This 1992 Yamaha TZR250R 3XV4 is the last of a bunch in our buddy Gary’s extensive collection of grey-market machines. He’s right up front that this one looks good in a parking space, but shows its age up close. He notes that it has its fair share of scratches and cracks, and says that it…
The 1974 Laverda SFC is the high-water mark for 1970s Italian sportbikes, representing the pinnacle of Laverda’s race bike development and the final SFC offered in the states, as the US mandated left-side shift after September of ’74. The Laverda’s big parallel twin made about 75 horsepower, heady grunt for an era where 100 ponies…
The Yamaha RZ350 represents the last available road-going two stroke available in the U.S., and it brought to bear the full might of Yamaha’s research and development into oil burners up to that point. In ’85, the bikes paid tribute to King Kenny Roberts, sporting his factory bumble bee livery and his signature on the…
As slab and Slingshot Gixxers from the mid to late ’80s get more and more expensive and desirable, now is an increasingly good time to look to their competition to snag an equally capable but much cheaper mount. Early Kawasaki ZX-7s are a great alternative, with more forward-looking styling and a reputation as the baddest…
When the 1994 Ducati 916 was unleashed, it caused the motorcycle world to stand up so fast it promptly fell right back down on its ass. When the industry press and its leather-clad readership had finally quit seeing stars, what they were staring at was a genre-definer the likes of which hadn’t come along since…
To the average sportbike addict, the 2008 Ducati Desmosedici RR stands alone among race replica bikes as the one that nailed all the details and defined the genre in a taught, carbon fiber-clad package. Honda saddled its RC213-VS with electronic nannies, a restrictive exhaust and a collectors-only asking price. Ducati engaged in no such silliness.…
This is a rare opportunity to get your hands on a very special early Honda homologation special. The CB1100R predates HRC, and was sold overseas to make the big bike legal for competition in Europe and Australia. Honda cranked out just over 4,000 of the 115 horsepower beasts over a three-year run. The fiberglass bodywork…
Before this 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale turned a wheel in anger, it was stripped of its street parts, taken down to its bones and rebuilt as a track weapon the likes of which few people will ever have the fortune to sample. Every inch of the bike has seen some sort of work or other,…