Post Sale Update: originally sold for $2,750 after 12 bids on eBay but the sale fell through. Was relisted a couple of times and then sold for a BIN of $2,500. The seller notes that this former East German Police MZ is missing a saddlebag – to my untrained eye it appears that it might also need some decals and …
1988 Honda ZB50
Post Listing Update: did not get any bids at the opening ask of $2,500 on eBay. Only sold in the US, Canada, and western Europe in 1988, the ZB50 was supposed to be a street sister to the Z50R dirt bike, but it ended up being too expensive for Honda to build and the US only got 3,058 examples before …
What Do You Want To Know? 2021 Aprilia RS660
View Post1992 Ducati 900 Superlight
Post Sale Update: sold for $10,600 after 39 bids on eBay in Laguna Beach, California. In 1992, Ducati took their 900 Supersport and added several choice extras to create a limited edition called the Ducati Superlight – 953 examples were sold over 2 years.
1980 Wasp MX Sidecar
There isn’t much information and I wish the pictures were bigger, but this listing is too interesting to pass up seeing as the seller states that this MX hack has lots of race history and was a “trophy winner at Pikes Peak.”
Rare Project – 1969 Honda CB750 Arlen Ness Digger
Post Listing Update: did not get any bids at the opening ask of $6,000 on eBay. The seller of this custom states that it was painted by Arlen Ness (it has his signature on the tank) and that it’s a survivor which will need some work as it’s not running.
1990 Honda CB-1
The Honda CB-1 was a wonderful mid-sized standard in a time of replica racers. Originally built for the Japanese market, it was a beautifully balanced motorcycle that lost out in an American market that was obsessed with having as much horsepower as possible.
Restored – 1984 Yamaha IT490
Post Sale Update: sold for the BIN of $4,500 after 39 bids on eBay in Greenville, Rhode Island. In 1983, Yamaha introduced the IT490, an evolution of the 465 and the biggest of the “International Trial” line. It was a heavy, powerful bike that was ideal for enduro or cross-country riding, though they had a nasty habit of pinging when …
Rare Project – 1983 Urba Sport Trimuter
Post Sale Update: sold for $850 after one bid on eBay in Aguanga, California. In February of 1980, Mechanix Illustrated magazine featured the design for an electric commuter kit three-wheeler that the consumer was supposed to put together him or herself. Supposedly 30k plans were sold…but who knows how many were actually built. One of them was used in the …
All Four Years – 1979-1982 Honda CBX Collection
Here’s something you don’t see every day – someone in Sylmar, California has accumulated an “immaculately restored” example from each year of Honda CBX production (1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982). He’s also trying to sell them all as a set!
1979 Laverda Formula 500
Post Listing Update: This Laverda was later relisted with a lower ask of $18,000, but it still did not get any bids. With just 210 examples built over three production batches between 1978 and 1980, the Formula 500 is one of Laverda’s rarest machines. This example was restored by Trevor Dunne of Ducati Santa Barbara and was featured in a …
1986 Yamaha FZ750
Upon its introduction in 1986, Yamaha’s FZ immediately took the 750cc sportbike crown – MCN says it was “as fast as a Kawasaki GPZ900R” and called it “a wonderful piece of engineering.”
1980 Benelli Sei 900
Post Sale Update: This Sei sold for $25,262 after 30 bids on Iconic Motorbike Auctions in Santa Monica, California. 10-12-2020 Update: 3+ years later, this low-mileage Benelli is back up on the market! Friend-of-Bike-urious Nelson B. acquired it from the last owner, repainted the front fairing and covered ~300 miles with it, and now he’s put it up for sale …
2005 MZ 1000S
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve last seen a 1000S for sale – so let’s fix that! In 1996, a Malaysian group took over the husk of MZ and resolved to build their first superbike. The MV 1000S was born – a 140 mph parallel twin rarity, of which only 30 were brought to the US.
1995 Kawasaki KLX650
Post Sale Update: The seller lowered the asking price to $3,000 – it ended up selling but the sale price is unknown. Everyone knows the KLR650, but in the mid-’90s Kawasaki also offered both a Tengai variant (same basic bike extra plastics) as well as the KLX, a faster and beefier version dual-sport. There was even a KLX650R, which was …