This 1985 Yamaha RZ500RN is a bread-and-butter bike for us here at RSBFS. It’s an old, rare, iconic Japanese sportbike in excellent shape topped off with a few unique touches to separate it from the rest of its thin herd. What’s not to like? It has covered fewer than 5,000 miles (just over 7,000 kilometers)…
It’s hard to describe what the 1993 Honda CBR250RR meant to the riding masses to audiences in this country, as riders here have never been required to buy starter bikes before moving on to more powerful machines. If you can get your license and qualify for financing in the United States, whatever race replica you…
Little two-stroke rippers like this Honda NSR150 SP epitomize Honda’s 1990s golden age, when the company saw fit to make even their entry-level machines look and feel special. Even on a 150cc starter bike, Honda went all-out, giving it an RC30-aping single-sided swingarm, and a GP-replica Repsol paintjob. You might not be going as quick…
To celebrate its 50th anniversary. Yamaha busted out the paint booth and the option sheet to create a limited run of hopped-up versions of their R1 literbike. The 2006 Yamaha R1 LE delivered the perfect birthday present to the storied brand, showing that Japanese brands were indeed capable of and interested in building special versions…
Ducati paid Paul Smart less than a grand to ride their newly-minted 750SS to victory in the 1972 Imola 200, which is insane value for money when you consider that that one race would solidify Smart’s reputation as a racer and give Ducati’s new Desmos the street cred they needed to thrive. The brand and…
Bologna showed off the bike that would become the 2002 Ducati MH900e at the 1998 Intermot show, on the 20th anniversary of Mike Hailwood’s comeback win at the 1978 Isle of Man TT. In true Italian fashion, it took another two years before the bike was ready for orders, which opened online at 12:01 a.m.…
Sixteen years after Ducati’s original run of bikes celebrating Mike Hailwood’s return to form at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, Bologna kicked out a Pierre Terblanche-penned update to the much-lauded MHR900. The MH900e, where ‘e’ stands for evoluzione, was a much more exclusive machine than the original MHR900, with just 2,000 rolling off the…
The 1995 Honda NS-1 might not have quite the racing prestige that the Derbi GPR-50 we featured last week mustered, but has a cult following across the pond for being a tight-handling, practical city whip and mount for new riders. The little rippers weighed just 200 pounds dry, which was handy for making use of…