Retro + Vintage Motorcycles
Retro + Vintage Motorcycle reviews and road tests include old (vintage) motorcycles, such as those featured in Clement Salvadori’s Retrospective column each month, as well as motorcycles styled to look like those that rolled off the assembly line decades ago (retro). Cruisers can be considered retro due to their styling, but they’re a more natural fit in the Cruiser + Touring Motorcycles category. Whereas the irrational exuberance of the 2000s brought us overpriced, blinged–out choppers and painful–to–watch TV shows about customizers with short tempers, motorcycle guides suggest that back–to–basics vintage motorcycles have enjoyed a revival since the Great Recession. Harley–Davidson has its Dark Custom line, Victory offers blacked–out 8–Ball versions of several models and DIY builders are snapping up low–cost bikes on Craigslist and eBay for café racer and bobber projects.
Retrospective: Kawasaki 350 S2 Mach II Triple: 1972-1973
Clement Salvadori
December 4, 2012
Here was the successor to Kawasaki’s kick-butt A7 Avenger 350, a two-stroke twin using rotary valving. When the A7 appeared, the factory claiming some 40 horsepower, the quarter-mile fanatics were going through the lights in under 15 seconds. Not bad. But Kawasaki engineers understood that two-stroke... Read more »
Retrospective: Yamaha XJ650RJ Seca 650: 1982
Clement Salvadori
November 12, 2012
Some people say that the Golden Era of Japanese motorcycles was in the early 1980s, when everything seemed to come together—engine, chassis and price. The Universal Japanese Motorcycle was in its heyday, an air-cooled in-line four being the main powerplant for all four Japanese companies. And one... Read more »
Motorcycles at the Audi Museum
Greg Drevenstedt
October 29, 2012
When German car manufacturer Audi purchased Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati last April, many motorcyclists scratched their head in confusion. Ducatisti wept, concerned that the automotive giant would impose Teutonic rigidity on their beloved, flamboyantly Italian marque. The hand-wringing wasn’t... Read more »
Motorcycle Cannonball Run 2012
Andy Saunders
October 10, 2012
How about a 4,000-mile ride on the saddle of a 100-year-old motorcycle? In 16 days? With one rest day, when you can rebuild the bike? Sound like fun? Then you’d love the Motorcycle Cannonball Coast-to-Coast Endurance Run, which began at Motorcyclepedia in Newburgh, New York, and finished at Dudley... Read more »
Ridden & Rated: Triumph T100 Steve McQueen Edition
Bill Stermer
October 4, 2012
We all recall Steve McQueen’s character Virgil Hilts jumping a motorcycle over a fence in the iconic 1963 WWII movie The Great Escape. And it doesn’t matter that, for insurance reasons, the jump was actually performed by McQueen’s friend and fellow racer Bud Ekins. McQueen was the real deal. He... Read more »
Retrospective: Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850: 1972-1974
Clement Salvadori
October 4, 2012
Change can be good, even when it’s incremental. When Moto Guzzi upped the ante with the 850 Eldorado, replacing the 750 Ambassador, it was all good. The new model had a slightly larger engine, another gear in the transmission, neither anything to complain about. This was a big, comfortable motorcycle... Read more »
Retrospective: Suzuki GS1000SZ Katana: 1982
Clement Salvadori
September 4, 2012
In the 1950s and ’60s motorcycle styling was of little concern to either the OEMs or consumers. Two wheels with an engine in between was the standard of the day, with minor differences in the shape of the gas tank. Then in 1973, Triumph USA and designer Craig Vetter came up with the Hurricane, and... Read more »
Retrospective: Norton 850 Commando Mark III: 1975 – 1977
Clement Salvadori
August 8, 2012
This Mark III was the last of the genuine Nortons. In October of 1977 the final Norton rolled off the line, with the side panels reading “850 Commando Electric Start.” The engine was an air-cooled parallel twin, inclined forward a few degrees, with two overhead valves per cylinder. A pair of Amal... Read more »
2012 Triumph Speedmaster vs. Triumph Thruxton
Mark Tuttle
August 8, 2012
Retro is in; retro is cool. If a motorcycle looks old and works like a modern one, you can have the best of both worlds. A nostalgic appearance is pleasing to young and old, and the rider enjoys classic style, sound and feel, with brakes that stop and no oil puddles on the ground. Among the U.S. manufacturers,... Read more »
Retrospective: Kawasaki KZ750-E: 1980 – 1982
Clement Salvadori
July 6, 2012
(This Retrospective article was featured in the July 2012 issue of Rider Magazine) Story and photography by Clement Salvadori Year/Model: 1981 Kawasaki KZ750-E Owner: Franco Teti, Los Osos, California Class distinctions by engine size are important, and are often delineated by the numbers on a motorcycle’s... Read more »
