The Honda Rune made a huge splash back in 2004, as Honda brought to market a bike that no one believed would ever make it past concept. Just look at it! The motorcycle community was stunned to see something like this coming from Honda, of all manufacturers, due to stereotypes of conservative design, but you’d be hard-pressed to have found …
CHP – 1980 Kawasaki KZ1000 Police
You might not look like Erik Estrada, but this bike might make you feel like him. You’ll probably remember this bike from the TV show CHiP’s, but this bike was already well known as the one of the two most common police bikes in the country at the time. Officers often differed on their preference between the Kawasaki KZ1000 Police …
2007 Benelli TNT Cafe Racer
We go from old Benelli’s to new ones… In the 80s, Benelli was merged to become part of Moto Guzzi, and it was pretty much shut down. In the mid 90s, however, Andrea Merloni brought Benelli back and they came back with a vengeance, with very distinctive looking bikes. By the designs, you would never be able to tell that …
1965 Benelli 200 Sprite
Sold for a whopping $629 when new, the little Benelli 200 Sprite was not very popular, and as such, you don’t see much information about them nowadays. With that said, they were to be the Italian answer to Honda. This 200cc was one of the larger engines Benelli made in the 60s, and featured refinements like “extra heavy cables”. That’s …
1974 Norton Commando Interstate
The Norton Commando was one of the most popular motorcycles ever made. For 5 straight years it was “Machine of the Year” in the UK, and even Norton themselves were surprised as the success as the engine was a pre-unit design. The Norton was well-known for rubber engine mounts (deemed an “isolastic” systems) that tremendously cut down vibrations. This is …
1988 Ducati 750 F1
I’ll open by saying I try to avoid listing bikes currently available at dealers, but this is an exception worth sharing. One of the most stunning creations of its time, the Ducati 750 F1 remains one of the most highly sought after bikes in Ducati history. So while you’ll have to pay the dealer premium to get your hands on …
1994 BMW R100GS
BMW pioneered the ‘adventure-bike’ market back in the 80s with the R80GS. Several years later, BMW released the R100GS as an update to their trailblazing bike. Here we have one of the later R100GS models, a 1994, in the popular “Bumblebee” paint scheme – though it is missing the delightfully 80s-styled decals. Many riders consider this to be the best …
2004 Kawasaki ZRX1200R
Built as a tribute to the KZ1000 piloted by Eddie Lawson while winning the 1981 and 1982 AMA Superbike titles, the ZRX series has always been a muscle-car version of the UJM. This particular Kawasaki ZRX1200Rcomes well-equipped with modifications to make this ZRX an excellent sports-tourer, including a Corbin seat, Throttle Meister, bar risers, and +1 gearing on the countershaft …
1989 Honda NX125
The Honda NX125 was the smallest of the NX’s, which were only imported for a few years. The combination of XR-roots with a slightly more street friendly composition made it an excellent all-rounder. Offered in the states in 125, 250, and 650cc versions, the NX650 was by far the most popular in the US. Despite the knobbies and the general …
1984 Yamaha RZ350
The last two-stroke officially imported into the US, the RZ350 is very much a sought-after collectors bike in the US. Only sold in the states from 84-85, these bikes were incredibly fast for 350cc, and absolutely look the part. Estimated production of these bikes was around 20,000 – accidents and time have worn down that number significantly, though you can …
Honda Motocompo
Sold for only 3 years, the Honda Motocompo was a tiny 50cc folding scooter designed to fit into the trunks of the subcompact cars Honda was making at the time, like the City. In fact, the City’s trunk was designed specifically to house the Motocompo. As it was only made for a few years (and designed to stay in the …
1974 Yamaha TX750
Made only for two years, the TX750 was Yamaha’s attempt of creating a parallel twin with the smoothness of an inline four engine. Using a pair of balancers (called Omni-Phase), it eliminated vibration to a level never seen before in a twin. Cycle World reviewed it and heaped praised on the TX750. “The result is smoothness beyond belief,” . “Shut …
1997 Moto Guzzi Sport 1100i
Moto Guzzi fans are few and far between in this country, but they’re a passionate group. Big bikes with lovely, torquey V-Twin engines, Guzzi typically makes cruisers and standard bikes. But the Moto Guzzi Sport 1100i was a beautiful deviation from the norm.
1 of 200 – 1988 Yamaha FZR750RU
Built specifically to meet AMA racing homologation rules, the FZR750RU was only made for one year and cost $6899 at the time – more expensive than even most liter bikes of the time. Though fully street legal, this bike was intended to be a fully fledged road racer. This specific example has covered 36k miles, and comes with spares as …
Mini Gixxer – 1987 Suzuki GSX-R50
In the late 80s, Japanese manufacturers made a series of mini-bikes. While the Yamaha YSR50 and Honda NSR50 are probably some of the most common, the Suzuki GSXR-50 was one of the best looking, due to the full fairings and 4 interesting graphics packages available. The little gixxer was only made for 2 years, which means it’s one of the …