Post Listing Update: This Motra did not meet reserve despite 56 bids up to $7,100. In the 80s, Honda offered what they called a “heavy duty” minibike called the Motra. Unlike the Z50 or original Monkey, the Motra was designed to be loaded up with gear and ridden just about anywhere you could imagine. A commonly-shared-but-unverified tale says that “Motra” …
119 Miles – 1971 Rockford Taka 100
Following up on the Bridgestone Hurricane also available today, it seems appropriate to mention Rockford Motors. They were the American importer for Bridgestone, but when the Japanese firm stopped selling bikes in 1971, Rockford had a bit of an issue. They made a deal with Bridgestone to take over manufacturing rights for the 3 smallest bikes – two 60cc models …
Street Legal – 1967 Rickman Metisse
In 2013, this Metisse “underwent modifications to adapt a period appropriate headlamp and taillamp/stop lamp and horn set up to make it street legal”. Would you ever put it on pavement?
2003 Cannondale E440
The swansong of the Cannondale motorcycles (a short-lived subsidiary of the American bicycle company) was the E440, an enduro twin of the X440 motocrosser. It was a disaster, the culmination of an $80 million investment that bankrupted the motorcycle division.
2011 KTM 990 Adventure Dakar Edition
In the upcoming issue of Motorcyclist magazine, I’ll feature a few bikes that are “Performance Steals” for the Smart Money column. One of them is the KTM 990 Adventure, which was the most off-road capable big bike of its time. In 2011, KTM offered a “Dakar Edition” which yielded slightly more peak horsepower thanks to a 500-rpm higher rev limit, …
Unexpected Custom – Yamaha Seca 2 Dual-Sport
My first bike after undergrad was a beat up Yamaha Seca 2 that I bought for $600. I thought it was a pleasant bike, but I never thought it would make a good platform to go off-road with. Thankfully, the builder of this bike doesn’t think like I do.
1964 Gilera 124 Fuori Strada Enduro
Post Listing Update: This Gilera did not meet reserve despite 23 bids up to $1,508 on eBay Described by the seller (Michael Harper) as a “rare limited edition enduro version of the Sei Giorni Speciale”, this Fuori Strada (which translates to “off-road” is apparently a one-year only model. I’ve never encountered one before, and it’s a tough one to find …
Street Legal – 1976 Husqvarna 250 WR
The styling of the front fender doesn’t match the rest of the bike, but the dual-sport kit means that this iconic Husky is now street legal. Take the good with the bad, and then maybe take some time to get a different headlight and front fender. The 250 WR is one of Husqvarna’s most famous machines, as it was one …
First Year – 1966 Honda CT90
Honda produced the CT90 for 13 years, an evolution of the varying small displacement trail bikes that were marketed to farmers, hunters, and other people with a sense of adventure. The model started as a spinoff of the Super Cub, and for 1966 Honda dropped previous designations and went with CT90 – though you may remember it as the Trail …
2003 KTM 525 EXC
Short of the engineering masterpieces that are modern day supernakeds, I don’t know if it is possible to have more fun on the street in terms of smiles per gallon and value for money than a dual-sport or supermoto. I don’t care how much power you have, there’s nothing more fun than all of it. The KTM 525 EXC made …
1990 BMW R100GS Paris-Dakar
Post Sale Update: This PD sold for the BIN of $5,500 on eBay. In 1980, BMW released the R80GS, confirming their ability to upset the market with truly innovative bikes that would set standards in several segments of the market. In 1987, BMW went one step further in the development of the most successful big trailie and released the R100GS …
1989 Honda Transalp
Post Listing Update: This Transalp did not get any interest at the BIN of $4,200. After the NXR750V’s multiple Paris-Dakar victories during the 80s, Honda decided to release a street-legal tribute version to that bike with the XL600V Transalp in 1987.
Chantland 750 Kit – 1970 Rickman Metisse MkIII
Post Sale Update: This Rickman Triumph sold for the BIN of $10,000 on eBay. From the seller of yesterday’s Rickman Kawasaki CR900, here’s another special Rickman that’s been stuffed with a bored-out motor. This time around it’s a Metisse with a Triumph 650 motor that’s packing a Chantland 750 kit.
Well Modded – 2006 Suzuki DR-Z 400 Custom
The seller of this bike bought it in poor condition and the motor quickly suffered a serious failure. That gave the seller the excuse to “go wild and build [his] interpretation of the ultimate DRZ” that he planned on keeping for decades. Well, now he’s buying a house and he needs the cash more than he needs this bike.
Baby Harley – 1974 Harley-Davidson X-90
In the early 60s, Harley-Davidson had to make changes to resist advancements from the Japanese. Indeed, specialized in big V-twins only, Harley did not have any bikes to get into the small-size engine market. To fix that, the American brand decided to outsource their production of small cc bikes to the Italian manufacturer Aermacchi. Among the various bikes built in …