The Honda VFR750R Type RC30 was a homologation special developed for the then-new World Superbike Championship by the Honda Racing Corporation. By late-1980s standards the RC30 was staggeringly advanced, the engineers at Honda had thrown everything they had at their new superbike in order to win the World Superbike Championship and establish dominance over their…
John Lennon’s Monkey Bike might not be something you thought you’d be reading about when you woke up this morning, but there it is. Lennon bought the Monkey Bike, a 1969 Honda Z50A, brand new at the end of the ’60s and used it around his Tittenhurst Park estate – often with a young Julian…
The Honda CX500 was a significant departure from the norm for Honda. The Japanese marque had made a name for themselves by introducing the Honda CB750 and creating what would become the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (or UJM) and have its basic layout copied by the other three major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.
The Colin Seeley-built Honda CB750 Phil Read Factory Replica is a very rare motorcycle, approximately 150 were made and they have the distinction of being the first fully faired race replica available to buy off the showroom floor from a Japanese marque. Colin Seeley The motorcycle frames developed by Colin Seeley in the 1960s and…
Jennifer and her husband Blake Bailey run the Motobailey Shoe Co. – known for their classically styled, Kevlar-lined leather motorcycle boots. Both Jennifer and Blake are avid motorcyclists, Jennifer started our a few years ago on a Kawasaki Ninja 250 but after becoming friends with Karly Kothmann and seeing her beautifully rebuilt Honda CB550 she knew…
The Honda VFR750R Type RC30, often just referred to as the RC30, is a unicorn motorcycle on par with the likes of Paul Smart’s Ducati 750 Imola Desmo, the Vincent Black Shadow, the Norton Manx, and the Brough Superior SS100. Now before the angry emails start rolling in from the vintage motorcycle fraternity, let me…
There’s something immediately approachable about mini bikes. In fact they might be the only motorcycle genre that almost all motorcyclists like, a rare feat in the tribal world of two-wheelers. The ST/CT Series by Honda are quite different from their Monkey Bike counterparts, they have pressed-steel frames with a “T” shaped profile and an underslung…
If you have so much as a passing interest in highly engineered custom motorcycles, you’ll almost certainly have encountered the work of Pepo Rosell before. Probably under the name of his previous enterprise – Radical Ducati. He closed down Radical Ducati a few years ago in order to take a 12 month sabbatical and decide…
Meet Jeremy and Joel DownShift Studio is run by Jeremy Lacy, an industrial designer based in Denver who specializes in illustrations and sketches of custom bikes, often helping fabricators and builders from around the world visualize their ideas and projects before the metal is cut and the tools come out. The Honda CX500 you see…
The Honda CB200 was released in 1973 as a replacement for the CB175, both bikes were popular with young men, particularly teenagers, who couldn’t afford a CB750 but wanted the closet thing they could get. A Brief History of the Honda CB200 Honda sold the CB200 between 1973 and 1976, depending on which country you’re…
Steve McQueen’s love for motorcycles is well documented, he owned many over the course of his life, including Indians, Triumphs, Husqvarnas, Hondas, and even a Cyclone board track racer. In 1973 he starred in a commercial for the Honda CR250, and as part payment Honda sent him a brand new CB450 – doubtless hoping he…
Introduction The Honda Gold Wing has been pretty much the archetypal grand touring motorcycle from its debut back in 1974. This is a motorcycle that Honda described as the “King of King motorcycles”, their own CB750 having already been given the title of “King of motorcycles”. That Honda got their concept right in the first…
