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: Ducati Sport Desmo 500: 1977-1982
Clement Salvadori
May 2, 2013
The moral of this story is simple: Do not let non-motorcycling bureaucrats run a motorcycle company. Ducati had a pretty successful run from its inception in 1946, especially after it introduced the Diana 250 single to the American market in 1961. However, financial problems cropped up in the early... Read more »
26th Annual All-British Motorcycle Weekend, San Jose, California
Clement Salvadori
April 15, 2013
You have to give those Brit-bike lovers a big hand; they are an incredibly enthusiastic bunch of enthusiasts, putting up with aged machines that were none too reliable when new…by current standards. I rode British motorcycles all through the Sixties, when they were the hot item—and regular... Read more »
Retrospective: Indian / Royal Enfield Chief 700cc: 1959-1961
Clement Salvadori
April 4, 2013
The history of the Indian motorcycle name gets a bit convoluted after the demise of the old company in 1953. Its last genuine model was the 80-inch (1,300cc) Chief. An English outfit called Brockhouse Engineering bought the name, and proceeded to sell English motorcycles through the Indian dealership... Read more »
The Vintage Rally 2012
Thad Wolff
March 8, 2013
Where can a motorcyclist go to experience our sport’s rich and storied past? Anamosa, Iowa, for starters. The National Motorcycle Museum is located in this small Midwestern city three hours due west of Chicago. Why here? As is often the case with museums, there is a passionate person with a vision... Read more »
Retrospective: Silk 700S: 1975-1979
Clement Salvadori
March 7, 2013
Never heard of a Silk motorcycle? Not surprising. It was an English bike, very few were ever built, and probably less than half a dozen ever made it to the United States. It was an attractive motorcycle, but had a rather unusual-looking 656cc parallel twin leaning forward about 40 degrees, with liquid... Read more »
Retrospective: Honda NC/NA50 Express: 1977-1983
Clement Salvadori
February 4, 2013
When the price of gasoline rose to 60 cents a gallon back in 1976, Honda figured it had a whole new market. Americans were approaching panic status at the thought of spending more than 10 bucks to fill up the tank of that Buick or Dodge. OPEC (Organization of Oil Exporting Countries) had us over the... Read more »
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2012
Basem Wasef
January 4, 2013
The 14 German motorcycles on display at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance weren’t sprawled on the vast expanses of grassy real estate occupied by their four-wheeled counterparts, but the bikes exuded their own unique charisma during an unseasonably warm Sunday in Monterey, California. A broad... Read more »
Retrospective: BMW R25/3 250: 1953-1955
Clement Salvadori
January 2, 2013
Some people think that until the last turn of the century, BMW built pretty stodgy motorcycles that were good for the touring rider, but rather weak on performance. To a degree that is true, but back in the ’30s, Bavarian Motor Works was as much a pioneer of innovation as it is today. In 1935, BMW... Read more »
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 »
