The Yamaha RZ500 promised GP-bike glory for the every man when it hit the scene in ’84, with a quartet of exhaust pipes poking out at odd angles producing a biblical scream. By ’85, Suzuki had rained on the parade a little with the RG500, which was lighter, more powerful and a few notches crazier,…
12.13.2017: Bob has decided to upgrade to a Featured Listing after we first posted this bike on November 30th. Links updated to latest auction. Good luck to buyers and seller! -dc When Yamaha and Suzuki dropped their 500cc two-stroke race replicas in the middle of the 1980s, the bikes effectively stopped the oil-burning horsepower wars…
1.15.2018: The owner has informed me that this bike has sold! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc What could have been the Bimota BB-2 was called the V-Due and had Bimota’s own engine, a modern two-stroke, fuel-injected 500cc twin. However the army of engineers Bimota didn’t have allowed the project to proceed with a faulty…
Things were coming up Max Biaggi in 1996, as the Roman was in the middle of a string of three 250cc Grand Prix world titles and his storied rivalry with Valentino Rossi was still nearly half a decade in the future. The Italian claimed his trophies aboard Aprilia’s fantastic RS250GP, so the factory threw some…
Update 11.27.2017: SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Our buddy Greg at Deftone Cycles has a near-constant stream of gorgeous grey-market bikes come through his doors every year, from fairly standard JDM imports in excellent condition to some real unobtanium pieces that you have to be fast to catch. It’s no surprise, then, that…
1989 Yamaha FZR750RR OW01 for sale on eBay The Yamaha OW01, also known as the FZR750RR, is a unicorn in any condition, with just 500 bikes spread over a three model-year run. They were more exclusive, marginally more powerful, and a big chunk more expensive than Honda’s genre-defining RC30. 1989 Yamaha FZR750RR OW01 for sale…
The early ’80s were a great time to be an enormous Japanese superbike, as Wes Cooley, Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson were busy catapulting your fortunes into the stratosphere. The Kawasaki KZ series in particular was enjoying the fruits of Lawson’s labor, as the flat tracker from Upland, California won the AMA Superbike…
By 2002, the evolution Ducati began with the 916 was nearing the end of its rope, as age and the need to advance took their toll on the range. That didn’t stop Duc from taking one more stab at making the bikes faster and more competitive, though, and the year saw the release of the…