Ridin', wrenchin' and shootin'
Just way ahead of the curve. The Honda GB500 was the ultimate production cafe racer before cafe racers started getting some love once again. They only made this version for a couple of years, back in 1989 and 1990, but if Honda were to dust off the old tooling...
Manufactured in Germany, this classic art deco-styled motorcycle shares many features with the BMWs and Moto Guzzis of the era, and it sports a motor design that, in my humble opinion, is more beautiful than either of those powerplants. Victoria was a bicycle manufacturer in Nürnberg, Germany, but they also...
The Kawasaki Estrella In 1991 Kawasaki, in their infinite wisdom, began building this lovely bit of nostalgia for the Japanese motorcycle market, The Estrella. The company launched the machine in Japan back in 1992. But you couldn’t get one here in the US, and that’s a shame, because I think...
1960 Aermacchi Chimera 175 Then and now, Aermacchi was famous for producing aircraft. But they made some lovely motorcycles as well. Aermacchi, at least on this side of the pond, is probably best known for a well-intentioned, but unsuccessful joint venture with Harley-Davidson. H-D dropped a significant investment with the...
The Ariel Leader was an attempt by the British motorcycle manufacturer to take on the popularity of the Lambretta. Ariel hoped that they could make a bike reminiscent of a scooter but which featured “motorcycle” performance characteristics. The Leader was designed by Val Page and Bernard Knight, and for the...
There are precious few examples of truly beautiful motorcycle design in the world. For the most part, a motorcycle is a thing of utility. It does what it was meant to do, but at various times in history, designers have reached into their bag of tricks in attempts to achieve...