10 rare motorcycles that still turn heads

As time progresses and designs evolve, certain motorcycles, no matter how rare or valuable, simply won’t resonate with modern motorcycle enthusiasts. Certain motorcycle designs go in and out of fashion – underlined by the retro motorcycle trend – but others simply fade into obscurity. Today, sharp lines and winglets dominate motorcycle design, but even this won’t stay that way forever.

Collectible motorcycles will almost always be quite rare, but they aren’t always the most interesting motorcycles to look at. Suffice to say, motorcycle design is a very subjective subject. Over the years there have been some designs that have endured. These rare bikes are all design masterclasses, completely street legal and will make anyone stop and stare today.

Ducati 900 MHR from 1981

Price range: $15,000 – $20,000

The 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750 is widely recognized as the first ever true production sports bike. The “Mike Hailwood Replica” will make you question that fact. This beautiful motorcycle was built in fairly limited numbers to celebrate Mike Hailwood’s victory at the 1978 Isle of Man TT aboard one of these Ducatis, 11 years after his previous visit to the island. It delivered fully, offered sharp handling for the time and, most importantly, it was fast. Unfortunately it was never that accessible.

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1983 Harley Davidson XR1000

Price range: $15,000 – $20,000

Vauxford, CC BY-SA 4.0via Wikimedia Commons

In reality, it’s the bike it’s based on that really stands out. The XR750 was never available to the public, but was one of – if not the – most dominant racing bikes ever made. Fans virtually begged the brand to make a street-legal version, and once AMF was bought out, the XR1000 was one of the first new models. It was expensive for its time and only about 1,000 bikes were made, which are worth almost as much as the real racing bike!

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Bimota 1D Tesi from 1991

Price range: $60,000 – $70,000

Bring a trailer

Bimota was already known in racing circles for getting more performance out of each engine with their handmade frames. The 1D Tesi was not an average racing chassis, but the first sports bike with hub-center steering. From a technical point of view this makes sense, but because you get virtually no feedback from a conventional motorcycle fork, it takes some getting used to. It is a design that Bimota persevered with and is still used to this day.

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Norton F1 from 1991

Price range: $40,000 – $50,000

Via Mike Creator Wikimedia Commons/Flickr

In the early 1990s, Norton was put on life support. The ailing British brand believed, like so many others, that the Wankel engine would be the solution. Although the rotary engine is an engineering marvel, it is ultimately ‘fool’s gold’. Mazda was the only manufacturer that came close to making it reliable, but still failed after decades of research and development. For smaller manufacturers like Norton, it was essentially financial suicide. By the time Norton finally folded, only 66 of these beautiful rotary sports bikes had rolled off the production line.

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HondaNR750 from 1992

Price range: $90,000 – $100,000

Honda

This is essentially a racing bike with lights. In terms of engineering, we have the iconic oval-piston V4 – Honda’s way of building a race-spec V8 motorcycle engine that was still technically a four-cylinder – but that’s not even the most interesting part of the bike. Massimo Tamburini took one look at the rear end of this motorcycle and realized it had some serious design potential.

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Harley Davidson VR1000 from 1994

Price range: $90,000 – $100,000

St. Paul Harley Davidson

Harley-Davidson wanted to get into racing in the 1990s. Only about 50 of these beautiful superbikes were built in an attempt to get it homologated, but that was as far as the project really went. The project simply cost a lot more than the company expected, and even with all the money poured into this bike, the results were mediocre at best. Today, it’s just one of the rarest and most unusual (not to mention expensive) Harleys money can buy.

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Ducati 916 SPA from 1996

Price range: $80,000 – $90,000

Bring a trailer

After seeing the aforementioned Honda NR750, Tamburini penned the 916, the motorcycle that would essentially be his legacy. As unusual as it may seem, it was a Japanese motorcycle that inspired an Italian designer, but few would dispute which motorcycle is the most beautiful. Although the regular 916 is not particularly rare, there are several special editions. The racing-spec SPA is one of them and is a particularly striking example of the 916 model line.

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1999 MV AGUSTA F4 750 Series Oro

Price range: $30,000 – $40,000

The mere fact that the engine was co-developed by Ferrari will be enough for most enthusiasts, but the design is something else entirely. Only 300 of these Serie Oro bikes were made, but it is a design that has stood the test of time. The F3 has largely retained this design theme and still looks as good as ever.

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Bimota DB6 Delirio Azzurro from 2007

Price range: $15,000 – $20,000

Bimota loves limited edition motorcycles, but with only 23 ‘Azzurro’ bikes made this is rare even by Bimota standards. This beautiful Naked Bike was commissioned in honor of the victory of the Italian national team in the 2006 Football World Cup. Twelve bicycles were said to have ended up with the team members, the rest were sold to the public. The sharp lines fit perfectly with modern Naked Bikes.

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Ducati Desmosedici rr from 2008

Price range: $45,000 – $50,000

Ducati

When it comes to rare Ducatis, this one is actually not that rare: 1,500 examples were made. That’s part of what makes it so special. This is, by some margin, the closest we will ever come to owning a real MotoGP bike. While there are other street-legal MotoGP bikes, they cost about twice as much and don’t look nearly as good.

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