![]() Motorcycle Investor mag ![]() Subscribe to our free email news News July 2025 Honda
CBX1000 – today's random ad, July 14 ![]() It's all about that
giant straight-six air-cooled engine. Or at least it
was for this wonderful (circa 1978-79) German market
ad for the mighty Honda CBX1000. With 24 valves and
six carburettors, it was a stand-out techno-beast when
launched. However it was never a
great commercial success for the company. There were effectively
two generations – naked dual rear shock and faired
monoshock – across several variants. See the Classic
Two Wheels period test of the original And a
feature on one of the two second-gen examples
we've recently owned Remote
buying & selling – Sunday shed wrap, July 13 Actually eyeballing a bike or
test-riding it before purchase has become a rarity
at Chateau Guido. Is that a good thing? See the
story, here. Great
Eight – the Drysdale experiment, July 12 Australian
engineer
Ian Drysdale is the ground-breaking developer of a
V8 road bike that, sadly, never quite hit the point
of going into production. Now, 28 years down the road, he chats about the experience. The
full taco, July 11 ![]() Today we were reminded
of why specialist publishers and writers should avoid
artificial intelligence (AI). One of the least sexy
jobs in this game is transcribing audio interviews, as
it requires a lot of stopping and starting and seems
to take ages. So we flicked a file to
a highly-rated online AI transcription service to see
how it would go. Much of it was pretty good, but you
of course miss the emphasis and meaningful pauses in
the conversation which can greatly alter how you write
the story. Then there was the
detail. I deliberately chose an interview with someone
who has a strong voice and very good diction. However
when he said "Bultaco" it transcribed as "full taco".
I guess that means we're back to doing things the
old-fashioned way. Looking on the bright
side, it's given us a new motorcycling term: going the
full taco! See the Cycle World
summary of the 1964
Bultaco line-up. Easy
Trails part 1, July 10 ![]() We picked up part one of
our easy trails project today, namely the 1999 Yamaha
XT225. Over the years it's been sold as the Yamaha
Serow, XT225 and now the XT250 – all much the same
bike. For a very reasonable Au$2490
(US$1600, GB£1200), we picked up a clean and
completely functional motorcycle. We need to
replace the mildly bent front brake lever and give
it a service – otherwise it's a low-mile happy
camper ready for club plates in Vic. More to come... Yamaha
XT225 data via Motorcycle Specs An
individual dream, July10 ![]() The Harley City Collection launched a two-part profile in book form last weekend, from its spectacular facility on the outskirts of Castlemaine, Victoria (Australia). The unique assemblage honours big dreams, along with
ambitious modifiers, tuners and racers from many decades
ago and some of whom might otherwise be forgotten. It's a
fascinating historic community of fast souls. See the story here Simplicity
for the military, July 8 ![]() We evidently have something in common with the Swedish military – that is a taste for light and simple trail bikes, such as Yamaha's 'old-school' air-cooled XT250 (actually a rebadged 225). That country's army has just ordered 1000 of them. The model is no longer available in Australia, as there is no ABS version. However we recently added a
used one, plus an SL230 Honda, to the home
fleet. See
our latest Sunday shed wrap. Honda
CBR900RR – random pic for the day, July 7 ![]() First-gen Honda CBR900RR, 1992. Fast, light and easy to
ride. (Ben Galli pic) See our collector profile of the series And the one that lived in our shed Gear
whine and dirt bikes – Sunday shed wrap, July 7 Gear whine and reshaping the dirt end of the shed...it's all
happening at Chateau Guido. ![]() Vespa
Dakar, July 7 ![]() It's 1980 and Vespa has fielded a
team in the second-ever Paris-Dakar Rally. See the
YouTube documentary covering this remarkable
effort.
![]() A restored Moto Guzzi V7 Sport
owned by actor Ewen McGregor is up for sale on
eBay for a sobering Au$70,200 (US$46,000,
GB£33,700). See the
story here. See our
Moto Guzzi V7 Sport profile Vincent
variants at auction, July 3 ![]() If you're into one-off
builds with a Vincent theme, these two machines listed
for an upcoming H and H auction in the UK will appeal. The first is what's billed as a
1969 Egli Vincent in typical cafe racer style,
carrying an auction estimate of Au$58-66,000
(US$38-44,000, GB£28-32,000). See it here. ![]() Next is a Norvin, nominally listed
as 1968, with what looks to be a high-spec
chassis. It's carrying an estimate of
Au$54-60,000 (US$36-40,000, GB£26-29,000). See it here Which one would you choose? See the
Vincent Rapide in our shed. Yamaha
RD125 – a stroker for the cool kids, July 2 ![]() This is what the UK cool kids
wanted to ride back in 1973: a Yamaha RD125
air-cooled two-stroke twin. See the
data on this bike at Motorcycle Specs Plus our
1978 RD brochure gallery *** Subscribe to our
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