Even if you know very little about Kawasaki’s history, you probably know about the KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica. Released in 1982, it was a limited edition motorcycle based on the one that Lawson won the championship with. Essentially a production bike with new paint and some upgraded parts, it was special, but not overly so.…
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The motorcycling world is replete with mechanical oddities that never really caught on. Think hub center steering, two-wheel drive, and even automatic transmissions. But top of the list has got to be the rotary engine. Despite its limited success in the mainstream car world, there are plenty of folks who have tried to make a…
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Nothing screams “it’s the weekend” quite like a two-stroke street tracker. All the more if it’s a Yamaha RD400, and it’s dressed in a traditional black and yellow uniform—with speed blocks, of course. This svelte little number, dubbed ‘427 Tracker,’ is the work of Smyth Innovations. Based in Ontario, Canada, the workshop is run by…
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Italy boasts some of the most storied marques in motorcycling, many of which are still prolific today. But the annals of Italian motorcycle history are also littered with companies that didn’t quite stand the test of time—like Aermacchi. If you don’t know the story yet, Aermacchi was an aircraft manufacturer that started producing motorcycles after…
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Small electric motorcycles face off against big-bore icons this week. In one corner, a custom electric commuter from Indonesia, and a golf-themed…
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If you live outside Italy, you may not have heard of FB Mondial. But the marque is familiar to Europeans of a…
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In the rarified world of artisan bike builders, Shiro Nakajima stands apart. His bikes are usually functional, and sometimes even practical: the…
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There’s a 295-pound Honda XR600R hanging on the wall at Dirtshop Thailand, in Bangkok. Made in 1990, it’s the actual motorcycle that…
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There’s talk that Honda has a new version of its popular Transalp dual-sport in the works. And although it might be wishful…
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Tom Simpson is a busy man. As the only pair of hands at Foundry Motorcycle, he’s usually in the workshop six days…
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I’ll admit, my knowledge of vintage Ducatis is rudimentary at best—so I always feel a little out of my depth when talking…
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The phrase ‘renaissance man’ is thrown around too loosely these days, along with ‘legendary’ and ‘iconic.’ But there’s no other way to…
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