Every Sunday, my colleagues at Iconic Motorbikes go for a morning ride out to the Rock Store. Sometimes I join along – here’s a few highlights from today’s excursion!
Our first stop was Malibu Country Mart, which becomes an impromptu car/bike show on Sunday mornings. My favorite four-wheeler was this VW SP2, a Brazilian-market machine based on the VW Variant.
It was only built in Brazil, and very few examples were exported outside of the country. In total, approximately 10,500 SP2s were built.
They look cool and they weigh less than 2,000 pounds, but the Type 4 drivetrain made just 75 horsepower and 94 lb-ft of torque – meaning it took 16 seconds to go from 0-60!
My mount for the day was a 2004 Ducati 999R FILA, a motorcycle that I can’t really find fault with. The Termi exhaust sounds great (though not as loud as I was expecting) and the Sargent seat makes the riding position tolerable.
Steve Rapp ended up joining us and took one of our RC45s out.
Here are some of my favorite bikes from a quick stop at the Rock Store, starting with a Harley-Davidson XR1200. If I ever have enough space for a large motorcycle collection, this will be the first Harley I snap up.
I met Tony Donaldson, the editor of Electric Bike Action Magazine, who was testing the new Zero SR/S.
Marc Crocetti got plenty of attention and questions from onlookers about his “Crocetti Speciale”, a highly customized 1971 Triumph Daytona.
Marc talked me through this bike back at the Quail in 2017, if you want to see more:
My partner at Iconic, Adam Tromp, rode up on this BMW K1. Nathan joined us and filmed a video – we’re planning on starting a little series about these Sunday rides where we take interesting bikes out for a few hours.
Kawasaki ZR1100 – the Zephyr was ahead of its time in terms of being a modern retro.
Ducati 900SS – I’m on the fence about the black/red paint/wheels. What do you think?
The owner of this bike is a wonderful gentleman that I’ve seen at several events up and down California. If I remember what he told me correctly, this is a 1952 BMW R68. I’m sure someone will correct me in the comments!
His great helmet.
Another one of his wonderful motorcycle sis this R51/3 with a sidecar that I saw when we met up at the Daniel Shoenwald collection earlier this year:
I still prefer the regular Z900RS, but the Cafe version isn’t bad looking at all.
Honda Interceptor.
My favorite bike at the Rock Store today belonged to Kaming Ko – it’s a custom 851 with a little bit of inspiration from Doug Polen’s racer in the paint job. In addition to a slew of period-correct upgrades, it’s got a Kevlar tank, carbon fiber bodywork, and a 996 motor!
BMW R1100S BoxerCup.
This R1 FIAT was impressively modified with Ohlins forks, Penske shocks, radial Brembos, OZ wheels, and an Austin Racing exhaust.
We wrapped up the day…and I took the K1 home. I put approximately 75,000 miles on a BMW K75C years ago and always wanted to try a K1, so I’ll live that dream out for the next few days. Is there anything you want to know about it? If there’s some interest I’ll try to get some photos and collect my thoughts about this oddball German…
