The seller sums this bike up better than I probably could: “This is the answer to a question nobody asked. Its a BSA B50 single in a Yamaha RZ350 chassis. I can say with 100% certainty you will never find another, and you will be the only person out there with one in the entire world.”
99 Miles – 1980 Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special
Like most Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha offered a “Special” variant of their UJM to appeal to American consumers – these typically offered pullback bars, extra chrome/polished covers, different exhausts, wider rear tires, stepped seats, and different paint jobs. Yamaha also offered a “Midnight Special” version across several models (even on the tiny RX50 cruiser!), including the XS750, XS850, and XS1100. Here’s …
Rare Project – 1987 Ducati Indiana
In the early ’80s, Yamaha introduced the Virago, prompting the rest of the big four on the island to follow suit with their own American cruiser-style offerings, (Honda with the Shadow, Kawa with the Vulcan, Suzuki with the Intruder). Cagiva — which acquired Ducati from the Italian government in ’85 — took notice of this and, wanting to nab a …
Factory (?) Flat Tracker – 1984 Honda RS600
Jeff Blackmore of Blackmore Ranch has a hell of a bike collection (and a facility), though it looks like he’s selling one of flat trackers.
High Miles, Low Price – 1990 BMW K1
Impressively, previous owners of this K1 have put more than 90,000 miles on it – Flying Bricks are known for being quite reliable but the exotic K1 variant typically gets less use than its touring siblings like the RS or LT. Still, it’s very cool to see that someone enjoyed this bike, and now it’s your chance to.
Press Release – Kawasaki Brings Back The 2-Stroke!
Big news for two-stroke fans – after more than 20 years of hiatus, Kawasaki is offering a two-stroke engine displacing more than 250cc. Meet the 2027 Kawasaki KX327!
Picture Intermission – The Californian Moto Show
View Post289 Miles – 2008 Benelli Tre-K 1130 Amazonas
Over on the auction site we’ve got a rare touring bike with a shockingly low amount of miles – just 289 on this big dual-sport for those of you that think the Ducati Multistrada is too common. Like the Multi, the TRE K is a street-oriented adventure bike, though this is one of the “Amazonas” variants that adds spoked-wheels (with …
2004 BMW R1150R
BMW’s R1150R standard wasn’t a particularly sexy bike (I normally feature the Rockster variant when possible) but they’re excellent workhorses for taller commuters or people that just want to travel on two wheels, especially when equipped with a tall windscreen and factory luggage like this example features.
Picture Intermission – Ducati Collezione 100
One of the things I’ve been complaining about over the last few years is how Ducati and MV Agusta have ruined what I think of when I hear “special edition.” Ducati in particular used to make sure that if they made a special edition bike, it came with top-notch components (and usually engine work) to complement whatever livery they wanted …
1989 ATK 406
Over on the auction site we’ve got one of the most interesting American-built dirt bikes of all time. ATK was founded by Horst Leitner, an Austrian motorcycle racer who came to the US in a quest to build his own bikes. In 1981, Leitner developed and patented what he called “Anti-Tension Kettenantrieb”, a device designed to eliminate chain torque. He …
Press Release – Try Out The Lightfighter!
I first learned about Lightfighter while racing with AHRMA a few years ago. As many of you have seen, I’ve been racing a Kramer 690 in Sound of Singles 1, which is why I frequently find myself in Kramer’s pit during race weekends. As Lightfighter notes in their own blog, they were sharing a lot of resources with Kramer and …
1993 Yamaha Seca II
I have a bit of a soft spot for the Seca II – I bought one for $600 to start riding again after some time away from riding during school. It wasn’t particularly great at anything, but the riding posture was much better suited for commuting that the average 600cc ‘sport’ bike. The relative lack of excitement around the model …
“Hardon” – Norton Featherbed Frame with H-D XL1200 Engine
Usually when I see a Harley motor stuffed into a Norton frame, the resulting creation is called a Narley or Norley. The builder of this went…a different way.
2001 MZ Baghira Black Panther
Normally a manufacturer releases a bike with multiple color options and it’s not a big deal. But when MZ wanted to update their “Street Moto” model called the Baghira with different colors on the plastics, they created separate model names such as the “Forest” for a military green or the “Black Panther” for…well, you can guess.