For Sale: Marty Coblentz’s BSA-Inspired “Thumpstar”… When Yamaha introduced their air-cooled 500 singles in the late 1970s — the XT500, TT500, and SR500 — many enthusiasts saw them as a Japanese version of the British […]
Tag: 500cc
Veloce Ethereal: 500cc Two-Stroke Café Racer
145-hp 500cc Two-Stroke Ethereal from Veloce Motorcycles… In the modern world, a 500cc two-stroke intended for road use seems almost unthinkable. However, that’s exactly what Oxfordshire-based Veloce Motorcycles is promising with the Ethereal — a […]
Project Cobra: ’72 Suzuki T500 Street Tracker
Vic Shield helps a good mate ride again… The Suzuki T500 — known as the Cobra, Titan, or Charger — appeared in 1968, marketed as the “the sports cycle that couldn’t be made.” At the […]
Killer Bee: Yamaha TT500 Scrambler
Aluminum-Clad Vinduro from FONK Motorcycle… In the mid 1970s, Yamaha’s market research showed that American ranchers and off-road riders were interested in a replacement for the British single-cylinder scramblers of yesteryear. BSA and the other […]
Yankee 500Z: 488cc Two-Stroke Twin Enduro
The 488cc Dick Mann-Developed Two-Stroke Twin Desert Racer and Enduro… In the late 1960s, before “adventure bike” was even a phrase, a small company in Schenectady, New York set out to build something radically different: […]
Faber Beezer: 1968 BSA B44 Victor Competition Scrambler
500cc Pre-68 Scrambles Bike from Chopping Paint & Body… In 1966, BSA released the B44 series, which featured a new 441cc four-stroke engine developed by the company’s Competition Department. They’d taken the 343cc B40, which […]
Ultra Lightweight 500: TT-Powered Yamaha XT500 Street Tracker
From Eric Dean Design: Yamaha XT500 Meets Suzuki TL1000R… The street-legal Yamaha XT500 and its off-road sibling, the TT500, quickly made a name for themselves in the late 1970s. Not only did they win […]
Royal Enfield Classic 500 Trials Bike
STG Tracker builds a Trials-inspired Enfield 500… More than 75 years ago, the 1948 G2 350 Bullet debuted as the first motorcycle with an articulating swingarm, destined to become one of the best-selling Enfields […]
Black Bullet: Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Café Racer
Prize-Winning “Black Bullet” from Nicolas Baux of MCNC… The Royal Enfield Bullet is nearing a century of continuous production — the longest of any motorcycle model in history. Introduced in 1932, the four-stroke single-cylinder machine […]
Yamaha SR500 Tracker from “Kid McQueen”
A 70s-inspired SR500 tracker from 20-year-old Moritz Bree… Back in 2016, a 12-year-old custom phenom from Austria, Moritz Bree, came onto the scene. He was involved in designing custom bikes for Free Spirits and Zaeta, […]
