What you’re looking at here is certainly not the nicest 2005 Ducati 999R that I have ever seen, but it is still a 2005 Ducati 999R, and that gives it a couple free passes and a trump card or two. Knicked though parts of it may be, it is still every bit the 135-horsepower carbon-clad…
I’m not sure you can overstate the importance of the Ducati 851 to the Italian brand’s position at the top of motorcycling’s desirability food chain. Get past the literally and figuratively square headlight — the steel-framed 1983 dad glasses of illumination — and everything else is focused, lithe Italic sin. The 851 took a pokey,…
It’s hard to fathom exactly how far motorcycle design has come in the last 38 years without a concrete comparison. I could spill superlatives and adjectives for the next 600 words and still not touch it. Instead, please Google “Ducati Panigale V4R” and compare what comes up to the bike you see here. I’ll wait.…
Mid-aughts Ducati was no stranger to dressing up their street bikes in World Superbike drag, spitting out special editions left, right and center, but they put a little bit of extra muscle under the stylish suit with the 999R FILA. Built to celebrate Duc’s 200th win in World Superbike competition, the FILA got a 10…
Of the plethora of loud, high-strung Japanese two strokes that have come of age to be street registered in this country over the last couple years, the Yamaha TZR250 tends to enjoy a reputation as one of the friendliest and sweet-handling bikes of the bunch. They don’t come with the same banshee wail as a…
The 2003 Ducati 999R Fila Edition was just one of a bunch of special edition bikes Bologna kicked out in the aughties to celebrate its myriad World Superbike successes. The Fila bikes were produced to hat tip Neil Hodgson picking up the storied marque’s 200th win, and were more than just a branded sticker package.…
It’s not that hard to come across clean Kawasaki ZX-7Rs these days, even after many of them were used and abused and thrown away. But this 1993 Kawasaki ZX-7R M1 is a lot more special. It’s not quite an RR, but the M1 is an early homologation special of the ZX-7R, and it wears a…
The 1979 Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special made its name by tangling with a breaking wave of magnificent four strokes and excelling in the face of the bigger machines. By ’79, two strokes were supposed to be effectively dead, with emissions and the popularity of the new superbikes rendering them relics of a bygone era. But…