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.
The Honda CX500 is like a feisty featherweight boxer who’ll take on anyone and will never, ever back down. The model was first released in 1978 and it was fitted with a series of innovative features that were either uncommon or totally unused at the time, things like…
Classic board trackers like this impeccable 1911 Indian Board Track Racer are becoming harder and harder to find and locating an example as original as this is now almost impossible, some of the rarer original bikes from the era have changed hands in the last few years for prices in the mid-6-digit range.
I wouldn’t usually feature a motorcycle when I don’t have a decent, front-on photograph of it. But in this case I decided to make an exception. What you’re looking at here is a 1957 BSA Gold Star Flat Tracker with a custom Sonic Weld rigid frame, Ceriani forks, a 2-gallon alloy fuel tank, a 1 1/2″ GP carburettor, Racing Mag alloy rims, a custom exhaust, a rear disc brake and a recently rebuilt engine.
The Type 9 by Zero Engineering is the newest model out of the now world famous garage that was originally founded by Shinya Kimura. It’s a significantly updated motorcycle over the well-known Type 5 and Type 6 models – though it may not look like it at first glance.
This English-built Royal Enfield bobber is loosely based on the 2009 Royal Enfield Electra, that said, there isn’t much of the original bike left other than the engine/transmission and original wiring loom.