Used to be factories could build race replicas by throwing on a garland sticker, some reservoir shocks, a rorty pipe and a loud paintjob. Just basic mods and some raucous pigments got you looking a lot like Eddie Lawson back in 1983, though getting near his lap times still required a pile of special parts,…
The Honda RC51 had a short lifespan as a factory-supported superbike contender, but it made its years count, taking home World Superbike titles in 2000 and 2002. The latter was a special year for the big twin Honda, as Nicky Hayden also captured the AMA Superbike championship aboard one. Honda celebrated the feat in 2004…
Sold in 1987 and 1988, the NC24 version of Honda’s VFR400R could easily be overlooked for the gem that it is. Styling is subdued, although the single-sided Pro Arm swingarm hints at something special underneath. This was a V4 sportbike for the masses, instead of an expensive, difficult-to-obtain homologation bike, like the RC30. As you’d…
Many Japanese bikes aren’t intentionally sexy, in the way that a Bimota or MV Agusta often is, and they often fall flat stylistically when they do try to put style ahead of function. Italian machines are almost gratuitously beautiful, full of details that don’t enhance the bike’s performance, they just make the parts more interesting…
Trying to come up with something new and interesting to type about Honda’s [insert superlative] RC30 is like trying to tell a budding car nut something they don’t know about a Ferrari F40. The specs are available with a single Google query. The original and retrospective road tests drip with corn syrup-sweet praise for the…
If Hunter S. Thompson, whose vocation was more or less using heavy drugs and shooting things, was so scared of the Ducati 900SS/SP that he wrote more of a cautionary tale than a review, it is truly hard to imagine the bone-deep terror a Ducati 851 must inspire on the street. With 15 or so…
Update 7.17.2019: This bike has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc This 1988 Yamaha RZ350 is a gorgeous example of one of North America’s last-ever road-going two-stroke sport bikes. As the 1980s waned, environmental regulations had all but ruled the simple-but-effective machines off the roads on this continent, leaving the smoky mounts for European…
Update 6.10.2019: This bike has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! Praise for the 2013 Aprilia RSV4 Factory pounded down in torrents in early ’13 when the thing broke cover as a celebration of Max Biaggi’s 2012 World Superbike championship. It was fast beyond the limits of the mortal brain. It stuck to corners like…
