In 1961, the Velocette Venom set a 24 hour speed record (which still stands for a 500cc bike – read all about it here on The Vintagent). 3 years later, the Venom won its class at Thruxton’s 500 mile endurance race. The next year, the Venom gained the Thruxton name and lots of goodies like a twin-leading shoe brake, giant …
In Italy – 1977 Laverda LH4
For me, hearing “Laverda” evokes an image of a big, loud, (and of course, very orange) street bike. But the Italian firm occasionally also dabbled into off-roaders – one of their more serious attempts was in the late 70s, with the LH4.
1954 Poirier Voiturette XW5 Monoto
A product of the French, the Poirier Voiturette was a tandem-seater design that was a hybrid between a motorcycle and a two-seater sports car. Voiturette roughly translates to ‘cycle-car’, which basically means ‘small motor vehicle’.
1968 Honda CB350
Introduced in 1968, the Honda CB350 became Honda’s best selling model when it was released – in its first year of production it was the best selling motorcycle in the world. Even though over 250,000 were sold in just five years, here’s one of the first 200 examples that rolled off the line.
Auction Preview – Mecum Monterey 2015
On August 13-15, Mecum will be auctioning off over 300 cars and sadly, just 5 bikes. Let’s take a look at the latter.
Award Winner – 1974 Suzuki TM125 Challenger
View Post2003 Bourget Auti-Mo
When it was founded in 1993, Bourget’s Bike Works was an serious innovator in the world of choppers thanks to Roger Bourget, who founded the company with his wife. In 2005, the couple split, and in 2009, Roger opened up a new shop with his new wife. Here’s one of the bikes created during the heyday of Bourget’s Bike Works.
$2,800 – 1983 Suzuki GS1100E
In the early 80s, Suzuki knocked off the CBX as the superbike du jour. The Suzuki GS1100E came into the market and instantly became the bike of choice for the power hungry. American press mags constantly raved about not just the power, but also the surprising handling abilities for such a large bike. The shame for Suzuki was that this …
Now for Sale: “Are you Bike-urious?” T-shirts
I was pleasantly surprised to hear from several readers (and strangers) that they wanted a t-shirt like the one I wore on Jay Leno’s Garage.
Ducati Powered – 1974 Condor A350
Post Sale Update: This Condor sold for $4,250 after 24 bids on eBay. A bike built for the Swiss Army, the Condor A350 was produced between ’73 and ’79. 3,000 were produced, and the military only started releasing them to the public about 15 years ago.
1956 Sunbeam S8
After WWII, as part of reparations, BMW gave up its designs of the BMW R75. Bikes like Chang Jiang and Ural used these designs, but England’s take was the Sunbeam S7. You can see the BMW influence when you look at a side profile, but Sunbeam wanted to differentiate themselves by utilizing a inline vertical twin instead of the German …
1964 BMW R69S
View Post1989 Honda CB-1
The Honda CB-1 was a wonderful mid-sized standard in a time of replica racers. Originally built for the Japanese market, it was a beautifully balanced motorcycle that lost out in an American market that was obsessed with having as much horsepower as possible.
1968 Ducati 250 Monza
I can never decide if I prefer the aesthetics of the pre-66 Monzas (much less angular), but here’s a bike that’s claimed to be a ‘great, unrestored, original condition bike’. This bike (VIN: 98405) runs well and everything works, however the seller says you’ll want to replace the tires. Included in the sale is a new battery, which is good …
1968 Norton Commando Fastback
Here’s a first year example of the Norton Commando, one of the first 2,200 that were ever built – the seller claims it’s a ‘show bike’.