Founded by Bert Greeves, the Greeves motorcycle company started when Bert was mowing his lawn and thought of mounting a lawnmower engine to the wheelchair of his disabled cousin to help with mobility. That led to a government contract, and Bert was inspired by his success to start building motorcycles as well. The company was quite successful with exports – …
1995 MZ Silver Star Classic Gespann
It’s rare to find factory sidecar options on bikes made in the last three decades, but the “Gespann” was MZ’s name for their sidecar option on the Silver Star.
195 Miles – 1979 Honda CX500
The CX500 has become a popular platform for customization, though this one is probably too nice to chop up.
Bike Review – 2020 KTM Duke 200
View PostUnexpected Custom – 1975 Moto Guzzi 850 Chopper
I’ve featured a couple of custom Ducati-powered choppers before, but this is the first one with a Guzzi motor in it.
First Ride Review – 2021 Honda Trail 125
View PostBird Engineering Mini MX
I really struggled to find information on Bird MX (maybe called Bird Engineering), but apparently they utilized McCulloch engines with automatic transmissions. Do you know anything about the company or their products?
556 Miles – 1986 Honda CT110
Seeing as I’m heading out to the US launch of the Trail125 today, it only seems appropriate to feature the last Trail sold in the US – the 1986 Trail 110.
Nice Price – 2000 Kawasaki Concours
If you want to cover miles for cheap, it’s tough to beat the sub-$2k asking price for this Kawasaki. Clean the carbs and you’ll be all set – it has just 16,773 miles.
The First Ducati – 1949 Ducati Cucciolo
The first motorcycle model ever released by the Italian firm, the Ducati Cucciolo was introduced in March 1946 out of the Borgo Panigale factory. One year later they were winning races with Glauco Zitelli at the helm, and a year after that the Cucciolo was being imported into the US.
2006 Ecorider Hippo Petrol
Why am I specifying “Petrol” in the title? Because the Ecorider is one of the very few production motorcycles that has an available diesel engine. With that said, this was technically called an ATV, not a motorcycle, and as such riders did not need a motorcycle license in Europe. Ecorider had a US distributor but this is the first one …
Never Ridden – 1969 American Eagle 405 Talon
Founded by Frank Hipkin in the mid ’60s, Sprite Motor Cycles (later known as Sprite Developments) as a small British off-road motorcycle company that built trials bikes and scramblers, usually as a kit. One of their bigger efforts was the 405 Talon, and it was exported to several countries under different names: the BVM 405 in Belgium, Alron 405 in …
Honda-Powered Custom with Hossack Front End
When Shane A submitted this to me via email, the subject line was simple and very accurate: “This one is wild.” The seller calls it a Honda Z5-Hossack, as it looks to be the 5th variant of his fascinating customs that utilize a Hossack front end.
1982 Can-Am Qualifier 250
The successor to the TNT (Track ‘n’ Trail), Can-Am’s Qualifier was an enduro sibling to the MX-3 with a Rotax motor tuned more for mid-range torque than top-end horsepower. When they launched it in 1977, Can-Am said it was their first purpose enduro bike so you no longer had to strip down a TNT or add lights to the MX.
25th Anniversary – 2007 Honda VFR800
In 2007, Honda celebrated the 25th Anniversary of their venerable sport tourer with a special red/white/blue paint job. I always thought this paint scheme looked amazing, though the stock black wheels were a mistake – they should have been white! This example is in great shape and comes with some modifications that every sixth gen viffer should have.