And so those old, oily, smoke-blowing classics that were meant to have been melted down and turned into Toyota Hybrids right about now are still out and about. Yes, there’s some classic dirt bikes that surely need to be included on a list, but for this month we’ll focus entirely on their bitumen brothers. So in no particular order, here’s our list of the bestest five blue smokers ever.

5. 1980 Yamaha RD350LC

Wet dreams are made of this. Image via Yamaha MC.

For a generation of wanna-be junior racers born in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Yamaha RD350 constituted a dream bike that would still raise blood pressures and tents in pants to this very day (especially in the UK). See, back then in 1980 or thereabouts, fast motorcycles weren’t as plentiful or as cheap as they were today.

Depending on your financial circumstances and just how much money your parents made, a request for a motorcycle for Christmas could result in any number of flat-out rejections, lame-ass mopeds, buzzy scooters, and many other “I could probably run faster than this” two-wheeled options. But if you managed to somehow land yourself an RD350, you’d be instantly rocketed to the top of the list for local cool kids in your area. It was that good. And that fast.

A well-deserved win. Image via MCN.

Now while the specs may seem a little tame by today’s standards, a bike weighing in at 160kg (350 lbs) with 50 hp and a top speed of a tickle over the ton that was also legal for learner motorcyclists to ride was a mind blower back then. C’mon! 110mph on a learner-legal motorcycle!

Who made that decision? I’ll tell you who; bureaucrats who didn’t understand the power of two-stroke engines, that’s who. “It’s only 350ccs. You’d have to try pretty hard to get into trouble with that!” they said. But oh, how wrong they were. And thusly, a metric shit-ton of British kids proceeded to go out and do exactly that. It’s a wonder there’s any of them left in one piece, to be honest.

4. 1971 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV

Note the twin right-hand exhausts… Image via Kawasaki

Depending on who you ask, the ’71 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV is either the best or most dangerous motorcycle ever made. Whatever the truth may be, it’s definitely etched its name in the history of two-strokes as a kind of 1970s motorcycling high water mark, in the same way that some of the American muscle cars did around the same time. They too are overpowered, underbraked, easy to break loose—and from all reports, hilariously good fun to boot.

…and the single on the left. Image via Kawasaki.

And just why this might be doesn’t exactly require rocket science to fathom—supersonic speeds have something to do with it. See, if the RD350 can get 50hp out of a twin 350cc two-stroke, then no prizes for guessing that the Kawasaki engineers managed about 75hp for this 200 kg (440 lbs), 748 cc, triple-cylindered beastie. And that’s probably a conservative power estimate.

Torque was also impressive, at around 77 lb-ft. So they are strong on go and weak on woah. Modern upgrades and 50 years of learnings have somewhat tamed these Kobe monsters, but not enough to stop the insanity and accompanying in-helmet giggles.

3. 1994 Honda NSR250 SP

Lines for DAYS. Image via Honda.

If ever a two-stroke bike got the race replica thing right, surely it was the 1994 Honda NSR250. Almost the spitting image of Luca Cadalora’s 1992 world championship bike, the thing did—and still does—look like the absolute business. Jaw dropping features included a keyless ignition via Smart Card theft prevention system dubbed “PGM-IV ignition”, that gorgeous single-sided swing arm and a Big Tobacco paint job that still raises the hairs on your arms, despite all of us knowing better.

Proof that when it comes to moto graphics, more is more. Image via Honda.

Weighing in at a paltry 150 kgs (330 lbs) and with a conservative 40 hp on tap, those in the know could get their hands on a special HRC Smart Card that would unlock an extra 15hp (aka the “unrestricted” mode). And don’t get me started on the 12,000 rpm redline. Damn! The SP model shown here was the cream of the crop thanks to a dry clutch, adjustable suspension, and Magtek wheels.

Only 1,500 were made, but there’s a wider pool of bikes to choose from if you can forego the SP pack. It’s a well-known fact that Soichiro Honda was not a two-stroke fan, but with bikes like this coming out of the imaginations of the Hamamatsu engineers, you’d have to wonder what they would have been capable of if they’d really leant into the technology.

Yes, I know you want to hear it. Try this.

2. 1985 Yamaha RD500LC

If only it had more acronyms on it… Image via Yamaha.

If the Honda motorcycle above was the race rep smoker to have in the 90s, then I think it’s fair to say that the ’80s equivalent would have to be the Yamaha RD500LC. Also known as the RZ500 in Canada and Australia, the bike was the almost-inevitable conclusion to Yamaha’s successes with Kenny Roberts and their legendary YZR500 Grand Prix bike.

And don’t forget the RD350LC, too. But this was no learner-legal boy racer bike; this angry red and white rocket was the absolute real deal. And with 88hp and 50 lb-ft of torque available from a damn V4 engine, there’s not much to argue about.

Injection-molded plastic never looked so good. Image via alumfortt.com.br

The RD (Race Developed) model uses a 50˚, twin-crankshaft V4 engine layout with YPVS—or Yamaha Power Valve System—technology, which basically increased the engine’s output by varying the “timing” of the bike’s exhaust port in relation to the engine’s speed with a servo motor. The other upside is a broader powerband. And don’t get me started about those incredible quadruple exhausts.

The engine also featured intake reed valves that set it apart from the GP bike, which used rotary disc valve induction. A Japan-only special edition was also released, named the RZV500R. The major difference here was a hand-welded aluminum frame, which reduced the bike’s weight by a substantial 10 kilos (22 lb) over stock. Want.

1. 1985 Suzuki RG500

Without the tail section… Image via Suzuki.

I saved the most powerful for last. Any Barry Sheene fans worth their salt will know that his first GP wins were on the RG500 Suzuki “XR14” smokers in the mid ’70s. The design was unique insofar as the four cylinder engine was arranged in a square configuration just like the Ariel Square Four from the 1930s.

And despite the well-known heating issues with that design, Suzuki’s engineers managed to produce something pretty special. Special enough that it went from racing winner to showroom sales success with the release of the road-going RG500 (Also called the “Gamma”) you see here. As is usually the case, this was also the point at which Suzuki racing decided that the square four design had reached its limits, and they shifted to a V4 configuration in 1987.

…and with. Better with, yeah? Image via ruotedasogno.com.

The bike available to the public had a claimed torque figure of 53.11 lb-ft (72.0 Nm) and horsepower was 94.94 HP. Just as impressively, it weighed in at 175 kg (385 lb) dripping wet, so it not only had almost 10 horses up on the RD Yamaha, but it was also a full 25 kg (55 lb) lighter.

As with all ’80s bikes, it’s covered with tech abbreviations. In this case, the one that really matters is the “SAEC” initials on the bike’s right side fairing. Similar to Yamaha’s YPVS system, it’s essentially an exhaust power valve that varies the geometry of the exhaust system in an effort to make more power over a wider range of engine speeds.

The bike also had “AEC” tech which affected the bike’s valves for a similar outcome. And while in my eyes, its looks haven’t quite stood the test of time like the Yamaha and Honda above, there’s little doubt that a well-tuned and maintained bike would make for a great Sunday ride and a great moto investment opportunity in 2022.

The post The Top 5 Two-Stroke Motorcycles of All Time (On Road Edition) appeared first on webBikeWorld.

And while choosing the best ones of the bunch might be similar to choosing favourites amongst your own offspring, it’s a task we’ve assigned ourselves unflinchingly. We’re just really good like that. And with contenders from far-flung countries like Japan, Germany and Spain, it’s going to be a bit of a world tour, too. What’s not to like? So get into your off-road riding gear and get out your premix containers. Here we go.

5. ’74 Yamaha YZ360

Probably the top of the Japanese crop when it comes to off-road two-strokes, Yamaha really hit their stride with the YZ360. So much so that its famous “YZ” initials are still talked about in hushed tones to this very day—in fact, Yamaha is bringing YZ back for 2023. The “YZ360A” (to give it its full nomenclature), was one of those rare bikes that was virtually identical to the ones the factory was racing at the same time in global MX competitions.

Bearing exactly nothing in common with any other Yamaha bikes of the time, those fortunate enough to have cracked one open report that not only were they clearly hand-assembled, but that all of the bike’s internal components were bespoke racing parts fitted, balanced and adjusted to within an inch of their lives. And believe it or not, Yamaha advised customers to replace the piston rings after every damn race as the cylinder wasn’t able to be bored out. That’s crazy talk…

We’re pretty confident in saying that they went like stink, too. And what with the eye-watering price (at the time), there would likely have been riots at Yamaha dealerships if they hadn’t. With a powerband that was micrometres wide, the bike’s real advantage over the competition was its featherweight, er, weight.

Coming in at 212 lbs (96 kgs) and with 30 lb/ft of torque (power figures are suspiciously absent from Yamaha brochures and ads of the time) you can easily imagine the get-up-and-go the YZ had. Soon, the MX world would be infatuated with long-travel rear suspension set-ups, so in many ways the YZ was also the end of an era.

If you ever get the chance to own one, you’d be certifiable not to grab it. Steve McQueen did. It’ll cost you around $8,500 US.

4. ’73 Honda CR125M ‘Elsinore’

“Elsinore”. The name that launched one million dust baths, and another Steve McQueen favourite, too. Of all the bikes here, it’s probably the Elsie that most affected the global MX scene we know today.

Named after the Lake Elsinore race in California, it was a massive backflip from a company that was run by a card-carrying two-stroke hater by the name of Soichiro Honda. And while we won’t go into the reasons why, they somehow managed to pull the world’s best two-stroke out of their proverbials, even if it was rapidly overtaken by their Northeast Asian competitors in a matter of a few short years.

Not really on the bleeding edge of the global dirt bike boom of the day, part of the bike’s success was tied to the fact that Honda made so damn many of them. As someone famously said, “The Honda Elisinore won everything simply because there were so many of them competing”.

“Elsinore”. The name that launched one million dust baths, and another Steve McQueen favourite, too. Of all the bikes here, it’s probably the Elsie that most affected the global MX scene we know today.

Named after the Lake Elsinore race in California, it was a massive backflip from a company that was run by a card-carrying two-stroke hater by the name of Soichiro Honda. And while we won’t go into the reasons why, they somehow managed to pull the world’s best two-stroke out of their proverbials, even if it was rapidly overtaken by their Northeast Asian competitors in a matter of a few short years.

Not really on the bleeding edge of the global dirt bike boom of the day, part of the bike’s success was tied to the fact that Honda made so damn many of them. As someone famously said, “The Honda Elisinore won everything simply because there were so many of them competing”.

But don’t get me wrong; they were a great bike. With a paltry 82kg (179lb) curb weight and a little over 20 horsies, it wasn’t far behind the YZ in power-to-weight ratio terms. And with Honda’s legendary engineering making it go, there’s no doubt that you could ride it to the moon and back before it’d gently ask you to service it. Or not.

Also like the Yammie, the Elsi too would die a quick and tragic death after Suzuki and Maico engineers realised around this time that monoshocks and more travel in the rear of motocrossers was a game changer. These days, good examples will set you back around $6,000 US.

3. ’74 Bultaco Pursang

Everyone loves ‘Tacos, right? Well in this case, it’s the same for the bike as it is for the Mexican tortilla masterpiece. And unlike Honda, Spanish manufacturer Bultaco was there from the beginning of the meal.

As America embraced the offroad moto world, Bultaco handed out some pretty tasty snacks, but in ‘74 the penny dropped when good ol’ Joe and Jolene Dirtbike realised that the showroom “Pursang” (“Pure-blooded” in Spanish) models were as close as look at you to the bike ridden by Jim Pomeroy when he won the 1973 Spanish 250 GP on a Factory ‘Taco. Not known for their reliability, the bikes still look like a million pesos—and with a low seat and comfortably set fork angle, the things would slide for days on a track.

The factory claimed 39 ponies, but that’s probably more accurate for Jim’s race bike than the ones in the stores. And while it didn’t make them go any faster, there was something about the bike’s overall finish and the factory’s attention to detail in terms of metal finishing, paint and plastics that just made those poor, helpless riders who happened to wander into their local Bultaco dealers go weak at their already-sore knees.

And not to sound like a broken record here, but the Pursang’s days were also numbered. This time, it was more to do with corporate hijinx than the bike being beaten on the track. You can pick up a mint Pursang these days for around USD $6,000, but it’ll still break down (and parts aren’t exactly in plentiful supply these days).

2. ’81 Maico Mega 2

What a difference a few years make! And look at the travel on that rear! Looking much more like a modern MX bike than our three previous winners, the German-made Maico Mega 2 was an absolute kick in the pant eggs for the rest of the world’s MX manufacturers. Here was a bike that was more powerful and better handling than almost any other bike of the day.

Riders talk about power delivery that felt like the moto gods themselves were pushing you forward, and while it looked not too dissimilar to the Maico, you better believe that those rascally Germans were a notch or two above the Spaniards when it came to reliability. Of course, the fact that it had 490cc of get-up-and-go probably had a lot to do with it, but for a brief, shining moment, the Mega 2 was a world-beater.

Of course after this Deutsch salvo across the bows of global MX, people soon began to realise that half a litre of two-stroke engine was a BIG handful—even for the pros. And that classic, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mentality of the manufacturers began to look a little more dangerous than it did a meagre decade before. The big buggers were getting heavier, too.

While light by today’s BMW GS standards, the Mega here weighed in at around 106 kgs, and its power output on a new or well-tuned race model was an eye watering 53 hp. That’s two-and-a-bit Elisnores, buddy. Ouch. You’ll need around $13,000 US to get yourself on one these days.

1. ’83 Honda CR480R

Again existing in that twilight zone that was the early ‘80s open class two-stroke MX world, clearly Honda were still using their “more is more” bike design ethos. Know that within three short years, this bike’s smaller prodigy—namely the ’86 CR250R—would rule the roost. But for now, capacity was king. And doesn’t the thing look amazing, too?

With the possible exception of the Maico above, it’s clear that bikes like this led the way forward with their designs. More sleek and less boxy than the aforementioned German, the Honda wasn’t the best MXer of the early ’80s, but if you won prizes for dropping jaws and being hung on teenager’s walls, the CR would be world champ for eternity and then some.

The key to the CR’s success was that Honda managed to make it feel more like a 250 than the half-litre bad boy that it really was; largely this was down to Honda making sure the thing was as slim as hell. This was also helped by the fact that it only weighed about 102 kgs (226 lbs) wet and still put out an awesome 50 hp.

Look closely and you’ll see a distinct lack of front brakes; the drums Honda bolted onto the CR were just barely enough to get the thing stopped, but you don’t win races by going slow, do you? MX magazines of the time were in awe of the bike, most commonly mentioning the fact that it was a real scalpel in the corners and that it jumped like a pegasus, too. You should be able to snap up a nice one these days for around $8,000.

The post The Top 5 Two-Stroke Motorcycles of All Time (Off-Road Edition) appeared first on webBikeWorld.

And please excuse the blatant Aussie bias in this list. As a Sydney biker born and bred, it’s in my veins. But there’s also the fact that as movie makers, we’re more than a little obsessed with the outdoors, internal combustion and long journeys. It’s just part of our psyche; or more accurately, it’s what the continent demands of us. But fear not, there will be some international inclusions just to make sure no one dies of an accidental outback overdose.

And for the Aussie readers here—yes you may well have seen some of these flicks before; you can consider this a timely reminder to watch them again. So in no particular order, please grab your popcorn and dim the lights. Here we go.

5. “Stone” – Australia, 1974

While just as drug-addled, B-grade and dated as Easy Rider, Sandy Harbutt’s 1974 film “Stone” also manages to be a lot less experimental and eminently more engaging thanks in large part to the inclusion of a raft of upcoming Aussie actors including Hugh “Toecutter” Keays-Byrne from Mad Max.

Shot around Sydney, it’s not only an amazing time capsule of a city that’s been lost to history, but also of a lifestyle that (while massively overblown in the film’s portrayal) just doesn’t or can’t exist in the modern world. The story revolves around a police officer who goes undercover with the Gravediggers Vietnam-vet outlaw motorcycle gang to find out who is trying to kill their members “one by one”.

Pretty clear where Mad Max got its love of the Kawasaki Z 1000 from, yeah? That’s right, Stone did it first. And while there’s also the prerequisite sex, drugs and satan worhsip, Harbutt also addresses issues around returned war vets, PTSD, the role of women in ’70s Australian culture, and even indigenous issues.

But let’s not over-egg this custard—this ain’t high art. It’s a schlocky rollercoaster ride that was probably shot without permits and definitely without any safety officers, and it also features one of the two all-time best moto stunts ever captured on film—the other one appearing in the movie below.

Other interesting little tidbits include Australian shock jock John Laws doing the trailer’s VO, the fact that the director also plays the role of the Undertaker, and the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels helping out with the production. Can you imagine that happening these days? Do check it out.

4. “Mad Max” – Australia, 1979

Okay, okay. I know this isn’t strictly speaking an exclusively motorcycle film and that it’s also not really a hidden classic, but bear with me. See, I think most people would see it as a car chase film, meaning it often gets overlooked in moto circles. And as a movie that I think has some of the best moto action ever exposed onto celluloid, that’s a big oversight.

You’ll also notice that even in the most recent instalment of the film, motorcycles played major roles both in their creative designs and the movie’s storyline. Put simply, the Mad Max franchise is one of the most important series of motorcycle movies ever made.

Clearly channelling Stone and another non-moto Aussie classic, excitingly entitled, “The Cars That Ate Paris” (see it here), it chronicles the story of,  “A self-destructing world, in which Max Rockatansky, a vengeful Australian policeman, sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang after they murder his wife and son.” We’ve got the trailer below. Sadly, only the US Release trailer seems to be available on YouTube. It still rocks, though.

According to Quentin Tarantino, the film single-handedly rewrote the handbook on shooting chase scenes for both cars and bikes and became legendary in film production folklore by staging many of the stunts without any permissions; they’d simply rock up to an unsuspecting country road, throw a few cars and bikes around, sweep up the broken glass and radiator fluid, and then piss right off again.

With my heart on my sleeve, I’ll tell you that this is one of my all-time favourite movies and that seeing it for the first time as a kid had a formative effect on me. Hell, it’s probably why I ride bikes today.

Fun facts: the famous “car through the caravan” stunt at the start of the film saw the stunt guys strap a Myth Busters-style JATO rocket to the HQ Holden to liven things up. And boy oh boy, did it do its job well.

“Murray, the explosives expert who came up with the idea of the rocket car, is nostalgic about the science experiment that almost killed them, admitting he wouldn’t do the scene like that nowadays,” says Guardian Australia journalist Luke Buckmaster.

3. “The Leather Boys” – United Kingdom, 1964

Stop laughing up the back, you lot. Then again, you aren’t far off, either. See, while the title of this classic Brit working-class, cafe racer drama might raise modern-day eyebrows with its homoerotic overtones that are painfully obvious to us modern types, it wouldn’t have been taken that way back in the much more naive and rainy Great Britain of the 1960s.

But the real truth is that the film did actually tackle the subject matter of being queer in and around the now famous cafe racer scene in London in the late ’50s and early ’60s. How’s that for cutting edge, huh? A film about motorcyclists that also blatantly broke the Hollywood Production Code, too. Rebels with a cause, much?

And while the kitchen sink drama element does heavily outweigh the sweet Triumph motorcycles and Nortons in the film, this is a real classic that has really stood the test of time.

But putting on my moto glasses for a second, just how amazing is it that we have a motion picture made right in the heart of the cafe racer era that captures the phenomena in such amazing detail? It’s like having a movie shot at the Hollister riots or at the Los Angeles Motordrome at the height of the Boardtrack racing era.

Given an X rating at the time due to its “controversial” content, the film tells the story of “An immature teenager [who] marries a young biker but becomes disenchanted with the realities of working class marriage and her husband’s relationship with his best friend.”

Locations used for the film include the legendary Ace Cafe in its heyday and a textbook and dreary early 1960s London. Extras used in the film included local cafe racers and the Ace Cafe crowd, too. Put simply, if you’re into cafe racers and you haven’t seen this film, you’re really missing out.

2. “The Wild Angels” – America, 1966

Clearly a prototype Easy Rider of sorts, this 1966 film sits squarely between Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One” from 1953 and 1969’s Easy Rider, replete with Peter Fonda in the lead role, along with the uber popular Nancy Sinatra and Father of Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern, Bruce. Also very much inspired by the rise in popularity of the Hells Angels, thanks in no small part to Hunter S. Thompson’s book of the same name, director Roger Corman used real club members as extras while also ensuring that all the actors cast for the movie could ride bikes to up the realism.

The story follows “The ‘Angels’, a San Pedro motorcycle gang that parties in the Coachella Valley’s Palm Springs Indian Canyons, California, and wreaks havoc with the local police.” Basically one long build-up to the story’s climatic final party in which a funeral is held for (not spoiling any paper thin plots here) one of the movie’s main characters.

Musically famous for its, “Just what is it that you want to do?” quote as sampled by British band Primal Scream, it’s also a very good catalogue of proper 1%-er motorcycles of the mid ’60s. Or as Fonda himself put it about his “Dragon” bike he rode in the film:

“In some ways, the Dragon is even more of a biker’s bike; it’s the granddaddy of all choppers and it cemented my role as the original, in chopper history. The bike was built from the ground up to ride. It handles pretty well, feels comfortable, has good power, and you hardly ever run over lil’ kids on tricycles.”

Being a Roger Corman film, it’s exploitation par excellence—and in my book a far more enjoyable movie to watch than its younger sibling, Easy Rider. You can see the full thing here.

1. “Silver Dream Racer” – United Kingdom, 1980

One of those “let’s shoot at an actual, real life event so we don’t have to spend too much money on extras” movies ala James Garner’s Grand Prix, the movie stars UK pop star David Essex and a very Liv Tyler-looking Cristina Raines in a classic underdog-with-untested-idea-beats-the-big-boys-after-a-series-of-heartbreaking-setbacks type affair. As with many films of this genre, the reason to watch the movie is mostly to do with the quality racing (including Brands Hatch, Donington Park, and the famous Silverstone circuit) and the period hardware on display.

Most surprising is the fact that the bike at the centre of the story is a real racer developed in North Wales by Barry Hart and his Barton Motors, and named the “Phoenix”. And while some reports suggest that the bike wasn’t close to being competitive back in the day, I have to say that its looks were pretty ahead of the game when you compare and contrast it to the other “real” bikes in the movie. Hell, from some angles, it almost looks like a ’90s bike.

WIth a bunch of Americans also cast in a clear attempt to widen the movie’s international appeal, you’ll also see Beau Bridges (brother of Jeff Bridges) and a raft of usual suspect British Actors trying to make ends meet between stints in West End Shakespeare gigs. Any adult who grew up watching British TV of the ’80s will recognise a whole slew of ’em in there; even Doctor’s Who’s assistant Sarah-Jane Smith makes an appearance.

A quick glance at Rotten Tomatoes will prove that it’s not the world’s best movie by any stretch of the imagination, but for those of us who get all hot and bothered by historical moto racing footage (that means you, dear readers) then I’d suggest that there’s no finer record of late ’70s British GP racing than this fine way to spend an hour or two with some beers and a few mates. You can see the full movie here.

The post The Top 5 Motorcycle Movies Never Included in Top 5 Lists appeared first on webBikeWorld.

So all you have to do as a budding young motorcycle collector is to be able to spot the ones that will increase in value in the future and pick one up right about now, when they are still to be had for reasonable prices. But which bikes should you be looking at, I hear you ask? Well, it just so happens that we’ve racked our brains to come up with the top 5 bikes (in no particular order) that will only become more and more valuable as the years go by. So why not pull out your shopping list and start making some notes?

5. The Yamaha XT500 (1976 to 1981)

For those not in the know, the Yamaha XT500 was a massive win for Yamaha—in more ways than one. Firstly, it won the first Paris to Dakar races in the late 1970s, showing that Yamaha really knew what they were talking about when it came to off-road bikes. And they achieved this with an engine that was only the company’s second four stroke design.

Not only that, but the engine is largely the same unit that’s in the XT’s sister bike, the Yamaha SR400. And that specific bike was in production until 2021. That’s forty five years of popularity. Go figure.

And it’s not only the XTs you’ll be after, there’s another member of the family here that can be equally as rewarding for investment purposes. Alongside the XT, Yamaha also sold the TT500, which was essentially the same bike but without all the road-going doohickies like the headlight, indicators, and rear vision mirrors.

Sure, they aren’t road registerable, but they also have a certain offroad racing vibe that the XT doesn’t. Spare parts are still fairly easy to come by, and they are dead simple to work on. The single cylinder donk gives you 30-something horses and it is silly easy to ride.

The only real caution needed here is that it’s kickstart only, so if you plan on riding it regularly, you’ll need to make sure you have the technique down pat before you go offroad.

4. The BMW R80/7 (1978 to 1994)

Another classic bike that stood the test of time, BMW’s R80/7 and all of its variations constitute amazing bikes that are old enough to be cool but plentiful and reliable enough to be a very sensible ownership proposition.

Not only that, but the platform BMW developed for the R80 had been under constant improvement since the 1930s, so by the late ’70s and early ’80s, it had fifty damn years of top shelf German engineering prowess behind it. The bike also marks the end of an era, with BMW branching out into various non-boxer engine platforms from here on in.

Not only was the R80 a smash hit in its own right; BMW also chose it at the base of their very first off road bike, the (again) Dakar-winning BMW R80 GS. And like a very good omen, those particular red, blue and white classics have really skyrocketed in value over the past few years. So what do you think the R80s are gonna do? Yeah, that’s right.

The boxer engine is a real charismatic gem, the likes of which you don’t really get in new bikes these days—even from BMW. Still entirely air cooled, the 50hp bike has a charming combination of both slick German-ness and a touch of the retro mechanical vibes that all old bikes exude in one form or another. Those keen for more giddy-up should also look at the R100 Beemers such as the RT, RS & S models.

3. The Honda XL600R (1983 to 1987)

Okay, okay. So I have a Dakar thing going on. But just like my therapist, please hear me out. See, what with authenticity and retro being so hot right now and (thanks to smash hit TV shows like Stranger Things et al) making the ’80s cool again, we are more than a little overdue for a revival of the decade.

We had the 1950s cafe racer thing, the 1960s Steve McQueen thing, and the 70s slacker Harley thing all come back, so you can bet your bottom gasket that these big ’80s bikes will follow suit – just like BMW R80GS and the Cagiva Elefant have already done.

The other obvious occurrence to note is that with Honda’s Elsinores and their legendary 80s CR two-strokes now fetching top dollar, logic dictates that these plastic fantastics will follow suit. And those colours! I guess you’ll either love ‘em or you hate ‘em, but boy they really grab your attention.

With a single pot engine that would go on to power the Honda Dominator, you’ll get about 50 hp out of a properly-tuned one and it’ll only weigh a measly 130kg, so you should have no issues getting the thing to hussle. They were also equipped with Honda’s RFVC (Radial Four Valve Chamber) tech, which means you get two carbs, two exhaust pipes, a hemispherical combustion chamber, and a better-breathing, more powerful bike.

2. The Harley Sportster (1957 to 1983)

If you’ve had anything like the same experiences as I have, you’ll no doubt be seeing these Harleys still going for a song. A mate of mine got one recently in boxes for AUD $10,000 and a quick scour of my local classifieds reveals one for $15,000 that’s been on there for months and months.

So let’s just stand back and think about this. An original Harley-Davidson motorcycle made in the good ol’ US of A in the 1960s for less than ten grand US? Am I missing something? I think not. Sure, it’s not an Electraglide and they’ll probably be the smaller 883cc engines, but come on now!

Of course, the bike comes with all the caveats that any Harley to this day has; they are as agricultural AF and they really, really love to shake themselves to pieces, but what other brand or model of proper, honest-to-goodness motorcycling history would be available for the price of a budget family holiday and be a genuine 1950s-designed American classic?

With all post ‘67 models having an electric start, it’s also the perfect yin-and-yang partner for anyone (like me) who likes the convenience and reliability of having a modern bike in their garage. Yes, a more modern ride may never let you down—but why not complement it with something that lets you get hands-on, is undeniably cool, and that is only going to increase in price in the future?

1. The Yamaha RD350 (1973 to 1975)

Of course there’s a two-stroke on the list. While they might seem like politically incorrect anachronisms in this day and age, it’s important to remember that in many ways, two-stroke power kept the moto industry alive for a large chunk of the 20th Century. Hell, MotoGP was two-strokes all the way up until 2003.

And few manufacturers had as much love for the two-stroke than Yamaha. They have some true classics in their historical lineup; need I mention the RD 250 LC, RD 350 LC, and the legendary YZ 360 motorcrosser? What a curriculum vitae! Yet here lies a classic Yamaha that’s still on offer for more than reasonable prices and it’ll blow your socks off with its turn of speed to boot.

Now it’s a well-known fact that two-strokes need a bit more love and attention than their four-stroke brethren, but by the same token they’ll outpace any similar-capacity non-smoker bike of the same era (or even newer) easy as look at you. And as you can see from the image above, they’ll also look, sound, and go even better than stock with a few racing mods added.

Besides, have you ever heard a Yamaha two-stroker at full tilt with a racing exhaust? And that smell! Should you favor something a little more modern, there’s always the bike’s younger, liquid-cooled siblings (aka the LC models mentioned above).

But be warned, these bikes were a smash hit with boy racers when they were released, and things have never really let up since then. But on that topic, here is a VERY hot tip. Motorcycles that teens drool over often boom in price when those same teens reach their 40s and 50s; an age where many people are comfortable enough to start buying those toys that they were never able to get their hands on way back when. So it stands to reason that the 80s bikes mentioned here should be coming on song right about now. You can thank me later, when you’ve got a bit of cash.

The post 5 Future Classic Motorcycles You Should Buy Now appeared first on webBikeWorld.

In the beginning, motorcycles were pedal bikes (or as the British say, push bikes) with a small motor attached that could take over the pedaling for you. That made perfect sense in the early 19th century, before the automobile rose to popularity. Once the automobile started to make its lasting impact on history, motorcycles morphed from being what we now call mopeds into dedicated, purpose-built machines. It took quite a few tries to get it right, but then names like Royal Enfield, Harley-Davidson, Indian, Norton, and many others started to carve out their own niches.

The thing about all these bikes, however, is that while they were amazing inventions, they didn’t really make much sense outside of some very specific uses. They began to make more sense after World War II, as Harley-Davidson had supplied patrol bikes for overseas forces, and their ruggedness and size meant that they could get places quickly that larger vehicles could not. It was, in fact, Germany that inadvertently helped create the wheels that moved history.

The Origins of the Super Cub

Honda Soichiro and his business partner, co-founder of the Honda Motor Company Fujisawa Takeo, were touring Europe, promoting their new company, motors, seeking distributors, and eventually ending their tour by entering Honda racing motorcycles into the Isle of Man TT race, when they happened to visit Germany in 1956.

Honda, who was as dedicated an engineer as you could possibly get, and Fujisawa, the salesman and money man who fulfilled a role that we would call Chief Financial Officer today, witnessed the German populace enjoying small, lightweight motorcycles and mopeds, using them for everything from travel to going to the corner store for groceries.

It had actually been in Fujisawa’s mind for a while that in the post-war economic boom surging through Japan and parts of Europe, a high-performance but small motorcycle could be exactly what densely packed cities needed. In a marked change of pace compared to other Japanese manufacturers, he didn’t simply want to increase the number of larger, more powerful, and more expensive motorcycles being sold, but target a market that many (except the Germans) seemed to be missing out on.

His thought was that as the world rebuilt from a devastating war, bicycles were naturally the starting point for travel. As the economy recovered, people would then buy a clip-on motor to make their bicycle a moped, then move on to scooters and finally small cars.

Dedicated motorcycles didn’t enter into that upgrade path because the bikes of the day were sometimes as expensive as a new car. It took a lot of convincing for Honda, who simply wanted to build engines and go racing on two or four wheels, to see that there was a ripe market for a small but high-performance motorcycle that was inexpensive, technologically simple, reliable, and efficient.

Honda was, at the time, a very popular company, with their automotive and scooters selling well, but they were at a turning point. They needed a mass-market item—something that would stamp the Honda Motors name into the history books—and so design work began on what was originally just called “The Cub.”

Fujisawa is quoted as famously giving Honda the requirement that if he could design a motorcycle that could hide all the wires and tubing under the seat, was reliable, powerful, and could be ridden with one hand while carrying a tray of soba noodles in the other hand, he could sell it. Honda accepted that challenge, and began pulling development from all of the projects he had engineered.

From the Juno scooter, fiberglass reinforced plastic was used to create leg fairings. The high performance 50cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine from the lightweight class of race bikes for the Isle of Man TT became the beating heart of the Cub, providing 4.5 HP.

The frame would be made out of steel, but in a stroke of genius, the entire spar from the front forks to the rear mudguard holder was one continuous piece of metal, negating the need for complex welds. It also didn’t need a clutch lever—while it did have a sequential three speed gearbox, it used a centrifugal clutch that would disengage if the revs were high enough when you requested an upshift, then change gears and automatically re-engage as you came off the shifter.

The finishing touch was that all the electronics and all of the oily bits were, as Fujisawa had set the challenge, underneath the seat and hidden away. It was extremely simple to maintain, as the entire engine could be dropped out by undoing just three bolts. The chain was also hidden behind a full coverage chain guard, keeping even that oily bit out of sight, which could be removed by undoing a clip, one bolt, and giving it a good tug.

It was introduced to the world in 1957 at motor shows, and especially around smaller industry conventions in Japan—and to say that it landed with a thud is understating the fact, as the recession left behind by World War II was just starting to recover. The newly named Super Cub C100 still went on sale in 1958, however, and sold decently, but it wasn’t the mass market adoption that Fujisawa had envisioned.

Three months after the first motorcycle rolled off a dealership lot, complaints started to come in that the clutch on the Super Cub was slipping. It was approaching a Japanese national holiday week, and both Honda and Fujisawa knew that they needed to fix the issue immediately.

As the saying goes, the best advertisement is word of mouth, and as many traveled across Japan to visit friends and family, bad public relations could not only mean the death of the Super Cub, but also cast doubts on whether the Honda Motor Company actually supported their products.

As such, during the national holidays, everyone that worked at Honda, quite literally everyone, from salesmen to secretaries, factory workers to even Honda and Fujisawa themselves, gave up their holiday time and were instead sent out in a PR move of military precision. Honda had found the issue and changed the design of the bike slightly, but the already-sold Super Cubs would need to have new clutches put in and a small part to fix the issue.

In a testament to just how easy the Super Cub was to repair, during that one week holiday period, every single customer that owned one of the bikes was visited personally by a Honda Motors employee who would repair their bike right then and there, free of charge.

The PR impact of that move shot Honda Motors way, way up the consumer satisfaction metrics, which approach near mythical status in Japanese culture. It was no longer “my Honda motorcycle was built poorly and has a slipping clutch”—it was “Honda Motors came out and fixed my bike, for free!”

The Wheels that Liberated Asia… Quite Literally

The news that Honda Motors not only had an inexpensive, highly efficient and powerful lightweight bike for sale, but that they stood behind their product and proved how easy it was to fix spread around the world. All of a sudden, markets that had shown no interest in the Super Cub were suddenly asking about distribution deals and opening of Honda showrooms and dealerships.

The only country that didn’t seem all that bothered to join in on the excitement was the United States, as Indian and Harley-Davidson, in their cruiser war without end, along with some imported British bikes, had saturated the market.

The demand became so high, in fact, that Honda Motors built an entire factory dedicated to the production of the Super Cub in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture. At a cost of 10 billion yen, or approximately $443,140,000 USD in 2022, the new factory was modeled on the VolksWagen Beetle production facility in Germany that Honda had seen just two years prior.

It was built to produce at first 30,000 Super Cubs per month, and started operating the moment the main production line was completed. That number rose to 50,000 Super Cubs per month once the secondary production line and the whole factory was finished.

However, it seemed that Honda might have jumped the gun by dumping so much cash into one production facility. While the demand was high, the avenues of distribution were taking longer to establish.

For each country that wanted to import Super Cub, government approval, permits, taxation and tariffs all had to be negotiated. This proved to be such a delay that the Suzuka factory almost ran out of room to store finished Super Cubs. Some industry analysts at the time even said that the expenditure was too risky, and for most of 1959, it seemed to be true.

When all those distribution and import negotiations were finished, however, Honda Motors received a massive return on their investment. Super Cubs were quite literally leaving the end of the production line, ridden out the factory doors to the inventory parking space, and by the time their engines had been switched off, they had been sold.

The biggest factor driving this once-in-a-generation sales boom was that Fujisawa’s initial concept of an inexpensive, high-performance motorcycle that could be fixed with a hammer and a rock caught on in Asia. During the 1960s, much of the Asian continent, especially in the Southern regions, was coming out of colonial occupation, or were developing nations where cars were simply too expensive of an item to own.

When the Super Cub came along, it was an attainable vehicle that suddenly opened up the possibility of intercity travel not requiring several days, and of efficiently moving around town to be able to free up more time to actually do things.

Countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand were suddenly bursting at the seams with the Super Cub, and revolutionized the delivery driver concept across all those countries as Fujisawa had set the goal of the motorcycle needing only one hand to control, leaving the other hand free to carry delivery items.

If it broke down, replacement parts were dirt cheap—something especially important in developing nations—and instead of having to take it to a repair shop, you could fix your own bike by the side of the road.

No other motorcycle in history has ever come close to the impact that the Super Cub had on one of the most populated parts of the planet. Within the decade, the entire culture of many countries shifted from being isolationist, separate villages and towns and maybe visiting a city once in a lifetime, to liberating untold millions of people to make a day trip to the big city and be back in town before the sun set. What had once been something that people had only read about happening in the “rich nations” like the UK, parts of Europe, and North America was now something very real in their own part of the world.

This explosion of popularity was again down to Fujisawa, who may go down as one of the best sales managers in history. He had the Honda marketing department place ads for the Super Cub in every newspaper, general interest magazine, in the back of shopping catalogs. He made sure that instead of targeting the niche rider market, he targeted the general market, those that would never pick up a motorcycle magazine in their wildest dreams.

The other stroke of genius he had was speaking to the culture of the Super Cub, not only its technical specifications. Instead of the ads stating “50ccs of Earth-churning power,” they stated “Wouldn’t you love to be able to visit your mother more often?” or “What would you say to a motorcycle that lets you go to the market in the city down the road and be home in time to cook for your family?”

By making the core of the ad campaigns the issues of the time, the Super Cub became the liberator of the Asian continent—and even today, nearly 40% of all new Super Cubs being made go to Asia.

Built Since 1958: The Best Selling Road Vehicle of All Time

Some cars have a reputation of being sold at a prodigious rate. The VW Beetle comes to mind, as well as the Ford F150, “the truck that built America.” However, if you combine the total number of VW Beetles and Ford F150s ever sold (23 million and 41 million respectively for a total of 64 million), that still pales when put next to the Super Cub.

As of 2017, the Super Cub had sold a nigh unbelievable 100 million units. It is very likely nearer to 110-120 million in 2022, and it is safe to say that Fujisawa’s and Honda’s desire to have a mass market product that would leave its mark on history has been attained 100 million times over.

The Super Cub hasn’t just affected the motorcycle markets either. Riding the popularity of their engines being ultra-reliable, Honda stormed the US, UK, and EU markets with their cars, including the S600 and S800 Roadsters. These were sold as efficient, fun little sports cars, sedans that were comfortable and could easily handle a family of four, and entry-level cars that someone in their first couple of years of working in the real world could afford without breaking the bank.

It is quite safe to say that with the Super Cub, another one of Honda’s most dominant vehicles was able to come to life. We are, of course, talking about the Civic. Even today, in 2022, the Civic is to a recent college or university graduate in North America as the Super Cub was to the Asian continent in the 1960s: affordable, easy to fix with a hammer, and reliable for getting you from point A to point B even if you abused the hell out of it.

The Lasting Legacy of the Honda Super Cub

What is astounding is that the Super Cub is still a desirable motorcycle in many markets that scoffed at it or shunned it during its first export years. In the UK, it is one of the best selling runabout bikes for for those that have just obtained their A1 motorcycle license, and its now-iconic plastic leg fairings keep your pants dry when it rains (which happens a lot in the UK). In Europe, where the retro-styled scooter is the more chic option for two-wheeled travel, the Super Cub has a timeless classic style that never gets old.

We could go on listing why the Super Cub is still a sales leader today, and why Honda has cashed in on the fun of small motorcycles with their miniMOTO line of the GROM, Monkey, and Navi, but it would just be the same reason over and over. It was the right bike, at the right time, in the right place, to liberate Asia and introduce reliable, efficient motorcycles to the world. The only issue that is even possibly going to affect it is the current push towards electrification of vehicles.

An Electric Future? What the Next Decade Holds for the Super Cub

Much as the Super Cub revolutionized history when it appeared in 1958, the EV Cub is set to revolutionize electric motorcycles. In a market that has seen many promises, some bikes, and a lot of wondering where all the electric bikes are, Honda is steadfast in proving that electric motorcycles and scooters are the way of the future for two wheels.

Part of this strategy was finally signed and certified earlier this year, when Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki all officially adopted the same standard for electric motorcycle batteries.

The core idea is that at gas stations and charge stations as they are now, there will be a wall of batteries with an easy to grab handle. Instead of having to plug your bike into a supercharger or the wall at home, which will still remain options, you simply park your electric scooter or motorcycle, lift the battery out, go to the wall, pull a fully charged battery out, place your drained battery in the now-free cubby, and slide the charged battery into your bike—then off you go.

This system is already up and running in Japan, where it is known as Gachago. The Honda Benly-E scooter, which can hold two of the swappable batteries for extended range riding, is now the default vehicle used by the Japan Post Office to get to places where cars simply will not fit. It is expected that by the end of 2022, a battery swap version of the PCX maxiscooter, the EV Cub, and the just-announced, Japan-only Gyro-e will be on the market in the island nation.

There is also ongoing research by all of the Big Four into sustainable fuel, as motorsports series under the auspices of the FIA and FIM have set targets to have 100% bio-ethanol generated from sustainable non-food sources by 2026.

Motorcycle engines as they are today don’t like ethanol-hydrocrabon mixtures in general, which is why no bike on sale today can run on E85 unless it is modified heavily. With the trickle down effect of motorsports to the mainstream, however, we might have the EV Cub and the Super Cub Bio-Fuel by 2030.

All we know is, there is no way Honda will ever stop making the motorcycle that stamped their name into history. Nor should they.

The post The Wheels that Moved History: The Honda Super Cub appeared first on webBikeWorld.

Moto Guzzi was founded on March 15, 1921, as Società Anonima Moto Guzzi, with the incorporation document stating that it was formed for “the manufacture and sale of motorcycles, and all other activities pertinent or related to the metalworking and mechanical engineering industries.” Formed by Emanuele Vittorio Parodi with his son Giorgio and friend Carlo Guzzi, it was quickly decided that the company’s logo, the eagle taking flight, was to honor Parodi’s friend Giovanni Ravelli, who died during a test flight in 1919.

During the early years, the company was mostly focused on 250cc and 500cc single cylinder engines mounted in steel frames that even to this day stir emotions of any motorcyclist, creating bikes such as the Normale and the Norge. Of note, Moto Guzzi single cylinder engines were mounted with the cylinder pointing straight forward, to maximize air cooling and reduce vibrations.

It was because of this layout that in 1933, Carlo Guzzi had a brilliant idea and mounted another cylinder 125 degrees apart from the front facing one—tucking it between the fuel tank and frame, and under the saddle seat. The 1933 Moto Guzzi 500 Bicilindrica was the first motorcycle from the company that held their now signature engine, the V-twin.

The Strangest Engine Orientations: How Moto Guzzi Defined Their Own Normal Over a Century

In a cruel twist of fate, just as Moto Guzzi was gaining steam in the market and was set to produce more models with their smooth and powerful V-twin, World War II broke out. Instead of producing road bikes and continuing their modest success in racing, the company instead produced the Moto Guzzi 500 TriAlce, a tricycle bike with a rear deck and a 20/65 caliber machine gun mounted on it. It was used by motorized and mechanized infantry as a patrol vehicle, a mobile assault platform, and a troop transport, among other things.

It was in 1946, after the war was over and Italy had begun to rebuild that Moto Guzzi, with nothing else to lose, decided to go for all the titles. What happened next is still referred to in Italy as “The Season of Great Victories,” as the first post-war race bike, the Gambalunga 500, was virtually unbeatable on combined road and track circuits. It was followed quickly by the Gambalunghino 250, which won the first ever 250cc GP championship, and the Mandello Twin, which was one of the fastest race bikes of the time.

It was also at this time that one of the hallmark bikes of Moto Guzzi was built, the insane Guzzi Otto Cilindri. What made it insane was that the engine was a 499cc, four-stroke, dual overhead cam V8. The bike was built around the engine, with the fairings coming all the way back to the pegs to give maximum aerodynamics. That awesome V8 produced a then-unheard-of 80 HP at 12,000 RPM, and with a six-speed transmission, the Guzzi Otto Cilindri held the world racing motorcycle speed record at 275 KPH (171 MPH) for over 20 years.

Due to the rise of microcars like the Austin Mini and Fiat 500 as viable race cars, Moto Guzzi pulled out of motorcycle racing in 1957—after winning 3,329 race wins, 14 world titles, and 11 Tourist Trophy victories. The company also came out of the 1950s with a lot of research and development work done for racing engines and materials to build bikes with, which unintentionally led to the most significant point in Moto Guzzi’s story.

In 1967, after referencing all the racing development and knowledge they had gained, Moto Guzzi introduced their 90-degree V-twin. While there are plenty of V-twin engines out there in the world, it was the brilliant idea of Giulio Cesare Carcano, the man that led the racing team’s design and engineering department, to mount the engine transversely.

The issue with a longitudinal mounting, according to Carcano, was that there was parasitic loss of power by having to move the power through a series of gears to the transmission along that longitudinal line. Putting the transmission directly on the side of the engine would unbalance the bike and also make it very uncomfortable for your shifting foot.

Conversely, by having the engine transversely mounted, the crank feeds directly into the transmission—no gears, pulleys, chains, or the like between the power and the transmission.

The transverse mounting, which soon became Moto Guzzi’s standard mounting for all their bikes and engines, did have a few interesting effects to the ride of the motorcycles. The most prominent of these was a slightly asymmetrical gyroscope effect that doesn’t destabilize the bike, but does take getting used to when cornering, as the bike feels like it is wobbling in the corner. Despite this, the first of these engines, a 700cc, 45 HP unit, in a prototype frame designed specifically around the transverse mounting, won a competition from the Italian government to build the next series of police bikes.

As it was the 7th V design in the company, after the original V-twin, racing V-twins, the insane V-8, and with Moto Guzzi starting to encounter financial issues to the point that they almost entered receivership, that prototype frame and engine combination was simply named the V7. For anyone that knows Moto Guzzi, that is a very significant milestone. For those that don’t, it will be explained later on, because we do need to take a moment to look at perhaps one of the most influential and revolutionary Italian motorcycles ever.

The 1976 850 Le Mans & How It Revolutionized Italian Motorcycles Forever

Moto Guzzi was riding a wave of success with their V7 engine and subsequent models, but there was that itch in the small of their back to produce a racing bike again. They had had success before, and had produced sporty models in the intervening years, but they hadn’t made a properly fast, agile bike in a while.

That changed when in November 1975, at the Milan motorcycle show, Moto Guzzi unveiled the 1976 850 Le Mans: a low, long bike, with handlebars below the top line of the fuel tank. That fuel tank itself was flattened out and stretched, and the whole bike hunkered low, looking ready to pounce. In the middle was a bigger version of the V7, increased from 749 to 844 cc, mounted transverse with the power bumped from a decent 53 HP to a huge 71 HP.

This Italian missile could reach 130 MPH, and would be able to cruise at speed due to having Dell’Orto 36mm pumper carburetors with wide open velocity stacks. It revved hard and high, and its five speed transmission had tall ratios to allow for highway and motorway cruising while keeping the revs low. As well, there was a distinct lack of a chain, as the 850 Le Mans was one of the first sport bikes to use a shaft drive.

So, why is this motorcycle so important in Italian motorcycle history?

The answer to that question is that it is to the Italian market what Kawasaki was to the North American market with the GPz900R. Namely, it was a fast bike, extremely popular, and it cost much less than the competition. Before the 850 Le Mans, if you wanted a true sport bike, you bought an MV Agusta or a Ducati, with both companies charging a bit of a name-brand premium so they could fund their racing programs.

After the 850 Le Mans, you had a viable sport bike that didn’t need to fund a racing program, but it handled and went like a banshee chasing after a bat out of hell. It was able to keep up with bikes such as the Ducati 750 Super Sport, and it was much more reliable than that Ducati as well, while making just as much of a fashion statement as its fellow Italian.

That was the other reason that the 850 Le Mans was revolutionary. It was fast, it was agile, it was inexpensive (compared to an MV Agusta), but it also bled Italian. Every line was perfect, every angle you looked at it from showed the attention to detail, the reasoning and thought behind where each piece went. It didn’t have the grace of a Ducati Super Sport, or the sweeping curves of an MV Agusta 750S, but it was absolutely, undeniably a gorgeous piece of motoring art.

It revolutionized the Italian sport bike market. It showed that there was demand, and more than enough willing buyers, even if the quality of the first series was a bit suspect, for a sport bike to succeed in the market and not need to be derived from a race bike. It is thanks to the 850 Le Mans that today we have such great bikes as the Aprilia RS 660 and the Ducati Panigale V2—bikes that are “cheaper” compared to their flagship cousins, the RSV4 Factory 1100 and Panigale V4 R.

It was the exclamation point on the Italian sport bike market for the 1970s, and even today it still radiates that pure Italian soul. Even better, since it was inexpensive, quite a few 850 Le Mans were sold, so if you really want to have a classic bit of Italian motorcycle heritage, they are available on many sales sites—for anywhere between $5,000 (for a well enjoyed one) to $20,000 (for a near mint one).

How a Century of Design Helped Make One of the Best Selling Moto Guzzis Ever: The V7

We’ve covered the ingenuity of mounting the V-twin transversely, and we’ve covered how that ingenuity and a passion for speed revolutionized the Italian sport bike market. Now, it is time to celebrate the progress that Moto Guzzi has made by sticking doggedly to one engine, one idea, and perfecting the bike around it.

Much like Porsche in the automotive world with the 911 Carrera and refusing to put the flat-six engine anywhere else but way out beyond the rear wheels, Moto Guzzi doubled down on the 750cc transverse V-twin. Instead of moving on to parallel-twins, or reorienting the V-twin back to a “normal” orientation, it stuck to the layout and iterated and evolved, allowing for the engineers and designers to continuously rework and refine the engine.

This saw some pretty brilliant bikes emerge, such as the California Touring, a transverse V-twin that was in continuous production from 1971 to 2020, moving up from a 750cc engine to a massive 1,400 ccs by the time it was shuffled out the door.

Another popular model was the 1999 to 2004 V11 sport series. As Moto Guzzi was being passed around between owners by this point, the V11 came about during Aprilia’s tenure at the rudder. A seriously cool looking bike in a modern cafe racer style, it could also be considered a naked as it has no fairings except for the headlight cowling. They didn’t sell all that well back in the early 2000s, but today are prized as one of the best used bargains you can get that is true to the “old school” Guzzi feel.

Of course, through all this evolution, the venerable V7 benefitted from the other models. It gained dual overhead cams, direct fuel injection, and a multiplate slipper clutch as just a few examples. It also remained the rock upon which Moto Guzzi relied upon, as no matter what year, style, or color, the V7s continued to leave dealership floors in a steady flow.

Despite sales, numbers never reached the likes of what Aprilia and Ducati were doing, and Moto Guzzi was perfectly okay with that. They were selling over 3,000 V7s a year, with other models making up anywhere from 1,500 to 4,000 on top of that, and that pace has not slowed even up to today. There’s something about the V7 being just over 50 years old as a design that just speaks to the stubborn, steadfast engineering that went into making the thing work, and work well.

Rest assured, the V7 isn’t going anywhere. There will always be a V7 for sale by Moto Guzzi, for as long as the company runs. Even as we enter the electric motorcycle age, it wouldn’t be a bad bet to think that those quirky Italians will instead focus on sustainable fuels, allowing the V7 legend, and the Moto Guzzi legend as well, to continue on for another century.

The post Moto Guzzi at 100: A Look Back Through a Century of Motorcycles appeared first on webBikeWorld.

With a moto collection apparently numbering in excess of 200 bikes—along with a bunch of cars and even a few planes—he was someone who was deeply passionate about motorcycle riding (and especially racing). Legend has it that he paid for acting lessons from his race winnings. And even better than that, he had the financial fortitude to indulge in collecting bikes to his heart’s content.

So what cycles does a man of immaculate taste and considerable skills purchase when money is no object? THIS is what.

#1. 1970 Husqvarna 400 Cross

There’s not many films that can top On Any Sunday in terms of getting people excited about motorcycling. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Put simply, it’s probably the greatest motorcycling movie ever made. And the stars of the whole damn thing were good ol’ Steve Mac and his still gorgeous Husqvarna 400 Cross that provided the ‘wow’ moment at the end of the film. If you’ve never seen it, what the hell are you doing with your life?

The late ‘60s were a pivotal time for off-road motorcycles. As the genre developed, huge leaps and bounds were made when the manufacturers realised that these bikes could be so much more than just road bikes with knobby tyres and no mirrors.

The now-legendary Swedish designers at Husky started with a blank piece of paper, a powerful two-stroke engine, and an innate understanding of what it took to go fast on the dirt. And in ‘69, there wasn’t much faster than this 400. With 40hp on tap, it may not sound like much—but match that with a mere 100 kilo (220 pound) curb weight, and you’d have to be dead inside not to have fun on this.

Sold? Well, it can be yours for a mere $320,814 Californian bucks, which just so happens to be the exact price it was purchased for at auction in 2018.

#2. 1962 Triumph TR6 650 Special

You know a motorcycle is famous when you strike up a geeky conversation about it at a social gathering with the most naive non-motorcyclists you can find—and they know the bike you’re talking about. The famous ‘fence jump’ scene at the end of McQueen’s The Great Escape from 1963 is another legendary moto moment that he himself created. And it was arguably the single most famous on-screen moto moment of the Twentieth Century. It’s also interesting to note that this is the only non-racing bike in the list.

Apart from the rather comical sight of Nazis riding British Triumphs, the bike is as much a star as McQueen is. A TR6 650 Special was made to look more ‘wartime’ with olive drab paint, a luggage rack, and a ‘40s-style seat. The script—originally written to have the heroes escaping via train—was rewritten after McQueen suggested the bike jump idea as being more exciting and cinematic than a slow train to freedom.

Aussie motocross champ Tim Gibbes and stuntman Bud Etkins were tasked with making it happen. Despite McQueen’s requests (and his various other stunts already being completed for the film), Etkins was to do the final jump that made it into the movie and into the annals of motorcycling history, too.

#3. Métisse Desert Racer

Yes, McQueen and desert racing were clearly a big thing. The bikes you see here are the mere tip of the iceberg as far as his offroad bike collection goes. The Honda Elsinore, anyone?

But putting that aside for one moment, I think it’s fair to say that his crowning achievement in offroading bikes was the Métisse Desert Racer. Developed by McQueen and Bud Etkins to be the last word in desert racing, it was essentially a parts-bin special that turned out looking (and working) pretty damn well.

Still available today for those with an inclination and a few spare dollars, collectingcars.com saw one sold for £21,250 in early 2022. For that price, you could get a genuinely beautiful bike powered by a fully reconditioned Triumph TR6 twin engine and four-speed ‘box, with a period Triumph front hub and BSA rear.

Tasty extras included an Amal carb, a chrome-moly nickel plated oil-in-frame, erm, frame, chromed steel wheels and exhausts, a scrambler rear boot, and a trials front, topped off with competition levers & grips. I figure if I write another 200 of these stories, I’ll be able to get my own, but the chances of me looking as cool as McQueen on it are pretty much zero.

#4. 1920 Indian Daytona PowerPlus

Sure, board track racing is all retro cool and hip now, but in the 60s, the sport was about as popular as stabbing a salty fork into your eye. As always, McQueen could see the beauty—not only of the sport but of the bikes themselves.

Little more than dangerously fast and powerful motorised bicycles (check those pedals), the romance and bravery that came from these machines was apparent to McQueen—even while the world stood dazzled by the modern magic of two-strokes, the rise of Japanese bikes, and newer, less deadly forms of moto racing.

A non-McQueen PowerPlus sold for a gasp-inducing $150,000 all the way back in 2006. You may be wondering what McQueen got for his cash way back then. Amazingly, the engine had a very modern-sounding 1000cc and eight valves in a sidevalve configuration.

Using the engine as  a stressed member, the bike was a direct response to the successes of the Harley and Excelsior bikes that the Indian racers were up against in the racing ranks of the day.

And in case you are wondering, the PowerPlus Indians of this period can be readily identified by their s-shaped seat post. Mind you, with 16 hp and a top speed in excess of 100 mph, you’d be hard pressed to spot it as it screamed passed you on the splintered boards.

#5. 1915 Cyclone Boardtracker

As with the Indian above, these two photos are of the actual bike owned by McQueen as taken by the auction houses that had the privilege of selling it. Conceived a full 6 years before the above Indian, the Cyclone couldn’t have been more aptly named.

Faster and more powerful than anything that had come before, this bike’s specs were so far beyond the other racers of the day that the Federation of American Motorcycling officials at the time assumed its recording-breaking capabilities were the result of timing errors or cheating rather than it being just straight-up quicker.

The bike’s most unique feature was probably its overhead valves, which were actuated by an innovative shaft-and-bevel system and clearly years ahead of their time. Add this to a 61 cubic inch, 45 degrees V-twin engine with massive valves and super fancy sealed bearings, and you had a recipe for both massive speeds and dubious reliability.

While it left Indians, Harleys and Excelsiors eating its dust (or sawdust, as the boardtracking case may be), the fact that it had trouble lasting the distances required meant that the novelty wore off and soon they couldn’t give these bikes away.

All this is amusing when you fast forward to 2015, when the exact bike you see here with all that McQueen heritage was sold at auction for a rather incredible price. Or, as the Hemmings auction house put it in early 2015, “The 1915 Cyclone sold for a hammer price of $775,000, becoming the most expensive motorcycle ever sold at auction. Last fall’s reported $1.35 million sale of the Captain America chopper from Easy Rider was never finalized.”

The post ROYAL GARAGE: Steve McQueen’s Top 5 Favourite Motorcycles appeared first on webBikeWorld.

We’re told that a stunning 1,750 bikes will be present at the Mecum Auctions, each repaired “to an extremely high standard” and shined to perfection by a single craftsman, rendering the reparation consistency of the entire fleet second to none. 

Sitting pretty in this particular collection will be “beautifully restored models from every year of the Milwaukee motorcycle company’s history, from 1910 to 1969.”

That includes a very nice 1910 Harley-Davidson Belt Drive Single (Lot T1), as well as a 1924 Harley-Davidson JDCA (Lot T21) and “a rare 1942 Harley-Davidson XA Military Opposed Twin Shaft Drive (Lot T54).”

On top of the vintage motorcycle auction, Mecum will also be hosting 20 other collections from names such as Dr. J. Craig Venter, Tim and Linda LaQuay, Bob and Dolva Mitchell, the highlights of which will include “an 8,400-mile 1968 Triumph T100R Daytona (Lot F212) from The Hamilton Triumph Motorcycle Collection to the Mitchell’s professionally restored and award-winning 1938 Brough Superior SS100 (Lot S112).”

Looking to make your own bids or check out the lineup?  The bidder registration will be set at $200, and is available both online (if you’re looking at the advance tickets), and in person at the door; that will cover two to five of the auction days, depending on how long you plan on staying. 

Sitting in your armchair with the cat in your lap? No problem – we’re told you can bid remotely, too, online or by telephone. 

The Mecum Auctions opens at 8 a.m., and auctions will start at 10. Be sure to check them out beforehand on their official website, and as always – stay safe on the twisties.

*All media sourced from the Mecum Auctions*

The post Las Vegas: Annual Mecum Auctions Set For End of January appeared first on webBikeWorld.

So to share my little obsession with you all, I’ve put together a list of my Top 5 insane WWII bikes in no particular order for your wide-eyed enjoyment. Behold what can happen when you have a war to win, government funding, and a military boss who just won’t take ‘that’s an insane idea’ for an answer.

5. The Killinger & Freund Motorcycle (1938)

Immediately breaking my own rules, this bike is not strictly a ‘battle motorcycle’. Instead, the one-of-a-kind ‘Killinger & Freund’ motorcycle was discovered by the occupying American forces after the end of the war in 1945.

Originally handmade in 1938, the art deco bike’s development was halted thanks to WWII rather than ramped up. None-the-less, the bike history has tied inextricably to the era and was spawned from the same ‘blue sky’ pre-war thinking that created many of the other bikes here.

Seemingly more of an exercise in engineering showmanship than a design meant to solve some urgent issue or challenge, the bike’s entire powerplant was fitted into its front wheel. Yes, you read that right.

And while this is handy in the fact that you can just swap wheels on the bike and off you go with a new engine, it also makes for a myriad of design challenges—including how to supply fuel to the spinning engines, power to the electrics, and throttle control to the carbs.

Despite all these brain teasers, the bike was reportedly fully operable and ended up being transported to the US, where it still lives today. And while it lacks the hardware and off-road chops of the other bikes here, it sure as hell isn’t running short of creativity. Just imagine if the idea had made it into post-war production?

4. The NSU Kettenkrad HK 101 (1944)

Like a concept vehicle from a Captain America movie, the NSU Kettenkrad or ‘Chain Wheel’ motorcycle (if you can still call it that) was developed late in the war by the Germans in an attempt to overcome the challenges of army motorcycles getting bogged in Europe’s wet, muddy springs and autumns.

Weighing a rather incredible 1,200 kgs (2600 lbs), the thing proved great in the mud but traded that advantage against a tendency to roll over on slopes and expose its passengers to gunfire in a way that a more nimble, faster two-wheeled motorcycle simply wouldn’t.

Able to tow equipment and carry three soldiers, it was powered by an Opel in-line four cylinder engine and was fitted with a 3-speed gearbox. With 36 hp, it was capable of 70 kmh (43 mph) on road and about 45 km/h (30 mph) overland.

And while the examples shown here aren’t armed, various other iterations were. A common addition was to place an MG 34 machine gun on the raised section between the driver and passengers. Would I like to own one? Hell yes. Would I want to rely on it in the heat of battle? Not on your life.

3. Böhmerland 600cc (1932)

Unlike the Kettenkrad, the Böhmerland was a pre-war design from Czechoslovakia that managed to see some battle action in its twilight years—thanks in large part to its carrying capabilities and large capacity power plant. With space for four in sidecar guise, the bike measured over three meters in length and could manage 120 kmph (75 mph) for riders who dared take the behemoth to such speeds.

Totally lacking in any cornering abilities, the bike was very much a ‘point and shoot’ proposition in the sense that even the most gentle of corners were enough to force the bike to reduce its speed greatly to ensure it didn’t topple over.

This bike was more of an oddity that became useful to occupying German forces than an all-out war motorcycle. The Böhmerland (or ‘Bohemia’ in English) was actually produced in a military version, but to say that it had any great impact on the outcome of the war would be rather overstating the bike’s abilities.

Other interesting facts about the bike include that its fuel line was over 2 meters long, the total-loss oil system was seemingly designed to cover the riders with a thick coating of black gold, and the front fork design was about as complex as your average V2 rocket. But for sheer steampunk weirdness, nothing else comes close.

2. Moto Guzzi ‘Mulo Meccanico’ (1960)

Not to be outdone by Germans, the Italians also had their fair share of battle wackiness, as evidenced by the rather wonderful Moto Guzzi you see here. Designed to climb mountains and to replace mules, which were traditionally used by Italian forces to get gear overland in the country’s mountainous north, every second photo of the tricycle in action appears to show it climbing up a tree—for purposes that we can only speculate.

Maybe there were olive-picking intentions for the bike when it wasn’t being used in combat? Whatever the case, it also cleverly demonstrated the bike’s nifty 3WD system.

So with power supplied to all three wheels, the bike was more than capable when it came to climbing over obstacles and the like. And with 20 years of development and engineering under its belt since WWII, Moto Guzzi built the tricycle with an impressive six-speed transmission, reverse gear, switchable diff and even a torque split system that supplied 80% of the oomph to the rear wheel and the rest to the front.

Sadly, the bike didn’t quite cut the mustard in the field, and several riders reportedly died after the hefty machine rolled over on them in rough terrain. It would seem that even with 20 years of progress, the Italian engineers still couldn’t better Germany’s flawed Kettenkrad design—but they sure went head-to-head with them when it came to the looks.

1. Moto-Chenille Mercier (1939)

Developed from a long-term military interest in ‘semi-track’ vehicles globally since the 1920s, the French René-Gillet company (often called the Harley-Davidson of France) were asked by the French military in the early ‘30s to test the viability of tank-tracked motorcycles in off-road conditions with any eye to awarding a military contract to the company. The result was the father of the bike you see here.

More of a traditional motorcycle with a tank-like sidecar grafted onto the original chassis, it was still enough to keep the French army interested and wanting to see more. Too much red wine, maybe?

Thus, Moto-Chenille created this little wonder. Despite the beautiful JAP engine and undoubtedly cool design, the actual cooling of the bike was handled by a unique system involving a fan and a pipe that was used to direct air where needed.

Reports hint at a healthy top speed and ease of use that was stifled by the highly temperamental caterpillar track system. It’s also noted that in a test against a standard French motorcycle of the time, the Moto-Chenille was slower, more thirsty and (rather surprisingly) less capable when it came time to traverse a muddy trench. But what the bike did really well was climb like a billy goat. Until its front track failed, that is. C’est la vie.

The post TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: The 5 Weirdest Motorcycles Ever Used in War appeared first on webBikeWorld.

The Britten V1000 – named after a man of the same surname – was originally handbuilt in the early 1990s by John Britten and a few choice friends based out of Christchurch, New Zealand. Wikipedia tells us that “the bike went on to win the Battle of the Twins in Daytona International Speedway’s Daytona Bike Week festivities in the United States and set several world speed records.”

Source: RideApart

There’s apparently a Britten V1000 that makes the rounds at vintage events at Road America in Wisconsin, so if you’re needing to stay local, you’ve got one to stare at – though RideApart also lists a very important detail about the machine in the New Zealand museum that’s made it almost priceless in value for a pair of peepers. 

Source: AMN

“You see, rather than remove the bike entirely from public view, they’ve instead stripped that familiar pink and blue bodywork off of it. The result is that visitors can now take a long look at a side of the Britten V1000 that even fewer people have probably ever seen.”

“This very special bike is now standing naked in the Museum, so anyone curious to get a closer look at what’s under all that bodywork now has the perfect opportunity.”

Source: Car Throttle

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We here at wBW hope you enjoy a very happy end of Q1, and stay safe on the twisties this holiday season, please and thank you.

*Title media sourced from RideApart*

The post Rare Britten V1000 Under Maintenance at Museum of New Zealand appeared first on webBikeWorld.