The BMW R60/5 was part of a series of motorcycles release by BMW in 1970 that marked a huge turning point for the company. The R50/5 (500cc), the R60/5 (600cc) and the R75/5 (750cc) were all based on entirely new frames that did away with sidecar-mounts, meaning they could be much lighter.
The Kawasaki GT550 was fitted with a DOHC transverse, 4-cylinder, air-cooled engine with a total capacity of 553cc, it could produce 58hp at 9,000rpm and some claim it could top out above 140mph. Power was fed to the rear wheel via a shaft drive and a 6-speed transmission, making it a slightly unusual bike for the early 1980s.
This incredible Ural Racer is a creation from the mind of Joao Alves, it’s based on a stock 2013 Ural Solo sT but I think you’ll agree, the finished bike looks like a totally new creature. Joao has given the Ural Racer a beautiful mid-70s fairing, a studded cafe racer seat, a 2-into-2 chopped exhaust, a set of clip-on handlebars and an entirely new personality.
The Honda CB750 is quite easily one of the top 10 most important motorcycle models of the 20th century. Now, I know that that’s a very big of a big claim to make, so let me back it up with some history before we continue any further.
The brand new 2013 Honda Grom is one of the more exciting developments in the world of modern production motorcycles in recent memory, it’s a bike built purely for fun, it’s simple, it’s well made and it’s as cheap as chips. Well it’s $2,999 USD, so it’s as cheap as chips with some caviar and white truffle on them.
The CB550 was only produced between 1974 and 1978, its predecessor was the CB500 and it was succeeded by the CB650 all of these bikes were offered under the price point of the iconic CB750 and all of them seem to have developed their own groups of dedicated fans, many of them are finding a second wind as project builds with interesting and creative conversions to cafe racer/scrambler/tracker/Brat-style bikes.
Historically, Horex was a German assembler of motorcycles founded in 1923 as an offshoot of the Rex glassworks company in Bad Homburg (hence the name, Ho Rex). The company began by building machines around outsourced four-stroke singles supplied by German manufacturer Columbus, eventually merging with Columbus in 1925 to bring engine production in-house.
The BMW R80 ST is a fascinating little piece of motorcycling history, it was the street-going version of the iconic dual-sport BMW R80 GS – the first in the long line of world famous BMW GS dual sport bikes of which over 500,000 have been made.
The West German 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix was to be the last race to be held in West Germany, a year later in 1990 the Berlin Wall had come down and the race was simply titled “The German Grand Prix”.
One of the most significant problems I have with my current apartment is the total lack of motorcycle-related paraphernalia. This is largely due to the veto that was implemented in 2011 by the United Nations of My Girlfriend, sadly my requests for a reconsideration have all died in committee.