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1975 Laverda SFC Electronica

In Italy, Sport by AbhiLeave a Comment

Even the “base” SFC 750 is a legendary bike, but near the end of production, it got just a little bit better with the Laverda SFC Electronica. It was named for the incorporation of Bosch electronic ignition, but that wasn’t the extent of the modifications.

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1966 Benelli Fireball

In Italy, Small Displacement by AbhiLeave a Comment

Post-Sale Update: This Fireball sold for just $760 on eBay. Confusingly also known as the Montgomery Wards 450SS, the Benelli Fireball was a 50cc scoot with rectangular styling. This example has just 1,648 and everything is claimed to work. The bike is entirely original except for a ‘newer’ paint job, throttle grip, and inner tubes. The bike has new crank …

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2002 Foggy Ducati Monster

In Italy, Sport by AbhiLeave a Comment

If you’re looking at the number of championships and individual race wins, Carl “Foggy” Fogarty is the most successful racer to ever rule in World Superbike. In 2002, Italy’s most famous motorcycling firm released the Ducati Monster S4 Fogarty Edition, to honor Foggy himself with a limited run of 300 bikes.

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1998 Laverda Ghost Strike

In Italy, Sport by Abhi3 Comments

Talk about a fantastic name for a motorcycle. The Laverda Ghost Strike is one of the many variants the Italian firm pushed out in the late 90s that were powered by either the 650 or 668cc parallel twins. Laverda actually offered a Ghost and a Strike as separate models, the former a trellis-framed naked bike, the latter a perimeter-framed naked. …

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Company Killer – 1998 Bimota V-Due

In Italy, Sport by Abhi2 Comments

The V-Due is one of the most interesting things that ever came out of Bimota. It came out to tremendous fan-fare as the first two-stroke with fuel injection – yielding a greater power to weight ratio than anything else available on the market. But the fuel injection was awful, and the bikes were incredibly difficult to ride. Combine that with …

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1958 Mondial Sprint 175

In Italy, Sport by AbhiLeave a Comment

The (FB) Mondial Sprint 175 was one of the few street bikes developed by the niche Italian manufacturer. Specializing in high performance, small displacement bikes, FB Mondial hand built most of their motorcycles, resulting in production numbers between just 1-2 thousand a year.

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1979 Benelli Quattro

In Italy, Standard by AbhiLeave a Comment

The Benelli Quattro – named for its four-cylinder engine, was built under Alejandro de Tomaso’s leadership in an attempt to revitalize Benelli and to directly take on the Japanese (particularly Honda’s CB500 Four). In fact, de Tomaso bought a CB500 for his engineers and told them to ‘get inspiration’ from the bike, though the styling was handled by Paul Martin …

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None Faster – 2008 MV Agusta F4 R 312

In Italy, Sport by Abhi1 Comment

A special edition of the MV Agusta F4, the R 312 was named after its’ immense top speed – 312 km/h, or 194 miles per hour. This was due to a 9 horsepower bump in output up to 183 (plus 85 pound feet of torque). In reality, the bike hit 193.24 mph. According to Wikipedia (which is always correct, right?), …

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1973 Benelli Tornado 650S

In Italy, Standard by AbhiLeave a Comment

Post Listing Update: This Tornado was relisted a couple of times, but bidding never got higher than $3,975 and the reserve was not met. Benelli is one of the very few motorcycle companies that has been around for over 100 years. An Italian firm (though it’s got more of a Chinese flavor nowadays) that has a great history in small …

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1998 Ducati 996RS Factory Racer

In Italy, Race by AbhiLeave a Comment

One of the 24 RS bikes built by Ducati in 1998, this is claimed to be the rarest as it still has a analog dashboard and the 916 frame color. I apologize in advance – I don’t know enough about the RS bikes to verify if that’s true or not. The story is that this bike was sold to Dolomiti …

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1975 Aermacchi Harley 350 Custom

In America, Italy by AbhiLeave a Comment

Here’s a bike that will probably be polarizing. The tank is a custom unit by Evan Wilcox, and the engine was recently done by Chris Kerber. All that plus some Akront rims came together as a package that was on display at the Northwest Vintage Car and Motorcycle Museum. Find this Italian Harley for sale here on Craigslist for $5,000 …