating the IROC and BMW Boxer Cup. Surprisingly, the four year series generated only 200 or so racers, making it a…
Update: eBay shows sold at $7000. Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Yamaha saw an opportunity in the late 1980’s to use their TZR250 two-stroke drivetrain and possibly show up on – ABC’s Wide World of Sports’ The Superbikers – ( well, maybe just during a commercial break ). A longtime friend of RSBFS, Moto2…
As rare as the 250cc two-stroke sportbikes are on these shores, the Kawasaki KR1-S is the rarest of them all, limited edition models of bikes like the NSR250R SP aside. Considering Kawasaki made some of the hairiest two-stroke sportbikes of the 1970s, it’s surprising that Kawasaki seemed largely uncommitted to the class, making just enough…
In the way cool archives of rare bikes there are undoubtedly some weird and wonderful ones. There are always surprises and bikes not many people have heard of, and there are always some real gems hiding behind the uber popular homologation crowd. Today’s find, a 1976 MV Agusta 350 is the perfect of example of…
Largely forgotten now, especially by modern sportbike enthusiasts, Laverda was once a serious player in the Italian sportbike scene of the 1970s. In terms of reputation, anyway, if not in actual production numbers. Their big-bore parallel-twin was supposedly heavily “inspired” by Honda’s parallel twin design of the period, and Laverda’s grown-up engine was heavily overbuilt…
I’m a huge Laverda fan, so it’s disappointing their attempted resurrection in the 1990s didn’t work out. It wasn’t that bikes like this Ghost Strike weren’t any good: the beam frames were designed by the famed Nico Bakker and handling was generally considered excellent, even superior to Ducatis competing in the same segments. The standard…
The 1976 Yamaha RD400 came out screaming in 1976, a mag-wheeled exclamation point on Yamaha’s range of popular, fast-paced two strokes. To make sure the message landed, Yamaha re-tooled its factory to build the RD400’s parallel twin, which was more than just a rebored version of the RD350’s mill. A longer stroke necessitated new crankcases,…