In the 101 year long history of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, only 5 riders have completed the course in less than 10 minutes. Rennie Scaysbrook (Road Test Editor at Cycle News) is part of that list, thanks to his 9:57.712 run this year on a KTM 1290 Super Duke. What’s even crazier is that he placed second to …
Harley or Indian? Early 1900’s American Board Track Racer “Replicas”
From the 1910’s to the 1920’s board track racing in the US was thriving. The races were exciting as the wooden tracks were wide enough to allow for ample overtaking and banked to enable high speeds while stadium-style seating was easily placed around the ovals (or sometimes circles) so audiences could enjoy all of the action. Unfortunately the Great Depression …
Ending Soon – 1968 Minarelli P4 Competizione
Post Sale Update: After 27 bids on eBay, this P4 sold for $4,651. Minarelli was founded in 1951 as a motorcycle manufacturer, but within five years they narrowed their focus to just building two-stroke motors. Over time they went back to building complete bikes, including some factory racers. One of their best known powerplants was the 49cc P4, which was …
Built for Shaq – 2001 West Coast Choppers El Diablo
Post Listing Update: Despite 73 bids on eBay up to $44,100, this Shaq-sized chopper did not meet reserve. Wild custom choppers like this aren’t usually my cup of tea, however this one stands out because it’s big…it was designed to fit Shaquille O’Neal – both his 7’3″ frame and his size 26 shoes! The build process was shown in Motorcycle …
Video Intermission – Restoring Barry Sheene’s ’76 Championship Bike
A couple of days ago I shared a ’82 Suzuki RGB500, and commenter RoadRash left a note about a couple of videos that Suzuki had released detailing the restoration process of Barry Sheene’s XR14 RG500 – the bike he won the 1976 World Championship with. Get a cup of coffee out and give these two videos the next 10 minutes …
Black and Blue – Yamaha XS650 Street Tracker
Flat Tracker builds have become increasingly popular lately but like cafe racers they’ve moved into the territory of being over saturated. This custom Yamaha however is the type of tracker-build that inspires dozens of others, albeit usually of a lower quality. While this one-off machine is fully street-legal, it does a fantastic job of looking like it belongs on a …
Mandello del Lario Mutt – 1975 Moto Guzzi 1000
View PostThe First Ducati Model – 1946 Ducati Cucciolo T1
Post Sale Update: After 28 bids on eBay, this Ducati sold for $5,676. The story of Ducati motorcycles can be traced back to a man named Aldo Farinelli, who developed a small motor that could be mounted to a bicycle to help mobilize the people of Italy after World War II. He named the motor “Cucciolo” (Italian for “puppy”) because …
Video Intermission – Great American Hill Climb
Next month (July 28-29), Billings, Montana will host the 99th running of the Great American Championshill Hill Climb. It’s great to see a motorcycle event with such longevity, and after you see the next couple of videos, I think you’ll see why it’s lasted so long.
Factory GP Racer – 1982 Suzuki RGB500 XR40
View PostServicustom – 1967 Harley-Davidson Servicar
With the rise of the automobile, motorcycle companies were forced to respond in the way of producing utilitarian scoot-based machines with the most common example being the Harley-Davidson Servicar. These machines were manufactured from 1932 to 1975 and saw dozens of changes and updates in its 43 years of production with some models having a car-like rear differential. While this …
2007 AHRMA 500 Winner – 1972 Honda CL450 Racer
Back in 2007, this heavily modified CL450 won the AHRMA 500cc Grand Prix National Championship. Now it’s got a new engine and it’s ready for a new rider to go racing with again. Will it be you?
1976 Honda Z50 Mini Trail
If last week’s 50th Anniversary Edition was a bit more than you wanted to pay but you still want to relive the magic of what made monkey bikes special for both kids and adults, here’s a 3-owner example that just got an extensive amount of work done so that it’s ready to enjoy.