The mighty RC8R was started as an internal pet project wtihin KTM R&D. This was no mere “sporty bike” project. Rather, the RC8 lineup was designed with racing in mind – Superbike competition and more. The culmination of that project was the “R” model RC8 – with top-shelf components and exclusive performance that rivaled the…
The history of the quarter-liter sportbike seems to be one of convergent evolution: twins obviously make sense given the size and capacity, or even triples, if we go back to the 1970s and consider a Kawasaki S1 a “sportbike.” But early bikes could be powered by parallel or vee configurations, and by the time the…
Nice first-generation Ducati M900 Monsters are getting very hard to find: they’ve been very affordable machines for the past few years and get used accordingly, ridden hard instead of being squirreled away in garages as collector items. Certainly, that’s what I’ve done with mine… But if you’re looking for a pristine machine to ride or…
The quarter-liter sportbikes of the 1980s and 1990s might look virtually identical on paper and offer very similar performance, but they all managed to have their own individual character, although that may have been down more to marketing and brand loyalty than any distinct differences. In any event, the Suzuki RGV250Γ had a reputation as…
Today’s Hesketh V1000 is a bit older than we usually feature here on RSBFS, but it’s certainly rare, valuable, and exotic. By the time 1980 rolled around, the British biking industry was in bad trouble. Previously, they were known for their powerful engines and excellent roadholding, but the Union Jack been eclipsed by a Rising…
In the mid-1990s when Ducati was dominating World Superbike racing and the all-important bedroom-wall-fantasy-poster competition, it seemed like everybody wanted to get into the v-twin market and “beat Ducati at its own game.” It shouldn’t have been that hard, right? I mean, Ducati made fast bikes, but part of why they were so successful in…
Midway through Cagiva’s management, Ducati addressed the junior rider markets, and developed SuperSports based on the 750SS, cylinders sized for 398cc. The factory saw the folly of shipping them to regions without progressive licensing laws, so they never arrived stateside. Performance didn’t start a grey market-frenzy however, and a 400SS sighting is a singular experience. …
There was a time when the alphanumeric naming of a motor vehicle actually meant something, a time when a BMW 535 was obviously a 5-Series car sporting a 3.5 liter inline six, or when you could tell just from the name that a Ferrari 360 Modena was powered by a 3.6 liter version of their…