Founded by Bill Van Tichelt, Van Tech ended up building aftermarket frames for small-displacement Japanese bikes like the Honda S90, Kawi 100/120, Bridgestone 90/100, and more. The main purpose was to reduce weight, but also give riders the ability to almost ‘hot swap’ engines and suspension work. As they claimed in one of their ads – you can “run a …
1970 Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin
Post Sale Update: After 13 bids on eBay, this Dual Twin sold for $1,525. One of the many high quality (and somewhat pricey) small displacement bikes from a company we now only associate with tires, the Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin was basically a baby sport bike with two of their 90cc single engines merged together.
A pair of Bridgestone 50s
In the 60s, Bridgestone was making some of the best motorcycles in Japan. However, their tire manufacturing brought in much more money, and the ‘folk tale’ is that the big 4 in Japan told Bridgestone that they’d stop using BS tires if motorcycle production continued. Truthfully, Bridgestones were just expensive and didn’t have a great dealer network. Still, it’s a …
$1000 – 1971 Bridgestone 100 TMX
Yes, Bridgestone is known as a tire company, but for a couple of decades they made some class-leading motorcycles. One of their very rare models is the Bridgestone 100 TMX, a tiny trail bike that featured some quality tech.
1970 Bridgestone GTO 350
Post-Sale Update: As noted by reader Tom down below, this Bridgestone sold for $5,650 after 31 bids on eBay. 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 …
1966 Bridgestone 50 Sport
Post-Listing Update: After 46 bids, this Bridgestone 50 Sport sold for $2,225.99…but it was then relisted and then pulled off of eBay. No, it’s not a Honda S90! With that out of the way, here’s an example of the Bridgestone 50 Sport, a tiny ‘sport’ bike originally released in 1965. You might only associate Bridgestone only with tires nowadays, but …