The sad thing about being a serious motorcycle geek is that most people don’t really understand my obsession with and enthusiasm for weird motorcycles. Even other motorcyclists. I was thinking about this today as I was poring over the engine of a friend’s Velocette Venom, trying to suss out the function of the little cable-actuated…
Update 7.6.2020: This bike has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc This gorgeous little JDM ripper is an RSBFS alum, listed here in late 2017 by our buddy Gary out in Utah. Today, it makes a triumphant return, this time in Arizona and bearing its correct model year. Japanese market 1WG models are rare…
Update 3.12.2020: This bike has SOLD in 3 days! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Bimota has had a long standing history of offering up sublime rocket ships crafted with ingenuity and Italian flair. Throughout the years Bimotas have been powered my many different engine combinations, including all of the Japanese Big Four. Of those,…
As many parts of the United States are deep in the throes of falling frozen water, riding is an activity that must wait for warmer weather and more favorable road conditions. There are locales, however, where riding can commence year ’round. The southern states on both coasts serve as a great example. And it is…
In today’s world, the thought of a serious, small bore sport bike is, well, normal. With the Kawasaki 250/300/400 Ninja series, the Honda CBR250/300R, the Yamaha YZF-R3 and the KTM RC390, there is no shortage of sharp handling and lightweight quasi racers. However this was not always the case here in the United States, where…
The Yamaha RZ350 lived a pretty short life on these shores, eventually leaving us in the face of EPA fleet emissions regulations and sales that paled in comparison to its bigger four-stroke stablemates. But, if you were serious about roadracing, or were a serious fan of the 500cc Grand Prix races of the time, the…
This Bimota YB11 Superleggera isn’t just a sportbike, or even an exotic sportbike. It’s a high-performance boutique motorcycle, one of just 650 ever built. Of course, that’s pretty much mass production by Bimota standards. It doesn’t have quite the cachet of Honda’s limited-production homologation superbikes, but consider that Honda made almost 5,000 Honda RC30s, compared…
If you’re not into oil drilling and late-1970s Formula 1, you might be nonplussed at the handsome red and purple livery that graces this otherwise-standard 1986 Suzuki RG500 Gamma. But, under the alliterative name and the cool-if-dated graphics lies a story of early business success followed by a longshot investment in a passion project that…