Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura just shared the great story of George Wyman, a motorcyclist who rode from San Francisco to New York over fifty days in 1903. It was grueling – he had to pedal the last 150 miles because the engine quit, but he made it! And here’s what most people don’t know – he was the first …
Gift Intermission – Nicetrails
Alright, this is a little bit different, but I think it could become a cool gift idea if you’ve got some cool GPS tracks laying around from your last off-road ride…
AMA Race Bike – 2008 Buell 1125R
In honor of EBR’s announcement that they’re somehow back again, even if no one ever seems to buy their new bikes, here’s an ex-AMA Buell racer that was ridden by Shawn Higbee for Richie Morris Racing.
Impressively Original – 1936 Harley-Davidson EL Knucklehead
Post-Listing Update: This Knucklehead did not meet reserve with bidding up to $70,100 after 53 bids on eBay. This lovely EL is being offered by the third owner, who says it hasn’t been ‘changed’ since 1965, when the original owner repainted it. In 1989, the bike was put away by the second owner and the third owner has just brought …
Cafe’d Interceptor — 1984 Honda VF500 Custom
Customs built on early Honda CB’s and CX’s are pretty common these days, and justifiably so. With their classic proportions and interesting engines, they fall easily to the artist’s eye. But can one work with a “modern” perimeter chassis and complex V-4 power plant? Apparently yes, as Illinois-based Craig Rodsmith of Rodsmith Customs shows us with this VF500 Interceptor cafe …
Video Intermission – 70s AMF/Harley-Davidson Ad
I love me some vintage motorcycle ads, so here’s one from the AMF/Harley days advertising their SS250 street bike. The idea was that it looks so close to the 1,000cc Harley that it has to be just as powerful/good/name an adjective.”Until you been on a Harley-Davidson, you haven’t been on a motorcycle.”
1975 Suzuki T500
The Suzuki T500 was usually found in the shadow of Honda’s Black Bomber, but it was one of the best Zooks in history – a bike that proved that large displacement two stroke engines could be reliable.
1977 Penton GS6 125
Post Listing Update: This GS6 did not meet reserve with 3 bids up to $3,050. From the last year before Penton evolved into KTM, this GS6 is a restored example of the 125cc model.
Go Touring – 1971 Bultaco Metralla Mk2
Post-Listing Update: This Metralla tourer was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. The Metralla is a legend in the world of classic bikes, but because they were the fastest two-stroke bike you could buy at the time, most people used them in racing or sport riding applications. Here’s an example with a rare factory fairing that’ll allow you …
1 of 5 – Radical Guzzi Ristretto
My German is non-existent, so I’m depending a lot on Google Translate here. But let’s start with what I do know something about – Radical Guzzi, a shop that’s has made quite a name for themselves with custom MG builds. Looks like they’re building a line of 5 bikes called Ristretto – they’ve already sold 3 of 5 and now …
1962 Harley-Davidson Sportster XLH
Quick refresher on the Harley-Davidson naming structure – XL basically translates to a non-race Sportster (as opposed to the XR you know of from the XR750, for example). Back in the day, the H meant this was packing a high compression engine. No, it’s still not fast, but at least this beautiful blue Sportster has got a little extra punch …
May 14th – The 2016 Quail Motorcycle Gathering
I can’t even plan my own life more than 3 days in advance, but I’m going to give you nearly 3 months of advance notice about this year’s Quail Motorcycle Gathering, the 8th annual occurrence. It’s quite a visual treat, both in terms of the local scenery and the featured machinery, so you should try to make it out!
Blue Steel – 1974 Honda CB360T
Post-Sale Update: After 9 bids on eBay, this CB360T custom sold for $6,700. I’ve featured a couple of Powder Monkees bikes in the past – my favorite was their CB750 called Wabi Sabi. Here’s the smallest of their builds to date, a CB360T named Blue Steel (I assume that’s a reference to the movie Zoolander).
3 Interesting Projects in Michigan
A seller in Michigan has three cool bikes, all of which have no known history and weren’t stored particularly well. Still, these motorcycles are quirky enough that someone will want to snap them up! We’ve got a Harley-Davidson Z90, an Indian ME-100, and a MZ Trophy ES250/2 – let’s get into more details, in order of how much work they’re …
Bike-urious does the Baja 1000 – Part 8
Here’s the 2nd half of the LABV story – I finally got to join Nathan and the rest of the riders for our quest to get dirty on the way to Vegas.