While there are certainly other, more exotic and rare Moto Guzzis to consider, the 1100 Sport is a fine choice for those interested in Italian ownership without pandering to the chores of hyper-rare, unobtainium parts, and temperamental Italian thoroughbred ownership. With the 1100 Sport you get all the basics you would expect in a Guzzi…
If you feel like snagging a patent-leather set of, um, leathers and flying around the Oakland freeways like Trinity did in The Matrix Reloaded, may we present your ride. The bike from the original Hollywood scene was a 2001 Ducati 996, but by the time the movie came out, Ducati’s 998 had reached dealers. So…
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…
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…
Endurance racing doesn’t have much of a following here in the US, but it’s popular in Japan and Europe, and the French especially seem to love it. If you’re not familiar with the Bol d’Or, it’s a long-running 24-hour race held in France, literally the “golden bowl.” The second-generation of Aprilia’s v-twin superbike managed to…
Ducati’s original “round-case” v-twin may be one of the most beautiful engines of all time but, while tower shafts and bevel gears may be a very precise way to operate valves, they sure aren’t an economical one. Think about the shimming that must be done during assembly; it’s a very labor-intensive way to construct an…
What you’re looking at here is certainly not the nicest 2005 Ducati 999R that I have ever seen, but it is still a 2005 Ducati 999R, and that gives it a couple free passes and a trump card or two. Knicked though parts of it may be, it is still every bit the 135-horsepower carbon-clad…
I’m not sure you can overstate the importance of the Ducati 851 to the Italian brand’s position at the top of motorcycling’s desirability food chain. Get past the literally and figuratively square headlight — the steel-framed 1983 dad glasses of illumination — and everything else is focused, lithe Italic sin. The 851 took a pokey,…