BMW keeps one-upping themselves when it comes to sportbikes as of late – they’ve just announced the M1000RR – but their history of inline-4 sporting machines starts with the famous K1.
In Mexico with US Titles – 2x Yamaha TW200s
Every once in a while I daydream of international motorcycle exploration and find myself on the classifieds at Horizons Unlimited, seeing if someone’s taken a long trip and is willing to sell a bike for cheap that could easily come back to the US. Looks like a couple took two Yamaha TW200s (with South Dakota titles) to the bottom of …
Video Intermission – Inside the Garage with MotoDoffo
A few weeks ago, I let you know about Inside the Garage’s visit to Iconic. Their next episode is out, and the subject is a fantastic motorcycling destination in Southern California – MotoDoffo Winery!
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 Track Bike
The seller of this Ninja says that he spent over $10,000 building it, but it’s spent the last year on a battery tender in storage due to COVID so he’ll take a quarter of the build cost to let it go to a new home.
1977 Penton/KR Short Tracker 250
This was a submission over on the Iconic auction site, and I had never heard of one before. I enjoyed learning about it, so let me share with you: in February 1977, Penton introduced a new model that had two extra letters in the name: KR. That’s because the Penton/KR short tracker had been designed and tested by none other …
Record Setter – 175cc Land Speed Racer
With an asking price of $1,500, this might be the cheapest way to get yourself a land speed racer that’s set multiple records! This 175cc salt racer set records in A (Special Construction) groups: APS-PG, APS-PF, A-PG, A-PF.
$500 – 1987 Honda Aero 50
The Aero was Honda’s first modern scooter in North America, where it was introduced in 1983. A second generation was introduced in 1985, and these have served as reliable in-town runabouts ever since.
2007 BMW R1200R
For the 2007 model year, BMW updated the R1150R with a significant improvement in the R1200R. The new motor featured four valves per cylinder and (obviously) a displacement bump to 1,170cc. That increased power to 109, but BMW claimed that the new bike saved 44 pounds over its predecessor – resulting in a 40% increase in power-to-weight!
1991 Suzuki Bandit GSF400
In the US, the Suzuki Bandit was most commonly sold in 1,200 or 600cc variants. But Suzuki also brought a 400cc model to America for a couple of years!
In Norway – 2003 Vertemati SM570e
Brothers Guideo and Alvaro Vertemati founded a motorcycle company after winning several European and International titles with Husqvarna Italy and Husaberg Italy. They were the first company to go with four-strokes in off-roading (Dirt Bike magazine says they “changed the world” in this story) and went on to evolve their enduros and MX bikes into supermotos that were race bikes …
1974 Yamaha RD60
Post Sale Update: This RD60 sold for $3,550 after 23 bids on eBay in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania. The baby RD, the RD60 was a tiny two-stroker that was built just between ’73-’75. This bike has more gears in the transmission than horses out of the engine (5 vs. 4). Weird fact of the day – in the owner’s manual, Yamaha claimed …
2002 House of Thunder Simply The Best
Built by House of Thunder, this custom cruiser features a Harley-Davidson Twin Cam B engine in a package that doesn’t have any external cables or wires (except for the front brake line). It was the winner of the Overall Award at the 2002 Daytona Bike Week Rat’s Hole Show.
Guess That Bike – Under The Tank Edition
When the tank is off, can you identify this rare motorcycle?
2016 Indian Springfield w/ Champion Avenger Sidecar
In 2016, Indian took the touring chassis that they built for the Chieftain and Roadmaster and stripped it down to create the Springfield – Cycle World called it “the best handling Indian bagger yet.” Just by dumping the frame-mounted fairing with electric-adjust windscreen, Indian was able to shave 24 pounds.
1951 Norton ES2
Post Sale Update: This ES2 sold for $10,200 after 24 bids on eBay in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The ES2 was introduced in 1927 and was originally sold as a sports bike, though by the time production stopped in 1964, it wasn’t particularly competitive in the world of fast motorcycles. Still, an almost 40 year long production run is damned impressive, and …