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…
This 1991 Bimota YB10 Dieci is back on eBay after it didn’t sell a couple of months ago. We wrote about it then, but figured we’d take another crack at it now that it’s back. When the Dieci bowed, it represented the culmination of a 10-bike collaborative effort between the Rimini firm and Yamaha, a…
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…
After designing the Ducati 916, Massimo Tamburini could have quite justifiably turned in his pen and waltzed into retirement with a professional accomplishment under his belt that few people will ever be blessed enough to match. But Tamburini, apparently, wanted to make sure, so he set about resurrecting an iconic Italian brand with a bike…