We recently featured one of these in December, so it is a little unusual to see another pop up on Craigslist. Maybe the owner got motivated after the recent auctions, as some of the older, collectible bikes were fetching serious money, especially the pre-war American twins. Alas, this is neither pre-war, a twin, or American, but that makes it more …
1990 Honda Transalp
In the late 1980’s Honda jumped into the Dual-Sport fray with their Transalp. Initially conceived as a 500, it was bumped to 600 (actually 583cc) by the time it was introduced in 1987. It was a V-twin 4-stroke that put out roughly 50 hp. It was actually too big to be a motocross or enduro bike, and didn’t really fit …
Auctions vs the Rest of the Net
After watching some of the bikes going across the block last weekend at Mecum and Bonhams, I thought it would be fun to see how the auction results compared to what is available out on the streets, so to speak. For this comparison, I simply searched among active Craigslist listings. In order to not compare apples and oranges, I picked …
Entry Level Harley? 1967 Harley-Davidson M65 Sport
In the 1960’s Harley Davidson realized it had nothing to compete with the small, entry level motorcycles that were flooding into the US from the Far East. As a result, it teamed with Aermacchi in Italy to produce Harley-badged models for the US market. The first to appear in the US was the Sprint 250, and later this model, labelled …
Auto MX – 1978 Husqvarna 390 AMX
Husqvarna is a proud Swedish company with over a 100-year history of making motorcycles. While they built many street and road-racing bikes prior to WW2, they are best known for their dominance in motocross, enduro and desert racing in the 1960s and 70s. The 1978 Husky 390 put out 41HP at 8000rpm and was very competitive with the open motocrossers …
Sonic Weld Frame – 1966 Triumph 650
Sonic Weld was another of those companies that built custom frames for racing. Think along the lines of Trackmaster, Rickman, Cheney or Champion. It was common in the 70’s and 80’s to take an engine from a stock Bultaco, Ossa, Triumph, Yamaha, etc, and put it into a custom frame for racing. The factory frames were not up to the …
2005 BMW 1150RT-P Police
Have problems with traffic, but don’t live in California and enjoy the advantages of lane-splitting? Here’s your answer. BMW has provided motorcycles for many state and local police units, and the R1150RT-P was a model purpose-built for Police use. The basic bike was a stock 1150RT, but it had several optional modifications to safety equipment (crash bars), storage(radio topbox), and …
1973 Ducati 750GT
The 750GT was Ducati’s first entry into the larger-displacement category. For years they had been building very successful single-cyclinder, small displacement street, scrambler and racing bikes. The 750GT was a 90 degree twin, with bevel-driven, rather than pushrod or chain-driven cams. It did not have the famous Desmodromic valve actuation system, as it was initially designed as a touring bike …
RC36 – 1991 Honda VFR750F
Now normally I would not get all too excited about a Honda sportbike. They generally fit into the category referred to as “UJMs”, that is, universal Japanese motorcycles, the standard inline-4 cylinder we are all so familiar with. But back in 1986 Honda took a slightly different route. The 1986 model was introduced as a fully-faired, V-4 of 748cc, with …
1999 Bimota SB8R
This is a lovely piece of Italian exotica. The SB8R used the Suzuki TL1000R motor in it’s bespoke frame, surrounded by the usual Bimota top-end components. I will refer you to the seller’s listing, as it is very comprehensive about the specifics of this model and also this particular bike. Suffice it to say that if you have a need …
High Miles – 1993 BMW R100GS Paris Dakar
If you follow such things – and you should, as it is absolutely crazy, you know that the participants for the 2017 Dakar Rally are already either in or on their way to Argentina. Formerly the Paris-Dakar Rally, it was first run in 1978 as a rally from Paris through France and Spain, across to Africa, through the Moroccan mountains …
1997 Montesa Cota 315R
Every so often I see a trials video, or catch some vintage trials at Barber and I think – I need to try that. I know I will never be a roadracer from my trackday experiences, and motocross/enduro are also pretty much out of the question as it is not a question of whether you will crash, but how much …
Bond, James Bond – 1998 BMW R1200C
There are always some sort of exotic vehicles in Bond movies. In “Tomorrow Never Dies,” Pierce Brosnan had a chase scene on a BMW R1200C. Now, I know Pierce Brosnan is no Sean Connery, but he WAS better than Timothy Dalton or George Lazenby, but I digress…
1973 DKW Boondocker
Something a little different for Xmas? I always get a little excited when I run across a bike I was not aware of, or at least have never seen before. Here is one example, a 1973 DKW Boondocker.
2000 Moto Guzzi Quota 1100ES
In a 2012 review, Ed Milich of Motor Cyclist called the Quota “One of Moto Guzzi’s famous engineering answers to questions no one asked.” So what is it?