Much ink has been spilled waxing poetic about Massimo Tamburini’s masterpiece, the Ducati 916. The bike was such a common sight throughout the 90s as the two-wheeled incarnation of lust, it’s become a bit… familiar, and it’s easy to forget just how shockingly sexy this bike was when it was introduced: the incredibly slim waist,…
Most Bimotas are about obsessive light weight as a path to improved performance, but their radical Tesi goes a step further. The name literally means “thesis” in Italian, and that’s what the series has represented from the start: an experimental alternative to traditional telescopic forks. Three-quarters of the Tesi looks pretty familiar: Bimota’s hybrid trellis/…
Built for the fledgling World SuperBike series, the Ducati 851 was the first in a long series of desmoquattros, and successful on the track and in the showroom. At one time a commuter ( ! ) this 851 is lightly updated but is way ahead of the curve maintenance-wise. 1990 Ducati 851 for sale on…
Just so we’re clear: this 1998 Yamaha TZ250 is not to be confused with the road-going but also very cool TZR250. The TZ250 was Yamaha’s over-the-counter GP machine, a pure race bike. As such, “originality” is a relative thing, and these things have typically evolved over their racing careers with the goal of winning at…
It’s a good time to be a two-stroke enthusiast here in the USA. Bikes like today’s Honda NSR250R that were long considered nearly unobtainable are being shipped over by enterprising individuals and companies, now that some of them are old enough to make that a viable option. The NSR250R featured a 90° liquid-cooled 249cc v-twin…
Following Ducati’s street success with the WSBK look-alike 916, the 996 was a welcome displacement and torque increase, and the -S variant had 123 hp courtesy of higher compression cylinders, and some nice carbon components. The 996 cc V-twin was bumped up to 11.5:1 compression for the S, and brought 73 ft.-lbs. of torque to…
Update 10.31.2016: Please note the correct VIN for this bike is ZDM3SB3S1YB001839 and has been verified on the frame and title. While the bodywork doesn’t appear to be original, we believe this to be an authentic 748R. Please contact the seller for additional information. -dc At a glance, it’s easy to dismiss the 748R as…
Aprilia took an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it mentality” when motivating their RS250 two-stroke race replica, and packed Suzuki’s proven RGV250Γ “Gamma” engine and six-speed gearbox into their machine, albeit with extra tuning for a claimed 70hp. While that number may be theoretically possible, it seems pretty optimistic and might make for a short-lived…
