Category Archive

Loosely based on Yamaha’s TZ250 racer, the TZR was a 2 stroke sportbike built between ’86 and ’99 – in 1986 it was the first production 250cc motorcycle to lap Isle of Man’s TT course at over 100 miles per hour.

Depending on how you define “production”, Kawasaki was the first motorcycle manufacturer to roll out a turbocharged motorcycle. But as this excellent article on OddBike points out, Kawasaki’s effort was more of a quasi-aftermarket creation, and it wasn’t well-thought out either. Honda’s CX500 Turbo is more deserving of the ‘first production turbo bike’ title, as it truly started the forced …

In 1997, Rob Muzzy debuted the Raptor: aka what happened when Kawi gave him a Ninja ZX-7R and told him to go nuts. The Raptor immediately competed in Formula USA, and Muzzy decided to produce 50 to offer to the general public.

The Kawasaki Z1R was the brainchild of Wayne Moulton, known as the “Father of the Japanese Cruiser.” His belief was that a solid motorcycle could be moderately tweaked to form four versions, one of which is a sport-tourer. So he took the KZ1000 and turned it into this! The first year of production was 1978, and all the bikes were …

Bimota’s 10th model with a Yamaha engine, the appropriately-named Dieci was built between 1991 and 1994 with just 224 examples leaving the factory. An even smaller portion were equipped with a passenger seat and pegs. Bimota scooped up the engine from a FZR1000 and then tweaked it to yield nearly 150 horsepower.

The Honda CB450 Black Bomber is easily one of the most significant motorcycles to ever come out of Japan. Produced for just three years, it was the company’s first ‘big bike’ (and the first production bike with DOHC). At the time, it was considered to be one of the best bikes ever built, though it didn’t sell as well as …

A popular mod with 90s GSX-Rs was to shoehorn the 1100 motor into the 750 frame – the resulting creation was often referred to as a “7/11”. According to Old School Suzuki, the first 7/11 “was built by Bradley O’Connor and it was featured in the September 1992 issue of Performance Bikes magazine.“

The Bridgestone GTO 350 was the scrambler version of the absolutely incredible GTR, a bike that could leave 650 and 750cc bikes in the dust in the quarter-mile. What did Bridgestone think would be required to turn a street bike into a scrambler? The only change was the high exhaust pipes. The GTO was the much rarer variant of an …

The TRX850 was a little bit of a ‘parts bin’ special – it was a blend of the TDM850 and the FZR that came together in an attempt to challenge Ducati’s 900cc SuperSport (note the trellis frame). This bike was never officially sold in the US, so if you’re looking to stand out with your ride among people in the …

Sold in the US for three years, the Honda VTR250 has become a cult classic for riders that love small bikes. The liquid cooled 250cc engine was paired with a six-speed transmission, and interestingly, an inboard front disc – though by 1990 the front brake would change to the industry standard. Someone in Wisconsin is selling a pair of them …

Paul Dunstall is a legend in the classic motorcycling world. Originally a motorcycle racer, he set up a workshop where he turned Nortons into world-beaters with engine and cosmetic modifications. Fast forward to the 1970s, Dunstall’s business had expanded to a point where he was shipping complete bikes directly to dealers in the US. At this point, he was splitting …

Bimota’s latest model is the KB4 – it features the 1,043cc inline-four (good for 142hp and 82lb-ft of torque) pulled from a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX. Bimota calls the KB4 a sport-tourer, though it only has one seat and no luggage.

On the market for less than a year, Suzuki XN85 was the first factory bike to feature a 16-inch front wheel – previously reserved for race bikes. That wheel, combined with low clip-ons and a Suzuki Full Floater rear suspension made it a nearly peerless handler for the time. It also featured a low pressure turbo that helped boost power …