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1988 Honda Hawk NT650

In Japan, Less than 5k, Sport by Abhi6 Comments

Honda was ahead of its time when it debuted the Hawk GT, also known as the NT650. It was one of the world’s first modern naked bikes but it was a commercial failure. Over the years, many riders have realized what the Hawk offered, and it’s become a cult classic.

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1973 Kawasaki Z1

In Japan, Sport by Chris Cope5 Comments

You won’t be buying this bike. Which is just fine with the seller. He’s priced his acceptable-but-definitely-not-showroom-condition Z1 at $79,000 precisely because he doesn’t want to sell it. “I am only listing it at my wife’s insistence,” the seller explains. “I promised her I would list it, but would only sell it for the price listed.”

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1997 Honda Dream 50

In Japan, Small Displacement, Sport by Abhi3 Comments

Over on the auction site we’ve got an example of one of my favorite small-displacement four-strokes: the Honda Dream 50. This is an homage to their CR1100 race bike, Honda’s first 50cc GP racer. It was built for a couple of years in the Japanese market (and then for one year in the US with a race-only variant). This is …

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1993 Yamaha WR500Z

In Japan, Off-Road by Abhi1 Comment

Built by blending the YZ250 and YZ490, the WR500 was a rare offering (1,000 sold as 1992 and 1993 models) that was best served as a trail bike that could mix it up on the race track every once in a while.

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2010 Honda NT700 Deauville

In Japan, Touring by Chris Cope4 Comments

“I’ve had a NT700V Deauville for the last three years,” wrote reader Luke Rogers in response to my offhand comment about the model in a post on the NTV600 Revere. “It’s everything everyone says: boring, underpowered, utterly bulletproof… It’s the most boring motorcycle I’ve ever owned. It’s the best form of transport I’ve ever owned.”

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Buy My Bike With No Reserve – 196x Honda CB175

In Japan, Race by Abhi2 Comments

OK – I know that I owe you some updates on my “racing a CB160” story but the short version is that it went…not as well as my Kramer racing went. With that said, I’m switching things up for this year’s AHRMA season and going with a bigger bike that I can actually fit on: a BMW R75/5. I’ll explain …

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1983 Honda CB1100F Bol D’or

In Japan, Sport by Chris Cope12 Comments

Based on the popular CB900F (1979-1983) and driven by the same 1062cc air-cooled inline four engine that drove the CB1100R (“but with less of the hand-crafted attention that made the 1100R so much of a cult bike,” according to Classic Motorcycle Mechanics), the CB1100F was sold from 1982 to 1984. Different markets saw different versions, and this example, paying homage …

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1973 Suzuki GT550

In Japan, Standard by Chris Cope7 Comments

You may have seen recently that Kawasaki is bringing two-strokes back. Whether it is promising a street bike (probably not) or something more off-road focused is uncertain. It’s been quite a while since two-stroke engines featured in street bikes. Even 52 years ago, when this GT550 was produced, it was clear that the end was nigh. Or, well, it was …