It takes a special cocktail of skill, knowledge and reverence to restore a classic race bike properly—especially if it’s a rare one. It’s a recipe that Mike Watanabe and Luke Ransom know by heart. They run Union Motorcycle Classics out of a barn in Nampa, Idaho, where they concoct the handsomest of restorations and customs.…
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There’s not much that still surprises us these days, but you can’t beat a crazy suspension setup. And they don’t come much stranger than the bizarre cantilever arrangement used on Fabrique Nationale motorcycles. Variously known as a ‘wheelbarrow’ or (more respectfully) a ‘trailing link girder fork,’ there’s never been anything else quite like it, before…
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If there’s anything we love more than a classic racebike, it’s one with a good story behind it. And this gleaming Commando ‘S’ Roadster from NYC Norton comes with a very unusual history indeed. NYC Norton is run by the affable and knowledgeable Kenny Cummings. He knows his way around a racetrack as well as…
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Modern race bikes are shiny, perfect things: they have the air of being extruded from 3D printers in a hermetically sealed laboratory. But in days of yore, the typical racer was usually a little battered and bruised, with unique welding marks and bodged-up brackets and bodywork. We have to admit to preferring them that way,…
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Nothing arouses curiosity quite like a rare racing machine. Bonus points if it’s so vintage and obscure, you need to turn to…
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If you’d asked me yesterday when Ducati got its first Isle of Man TT win, I’d have scratched my head and then…
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BMW’s annual Pure&Crafted show is a goldmine for seekers of unusual motorcycles, and not just those manufactured in Berlin. At this year’s…
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Every Laverda that Jean-Louis Olive lays his hands on gets the star treatment. Most of his projects are restorations, but this 1978…
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The bikes that are revealed on these pages are usually hot off the press. The shoot is finished, the images are graded…
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Motorcycle styling has always been conservative rather than revolutionary. Even the most famous machines from history fit into a very obvious lineage…
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One of the weirdest sports the world has ever seen is Moto-Ball: It’s like polo, but with motorcycles instead of horses. It…
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After weeks of wrenching and filming, our Honda CB550F is back together. The hard work at E3 Motorcycles has paid off—and it’s…
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