Rockford Motors was the American importer for the wonderful Bridgestone motorcycles that occasionally dotted US roads. In ’71, Bridgestone stopped selling bikes, leaving Rockford with a bit of a hole in their product portfolio. They decided to take over manufacturing rights for the tiniest Bridgestones, specifically the 100cc “Taka” and two 60cc bikes – the “Tora” and the Rockford Chibi …
1920 Indian Board Track Tribute
No, it’s not authentic, and no, it’s not 94 years old, but I do find this Indian Board Track Tribute to be beautiful – and I hope you do, too.
Ronin Motorworks – The 47
The story of the 47 Ronin is an impressive (and true) tale which exemplifies the Japanese samurai code of honor, which includes ritual suicide, revenge…and more ritual suicide. Ronin Motorworks has now taken elements of that story in their own version of the 47, a limited run of motorcycles based around the Buell 1125CR.
1989 Buell RR 1200 Battletwin
Post Listing Update: This Battletwin did not meet reserve despite 43 bids up to $15,000. When Buell started with the Road Warrior chassis for racing, he surely wasn’t expecting the abrupt end of the Formula One class in AMA racing. Luckily for the public, he adapted the chassis, threw in some Harley-Davidson XR1000 engines, and created Buell’s first streetbike, the …
Hudson Stinger Reverse Trike
What an oddball! Here’s a custom-built reverse trike called the Hudson Stinger.
Bucephalus – 1966 Triumph Bonneville Custom
Post-Listing Update: Bucephalus was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. It’s unfair to even call this a Bonneville – think of it as an unique, high-tech frame with a vintage Bonnie engine.
2007 Buell XBRR
A factory-built, $30,995 racebike, the Buell XBRR was Erik Buell’s effort at taking care of privateer racers, and it was specifically designed to compete in the AMA Formula Xtreme class. Oddly enough, that’s normally a race for modified 600cc bikes, and the XBRR uses a 1339cc Thunderstorm V-Twin. Still, that’s where AMA thought the Buell would be competitive. For more, …
1941 Indian 648 Big Base Racer
A prototype of the famous Indian 648 Big Base Racer, this bike is claimed to be #3 of 13 pre-production models, according to the seller.
XR750 Replica – 1995 Harley-Davidson XR1200 Custom
Here’s a Harley-Davidson XR1200 Custom that’s been converted into a replica of the classic XR750 – with the bonus of being street legal.
1969 Norton Commando Fastback 750cc
Some people are confused about how the Fastback name came about for the Commando. It’s just the base model bike, however Norton decided to differentiate with the Fastback name once they started offering other Commando models like the Interstate. This specific Fastback (VIN: 126797) is in a wonderful shade of original Forest Green, a color that did not sell well …
1999 CMC Captain America
Like the Captain America bike from Easy Rider that I featured a few days ago, but thinking that spending a million dollars on a motorcycle might be a little difficult? Well, here’s one of the small run of bikes that were endorsed by Peter Fonda as replicas, built by the California Motorcycle Company, otherwise known as the CMC Captain America.
1973 Penton Hare Scrambler 250
John Penton and KTM are well tied into each other – going back to 1968 when Penton funded KTM’s research to build some prototype bikes. Thous prototypes eventually became 100cc Berkshires which started KTM’s success in the US. In 1973, the Penton Hare Scrambler was introduced as a bigger, better variant.
1 of 122 – 1970 Indian Velo 500
After Indian went out of business in 1953, it lay dormant for quite a while. But in 1967, former West Coast distributor Floyd Clymer bought the rights to the Indian name and tried to bring the company back. He initially tried to partner with a couple of German companies to create the ‘new Indian’, but that never got past the …
1940 Indian 440
Post-Listing Update: This Indian 440 was pulled off eBay due to an ‘error in the listing’. Possibly the most famous of Indian’s pre-WWII bikes, the Indian 440 introduced the distinctive fenders that have survived even to the most recent revival of the marque. The styling was so distinctive that in 2006, the US Postal Service used the 440 as one …
1974 Rokon RT340
Post-Sale Update: After 15 bids on eBay, this Rokon RT340 sold for $2,449. The Rokon RT340 was a rare ‘one-wheel’ drive bike featuring an automatic transmission from the company best known for making the go-anywhere Trailbreaker. Because of the transmission, you might suspect it was geared (no pun intended) towards beginners who wanted to learn in the dirt without worrying …