In the 1990’s several manufacturers brought big V-twins out, hoping to share the thunderbikes’ successes. Suzuki had some neat innovations aboard the 1997 TL1000S and its racier sibling -R, the 996cc engine had cam drive with gears and chain, and separate rear spring and rotary shock. The company returned to its inline four roots in 2002, but the TL1000S was a…
One of the shining stars of the two-stroke GP era, the hugely popular Kevin Schwantz and fellow American Wayne Rainey made headlines for their epic rivalry and “winner-take-all” on-track brawls. Although he actually raced an RGV500, a number of Suzuki’s road-going RGV250s were created with replica paintjobs to capitalize on Schwantz’ racing success riding with Lucky Strike…
Available for just three years here in the USA, between 1988 to 1991, the Honda Hawk GT sold pretty poorly. Introduced in an era when American buyers were snapping up fully-faired sportbikes, the Hawk was slower, more conventional-looking, and fairly expensive, so buyers here just weren’t sure what to make of it. Exactly what was…
Much like the Ducati 900SS FE we featured last week, today’s reborn Moto Guzzi V11 Le Mans is a bike for riders who value a bit of history and real-world performance over high horsepower numbers, racetrack manners, and the newest technological acronyms. And when I say “legacy,” I mean legacy: the longitudinally-mounted 90° v-twin found…
The 90s iteration of Ducati’s famous SuperSport wasn’t exactly a fast bike, even by standards of the day. And by the time the Ducati 900SS “Final Edition” rolled around, it likely appealed mostly to die-hard Ducati fans and collectors. Which is a shame because, although the 900SS didn’t offer cutting-edge performance, it did offer plenty…
Looking to start your own vintage race team? Well today’s brace of 1991 Yamaha TZ250s and a whole raft of included spare parts is ready to help you do just that, just add trailer. And talent. Sports two-strokes from the 80s ands 90s are very rare and desirable these days, with fresh imports from Japan…
The DB1 was the quintessential Bimota, packaging a reliable Italian powerplant into a lightweight package with excellent handling… Wait, what? Actually, in spite of what you might expect, the belt-driven, SOHC Pantah engine is very reliable when properly maintained, and can be tuned to make good power. Sure, the 75 claimed horses don’t sound like…
Cagiva’s Raptor was a followup to the Ducati Monster by the original bike’s designer, Miguel Angel Galluzzi. Powered by Suzuki’s powerful, reliable and, most importantly, low-maintenance v-twin in both 650 and 1000cc flavors, the Raptor attempted to recreate the magical Monster formula for Cagiva. Unfortunately, while it was better in pretty much every quantifiable way…
