The Norton Commando 850 is no stranger to Bike-urious. By my count, more than a dozen versions of this iconic British twin have appeared on this site over the years. But there’s always room for one more.
2004 BMW R1100S Boxer Cup Replika
The base model R11S was a wonderful all-around streetbike similar to the Honda VFR800. BMW went above and beyond with a couple of limited editions, including the Boxer Cup Replika as featured today. BMW created a spec series to race these bikes, and 300 examples were released as a homage. They were equipped with Ohlins suspension, Laser exhaust, and custom …
1993 Ducati Superlight 900
In 1992, Ducati took their 900 Supersport and added several choice extras to create a limited edition called the Ducati Superlight. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, in 1993 they removed almost all the extras, leaving just a fully floating rear brake to differentiate the limited edition from its less exclusive brother. Today we feature a beautiful example of one of those …
1989 Honda VFR400 NC30
Over at Iconic, our Transport Manager Cory is selling off his personal VFR400, the baby brother to the legendary RC30.
Power Cup Parts – 2008 BMW K1200R
In the past, BMW has offered a few one-make races such as the BoxerCup with the R1100S. The successor was the Power Cup for the K1200R, and non-racers could get a kit of hop-up parts from certain dealerships in the US. As you guys and gals probably know, I own a BMW K1200R with 89k miles on it and I …
2007 BMW R1200S
“Born in heaven, raised in hell.” That was one of the slogans BMW used when they introduced the R1200S, an evolution of the R1100S that fell much more on the ‘sport’ side of the sport-touring equation. It was the sportiest boxer twin BMW had ever built, and they emphasized the point by initially omitting factory luggage. A year later the …
1986 Yamaha TZR250 1KT
Loosely based on Yamaha’s TZ250 racer, the TZR was a 2 stroke sportbike built between ’86 and ’99 – in 1986 it was the first production 250cc motorcycle to lap Isle of Man’s TT course at over 100 miles per hour.
Great Extras – 1982 Honda CX500 Turbo
Depending on how you define “production”, Kawasaki was the first motorcycle manufacturer to roll out a turbocharged motorcycle. But as this excellent article on OddBike points out, Kawasaki’s effort was more of a quasi-aftermarket creation, and it wasn’t well-thought out either. Honda’s CX500 Turbo is more deserving of the ‘first production turbo bike’ title, as it truly started the forced …
1998 Muzzy Raptor
In 1997, Rob Muzzy debuted the Raptor: aka what happened when Kawi gave him a Ninja ZX-7R and told him to go nuts. The Raptor immediately competed in Formula USA, and Muzzy decided to produce 50 to offer to the general public.
1995 Triumph Daytona Super III
In the early 1990s, famed engine experts Cosworth assisted Triumph in their quest to build a faster version of the Daytona 900. It was a rare bird, as just 805 examples of the “Super III” were sold, 179 of which made it to the United States.
1980 Kawasaki Z1-R
The Kawasaki Z1R was the brainchild of Wayne Moulton, known as the “Father of the Japanese Cruiser.” His belief was that a solid motorcycle could be moderately tweaked to form four versions, one of which is a sport-tourer. So he took the KZ1000 and turned it into this! The first year of production was 1978, and all the bikes were …
1991 Bimota YB10 Dieci
Bimota’s 10th model with a Yamaha engine, the appropriately-named Dieci was built between 1991 and 1994 with just 224 examples leaving the factory. An even smaller portion were equipped with a passenger seat and pegs. Bimota scooped up the engine from a FZR1000 and then tweaked it to yield nearly 150 horsepower.
No Reserve Black Bomber – 1966 Honda CB450
The Honda CB450 Black Bomber is easily one of the most significant motorcycles to ever come out of Japan. Produced for just three years, it was the company’s first ‘big bike’ (and the first production bike with DOHC). At the time, it was considered to be one of the best bikes ever built, though it didn’t sell as well as …
7/11 With No Reserve – 1994 Suzuki GSX-R750/1100
A popular mod with 90s GSX-Rs was to shoehorn the 1100 motor into the 750 frame – the resulting creation was often referred to as a “7/11”. According to Old School Suzuki, the first 7/11 “was built by Bradley O’Connor and it was featured in the September 1992 issue of Performance Bikes magazine.“
1967 Bridgestone GTO 350
The Bridgestone GTO 350 was the scrambler version of the absolutely incredible GTR, a bike that could leave 650 and 750cc bikes in the dust in the quarter-mile. What did Bridgestone think would be required to turn a street bike into a scrambler? The only change was the high exhaust pipes. The GTO was the much rarer variant of an …