Exotic/Rare Bikes

[Felix]

Competition on the radio to win £100k and the DJ was rabbiting on about what you could buy. He came up with an MV what was a tad under 100k what got me googling and this was it. May be rare but looks no to special to me

https://www.thebikespecialists.com/vehi ... d045731fb9

More here

https://www.thebikespecialists.com/

[weeksy]

It's up there for me that one.



But I'd take this one

[KungFooBob]

SB8R

Rareish, exoticish. Affrodableish.

People think they're ugly, but I flippin' loves'em.

https://www.thebikespecialists.com/vehi ... 92bc429d83

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234479881526 ... Sw52xiPFI0

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I seriously considered buying an OW01 for £13K a couple of years ago despite not having thought they were that great when I rode one about 25 years ago, but I thought why do I want a 13 grand bike for track days that I'm not good enough to get the most out of and bought an FZR400 instead.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'm not sure if I'd buy them even if I had the space and money, I've got 4 bikes now and I only ride one of them, I thought I'd be dead keen on my YPVS, but now I've got it I'm a bit meh about it.

Saying that I enjoy the few shows I take a bike to and the classic track days, but I think I prefer the social side to the riding.

[Demannu]

It's all about perspective.
To a gripper, the MV is a thing of beauty and wonder,.bringing back memories of Ago and Hailwood et al.
For me, a white Norton rotary or a loctite yam or a NSR500 gets the juices flowing.
MNO bike for me would be a Tesi 1d, coolest bike in the car park!

[Yorick]

This was just so far ahead of everything else when it came out. Was just Honda showing off.

Honda-NR750-RC40.jpg (52.29 KiB) Viewed 800 times

[MingtheMerciless]

Ronax 500 for me.

[mangocrazy]

This the bike that knocked me sideways when I first saw it. It's suitably rare - only 500 made - and even has a plate on the top yoke with its unique number. I think they actually look better than the 916 which followed, but then I'm biased. It has a brutal/beautiful thing going on that captivated me 30 years ago and still does now. Ladies and gentlemen, I propose the Ducati 851 SP3 for your viewing pleasure.

851_SP3.jpg (94.22 KiB) Viewed 780 times

[demographic]

This the bike that knocked me sideways when I first saw it. It's suitably rare - only 500 made - and even has a plate on the top yoke with its unique number. I think they actually look better than the 916 which followed, but then I'm biased. It has a brutal/beautiful thing going on that captivated me 30 years ago and still does now. Ladies and gentlemen, I propose the Ducati 851 SP3 for your viewing pleasure.

Yeah somehow thats a lot more special to me than the quite possibly more beautiful 916.
I remember the first writeup by Cathcart in Performance Bikes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

851 shape Ducatis mean nothing to me. If you painted it green and told me it was a Kawasaki I'd believe you at first, I'd have to actually look closely to know you were telling porkies.

The 916 on the other hand....

Gotta be an age thing.

[mangocrazy]

The 851/888 models ran from late 80s through to 1993 as WSBK entries. The 916 was the weapon of choice from 1994 onwards. The 916 engine was an evolution of the 888 rngine which gradually increased in capacity until it became the 996.

[Couchy]

Tbh the 916 for me hasn’t aged well at all, looks very dated and not in a good way.
If I was to buy a rare bike I’d prob go with an HP2 at the moment of an NSR250 of some description. Doubt I’d ride either

[demographic]

This was just so far ahead of everything else when it came out. Was just Honda showing off.

Gah! <Must resist commenting>.

[mangocrazy]

I was never that impressed by the NR750. Just a case of massive corporate willy-waving. A friend of mine knew Steve James the snooker player, who had an NR750 and let him ride it. He was suitably star-struck but confessed that it felt like a very posh, faster but rather heavy VFR - which it was really. The 916 did borrow a lot of styling cues from it, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.

[Tricky]

Cagiva C594 is the one for me, beautiful in every respect IMO

[demographic]

I was never that impressed by the NR750. Just a case of massive corporate willy-waving. A friend of mine knew Steve James the snooker player, who had an NR750 and let him ride it. He was suitably star-struck but confessed that it felt like a very posh, faster but rather heavy VFR - which it was really. The 916 did borrow a lot of styling cues from it, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.

They mention the fact that Tambourini (sp?) took some of his ideas from the NR for the 916 in this article.
https://www.rideapart.com/motorcycle-li ... -for-sale/
Mind, that article also makes a big deal of upside down forks on a 92 bike despite the fact that my 1990 motocrosser has em and I'm pretty sure that the 1990 model GSXR 1100 Slingshot had USD's as well so I'm getting a bit of a knobheed vibe from whoever wrote it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

OEMs make stuff like the NR all the time. They all do it. They just build stuff with mad shit on it to see if it works, get some miles in their new idea, figure some stuff out etc. Most of them have fleets of highly experimental vehicles full of tech anywhere up to 10 years ahead of what they're selling to the public. The public never see any of it.

The impressive thing about the NR is that they put it on sale in a finished state. I've said it before, Honda would have learned loads in building the NR, loads of stuff which is perhaps not that obvious - things like welding techniques, glueing procedures, heat treatments, how to make reliable digital dashboards and "invisible" stuff like that. All things which then appear in their lower models later on.

[Rockburner]

I was never that impressed by the NR750. Just a case of massive corporate willy-waving. A friend of mine knew Steve James the snooker player, who had an NR750 and let him ride it. He was suitably star-struck but confessed that it felt like a very posh, faster but rather heavy VFR - which it was really. The 916 did borrow a lot of styling cues from it, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.

They mention the fact that Tambourini (sp?) took some of his ideas from the NR for the 916 in this article.
https://www.rideapart.com/motorcycle-li ... -for-sale/
Mind, that article also makes a big deal of upside down forks on a 92 bike despite the fact that my 1990 motocrosser has em and I'm pretty sure that the 1990 model GSXR 1100 Slingshot had USD's as well so I'm getting a bit of a knobheed vibe from whoever wrote it.

Not read the article but "upside down forks" have been around a long time... The '53 Bantam (copied from a pre-war DKW) had them.

[Yorick]

OEMs make stuff like the NR all the time. They all do it. They just build stuff with mad shit on it to see if it works, get some miles in their new idea, figure some stuff out etc. Most of them have fleets of highly experimental vehicles full of tech anywhere up to 10 years ahead of what they're selling to the public. The public never see any of it.

The impressive thing about the NR is that they put it on sale in a finished state. I've said it before, Honda would have learned loads in building the NR, loads of stuff which is perhaps not that obvious - things like welding techniques, glueing procedures, heat treatments, how to make reliable digital dashboards and "invisible" stuff like that. All things which then appear in their lower models later on.

Try again.