Post Sale Update: After 33 bids on eBay, this Titan sold for $6,200. Though it was always in the shadow of Honda’s CB450, the Suzuki T500 (also known as the Titan) was one of the best bikes the firm had made to date. Thanks to the intellectual theft of 2-stroke technology from MZ as detailed in Stealing Speed, Suzuki was …
#405 – 1969 Honda CB750
Post Listing Update: This CB750 got no interest at the asking price of $49,000. Vic World has earned himself the nickname of “Mr. CB750” thanks to decades of expertise and restorations of sandcast motors. In his words, “we take those parts and assemble a dream. The restored bike will look, run, and feel virtually identical to the legendary machines that …
931 Miles – 1983 BMW R80ST
BMW’s R80GS started a revolution in the world of big adventure bikes, but the German firm was only able to sell 5,963 examples of a street-based brother (R80ST) in two years. Decades later, the ST is a cult classic and many owners think it’s actually the best handling motorcycle BMW had made up to that point. This is one of …
1974 Benelli Tornado 650S
Post Sale Update: After being relisted, this Tornado sold for a BIN of $3,800 on eBay. While Benelli had some good success with small displacement bikes, they knew that many American and British riders were only throwing their money at big bikes, and the Italian firm had nothing to attract those dollars. They decided to target these riders with a …
Never Started But Ending Soon – 1974 MZ TS250
Post Sale Update: After 18 bids on eBay, this TS250 sold for $2,550. Even though it’s 43 years old, this MZ TS250 is said to have never been started. Instead, it’s “been preserved in a film layer of oil all over the bike for about all of its years.” It’s not perfect but I can’t say I remember seeing a …
Matching Numbers – 1972 Triumph TR6R
The early 1970’s saw an innovative period of motorcycle development. It was an era of evolution, with engineers building on previously proven models and increasingly refining each manufacturer’s respective two-wheeled offerings. Triumph’s TR6 shares its lineage with the majority of its vertical-twin powered machines, tracing back to the ’38 500cc cast iron Speed Twin. After things calmed down a bit …
Rare in the US – 1955 Express Werke Radex 175S
Express Werke AG (AG = Aktiengesellschaft: a type of German corporation that’s owned by shareholders and is often publicly traded) had a 75 year history of producing bicycles, mopeds and small-displacement motorcycles, starting all the way back in 1884. Express Werke utilized engines produced by ILO and Sachs to power its lightweight scoots for a good deal of its time …
200 Miles – 1976 Harley-Davidson SS175
One of the several models offered by Harley during the dark days of the AMF partnership, the SS175 is never going to be high up on the collectibility scale of two-wheelers with the Harley-Davidson logo on the tank. Despite that, this example stands out as it is in impressive condition – it has only done 200 miles over the last …
<1,000 Miles - 1978 Honda CB750 Hondamatic
In 1976, Honda introduced the “Hondamatic” variant of the immensely popular CB750. The model was known as the CB750A and it featured a two-speed torque converter that allowed a rider to switch between Low or Drive (shown on the dash as 1 or 2) while stopped. It wasn’t very popular, and after 1978 the model was killed off. Only 1,700 …
Old-School Cool – 1974 Kawasaki S3 Mach II 400
The S3 Mach II 400 was a smaller, more tamable version of Kawasaki’s legendary 1970’s triples, though the 400 two-stroke inline-triple still packed enough punch to allow for some legally-questionable riding. After Kawasaki’s enormous success with the release of its H1 Mach III, Mean Green seized on the momentum of its iconic three-cylinder by offering several other bikes powered by …
Nimbus Nut Restoration – 1955 Nimbus Model C
Travis Scott is one of the most knowledgeable people in the US about the Danish motorcycle manufacturer Nimbus. Because of that, he’s known as the Nimbus Nut – and I interviewed him about this a couple of years ago. Well, Travis has just completed another restoration and is offering a rare opportunity for you to snag one of less than …
Beautifully Restored – 1952 Triumph Thunderbird 6T
This is almost certainly one of the most pristine 1952 Triumph 6T Thunderbird 650 in existence. Not only did this example take home an award from the Santa Barbara Concours d’Elegance and the Quail Motorcycle Gathering – where it won oldest bike on the ride – but it was also featured in the film ‘Why We Ride‘. On top of …
Certificate #1 – 1977 Triumph Bonneville Silver Jubilee
View PostEnding Soon – 3 Tiny Restored Hondas
You all know I love the Honda S90 (probably irrationally so), but it’s the CL90 that really gets my attention in this trio of 3 Honda 90s that were restored by South Brooklyn Moto.
1937 Tornax K20
Over a 29-year history of motorcycle production between the 20s and the 50s, the German firm Tornax built about 50,000 bikes. One of them was the K20, which was introduced in 1936.