1931 was a pretty significant year for the British motorcycle history. Ariel debuted its legendary Square Four (designed by Edward Turner), Britain issued its first Highway Code laws, and it was an even bigger year for Triumph who introduced an array of new offerings that brought the number of total models offered in the 1931 motorcycle range up to ten. …
$1,000 – 1981 Honda C70 Passport Deluxe
The Passport (or Super Cub, depending on where you live) is the best selling motor vehicle in history by a large margin. Over 60 million units have covered miles all around the world, and they’ve served all kinds of roles first bikes to family SUVs. James May has gone on record multiple times saying the Cub is the greatest machine …
In England – 1961 Honda Benly CB92 Racer
The CB92 was the king of its class in its day and was produced by many of the same Honda employees that were behind the marque’s first ever RC racer. Soichiro Honda released the CB92 – aka Benly Super Sport – in 1959, just a year after the RC71. Supposedly, 24,251 examples were produced from ’59-’65 (although some sources say …
1960 Matchless G80CS
Post Listing Update: After 32 bids on eBay, this Matchless did not meet reserve at $6,700. CS stands for Competition Suspension, and for several years it was the top-of-the-line variant of the G80 (if you ignore the 125 examples of the rare Typhoon G80TCS). In Matchless’ mind, all you had to do was pull off the headlight and you’d have …
Barry Sheene GP Racer – 1983 Heron Suzuki RGB500 Mk8
10-26-2017 Update: 17 months later, this GP Suzuki is back up for sale with an approximate discount of 40 percent. That sounds good, except the asking price is still $124,944. If that somehow brings it down into your price range, you can find it in the UK here on eBay. Post-Listing Update: This bike did not get any interest at …
1984 Moto Morini 350 K2
Moto Morini’s heyday with production bikes was in the 70s with the legendary 3 1/2, but they weren’t able to retain the magic and after a decline in the 80s the company was sold to Cagiva. During that slide, they released a spiritual successor with top notch components and a dry weight of just 330 pounds. It was called the …
Record Holding History – 1977 Yamaha TZ750
Post Listing Update: This TZ750 did not meet reserve with bidding up to $42,200 – very close to the $42,700 it reached earlier in the year. 10-25-17 Update: 4 months later, this TZ is back up for sale and bidding is up to $35,100 and the reserve not yet met (or a BIN of $62,000) here on eBay. Post Listing …
Suggestions for Cuba?
View PostPicture Intermission – 42 Years of the Honda Gold Wing
View PostVideo Intermission – Triumph Moto2 Testing
As you may have heard, in 2019 Moto2 is switching their spec motors to 765cc triples from Triumph. Based on this video, this switch will be very good news for our ears.
Vintage Racer in Canada – 1976 Yamaha TZ250C
Post Listing Update: After 6 bids on eBay, this TZ did not meet reserve at $4,363.24. Introduced in 1973, Yamaha’s TZ250 was instantly competitive in club racing and was even able to make a dent at the GP level with a few modifications. Thanks to the aftermarket, it stayed competitive for 3 decades. The “C” model was the first major …
Cafe Rebuild – 1966 Harley-Davidson 250 Sprint H
The Harley-Davidson Aermacchi Sprint 250 was a solid little runner with agile handling. It was generally a fun little bike that the Italians thought made for a great commuter (at a claimed 45-55 mpg). When the Sprint first made its way to US shores, it supposedly made 18 hp at 6,750rpm with an 8.5:1 compression ratio. Multiple versions of the …
Unrestored – 1948 Indian Chief
Post Listing Update: Despite 43 bids up to $20,200, this Chief did not meet reserve. In 1947, Indian sold 12,000 Chiefs. The next year, Indian only built 3,000 of them as they were shifting production to smaller bikes like the Arrow. The relative rarity makes the ’48 Chief special, but this example is even more interesting as it’s had just …
New in Crate in the UK – 1989 Benelli 304
Back in January, I featured a ’87 304 that had never been started. In that post, I mentioned that “the seller also has another 304 that’s still in the crate. That one’s available for $6,911.” 9 months later, the new in crate bike is still available.
Gooichi Motorsports Showbike – 2008 Honda CBR 1000RR
Modern sport bikes are hands-down my favorite kind of motorcycle, but I’ve never been a fan of the heavily-customized Japanese liter bike-builds with custom paint, massive rear wheels, and single-sided swing-arm kits. This style makes a little more sense to me on already non-agile models – like the ZX-14R or Busa – than it does on a GSXR1K, but in …