10 Retro Motorcycles that you've never heard of

Harley missed the wave on the retro craze because they made new-old bikes for 40 years. HD just made slightly different versions of the same old bikes for decades, and their marketing was kinda shit playing into the boomer/old gen X fantasy of biker gang membership.
They realized too late that their main demographic of buyers got old and weren't buying any more bikes. Suddenly, HD was left behind, and their lack of forward thinking left them building overpriced unreliable bikes that nobody wants. Why does a new Sportster cost 15k? It is definitely a better bike than the classic Sportster I owned, but my brand new Sportster cost less than 5k in 1999. Tje Sportster was supposed to be the entry level bike, but somehow it became much more complex, and much more expensive.

honley , part honda , part harley

too many ads

Why can communist china not design something on their own. It seems china has to steal everything in spite of 1 billion minds to come up with design of their own. Sad

As far as I know, Jawa is pronounced "Yava." I had one, about 45 years ago. It was a 305. The story was, they purchased the tools and dies from Honda when Honda retired their previous series. So it was, from the get-go, something like a 10 year older design than the actual vintage of the bike. Weird. Cheap, "exotic," fun. Until someone stole it from the alley next to my house while I was at a Rolling Stones concert, as I recall. Oh well. I do really like the small bikes though, it's so frustrating that in this country everything has to be bigger, faster. I've known too many people who have gotten really messed up in motorcycle wrecks. I prefer the idea of "going fast on a slow bike." Or going slow, on a slow bike. Like a single or twin cylinder 250-350. That's the sweet spot. For me, anyway.

I want a Tempter!! Savage motor.

I have traveled extensively in China. You can find Chinese built copies of every Japanese 125cc motorcycle ever manufactured. You will know it's a copy because they will change one letter in the spelling of the original name. China does not honor western or european copyright laws . I saw a few 100 cc bikes, but they were rare. They are also building a massive number of three-wheeled utility trikes powered by 150 cc singles with shaft drive conversions . All the police motorcycles I saw wear 150 cc's .

The Zuke Tempter single made its way here as the 650 Savage / S40 Boulevard if looks mean anything. I had a S40 and it was a very good bike. Nice low end grunt. Easy to work on, reliable. A very traditional bike. I put 13,000 miles on it before I got my Scout.

The 2014 RE Continental GT is 535cc, not 500cc.

Mz silver star!

PENESAMIC

I used Suzuki DR400 Savage for years it was a good one high power tough and useful for rough area similar BSA 500 plunger model

When Honda set out to outdo the British with the GB series, they sure did. They left out the oil filter. Which was quite a shock to the new owner, when changing oil. The parts guy informed them there's no oil filter.

Royal Enfield Continental did not sell in India at all because they overpriced it. Harley is selling a small single in India which will be available next year

Bart.. in regards to Skyteam Ace, google Honda CR110 and you find will the inspiration behind the Ace.

how bad is it if I had heard of all of them? 😐

Nice grooming kit, but I think Jojoba is pronounced "ho-ho-bah." Nice look at retro scene bikes. My fav, not listed here was outwardly a 60's cruiser-styled retro bike, but inside was a celebration of pure engineering: Honda's Magna series. Masculine, skinny-waist with broad shoulders, comfy, techy, buzz-free and butter smooth. Shaft-driven, with enough power to hit 60 in 3.7 seconds, the incomparable Honda V4 looked like an air cooled V-twin, but was actually four liquid cooled cylinders, meaning bullet proof. My ST1100 is possibly the zenith, with 300-400k mile longevity, but alas, it is not especially retro. I'll have to wait another twenty years for that.

Harley has missed the boat for years to keep their aging fan boys happy. These people would have been mad if any smaller retro bike existed. So like others I ended up at the Honda dealer for my first new bike and because the bike I got was so good the upgrades have just been Hondas. My rebel and Shadow were so good so I'm going to get a Harley next? No. It was a Honda. And will probably always be a Honda.

I think the Suzi SW-1 is absolutely gorgeous. I'd kill to have one.

The Ariel Square 4 was an awesome bike during its time.

Why don’t you import the small retro bikes into the US ?

That Suzuki "bathtub" is not ugly, it is fugly.

That Skyteam Ace 125 looked neat. Just needs oldschool fairing to nail the classic racebike look.

and another thing,that Suzuki Tempster, did not have the British look at all (in my opinion) its got the look of the old Spannish bike ,,the Sanglas 500 (late model)

I still have wet dreams about the Yamaha SRX 600,,,, makes the RE535 look like a bad nightmare..

SYM Wolf Classic 125/150.

That Suzuki "Tempter" uses the smaller version of the Savage's LS650 engine. I think it looks great.

The Tempter sure looks like my ls650. Suzuki sold the savage then the boulevard in 650 with a disk front brake.

I hope beard hedger paid you well for ruining your video

The "Tempter" available in North America during the early 80's was a 650 twin.

The FKM Victorino 250i/ Italjet Buccaneer is pretty similar to the yamaha srv 250. A 250 v-twin that's just small and retro looking

Liked the last one best perhaps 250 yamahog Jr HD mist the wagon $$$$ here they are today verge of BK ouch 😮

I tried importing Suzuki Tempter in 97 and hit a brick wall in both Suzuki Canada and MTO Ontario.

The Ducati sports are achingly beautiful!

Very beautiful motorcycle👍😊

Two bikes that are never mentioned anywhere is the British Silk 700 twin two-stroke and the Spanish Sanglas 500 single four stroke single.

I love those Ducatis.
I can't understand why they were not popular.

Wow... how could I have missed the W175?

Oh that's right, because we can't import affordable bikes to rich countries...

It's not based on a bathtub triumph it's based on a scooter

my wife has a Skyteam Ace AND a Honda Clubman- how boring is that then ? ; )

Honda x Harley = Honley... or Harda...😂

The ex-racer motorcycle press only wants high powered super sport bikes.
They pretty much pan anything with less than 100 horsepower. They have tried to force this down people throats so a lot of folks have gone cruisers.The motoring press just doesn't get it, they are proud that they have killed off more interesting smaller bikes.

The Yezdi Roadster is a liquid cooled 334 cc engine that smokes the RE Classic 350 in performance. It has more power and is way more comfortable than the RE.

I had a 650cc Suzuki Savage thumper that was the largest engine by displacement that I ever rode (600cc BMW, 500-4 Honda, 250 Yamaha, 200 Triumph Mountain Cub, Honda 50). The Savage had a balance shaft, so was very smooth, low seat was comfortable, belt final drive, so very little maintenance. Great bike.

Honley should be a Han Lee.

Interesting video, I thought you might have included the Moto Guzzi V11 sport and Lemans from the late 90s and early 2000s. I’ve owned mine for 14 years and will never sell it!

'HONLEY' : For your information, Honley Motorcycles is operated by Earnshaws Two Wheel Centre a company that has been selling motorcycles since 1906, they are a leading motorcycle dealership in West Yorkshire, England. They named the brand after the village of Honley in West Yorkshire that, in itself, has dated proof back to at least 1086. Earnshsaws are somewhat entitled to use the name HONLEY, which predates the HONDA brand name by 937 years !

Owned a st400 tempter in China when I lived there. Beautiful smooth and decently powered. Huuuuuuge seat, we managed to fit 3 people on it once for a short ride haha.

Smoothest single I've ever ridden sold it for 10,000 rmb when I left on 2016.

The Suzuki Tempter , looks very tempting!
Another tiddler seems to be Mash motors, not sure how good they are though