The Aprilia RS250 was my introduction to the quarter-liter two-stroke sportbike class. I didn’t even get into motorcycles until the late 1990s, by which time two strokes were completely gone from the sportbike scene here in the US. But, as an avid reader of the British biking magazines, I saw them mentioned time and again…
Suzuki developed the RG500 in the mid-1970’s as their Moto GP weapon, and the updated Gamma was offered in road trim only from 1985-87. Here is a Canadian import that is in special condition and ready to ride. 1986 Suzuki RG500 Gamma for sale on eBay Based on the square four two-stroke first raced by…
Pretty much the only way this Honda NSR250R could be more desirable would be for it to be in Rothmans colors. Honestly, I’m not even the biggest fan of race-replica schemes, but nobody does them like Honda, and the Repsol colors are a close second. But even in its “generic” colors, the MC28 version of…
The 1986 Yamaha RZV500R was the neighborhood knee dragger’s chance to ride the machine that carried Kenny Roberts to three world titles and helped Giacomo Agostini break MV Agusta’s ridiculous streak of 17 Grand Prix titles. It was billed as a 500cc GP machine with headlights and blinkers, though the similarities were actually pretty tenuous.…
For the Suzuki RGV250’s last few model years, Suzuki gave the popular machines a thorough redesign, with updated fairings and a brand-new 70-degree v-twin replacing the long serving 90-degree mill that helped make the bikes famous. In most trims, they were choked down to around 40 horsepower. But a limited number of Lucky Strike liveried…
Sold before we went to press, still worth a look – Donn Like buyers of a Gulfstream business jet refer to their Pratt & Whitney engine maintenance agreement that just happened to come with an airplane, the Yamaha RZ500 was built around their smashing V-4 two-stroke. This one has some miles but looks to be…
The entire class of 250cc two-stroke sportbikes has alwasy been forbidden fruit for US-based sportbike enthusiasts. The last real road-burning stroker was the RZ350, a bike that can certainly hang with much more modern machines and punch well above its weight, but the 18” wheels and bikini-fairing mark it out clearly as a bike from…
Racebikes are different than other bikes we feature on RSBFS. Where the goal for many collectible roadbikes is absolute originality, or at least limited, period-correct updates, the whole point of a racebike is that it’s a rough-and-tumble artifact, a bit of living history, and battle scars are okay. If the machine in question is historically…