Honda wasn’t actually the first to put a 6-cylinder powerplant in a production motorcycle – Benelli earned that honor with the 750 Sei. Thanks to the modern day Goldwing, the idea of a 6-cylinder Honda isn’t a foreign concept, but it all started with the CBX. Built in response to a horsepower war started by Kawasaki, the CBX packed all …
1944 BSA WM20
Post Sale Update: After being relisted, this WM20 sold for $6,500 with 41 bids. Built for 18 years, the BSA WM20 was initially considered a failure for military applications by the British, though small evolutions converted it into one of longest serving motorcycles for any military in the world. Over 125,000 of them were used in active service for World …
2000 Honda RC51 SP1
A couple of weeks ago, while writing up a CBR600F4 racebike, I mentioned that I’ve been on the hunt for some good RC51s to feature. Reader Zack B has answered my call thanks to this find of a Honda RC51 SP1 that, unlike most, is reasonably priced!
1974 Kenny Dreer Norton VR880 Commando Sprint Special
5-26 Update: This Kenny Dreer Norton VR880 Commando Sprint Special is back up for sale. Bidding is up to $13,951 here on eBay. Post-Listing Update: Despite 53 bids up to $26,900, this Kenny Dreer Norton VR880 Commando Sprint Special did not meet reserve on eBay. Kenny Dreer, the man who almost brought Norton back from the grave several years ago, …
1954 AJS 18CS
I’ve featured a 18S before, but the AJS 18CS was a more aggressive long-stroke version. The C stood for Competition (as a scrambler bike), and the S stood for the fact that it had a suspension as opposed to a rigid rear frame. This particular example has been slightly customized to emphasize the “Competition” aspect.
1977 Triumph Bonneville Silver Jubilee
The Triumph Bonneville Silver Jubilee was a limited edition of the Bonneville. Only made for the 1977 year, 1,000 models were released in the United States to commemorate…the Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) of Elizabeth’s rise to Queen, even though Triumph had nothing to do with it. How quaint.
1999 Harley-Davidson MT500
This HD MT500 is one of the rarest bikes to ever come out of the HD factory, and I’m a huge sucker for it at Bike-urious. Originally built by the British in the 80s, rights to this bike were sold by Armstrong-CCM to HD, who sold just 355 copies of the MT500 in 1999, and a few more the following …
1989 Moto Paton 500
A couple of months ago, BikeEXIF featured a beautiful bike from the revitalized Paton, a company founded by Giuseppe Pattoni in 1957. Pattoni was chief mechanic of FB Mondial‘s GP Team, and when they pulled out of Grand Prix racing, he started his own company.
2000 Bimota DB4ie
Unlike the normal DB4, the Bimota DB4ie is a fuel injected biposto. Like the original, it’s a very rare specimen. Only about 75 were made worldwide, and just 15 of those were officially imported to the US. Most were the red/white paint combination, making this yellow/black example a hard to find sportbike.
Reader Ride – 2003 Harley-Davidson Road King Sidecar
In 2003, Harley-Davidson released a 100th Anniversary edition of it’s venerable Road King. A very small amount of these bikes (known internally as the FLHRCI) came with a matching factory sidecar, with a total MSRP of nearly $29,000. This example is particularly worth noting as it’s being offered by one of my favorite Bike-urious readers!
1975 Benelli Quattro 500
Post-Sale Update: This Benelli Quattro 500 sold for $4,150 on eBay. 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’ …
2004 Ducati 998 Matrix Reloaded Edition
As a vehicle aficionado, I thought the best part of the Matrix Reloaded was the incredible chase scene which was basically a GM ad. Just for the movie, production crews built a 1.5 mile freeway on old runways of a decommissioned Naval Air Station. At some point in the scene, a Ducati 996 is featured for some high-speed lane splitting:
Boxer Bicycle – 1949 Jack and Heintz Twin
Based out of Cleveland, Jack and Heintz was a motor manufacturer that, among other products, built engines for drone airplanes in WWII. This engine was utilized in a kit called the Marman Twin (based on a purposed built Schwinn MP97), as well as other frames for one-off bikes like this Shelby framed example. The engine is a two-stroke boxer with …
Instant Ducati Collection – 4 Ducati Sportbike Package
Got $90,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Here’s your chance to pick up 4 premium modern Ducatis all at once. Start a collection! The four bikes are: 1.) 2002 Ducati 998S Ben Bostrom 2.) 2005 Ducati 999R 3.) 2008 Ducati 1098R 4.) 2013 Ducati 1199R Each of the four bikes is claimed to be in ‘perfect original condition’ and …
1947 Indian Chief
My favorite cruiser is probably the Indian Chief. There are usually plenty for sale around the country at any given time, so I try to avoid flooding this site with them. But every once in a while I see one that stands out, and you’re thus forced to see it.