The rarest, most unusual bike you've ever OWNED

[soldierguy]

I've had two that I would consider rare or unusual; one rare, one unusual.

The rare one: 2008 MV Agusta Brutale 910S. It lacked the pricey suspension, brake, and tuning upgrades of its 910R sibling, but it was...well...just a brutal bike, and only lacked about 6-8 hp as compared to the 910R. Absolutely brilliant on a smooth, twisting back road, with telepathic handling, fantastic brakes, and an engine that really came into its own north of 6000 rpm. It was an absolute wheelie machine...just think about twisting the right grip, and if you weren't leaned over the tank, the front wheel was coming up. WAY too easy to go flying past 100mph without realizing it. It hated being ridden in town...it would heat up fast (unless you swapped in a high-flow water pump, a better radiator fan, and a cooler thermostat), and fueling was snatchy below 4000 rpm (unless you installed a power commander and had it dyno tuned). I sold it for two reasons: due to a worsening back, I could only ride it for 10-15 minutes before pain set in, and because it lifted its front wheel so easily I knew it was going to kill me very, very quickly.




The unusual: a 2006 Hyosung Beaver 125 scooter that I owned while I was in Seoul. Not rare in Korea, but just the name made it unusual (for westerners anyway) and pretty funny. Typical comment from bystanders: "Hey Sir, nice beaver!" Or "Hey Sir, it's raining and you rode in today? You like wet beaver?" Yeah, yeah, laugh it up...you know you want to ride my beaver. I sold it just before I left Korea in 2007.

[Tudelum48]

I have a 1950 Harley Hydra Glide now, not to rare but seemed to buy bikes that were not very popular. 1966 106cc Sears, SC500 Yamaha, 1969 R60US had telescopic forks think they only made it one year, SP600 Suzuki made it one year.

[dolomoto]

While stationed in Italy, I bought a mid 90's Yamaha TZR125RR for $500. It had been crashed several times, I got it back to the states (in pieces)...reassembled it and sold it to an enthusiast in Utah.

It was stupid fast for a 125cc....maybe I'll dig up a pic tomorrow.

[rhino_adv]

I think the rarest bike I ever owned was the 100cc 1971 Rockford TAKA. These were built with Bridgestone tooling in the early 1970s. I never saw any more, other than the ones my father and uncle sold from their motorcycle shop in Atlanta, Illinois.




The next rarest was the 500cc Ossa Yankee-Z. If my memory is correct, Yankee Motors from Schenectady New York, built less than 800 units, of which my father sold 11 of them.




I had the most fun with a 1973 Ossa Pioneer.




One of the very few street bikes I have owned was the last year production of the 2-stroke water cooled 3 cylinder Suzuki GT750 (Water Buffalo).





Brad

[Dallara]

Originally Posted by rhino_adv

I think the rarest bike I ever owned was the 100cc 1971 Rockford TAKA. These were built with Bridgestone tooling in the early 1970s. I never saw any more, other than the ones my father and uncle sold from their motorcycle shop in Atlanta, Illinois.




Brad

First motorcycle shop I ever worked in back in 1970 was one that specialized in British bike repair but also was the local dealer for Bridgestone an Montesa. Those Bridgestones were *ROCKETS*... The 90cc models, 100's, 175 twins, and 350 twins. Very high tech for their day, too. Chrome liners, rotary valves, and even selective shifting on some models... Where you could have a gearbox that shifted *normally* - up and back through the gears - or with the flip of a lever on the cases you could have a *rotary* shift, where you had neutral at the bottom of the pattern, then would shift up 1-2-3-4-5 and then if you pulled up again it went straight back into neutral!!!

A bit bizarre to ride at first, but made a bit of sense in situations with a ton of stop-and-go. Still, it was obviously not something most folks found useful...

Still, I thought those Bridgestones bikes were trick, and I really wanted one of their 350 GTR rotary-valve twins.

Thanks for jogging the memory!

Dallara



~

[SlipChip]

Not so much "owned" as, my dad bought it, but it was mine to use, back when I was fourteen~fifteen.



I think we had the "Trail 125" model.

more info
http://pacificsites.com/~bobkarol/holder/


Thanks Bob, I thought this stuff was lost forever...

My dad had been friends with the owners of the company back when they were running the streets.

[James Adams]

Now its this one:



I have an illness.

[Huzband]

While I didn't own it, technically my parents did. They had a multi line dealership in the seventies, & somehow a Hercules Wankel found its way in. I rode it a few times, & have it on good authority that it would put an RD350 to shame. Wish I could find one today.

[Donkey Hotey]

Originally Posted by Huzband

Wish I could find one today.

Cool bike. I always have one eye open for finding one. There was a barn-find in New York last year but, the guy wanted top dollar and he had no title (bill of sale only). Too much hassle to deal with from across the country.

[zeerx]

A 1965 Honda CL72............that I wish I had back.

[jbar28]

A Honda SL70. What I didn't know at the time is that mine was the one-year only color of Summer Yellow, just like this one I saw at Mid-Ohio a few years ago for $5000!



I was 14 and over dinner one night told my parents I wanted to buy a little motorcycle a friend had for sale for $125. They looked at each other and didn't say much. I brought it home the next day. My dad asked "Did we say you could buy that?" I replied "You didn't say no, so I did." My best friend had a 3 1/2 HP minibike, and I wooped up on him with my Honda. Until I ran it through a puddle so deep it flooded the crankcase, it shot a big jet of water out the pipe when I kicked it over, but it eventually started. I didn't know enough to change the oil, and 2 weeks later the thing seized up and broke a transmission shaft. It got junked, and my parents were none too sad. Some day I'm going to get an XR600 and paint it that color.

[C/1/509]

Originally Posted by James Adams

Now its this one:



I have an illness.

Yes, in fact you do! Cool bike, but you can have the maintenance...

[Jimmy the Heater]

Wow, I thought I was going to be able to post about the Taka and be the only one.....Had one of these as my first bike in the early 80's. I was a happy 12 year old!

Had a family reunion and a cousin rode it and broke the rear hub. Impossible to find a replacement so it sat for years until a collector saw it. Took it for $50 and I hope it ended up like this example.

[achtung3]

Not rare, but original in many aspects, precise and an explosive throttle.

[Roadracer_Al]

I know exactly where you took that picture. Lovely stretch there.