Motorcycle Reviews
From reliable touring bikes to nimble racers, we ride and evaluate the best bikes of yesteryear.
11/10/2009 9:51:05 AM
Ever wonder what it’s like to ride a truly vintage motorcycle? How about an 82-year-old water-cooled 2-stroke twin? It’s amazing enough to discover anyone even built such a bike back in the 1920s, more amazing is riding one and discovering that except for the expected deficiencies in braking, it’s a remarkably user-friendly machine.
10/8/2009 12:05:21 PM
If someone told you they were introducing a 10hp, 125cc 2-stroke twin-cylinder machine like the 1952 Rumi Sport 125, would you be even remotely impressed? Probably not.
10/7/2009 4:12:40 PM
Every time I ride a BMW R75/5, it makes me wonder what I was thinking when I parted with mine a few years back.
10/7/2009 3:52:52 PM
A shop-class 1981 Honda CBX slips through the cracks.
10/7/2009 3:09:10 PM
Is the Kawasaki KZ1000 Z1-R the ultimate Zee-bike?
10/7/2009 9:44:56 AM
The R5 was in many respects the crown jewel of Yamaha’s continuing 2-stroke program.
10/7/2009 9:19:45 AM
A close look at the 1967 BSA Hornet.
10/7/2009 9:07:18 AM
Riding a machine like the 1962 Velocette Venom Clubman competently is a skill that most riders today have never mastered because nobody builds motorcycles like this any more.
10/6/2009 4:53:28 PM
The latest attempt to bring the well-known Indian name back to life comes courtesy of the 2009 Indian Chief built by born-again Indian Motorcycle Co., headquartered in Kings Mountain, N.C.
10/6/2009 4:19:23 PM
The 1973 Benelli 650S Tornado is a very compact but robust looking bike — sort of like a Honda Benly that’s been pumping iron and abusing steroids.
8/21/2009 4:26:21 PM
Imagine it’s 1976 and you’re hearing two new sounds, trying to determine which will have more staying power. One is the sweet exhaust note of Yamaha’s new three-cylinder XS750; the other the chain-saw guitar on The Ramones’ debut record.
8/21/2009 4:08:10 PM
With deceptive speed, the slim, black Harley-Davidson XLCR carved a swath through the miles of slow-moving metal.
8/21/2009 4:00:45 PM
Paul Zell likes old British motorcycles. And like many aficionados of old British bikes, he believes they can sometimes stand a little improvement. Case in point: his custom-made 2005 Vincent Special.
8/21/2009 1:48:07 PM
BMW’s high-speed R90S set the motorcycle industry on its head.
8/21/2009 1:04:53 PM
True love kept John Gary Brown and his 1956 NSU Supermax together. Well, that and a dead coil.
8/21/2009 11:57:10 AM
If you’ve toured on a Yamaha XS650 for more than a sitcom’s worth of time, you probably fall into one of two groups.
8/18/2009 1:44:01 PM
Wrecked and retired, a 1977 Harley-Davidson custom FLHS thunders back to life.
8/14/2009 12:15:08 PM
While the Norton motorcycle company faded from existence as the sun finally set on the British motorcycle industry, fans of the bike endeavored to keep them running, and one fan in particular endeavored to keep them running better and longer. And he called his operation Colorado Norton Works.
8/3/2009 4:40:44 PM
Best bets on tomorrow's classics: 1968-1970 BSA 441 Shooting Star
8/3/2009 3:25:27 PM
The Norton name is back in the U.K., this time under the sole ownership of a British businessman with passion for motorcycles, Stuart Garner.
8/3/2009 2:44:07 PM
Rick Manning’s eye-catching 1973 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport.
8/3/2009 2:31:42 PM
Moto Guzzi has decided to go whole-heartedly down the retro route, and the V7 Café is the latest Guzzi to be given the treatment.
8/3/2009 2:15:59 PM
The history of the triple is an excellent example of how the British motorcycle industry put itself out of business.
8/3/2009 2:03:16 PM
The beginning and end of the Morbidelli 850 V8.
8/3/2009 1:50:35 PM
A closer look at the 1982 Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica.
8/3/2009 1:28:06 PM
Riding Mike Hailwood's history-making Ducati 900F1 racer.
8/3/2009 1:09:44 PM
Until recently, new “retro”-themed bikes have been a bit of a sketchy proposition.
8/3/2009 1:09:36 PM
How do you like your old Indian motorcycles – restored to concours condition or in their work clothes showing the wear and tear of a hard life?
8/3/2009 12:36:18 PM
Most bike nuts who grew up in the Sixties are fans of British, Italian or American iron. Greg Davis likes Japanese bikes.
8/3/2009 10:22:41 AM
Forget everything you thought you knew about Harley-Davidson motorcycles, because the XR1200 is like nothing H-D’s ever made, including Harley’s 1970-1980 XR750 flat tracker that inspired it. Although everything about the XR1200 screams yesterday, it’s a thoroughly modern machine.
7/31/2009 4:44:50 PM
Although manufacturers have played with 6-cylinder bikes since at least the 1920s, the era of big 6-cylinder bikes was short lived.
7/31/2009 3:22:13 PM
New Hampshire Vincent enthusiast David Dunfey says he’s unearthed the last Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle ever made.
7/28/2009 2:59:01 PM
Bill Morris had taken only a passing interested in motorcycles before he traveled to the former Soviet Union in 2002 and noticed locals riding Cold War-era Urals and Dneprs.
7/28/2009 2:15:08 PM
Simmering heat. Blistering sun. And Dunstall Norton Commando that's stood in a scrapyard for the last three years. Welcome to Death Valley.
7/28/2009 1:42:09 PM
In the workshop, is the bike I’ve come to see: the penultimate version of the Ducati Mk3D Desmo with its unique fiberglass bodywork in silver metalflake. It’s the motorcycle Australia’s Two Wheels magazine nicknamed the “Silver Shotgun.”
7/28/2009 1:21:40 PM
As chaps-wearing, tattooed and pierced bikers watch check-book choppers and custom Harleys inch their way down Main Street, just a couple of miles away on Daytona Beach history is being revisited on a 1952 Harley-Davidson KRTT.
7/28/2009 12:51:27 PM
On the open road, the 1952 Ariel Square Four is at home in modern traffic in a way that most classic British bikes cannot approach.
7/28/2009 12:24:37 PM
Dual-sport bikes are hardly new. By some accounts, BSA launched the category in 1965 with its offroad-styled 500cc A50 Wasp and 650cc A65 Hornet. Three years later, the company introduced the Firebird Scrambler, its latest — and arguably best — variation on the theme. Trouble is, they forgot to market it, and the Firebird stalled.
7/28/2009 12:01:09 PM
The Le Mans Mk1 put Moto Guzzi in the superbike race.
7/27/2009 4:54:58 PM
A slow run down a country road. Stopping to smell the roses, having a picnic, or maybe working in a California vineyard, the sidecar holding baskets full of grapes and bags full of fertilizer — or just going to check that the irrigation is working right — that’s the purpose of this 1952 Nimbus Type C sidecar rig.
7/27/2009 3:47:57 PM
Hitching a ride on the sole surviving AJS V4.
7/27/2009 3:06:14 PM
The motorcycle Harley-Davidson helped the Japanese make.
7/27/2009 2:41:27 PM
In a quiet neighborhood east of New York City, Peter Nettesheim has assembled 50 BMW motorcycles and cars representing his dedication to the brand.
7/27/2009 2:29:23 PM
Found hidden in a bricked-up wall in a Chicago suburb 40 years ago, the Traub motorcycle is still a mystery today
7/27/2009 2:15:41 PM
One hundred miles east of Manhattan is a place where the locals say the only thing farther east of its windswept dunes and tall sea grass is Portugal. To most urbanites this is the end of the earth. I set out at dawn one day on my 1975 Honda CB750 K5 to ride right off “The End.”
7/27/2009 1:22:44 PM
You wouldn’t doodle on a Picasso, would you? Conventional thinking says you don’t mess with a Vincent, either. But the builders of these wild Vincents weren’t listening — and what they made is anything but conventional.
7/27/2009 11:57:00 AM
“Bespoke.” A proper British word, it loosely translates to “custom-made.” But custom is a word that’s been thrown around so much that today, when applied to motorcycles, it just doesn’t carry the meaning it once did.
7/23/2009 3:53:45 PM
Think your BMW GS is the ultimate adventure bike? Check out the Zundapp KS750. Built for the German military, it has 10 speeds and tops out at 60mph. And nigh on indestructible, it’ll take you where mortal bikes fear to tread — and back.
7/23/2009 3:23:39 PM
In the world of motorcycles, Suzuki’s AC50 Maverick is a relative unknown. But when it comes to small displacement bikes — often referred to as “tiddlers” — these smart and sunny bikes stand proud with their pint-size stature and surprising sophistication.
6/5/2009 12:28:37 PM
Add one more bike to the growing list of new retro-themed bikes — this time from right here in the good old U.S. of A. Harley-Davidson has released the new XR1200, a Sportster-based hot rod whose styling draws heavily from Harley history, mimicking H-D’s iconic and race winning XR750 of 1970-1980.
6/4/2009 11:27:48 AM
There are those who might consider that some motorcycles are over exposed, and that some of the parts on display would be better hidden. Take the Moto Guzzi Falcone Sport, for example. Is it perhaps a little too naked, maybe wearing too much of its heart on its sleeve?
6/4/2009 11:19:45 AM
From road racer to plodding sidecar hack, this 1937 Zundapp KKS500 has led quite a life.
6/4/2009 11:14:58 AM
Triumph’s Bonneville SE is the best yet.
6/4/2009 11:07:39 AM
Josh Withers always loved BMW’s Toaster-style tanks, and who doesn’t love the café look? To fulfill his love of both, he built an R60/5 special perfect for ripping around the streets of Los Angeles.
6/4/2009 11:00:46 AM
American muscle and British style come together for a modern take on a classic theme
6/4/2009 10:49:50 AM
It’s not every day you see a 1950 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn sailing along the high desert highway. But it was this unlikely rig that brought Tom Mellor, his wife, Diane, and their 1969 Triumph Trident T150 to the Bonneville Salt Flats last summer, where the Canadian rider set four new World Speed records on the 40th anniversary of the Trident’s first appearance in the summer of 1968.
6/4/2009 10:42:35 AM
The Kawasaki H1 was introduced in late 1968. The Sixties were in full swing, and dizzying changes in art, music and politics were taking place. Motorcycles were changing, as well.
6/3/2009 5:00:36 PM
Every successful bike maker has a standout model, the ne plus ultra, the one where everything comes together perfectly, producing a classic bike that exemplifies the brand. For Triumph it was the Bonneville, for Moto Guzzi the Le Mans and for Indian the Chief. For Laverda, it was the Jota.
6/3/2009 4:33:15 PM
A look at the very first Vincent Black Shadow, owned by Bob Culver.
6/3/2009 4:24:42 PM
The mid-1980s were challenging times for the motorcycle industry. Faced with a changing and constricting market, Yamaha, like every company, took a long look at its products and considered how it should adapt to a new reality. Along with the monster V-Max and the immortal FZ750, Yamaha introduced the Radian, a smaller, kinder, and yes, faster standard for the street.
3/23/2009 5:08:56 PM
Ugo Cirri is a genial and typically warm Italian who resides in a small village not far from Pisa, and is the proud owner and restorer of a fine but unusual Matchless G3L.
3/23/2009 4:48:16 PM
Few motorcycles ever built have enjoyed as mythical a reputation as the Ducati Apollo, a failed Italian attempt at a Harley-style cruiser for the American market.
3/23/2009 4:33:13 PM
In 1983, turbocharging was the wave of the motorcycle future. And while the Honda CX650 Turbo was arguably the best of the turbocharged bikes that roared onto roads in the early Eighties, it is now one of the rarest production Hondas ever, with only 1,777 built and fewer than 1,200 imported to the U.S. and Canada.
3/23/2009 4:25:37 PM
Two decades after his untimely death in 1980, the world’s ongoing fascination with movie star Steve McQueen — and his connection to motorcycles — lives on.
3/23/2009 2:38:24 PM
When BMW introduced the radical sport-touring 4-cylinder K1 in 1988, the Bavarian firm was already under attack from BMW traditionalists who felt the company was suffering an identity crisis, turning away from a time-honored line of horizontally opposed, air-cooled touring twins in favor of increasingly, well, un-BMW-like machines.
3/11/2009 5:03:06 PM
Wacky styling and an opposed twin weren't enough to save Douglas.
3/10/2009 5:07:36 PM
As the largest of BMW’s new line of Slash-Six models introduced for the 1974 model year, the R90/6 plugged an important hole in the famed Bavarian company’s line-up.
3/10/2009 11:06:51 AM
In the world of classic dirt bikes, Hodakas aren’t your average motorcycles.
3/3/2009 12:19:01 PM
Almost 30 years since he died and 46 years since his epic jump in The Great Escape, Steve McQueen still holds us under his spell. But if you think about it a moment, just why is a bit of a mystery. For one thing, McQueen didn’t even make the jump; that duty fell to offroad racer and stuntman Bud Ekins, a close friend of McQueen’s. Insurers for the film wouldn’t let McQueen expose himself to that kind of danger, so Ekins made the famous jump that’s been tied to McQueen ever since. Yet motorcyclists never tire of talking about that jump, which was recently recreated with help from Gerry Lisi at Metisse Motorcycles, who just launched a limited run of 300 Steve McQueen Metisse Desert Racers.
2/4/2009 1:28:40 PM
There are conflicting stories on how Bob Steig's 1934 Harley-Davidson VLD came to be named Annie.
2/4/2009 1:08:56 PM
Based on the very first Guzzi V-twin, the 1967 V7, the Eldorado helped continue the traction Moto Guzzi had gained in the U.S. with the 703cc V7 and later 757cc Ambassador.
2/4/2009 11:03:38 AM
One part Harley, one part Norton, lightly shaken: Nick Roskelley's Harleyton combines a Norton featherbed frame and Harley flathead engine.
2/4/2009 9:44:34 AM
If a bike’s impact on the industry and longevity in production are any measure of success, there are few designs that come close to Triumph’s 500cc Speed Twin.
2/3/2009 2:09:04 PM
Launched in 1976, Suzuki’s GS line of 4-cylinder, 4-stroke bikes have often been hailed as the first Japanese motorcycles that actually handled well.
2/3/2009 1:20:47 PM
If ever a machine was worthy of Under the Radar status, it’s Kawasaki’s big twin, the KZ750
12/10/2008 11:02:18 AM
We’ve cast our votes in the runoffs, now it’s your turn to make the final decision in our 2008 Motorcycle Classics East Meets West bike shows.
12/1/2008 4:06:32 PM
Neale Bayly takes a ride on a 1985 Yamaha FZ750 that has seen better days.
12/1/2008 3:26:03 PM
When you think of a vintage small-bore Japanese motorcycle for running in-town errands or slinging mud on a weekend camping trip, what comes to mind?
12/1/2008 3:11:14 PM
Cook Neilson and Phil Schilling’s 1977 Daytona-winning Ducati is reborn.
12/1/2008 2:30:40 PM
When Suzuki first hit the U.S. market in 1963, it was just another link in a growing chain of new — and often forgettable — companies from the Land of the Rising Sun. Three years later we got the Hustler, and Suzuki got remembered.
12/1/2008 10:16:15 AM
It’s generally acknowledged that Honda’s range of liquid-cooled, 4-valve, overhead cam V4s was rushed to market in response to an aggressive strategy by Yamaha to usurp Big Red’s title as number one in U.S. cycle sales
11/26/2008 5:39:53 PM
Late 1970s "Southern Rock" music inspires Harley-Davidson.
11/26/2008 4:48:51 PM
A home-built version of Triumph's forgotten prototype.
11/26/2008 4:26:41 PM
Although Royal Enfield in England folded over 30 years ago, thanks to a subsidiary in India you can still buy machines that hark back to those glory days when British bikes ruled the roads.
11/26/2008 4:18:42 PM
Good news comes from Moto Guzzi, which has announced plans to make the new V7 Classic available to U.S. buyers.
11/26/2008 2:30:40 PM
The inspiration for the Laverda SF dates back to 1964, when 25-year-old Laverda general manager Massimo Laverda toured the U.S. for a firsthand impression of the burgeoning market here.
11/25/2008 9:56:39 AM
Stymieing U.S. buyers, earlier this year Harley-Davidson introduced the flat-tracker inspired XR1200, whose styling draws heavily from Harley history, mimicking H-D’s iconic and race winning XR750 of 1970-1980. The hitch? It was a Euro-only offering.
11/24/2008 2:57:24 PM
In 1975, when J. Randy Riggs was the senior editor of CYCLE WORLD magazine, CYCLE WORLD and rival CYCLE magazine were battling it out for the number one spot in American motorcycle magazine sales. One way to get a leg up on the competition was to get exclusive stories on new models.
9/29/2008 3:15:59 PM
John Niesley is the kind of guy you’d love as a neighbor: friendly, easy-going and unpretentious. But back in 1958 riding his first AJS Model 18CS, he would have been feared as a bit of a hell-raiser.
9/26/2008 3:29:32 PM
Although the TT500 was last imported into the U.S. in 1981, the lightweight, fun single still has tons of fans.
9/26/2008 2:56:19 PM
On Sept. 15, 2007, I celebrated 25 years of owning my Norton Commando. In that time the bike and I rolled through a litany of adventures and misadventures, our relationship sometimes harmonious, sometimes not.
9/26/2008 9:52:21 AM
Talk about climbing the social ladder: Part Norton, part Laverda, Daniel Delfour’s Anglo/Italian hybrid wowed ‘em at the 2008 Legend of the Motorcycle last May. And for good reason; it’s spectacular.
9/25/2008 4:45:12 PM
“The thinking man’s motorcycle.” That was Cycle magazine’s take on Honda’s half-liter four, the CB500K.
8/18/2008 1:28:34 PM
Roaming around the outside of the track, a muffled buzz growing louder and louder, I could swear a swarm of killer bees must be heading toward me. Then I remember; oh yeah, the vintage Honda CB160s are racing.
8/18/2008 1:07:01 PM
The tiny racer appears, sliding around the corner, with a baritone growl streaming from the twin exhausts. There is a glimpse of black and silver, but in a blink, motorcycle and rider are rounding the next turn. The exhaust note lingers for a minute, and then disappears, chasing after the bike.
8/18/2008 12:45:10 PM
Lee Palser remembers his 1981 factory tour of the struggling Triumph workers' Co-op.
8/18/2008 12:33:11 PM
In 1975, the British motorcycle industry was pronounced officially deceased when Norton Villiers Triumph, the UK’s sole-surviving mass-producer, pulled the plug on its Commando and Trident range at the end of the model year. And that should have been that.
8/18/2008 12:19:11 PM
The 1984 Yamaha FJ1100 certainly caused a stir in its freshman year: “The best large displacement sport motorcycle of 1984, and maybe even the best in its class in the history of motorcycling,” said Rider magazine.
8/18/2008 11:50:41 AM
Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. Bombing down the dramatic roads that twist and turn along the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy on an air-cooled Moto Guzzi V-twin, the time-honored designation “V7” emblazoned on its side panel, I can almost imagine it’s 1966 all over again, not 2008.
8/18/2008 10:46:01 AM
“If you were ready to buy a 500cc bike and you happened to stroll into a Moto Guzzi dealership while making the rounds through the local motorcycle shops, chances are you wouldn’t ride out on a V50 Monza," said the editors at Cycle in their November 1981 issue.