996cc / Six cylinders / 140 horsepower / Shaft drive: The Laverda V6… At the 1978 Bol d’Or, the fastest motorcycle on the Mistral Straight wasn’t one of Honda’s factory endurance racers — it was […]
Features
Vyrus 987 C³ 4V: 350-lb Ducati-Powered Hub-Center Superbike
Ducati 1098R power, 350 pounds, and hub-center steering… In 2009, the Ducati 1098R already represented an extreme interpretation of the Italian V-twin superbike. Its Testastretta Evoluzione engine (actually 1198cc despite the model name) had been […]
Münch Mammut 2000: The 260-hp Turbo Bike
Übermoto: 2000cc, Turbocharged, 260 horsepower, and 218 lb-ft of torque… At the turn of the millennium, the motorcycle world was engaged in an escalating superbike arms race. The Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-12R were pushing […]
Honda NR750: The Oval-Piston Superbike
32-Valve, 15,000-rpm V4: Honda’s attempt to build a V8…without technically building one… In 1992, Honda put one of the strangest engines ever developed for Grand Prix racing into a road-going motorcycle. The resulting Honda NR750 […]
Suter MMX 500: 195-HP Two-Stroke GP Bike
195 Horsepower, 280 Pounds, Two Strokes: The Spirit of the 500cc “Unrideables” Reborn… For a generation of motorcycle racing fans, the 500cc two-stroke Grand Prix bike represents something close to the ultimate racing motorcycle. The […]
Ride the Himalayas: 14,000+ Feet on Two Wheels
High Mountain Adventure with Canadian Motorcycle Legend Lawrence Hacking… In 2001, at the age of 47, riding a specially-prepped Honda XR650R, Lawrence Hacking became the first Canadian to finish the Dakar Rally. Just last year […]
ATK 700 Intimidator: The 78-hp 700cc Two-Stroke Dirt Bike
685cc, 78 Horsepower, 238 Pounds: One of the most outrageous production dirt bikes ever offered in America… There was a time when a 500cc two-stroke motocross bike was the king of the dirt. Honda’s CR500 […]
Bimota Vdue: 500cc Two-Stroke GP Bike for the Road
Bimota’s first homegrown engine powered one of the wildest superbikes of the 1990s: a featherweight 500cc V-twin smoker with direct fuel injection, carbon bodywork, and GP aspirations… Imagine walking into a motorcycle dealership in the […]
Crighton CR700W: 220-hp, 286-lb Rotary Superbike
The culmination of Brian Crighton’s four-decade obsession with rotary race bikes makes 220 horsepower from 690cc — and weighs less than a Yamaha R3… The Crighton CR700W is one of those motorcycles whose specifications make […]
What Motorcycles Are in The Matrix Reloaded?
Trinity’s Ducati superbike became the star of one of cinema’s greatest motorcycle chases… There are motorcycle chases, and then there’s the freeway sequence from The Matrix Reloaded. Trinity blasts a dark-green superbike off a transporter, […]
