What makes a good-looking motorcycle? In this episode of The Motorcyclist Podcast, we talk about some of our favorite motorcycles that are easy on the eyes. What's your choice for the best-looking bike of all time?
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00:00:00Hey, welcome back to the Motorcyclist podcast.
00:00:02This is where we talk about motorcycles
00:00:04and what makes them great.
00:00:05Topics on this show are constantly changing,
00:00:08but the one thing that remains is two-wheeled fun.
00:00:10In this episode, we are gonna talk about
00:00:12what we think are the best looking motorcycles
00:00:16of all time, modern, old,
00:00:19and then we're gonna talk about
00:00:21what we don't like as well.
00:00:22So it's gonna be a decisive episode, I think,
00:00:26but before we get into it, let's make some introductions.
00:00:29We got Adam Wahid, editor.
00:00:31We have got our associate editor, Evan Allen,
00:00:35and you've got myself, executive editor, Justin Dawes.
00:00:39As we do with every episode,
00:00:40we talk about what we're riding
00:00:42before we get into the meat of the show.
00:00:44So let's find out what Adam's been riding this week.
00:00:49This past week, we rode the Yamaha YZF-R9 2025.
00:00:53So yeah, that was really fun, and it's a nice bike,
00:00:56and I think Yamaha's gonna do really well
00:00:58with that model here in the United States.
00:01:01I think it's probably one of the more anticipated models
00:01:04for 2025 with, you know, it's kind of like a rebirth
00:01:11of sport bikes in a way.
00:01:13It's a little, maybe not as hard-edged
00:01:16as a full-on leader bike or a super sport,
00:01:18but I think it makes sense right now, right?
00:01:22Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what Yamaha Motor USA
00:01:25was saying, you know?
00:01:27I mean, it's pretty evident that no one really wants
00:01:30the hardcore sport bikes anymore.
00:01:32Well, they still want the hardcore hardcore,
00:01:34but not as much as the old days,
00:01:36and they're trying to make a motorcycle
00:01:38that's just more affordable
00:01:39and a little bit of a stepping stone
00:01:41between, you know, their twin-cylinder R7
00:01:44and their four-cylinder R1.
00:01:46So yeah, it's a neat bike.
00:01:48It's certainly not gonna be for everyone,
00:01:50but it is gonna fit the mark for a lot of people in America.
00:01:54It's a neat bike.
00:01:56Nice, so I have a few questions about it,
00:02:00just out of my own personal curiosity,
00:02:03but in terms of, like, ergos,
00:02:05are the bars, like, really low, like a track bike,
00:02:10or are they, like, a little more comfortable?
00:02:11Like, what's the ergos like?
00:02:13Can you ride it on the street,
00:02:14or is it still gonna be a torture rack?
00:02:16Yeah, no, no, no, it's definitely more comfortable
00:02:19than, like, a YZF-R6 or YZF-R1, you know?
00:02:23The seat height is significantly lower.
00:02:26The seat is more narrow, so if you're a person
00:02:29of shorter stature, you're gonna have an easier time
00:02:31putting both feet on the ground.
00:02:34You know, it does have clip-on style handlebar,
00:02:37but it's not quite as high as the YZF-R7.
00:02:41That was a little bit wimpy, in my opinion.
00:02:43It's also not quite as low as a YZF-R1,
00:02:47so it kind of splits the difference between that.
00:02:49So, you know, you can get in the race-tuck position
00:02:53and the windscreen's nice and tall, which is great,
00:02:55but yet, when you're in the race-tuck position,
00:02:57it definitely feels like it should,
00:03:00but at the same time, you know, I would think
00:03:02that on the street, we didn't get to ride it on the street,
00:03:05but I bet you anything on the street
00:03:06is probably gonna be pretty comfortable,
00:03:08just because the ergonomics aren't as aggressive
00:03:10as the R1 or R6.
00:03:12So, honestly, I think Yamaha did a good job
00:03:15of, you know, flirting those two segments,
00:03:17you know, comfort on the street and, you know,
00:03:20racetrack prowess, where, you know,
00:03:22the outgoing R6 and the R1, you know,
00:03:24the R1's very uncomfortable on the street.
00:03:26That's an uncomfortable bike to ride on the street.
00:03:28So, I think the R9's gonna do really well for them.
00:03:31I think they did a really good job.
00:03:33You know, I'm actually surprised
00:03:34that other manufacturers aren't, you know,
00:03:37kind of jumping on that.
00:03:38I mean, they're jumping on that bandwagon,
00:03:40but not quite to that extent, you know?
00:03:42Right, because you look at like a,
00:03:44we'll say like a Suzuki GSX-8R sport bike,
00:03:49but much milder in terms of aggressiveness,
00:03:54engine power, suspension components,
00:03:58quite a bit different, lower spec, right?
00:04:00Yeah, I mean, just more mellow.
00:04:02I mean, that bike's really awesome too,
00:04:04but that's a little bit more street-ish than the R9.
00:04:07Not saying the R9 isn't street-ish,
00:04:09but it's just a little bit more.
00:04:11So, it's cool that, you know,
00:04:12Yamaha still kind of infused its, you know,
00:04:16its R bike ethos in this bike, you know,
00:04:19without it being too crazy, but not too wimpy.
00:04:22You know, they're gonna do really good with that bike.
00:04:24I can't really overemphasize
00:04:25how many of those units are gonna sell.
00:04:28Nice.
00:04:28And it really looks cool.
00:04:29Like, just looking at it, just looking at it,
00:04:32I'm just like, wow, that, like that bike looks cool.
00:04:35That's a sick looking bike.
00:04:36Even Evan commented, he's like,
00:04:38he's like, I want to get one of those bikes.
00:04:40I really like it.
00:04:41And it's just like, that's exactly the audience
00:04:43that Yamaha Motor USA is going after
00:04:46is that late 20s person, you know?
00:04:48So, having Evan say that is just,
00:04:51goes to show you that they've totally hit the mark.
00:04:54Yeah.
00:04:54Yeah.
00:04:55Yeah, talking about good looking bikes,
00:04:57when I saw that thing first get announced,
00:04:59I was like, oh, especially in the white and red, yeah.
00:05:03It's got the little reading.
00:05:04Yeah. Totally.
00:05:05I want to get on one of those.
00:05:07Yeah, and it doesn't look like a wimpy bike.
00:05:09Like, when you see it, like it looks,
00:05:11it looks like a racy big bike.
00:05:13It doesn't look wimpy, like, you know,
00:05:16I mean, bad example, but like a Ninja 400,
00:05:18you can see, like, when you watch a Ninja 400 go by,
00:05:21you're like, oh, that bike looks small.
00:05:23Like, it just looks small.
00:05:24You know, it's only got one front disc brake.
00:05:27It just looks wimpy, where this thing looks like,
00:05:29it looks like a, you know, a legit bike.
00:05:33Yep.
00:05:33Nice.
00:05:34Right on.
00:05:35Well, looking forward to your review
00:05:38on Motorcyclist and your review video.
00:05:40So, where you can get way more info
00:05:43than what we talked about here,
00:05:44but I think that's a pretty good primer for Adam's review.
00:05:47So, Evan, what about you?
00:05:50What do you, what did you ride?
00:05:52What you got going on?
00:05:54I've been messing around on the Honda Dax.
00:05:56We got one of those a week or so ago.
00:05:59Yeah.
00:06:00So, we got a Trail 125 too,
00:06:02that we got some stuff coming up on,
00:06:04but yeah, I was spinning some laps around the parking lot
00:06:08and out to lunch on the Dax.
00:06:10And yeah, it's fun.
00:06:11I mean, real similar to the,
00:06:12all that mini moto platform that Honda has with the,
00:06:16I think the Grom and the 125 and the Super Cub,
00:06:19but yeah, that thing, I mean,
00:06:21talking about good looking bikes when it came in,
00:06:23looks really cool.
00:06:24It's got that vintage look.
00:06:26And I, that like, kind of like frame design is really cool.
00:06:30It's, yeah, so.
00:06:32Yeah.
00:06:33Yeah.
00:06:33It's a cool, cool little model.
00:06:35So, I'm looking forward to seeing
00:06:38what you think about that thing.
00:06:40And then, just real quick out of,
00:06:45would you rather have the Dax, a Monkey, or a CT 125?
00:06:55I think I would probably,
00:06:57honestly, I think I would go with the Grom,
00:06:58but between those three,
00:06:59I think I would go with the Monkey.
00:07:02Okay.
00:07:03I think the Monkey,
00:07:04get like a little kind of off roady with it,
00:07:06not as much as the Trail.
00:07:08I really like the looks of the Monkey,
00:07:11with the dual shocks, outboard shocks, and yeah, so.
00:07:16Okay, cool.
00:07:18Well, I, when this comes out,
00:07:20I will be on track on Ducati Streetfighter V4.
00:07:26So, that's what I'm riding, right, at this moment.
00:07:29As you're watching this,
00:07:30I am turning laps in Almeria, Spain, on Streetfighter V4.
00:07:36I'm really excited to try that bike.
00:07:38I'm expecting that we'll be riding the S model.
00:07:40Ducati always applies you
00:07:41with the highest spec model to test, always.
00:07:45So, you know, 200 horsepower, naked bike,
00:07:53that's basically a Panigale without the fairing,
00:07:58and maybe a little bit more comfortable ergos.
00:08:00It's gonna be intense.
00:08:02I'm looking forward to it.
00:08:03Yeah, that bike's sweet.
00:08:05Yeah, it'll be fun.
00:08:06We had one at the office.
00:08:08Was that last year or two years ago, the SB2?
00:08:10Yeah.
00:08:11Yeah, it's got like technology
00:08:14that's trickled down from MotoGP.
00:08:15Like, that thing is in the naked bike category.
00:08:19Like, whoa.
00:08:19It's gnarly.
00:08:20I wouldn't, talking about good looking,
00:08:23I don't know if it's traditionally good looking,
00:08:26but the look has an intent to it.
00:08:31Like, you look at it and you know what that bike is about,
00:08:33with all its winglets and carbon fiber
00:08:36and the stance and stuff.
00:08:37You go, okay, yeah, I know what that bike's about.
00:08:39Right?
00:08:40Yeah.
00:08:41Yeah, I agree.
00:08:42Yeah.
00:08:43So, great.
00:08:45Well, let's talk about what makes a photogenic motorcycle.
00:08:50Let's get off with like, kind of like our criteria,
00:08:54personal criteria of what we think looks good.
00:08:57Like, where does it start with you guys?
00:09:00Does it start with like styling features and shapes?
00:09:02Does it color graphics?
00:09:04Like, what is it?
00:09:06Yeah, I think for me, it's kind of the shape.
00:09:08Like, almost the wheels and the fenders
00:09:12and like the tank through the seat and the subframe
00:09:15are the first things that catch my eye.
00:09:19Yeah, I agree.
00:09:20Like, the shapes for sure, you know?
00:09:21Like, I mean, you just talked about it, Justin,
00:09:24the Ducati Streetfighter V4.
00:09:26You know, that has a very interesting shape.
00:09:29You definitely know it's something special
00:09:32and something aggressive.
00:09:35That's the one thing that, you know,
00:09:37Ducati has always done a really good job of,
00:09:39of having these shapes, having these styling attributes
00:09:43where you know it's a Ducati, you know what it's for.
00:09:48It's something that they've always done really well at.
00:09:51So, yeah, I think shapes is a big thing
00:09:55with what makes a motorcycle good looking or not.
00:09:59So, like, yeah, shapes are also,
00:10:02I mean, that's what styling is
00:10:04and that's what looks is mainly the shape,
00:10:05but it's odd that like you can have two bikes
00:10:09that have very, very similar overall shapes, right?
00:10:13So, you look at, we'll say,
00:10:18the Ducati that we brought up, right?
00:10:21And then you compare that to another naked bike
00:10:25like Triumph Speed 1200 RS, right?
00:10:30And they have, if you just put the silhouette,
00:10:35they're very similar,
00:10:37but the good looking factor between the two,
00:10:41to me is vastly different.
00:10:42And it not only comes down to kind of that shape,
00:10:45but it also comes down to the details,
00:10:49the shapes, you know, not the overall shape,
00:10:53but like what they do in those overall shapes, right?
00:10:56And you look at, you know, the Ducati,
00:11:00it's very, the form follows the function absolutely,
00:11:04but on the Triumph,
00:11:06the form doesn't follow the function exactly.
00:11:09And it's more classically,
00:11:11it's smoother and it's cleaner
00:11:14and it's just overall maybe a better looking motorcycle.
00:11:19But the profiles are almost identical, right?
00:11:25Yeah, I wish you would have picked the Triumph
00:11:28Speed Triple 1050,
00:11:30because that thing, if you said they were similar,
00:11:34you could totally maybe refute that
00:11:36because, you know, the Speed Triple
00:11:38has those big appendage like headlights
00:11:41sticking off the front end, but yeah.
00:11:43Yeah, yeah, the total 1050, yeah.
00:11:45So they're, you know,
00:11:48they've definitely modernized
00:11:51the Speed Triple quite a bit.
00:11:55I think it's a great looking bike overall,
00:11:57but it's nowhere near the best looking bike
00:11:59in the Triumph lineup, right?
00:12:00I mean, they have so many insanely good looking bikes,
00:12:03which we'll talk about here in a minute,
00:12:04but color and graphics go a long way for looks.
00:12:08I mean, like you said, like the R9,
00:12:11the white and red one looks sick.
00:12:15I mean, the blue one looks great too,
00:12:17but it doesn't have the same thing going forth
00:12:18that the red and white one does.
00:12:20Yeah. Yeah, totally.
00:12:22Yeah, on that note too, like you've seen it,
00:12:24where we've seen old motorcycles,
00:12:27like Suzuki's GSX-R600, you know,
00:12:29which has been unchanged for whatever, 15, 16 years.
00:12:33And like every few years,
00:12:35they'll come out with like a new graphics package,
00:12:39like just a new graphics package,
00:12:41put some like highlights on the wheels
00:12:43and just some different things.
00:12:45And all of a sudden, that bike that hasn't changed
00:12:48in 15, 16 years goes from like,
00:12:51that thing's kind of, you know, lame looking
00:12:53to, wow, that thing looks different now.
00:12:55It's really crazy what graphics
00:12:58and accent colors can do to, you know,
00:13:03a motorcycle to make it look more current,
00:13:06you know, bold new graphics.
00:13:07Like that wasn't, it's a joke,
00:13:09but it's also a true statement, you know,
00:13:12if done well, if done well.
00:13:14Bold new graphics have sold a lot of motorcycles,
00:13:17you know, it's absolutely clear
00:13:22that that makes a difference.
00:13:23And then, you know, there's something,
00:13:25I guess you would call the X factor, right?
00:13:28It's just, sometimes there's just a bike
00:13:30and you can't put your finger on it,
00:13:32why it looks good, but it just does, right?
00:13:36Yeah, I think that's kind of the preference.
00:13:38Like, you know, everyone has their own idea
00:13:42of what looks good and some things
00:13:44that kind of tickle your fancy might not for someone else.
00:13:47Because there's, yeah, some bikes
00:13:48that probably people think are ugly that I really like.
00:13:51Like, I think just a classic XR650L,
00:13:54it's just, I love the look of just a classic dual sport
00:13:59like that, and so.
00:14:00I mean, like, you know, bikes with new graphics,
00:14:02that XR650L with the white and the black wheels,
00:14:07like, all of a sudden it looks cool again.
00:14:11Like, it makes no sense to me.
00:14:12Yeah, totally, yeah.
00:14:14There's a couple of graphics packages
00:14:16on that bike over the years
00:14:17that have made it look pretty sick.
00:14:19There was the years, I don't remember,
00:14:22it was probably early 2000s.
00:14:27They had, like, this big XR logo
00:14:29with, like, red and black kind of slashes behind it,
00:14:33and it was the same graphics
00:14:34that, like, the Supercross race team was using,
00:14:37and that really made it look cool for a little while, too.
00:14:40Then that got dated, you know, so, you know.
00:14:43Wasn't that the Woody Woodpecker era?
00:14:45It was, I can't remember if it was before or after,
00:14:48but it was maybe before that, just slightly before that.
00:14:52So, I'm talking, like, early, early 2000s.
00:14:54I think Woody Woodpecker was, like, 2004, 2005-ish.
00:14:58Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep.
00:15:00So.
00:15:01Yeah, I think the one you're talking about, Justin,
00:15:03I feel like Johnny Campbell had similar graphics
00:15:05at one point in Baja.
00:15:06That's what I'm thinking in my head,
00:15:08is to see that shot of Johnny Campbell
00:15:10rolling through the desert at sunset,
00:15:12and, yeah.
00:15:13Yeah.
00:15:14So, anyway, there's, yeah, there's just bikes
00:15:17that sometimes you just, for some reason,
00:15:20they just look great, and you can't explain why.
00:15:22And those bikes hit everyone different,
00:15:25and some people may think something looks great,
00:15:28and other people may not.
00:15:30So, X-Factor bikes can be more polarizing or divisive,
00:15:34right, so.
00:15:36But let's get into talking about some bikes.
00:15:39We're gonna start with classic or bikes from the past
00:15:42that look great, and we're gonna start right here
00:15:45in good old Marica, and talk about American bikes.
00:15:49So, you know, it's pretty obvious where the list goes
00:15:52in terms of manufacturers.
00:15:55Harley-Davidson, Indian, but I think they're, you know,
00:15:58I think we've found some bikes that
00:16:02clearly are great-looking,
00:16:05clearly are great-looking motorcycles,
00:16:08and set the tone, basically, for the design language
00:16:11for these two manufacturers, all the way up until now,
00:16:15for the most part, right?
00:16:16So, first one, I think Harley-Davidson's WL45.
00:16:22So, 1937 is when it came out.
00:16:26It's the classic cruiser shape.
00:16:29Like, it's kind of defined cruiser shape,
00:16:34cruiser shape from that point on, right?
00:16:38It's got the big kind of teardrop tank,
00:16:41and the skirted fenders, and the, you know,
00:16:44the fat tires, and low and long, you know.
00:16:50It's just, you look at it, and you go,
00:16:52yeah, I know that's a Harley.
00:16:55Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:56I mean, you really stated it.
00:16:57I mean, it's kind of crazy when you think about that,
00:17:00but it's like, yeah, that model set the tone
00:17:04for what all cruisers were to become, you know,
00:17:07whether it's an American cruiser,
00:17:09the Japanese cruiser, or, you know, whatever.
00:17:12They all were seeking to go after that shape,
00:17:15and yeah, that shape's changed over the years,
00:17:17obviously, for Harley-Davidson, but has it?
00:17:21Yeah. Has it really changed?
00:17:23I mean, overall, it's still there, right?
00:17:26I mean, you can, you ask someone to draw a cruiser,
00:17:31and you're gonna get something fairly similar
00:17:34to that bike most of the time.
00:17:36Yeah. Yeah, totally.
00:17:37Yeah. You know.
00:17:39Yeah.
00:17:40Big fenders, a swooped back handlebar.
00:17:43Mm-hmm. Yeah, big bar.
00:17:45Like I said, the tank, that gets,
00:17:46teardrop gets tighter by the seat.
00:17:49Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:17:51Yep. I mean, it's so popular
00:17:53that Harley-Davidson, you know, is bringing that thing back,
00:17:56or they brought it back for this last year.
00:17:57Not that exact model, but the Hydra-Glide,
00:18:01which we'll get to in a second.
00:18:02Yeah, yeah.
00:18:03Like, so let's just get to the Hydra-Glide of the 50s.
00:18:05Like, that right there, you can see that shape
00:18:09in modern Harleys right now very, very clearly,
00:18:13and it's a great-looking bike.
00:18:14You know, you look at it.
00:18:16Actually, my friend has one.
00:18:17He's got a 51 that he, like, rides all the time.
00:18:22Starts on one kick, and it's just awesome.
00:18:26It's like a green color, and, but I mean,
00:18:28it's got, like, all those touches that you still see
00:18:32on some, you know, Harley cruisers, you know,
00:18:36like the big fenders, the chrome trim
00:18:40around the front of the fender, the seat shape,
00:18:43the, you know, it's just, it's there, man.
00:18:47Classic Harley.
00:18:47Yeah, and manufacturers have copied them.
00:18:50Like, even for the Suzuki, they have the Boulevard,
00:18:53I think it's called, that looks like it would be
00:18:55a ripoff of one of these.
00:18:56Yeah, Kawasaki's Vulcans back in the day.
00:18:58Like, you know, they had, like, the Vulcan,
00:19:02I think it was probably the 15, 16, I don't remember.
00:19:09Their big bore before, they had the 2000,
00:19:12the Vulcan 2000, which was completely silly-looking.
00:19:16That was probably one of the ugliest bikes, I remember,
00:19:19but, you know, they did it up, you know,
00:19:21and so that style has been copied forever,
00:19:25and it's classic, you know it,
00:19:31and you can't hate on it, you just can't, right?
00:19:34I feel like it'll never go out of style.
00:19:36Never.
00:19:37Like a classic car, like, even if you're not into cars,
00:19:42just about anyone sees a 50s Bel Air
00:19:46coming down the street or something,
00:19:47and you're like, that's cool, look at that.
00:19:48Totally, yeah, I agree.
00:19:50Yep, so, and then form following function,
00:19:58XR750 Flat Tracker.
00:20:01I mean, just such a cool-looking motorcycle, right?
00:20:05But for the other reason, like, you look at it,
00:20:07and you go, it's beautiful because you know the intent
00:20:10of that motorcycle and what it's gonna do.
00:20:13Yeah, yeah, those are good-looking motorcycles.
00:20:16It's crazy what a reign they had
00:20:18in that AMA Flat Track series for so many decades,
00:20:22and I mean, not only did it look super sick,
00:20:25but it had the muscle to back up its good looks,
00:20:29which isn't always the case, you know?
00:20:30Yeah, I mean, it constantly evolved through the years,
00:20:34you know, with different cylinder head designs
00:20:40and cylinders and all this stuff,
00:20:43but, you know, it never,
00:20:47like, the overall shape of the bike never really changed
00:20:51because it was spot on for what it needed to do,
00:20:55but it just looked so damn good doing what it needed to do.
00:21:00So. Yeah, awesome bike,
00:21:02awesome bike.
00:21:03It was kind of unfortunate that the successor to that
00:21:05really didn't, it didn't really follow in its footsteps,
00:21:08you know, unfortunately.
00:21:10Definitely not, no.
00:21:11Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:12You know, and then even, well, let's,
00:21:14we're gonna talk about Indian, let's talk about Indian.
00:21:18The FTR, kind of a cool looking bike,
00:21:20but doesn't have the style chops as the XR did, right?
00:21:31I don't know, the old ones were, you know,
00:21:34I mean, I guess you could say that Indian
00:21:36definitely didn't set the tone like Harley Davidson did,
00:21:39at least not in my opinion,
00:21:41but they were still cool and just a little bit different,
00:21:43you know? Yeah, well,
00:21:44we're talking about the new FTR flat track race bike.
00:21:48Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:21:49Compared to the XR, you know what I mean?
00:21:52Like, doesn't have the, I mean, it's cool looking,
00:21:55but you don't go, you go,
00:21:57oh, that's cool because of all the cool parts on it,
00:22:00but the shape of it just, it's not the same as an XR.
00:22:05But I would say the new FTR, well, the now retired FTR,
00:22:09was cooler looking than the new Harley Davidson.
00:22:13So compare the XTR to the XR 750 original Harley Davidson,
00:22:20but then when you put that now retired FTR
00:22:22against the now retired Harley Davidson upgrade,
00:22:27in my opinion, the Indian motorcycle was better looking,
00:22:29which is kind of crazy, you know?
00:22:31Yeah, yeah, I agree.
00:22:33I think the FTR race bike looks sweet, like I just said.
00:22:37Yeah, yeah, but not quite as sweet
00:22:39as the original XR, correct?
00:22:41Yeah, exactly, as the XR, yeah.
00:22:43So let's talk about Indian then.
00:22:45Like, just like Harley set the tone,
00:22:49you know, Indian set styling for cruisers in a way as well.
00:22:55Like, you know, like you'd look at the Scout from the 30s,
00:22:59you have that like long, narrow tank,
00:23:02like that's not a style you see very much anymore,
00:23:04except for in a lot of customs.
00:23:08You see a lot of custom motorcycles
00:23:09that go back to that style
00:23:11because it has this very long, narrow,
00:23:16kind of svelte shape to it, you know?
00:23:19So it looks, it makes the bike look fast,
00:23:24even though it's a 1930s V-twin,
00:23:28it truly isn't super fast,
00:23:30but, you know, it's a good looking,
00:23:35it's still a good looking bike, you know?
00:23:38Yeah.
00:23:39And it's still-
00:23:40Yeah, with the sloped seat, looks really good.
00:23:42Yeah. Yeah, spoked wheels,
00:23:43I always love the look of spoked wheels and-
00:23:45Yep.
00:23:46And then you go, yeah, go ahead, Adam, sorry.
00:23:49Oh, it's just crazy how we're talking about, you know,
00:23:52two shapes can be kind of similar yet different,
00:23:55but that's a good example of something that,
00:23:57you know, silhouette wise is roughly the same,
00:24:00but then when you look at them up close,
00:24:02they're different, you know,
00:24:04but it's almost hard to describe.
00:24:06You have to be like looking at them,
00:24:08you know, back and forth
00:24:09to be able to describe that difference.
00:24:11And it's cool that they have their own little design
00:24:14language that, you know, especially Indian,
00:24:16or they both still follow it to this day.
00:24:18Yeah, especially you go to the fifties,
00:24:20I mean, you do have the new Scouts and all that stuff,
00:24:23and they're a riff on the 1930s,
00:24:27but they're not quite there, right?
00:24:30You know what I mean?
00:24:31Like you can see a very, very slight resemblance
00:24:34to those bikes,
00:24:35but I wouldn't say that the Scouts
00:24:36are particularly good looking motorcycles.
00:24:41And, you know, they're nice riding motorcycles,
00:24:45but I wouldn't say they're particularly good looking
00:24:46when you compare them to some other cruisers,
00:24:49but you look at a Chief from the fifties,
00:24:52and that thing is immediately classic,
00:24:55you know, skirted fenders, you know,
00:24:58and that like Indian still follows
00:25:01that design language today.
00:25:03You know what I mean?
00:25:04They used to have that shape with the Chiefs
00:25:06that, you know, hey, yep, I can,
00:25:09there's a line right there, you know,
00:25:10and then, you know, the fender,
00:25:14front fender marker light on a fifties Chief
00:25:18is like iconic for Indian, like, you know,
00:25:21the war bonnet, you know,
00:25:24that thing is just a rad piece of, you know,
00:25:28not quite art deco design, but close, you know,
00:25:32and, you know, like when going back to the Kawasaki
00:25:38and talking about odd styling choices for cruisers,
00:25:43I mean, they just ripped off the Chief fifties style
00:25:49with the, what was that called?
00:25:51The Vulcan?
00:25:53Vaquero?
00:25:54The Vaquero or something?
00:25:55No, no, that was the,
00:25:56that was the,
00:25:58Vaquero was the big bagger.
00:26:00They had the one that looked like an Indian,
00:26:03had skirted fenders, it was like the red,
00:26:07it was like a riff on like an Indian red color.
00:26:09You know, it was very, very much like,
00:26:12hey, look at this, we just like,
00:26:14we want this to look exactly like a fifties Indian.
00:26:17And how come I can't remember the name of it all of a sudden?
00:26:21There's been lots of Japanese cruisers over the decades
00:26:23that have, you know,
00:26:25tried to copy, you know,
00:26:26what Harley Davidson and Indian have done
00:26:29over the, you know, decades, but, you know,
00:26:31and they make, certainly make really nice bikes,
00:26:34but the problem is they never really,
00:26:36they never really sold.
00:26:38I mean, they did for a while,
00:26:39but not in the numbers that their American counterparts did.
00:26:43You know?
00:26:44Oh, it was called the Drifter, the Kawasaki Drifter.
00:26:47That's what it was called.
00:26:48Yeah.
00:26:49Yeah.
00:26:50I was, yeah, I remember that bike.
00:26:52Yeah.
00:26:53I was, yeah, I remember that bike quite well.
00:26:55I was working in Kawasaki at the time
00:26:57and went to the press launch for that thing.
00:27:00Anyway, yeah, the thing is that the,
00:27:06the Japanese building their cruisers,
00:27:09they just miss it just ever so slightly.
00:27:12It's just never quite the same as an American cruiser.
00:27:16And so they just, they're not good looking, you know,
00:27:19but they have their own,
00:27:20they have their own look that they did really well.
00:27:22So, which we'll talk about in a second.
00:27:23Let's get to some like European bikes.
00:27:26What, what comes to mind off the bat for you guys?
00:27:31Just the old school?
00:27:33Yeah, old school European bikes.
00:27:36I mean, just like that,
00:27:37that original Ducati 750 Supersport from, you know,
00:27:41the seventies.
00:27:43That thing's got an iconic look.
00:27:46And, you know, that,
00:27:47that thing really kind of put Ducati on the map
00:27:50in the United States a little, a little bit, you know.
00:27:52Absolutely did.
00:27:53Yeah.
00:27:55You know, you talk about Cycle Magazine
00:27:58and their Daytona race bike project with one, you know,
00:28:01like it, it really put Ducati on the map in the U.S.
00:28:05with that 750 Supersport, you know,
00:28:08and then they had the, you know,
00:28:10like the 750 Supersport didn't have a fairing on
00:28:13at the time and all, you know,
00:28:14but it had this really awesome, you know,
00:28:17exotic shape for the day.
00:28:19But you look at it now and it's still very beautiful.
00:28:22And there's, there's modern-ish variants of that
00:28:27that Ducati did over the years.
00:28:28Like, you know, you look at like, you know,
00:28:32like the scramblers,
00:28:33there's some scramblers that kind of get that vibe going a
00:28:36little bit.
00:28:37And, you know, there,
00:28:38there's just a lot that came out of that, you know,
00:28:40and then you had the,
00:28:42what I think is one of the coolest looking Ducatis ever is
00:28:44the 750 Imola, you know, the, the race bike, you know,
00:28:48that, that they showed up at Imola with a truck full of
00:28:51these bikes that were silver, you know,
00:28:53they weren't Ducati red, there wasn't Ducati red yet.
00:28:56Like, you know, the colors were other colors and, you know,
00:28:59they just kicked ass and, you know,
00:29:02those bikes are truly beautiful looking motorcycles that,
00:29:07that silver with a, you know, light blue,
00:29:10turquoise blue accent colors on them.
00:29:13And correct me if I'm wrong,
00:29:14but that silver has some flake in it too, I think.
00:29:17It's got like mega flake, like almost,
00:29:20almost bass boat flake. Yeah.
00:29:21And like the fuel tanks,
00:29:23the fuel tanks on those bikes were, were fiberglass.
00:29:25They weren't even metal, you know,
00:29:26and they had like a, a clear, not clear,
00:29:30but a translucent space.
00:29:33So you could see how much fuel was in the tank.
00:29:35And, you know, it was, you know, they were,
00:29:38they're very, very, very special bikes.
00:29:42And actually one of our contributors, John Stein,
00:29:46he owns one, he owns one.
00:29:47That's so cool.
00:29:48He owns Paul Smart's, if I'm correct,
00:29:52his 750 Imola practice bike.
00:29:55Like his like second bike. Wow.
00:29:57You know, and he, like, he rides it.
00:29:59He, he doesn't ride it as much as he used to.
00:30:01Cause man, if you crash that thing, it's over.
00:30:04Like you're, you're throwing away history.
00:30:07Yeah.
00:30:08You know, lots of money, but also history.
00:30:10So.
00:30:11Belongs in a museum.
00:30:13Yeah, yeah.
00:30:14Yeah.
00:30:15It's a, it's a, it's a beautiful looking bike,
00:30:19but then you can kind of go back, like, you know,
00:30:23like we can almost say classics are like
00:30:25in like the 2000s now, it's almost 30 years ago.
00:30:28Yeah.
00:30:29So you could talk about a little bit earlier than that,
00:30:31like 900 super sports, you know,
00:30:35Hoyer has one in the office.
00:30:37Yeah.
00:30:38You know, it's.
00:30:39Those are good looking bikes.
00:30:40It's just classically good looking.
00:30:41You have a big, nice flowing fairing.
00:30:45You got Ducati red,
00:30:46you got a tail section that is very kind of sporty
00:30:49and all kind of boxed out.
00:30:53It's just a classic sport bike shape.
00:30:54And it's, it's held, it's held its,
00:30:59it's held its beauty over the years.
00:31:00It's aged nicely.
00:31:02Yeah, absolutely.
00:31:03Absolutely.
00:31:05Yeah.
00:31:06Kind of a timeless look.
00:31:08Yeah.
00:31:09But then there's the Ducati,
00:31:13the best looking Ducati, you know, which is,
00:31:18we all know it.
00:31:19Somebody say it.
00:31:20Yeah.
00:31:21So I don't have to.
00:31:22What is it?
00:31:23The 916.
00:31:24The 916.
00:31:24Yeah.
00:31:25Everyone's favorite bike or mostly everyone's.
00:31:28Mostly everyone's bike.
00:31:29It's, it's Massimo Tamburini's masterpiece.
00:31:35That's the bike when, you know, I was younger,
00:31:39I had one up, I had a poster of it, you know,
00:31:41I think it was in the garage.
00:31:42I had a friend that had it in the wall of his house.
00:31:44Like, it was like, if you're a motorcycle guy,
00:31:46instead of having a poster of a Lamborghini
00:31:48when we were kids or a Ferrari on the wall,
00:31:51you had a, you had a 916 on the wall, right?
00:31:53Yeah.
00:31:54In the crate with the light leaking in.
00:31:56Remember that poster?
00:31:57Uh-huh.
00:31:58Yep.
00:31:59Yeah.
00:31:59Exactly.
00:32:00Yeah.
00:32:01You know, it had the, it had these, you know,
00:32:02it had that pointy front end with the, you know,
00:32:05the two, the two headlights and it's got the tail,
00:32:07the dual tail lights with the exhaust, you know,
00:32:09coming out the back that sit up underneath.
00:32:12It just, man, it just, it's as,
00:32:16it's as classic as a Ferrari Testarossa or, you know,
00:32:20a Lamborghini Countach.
00:32:22Like, it is iconic without a doubt.
00:32:25Yeah.
00:32:26And it set the design language for sport bikes
00:32:28for decades after that.
00:32:30Oh, forever.
00:32:31Yeah.
00:32:32Everyone was, you know, like it,
00:32:33everyone started moving their exhaust pipes down
00:32:35from the, from the bottom up underneath the tail,
00:32:38you know, now it's gone back the other way
00:32:41because it's better to have it, have it down low.
00:32:43But for the, for a while,
00:32:45everyone was putting them up high, you know,
00:32:46because Tamburini did it and the 916 was so awesome.
00:32:51Everyone had to do it, you know?
00:32:53Yeah.
00:32:55So I remember I was actually working at Kawasaki,
00:32:59you know, in the late nineties, I was young
00:33:02and there was a Japanese guy that was, you know,
00:33:07from Kawasaki, Japan that was working in the US
00:33:09and he went and bought a 916.
00:33:11Like he had it like hidden in a corner at Kawasaki
00:33:13with the cover over it so no one would get mad.
00:33:16You know, everyone would always go over
00:33:17and like sneak peeks at it
00:33:19and he would work on it after hours.
00:33:21And he was, you know, like always making it,
00:33:23making sure it was perfect.
00:33:25And then he took it back to Japan with him
00:33:26when he went back.
00:33:27But you just can't deny how good that bike looks.
00:33:31Cannot.
00:33:32Yeah, I agree.
00:33:33Yeah, that's beautiful, yeah.
00:33:36Yep.
00:33:37So what about a BMW?
00:33:39There's some BMWs that are really, really good bikes.
00:33:44You know, I think the R32 is iconic.
00:33:48Yeah, it's iconic.
00:33:49It's iconic.
00:33:50Absolutely.
00:33:51You know, it's black,
00:33:53the black with the white pinstriping, you know,
00:33:55it's just, man, it's a good looking motorcycle.
00:33:58Yeah, that frame they have,
00:33:59I forget what the eye loop frame, I think they call it,
00:34:02the double eye loop.
00:34:04And it's crazy to me because, you know,
00:34:07that R18 Cruiser, you know, love it or hate it,
00:34:10you know, the styling of that R18 Cruiser,
00:34:13at least in my opinion,
00:34:14it totally, all those lines are in that R32.
00:34:18It's so sick.
00:34:18Absolutely, absolutely.
00:34:20It's so sick that you can have a new Cruiser
00:34:22that literally looks like a 1932 bike.
00:34:25I trip out over it every time I look at it.
00:34:26Yeah, I mean, the R18 is massively bigger than the R32,
00:34:30but it's got the look and it's got the lines.
00:34:33And I've always thought the R18 looks great.
00:34:36So, you know, and then you've got, you know, Hans Muth.
00:34:42He's done some big things back in the day
00:34:45in terms of designing bikes.
00:34:46And the R90S, you know, putting a fairing on a R90,
00:34:50you know, on a R90, that thing is sick looking.
00:34:54Yeah, I love the look of that.
00:34:55And that paint, like sunburst, like a creamsicle
00:34:59or something, I don't know, but yeah, it looks,
00:35:02I love the look of that thing.
00:35:03Yeah, and that's a bike that has stood the test of time.
00:35:06But I will say that when I was in high school,
00:35:09my shop teacher, junior high,
00:35:11my junior high wood shop teacher had one
00:35:14and he would ride it and I would look at it.
00:35:16I was like, that thing is dumb, what a nerd.
00:35:19I didn't get it.
00:35:21And I think it's a bike design that,
00:35:25yeah, it speaks to someone that is grown up.
00:35:29We'll put it that way, right?
00:35:30Like, it's not great looking to everybody,
00:35:33but it is beautiful to people that are grown up
00:35:36and have a sophisticated sense of style, perhaps.
00:35:41And I think BMW, they have this, what is it?
00:35:45The R12S, is that kind of like, yeah, it's-
00:35:50Yeah, they riff on it.
00:35:51Like that one, that's a riff, okay, yeah.
00:35:52Because that thing looks amazing.
00:35:54And they totally look similar, and yeah.
00:35:56Yeah.
00:35:57I love the fairing and yeah.
00:36:00Absolutely, so we have to mention this motorcycle
00:36:05or Mark Hoyer will fire all three of us.
00:36:09That's a Norton Commando, it's very classic Norton parallel.
00:36:15Like the thing just looks, the engine shape,
00:36:20what the bike is, it just looks right for that time period.
00:36:25Like it's just, it is, right?
00:36:2670s, it just looks perfect.
00:36:29Yeah, the double, the exhaust that swooped back.
00:36:32Mm-hmm, yeah.
00:36:34So definitely Norton Commando is on the list
00:36:36for European, British, good looking bikes, for sure.
00:36:42What a cool name too.
00:36:43Yeah, super cool name.
00:36:45I think the 70s had a great time of naming motorcycles.
00:36:50You had the Commander and then you had weird names too,
00:36:55like Hodaka had the Combat Wombat and the Super Rat.
00:37:02And it was just, the 70s had just crazy names,
00:37:06but Commando is just a great name still, so.
00:37:09Yeah.
00:37:11And they're always talking about coming back,
00:37:13sort of, and then not, and then coming back,
00:37:15and then not, and coming back.
00:37:16Yep, so let's talk about some Japanese bikes real quick.
00:37:21We're getting real deep in the weeds here,
00:37:22but Honda CBs, especially CB400,
00:37:27beautiful, beautiful motorcycle, right?
00:37:31Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:37:32Yeah, and even to this day, I mean.
00:37:36Yep, even to this day.
00:37:36And even fast forward to this day,
00:37:38Honda's still pulling design features
00:37:41on its new Neo Sports Cafe bikes from that.
00:37:45We were talking about Harley Davidson,
00:37:48an Indian motorcycle company doing it,
00:37:50but the Japanese companies also have a great history
00:37:52and they're pulling from it as well.
00:37:54Mm-hmm, absolutely.
00:37:56Kind of, don't forget where you came from.
00:37:58Yep, exactly.
00:38:00Yep, like the headpipes on that bike are like art.
00:38:05You know how they come off and then they come down the side
00:38:08and they kind of do this waterfall cascade
00:38:11where it goes four into one.
00:38:13It's just such a cool shape, really cool shape.
00:38:16Yeah, yeah, the symmetrical pipes are sick.
00:38:19You know, they're just this super awesome design feature
00:38:22of that bike that instantly lets you know what it is.
00:38:25Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:38:27Yep, I'll say like this is a personal one for me,
00:38:32but I think you guys will probably agree too,
00:38:34is I guess it's still, it's a classic now
00:38:37because it was from 1992, so that's 33 years ago.
00:38:42It's old, it's before Evan was born.
00:38:46That's a CBR 900 RR.
00:38:49Yeah, yeah, yeah, those things,
00:38:51they still look pretty cool, you know, even today.
00:38:54They still look really, really good.
00:38:55They still look, you know, you park that thing
00:38:58next to even a Fireblade RR R, it looks better than that.
00:39:07It looks so much better than that motorcycle.
00:39:09Yeah, we're talking about,
00:39:12we're talking about the Ducati 916 setting design language.
00:39:15Well, the 900 RR also set design language
00:39:17for the sport bike category for many, many, many years.
00:39:21It really did, you know, kind of a larger front fairing area
00:39:26with big, huge headlights, you know,
00:39:29like that was a look for a while.
00:39:31And I'll say that like Kawasaki's,
00:39:35or sorry, Suzuki's GSX-R750, 1985,
00:39:39it had big round headlights as too,
00:39:42but that one is cool looking
00:39:44because it has so much like 80s flair to it.
00:39:49Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:52The proportions are kind of ridiculous,
00:39:54but it also, you look at it and you go like,
00:39:56yep, I want one of those immediately.
00:39:58Yeah, well, that's why the 900 RR was so cool
00:40:01because like it took that concept
00:40:03and then, you know, you said like the Suzuki,
00:40:07it was kind of like large and big looking.
00:40:09Well, the 900 RR was small looking.
00:40:11Like, I mean, he had a nice stance,
00:40:13but it was small, compact, big, beefy frame.
00:40:16You know, so it took that stuff
00:40:18into a more athletic tone.
00:40:21Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, for sure, you know.
00:40:24That's what sport bikes are about is athleticism,
00:40:26you know, so it totally made sense.
00:40:28Yeah, totally, yeah.
00:40:29But it's funny, I remember as a kid,
00:40:33the first time I saw a GSX-R 750, an 85 GSX-R 750,
00:40:39we were on a road trip with my family in Oregon
00:40:43and we went over this river.
00:40:46So maybe it was Washington, like Oregon to Washington
00:40:47or something, and on the other side,
00:40:49there was four of them parked together,
00:40:51you know, like brand new.
00:40:52These guys just all bought them.
00:40:54And I just looked at that thing and it was just like,
00:40:57look at that, what is that?
00:41:00You know, like blew my mind as a, you know,
00:41:03at that point I was nine years old.
00:41:05I was just like, as a nine-year-old, I was like,
00:41:08that's the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life.
00:41:12I want one.
00:41:13Yeah, yeah, you know, my dad had a Yamaha FJ 1100.
00:41:22And compared to his FJ, that thing was so small,
00:41:26so compact, so aggressive looking.
00:41:28His FJ just looked like this like dumb boat.
00:41:31And I was like, dad, you gotta get one of those,
00:41:32get rid of that other thing, you know?
00:41:36So, and we can't leave the subject of Suzuki
00:41:42without talking about the Katana.
00:41:44Yeah.
00:41:45You know, the OG Katana.
00:41:46Another Hans Muth.
00:41:48Yeah, another Hans Muth thing.
00:41:50You know, but it's good looking because it's ugly.
00:41:55It's ugly.
00:41:57If that makes sense.
00:41:58It's not like a DeLorean.
00:42:00Right?
00:42:01Like it's got all these really sharp angles.
00:42:04And he took shapes that, you know,
00:42:08you wouldn't think are classically good looking
00:42:12because it's not swooping and it's not smooth.
00:42:14It's very angular and ah, ah, ah, you know?
00:42:17But man, it's beautiful because it's unconventional
00:42:21and, you know, ugly in a good way.
00:42:25I like the Hans Muth nip-tucked nose, you know?
00:42:28Same with that BMW we spoke about.
00:42:30He had that nip-tucked nose
00:42:32and I think that's really neat.
00:42:34You know, it's almost kind of crazy too
00:42:37because like, it almost like, it's like the ADV bikes,
00:42:41you know, with their beaks.
00:42:43They kind of like almost kind of copied that
00:42:45a little bit, sort of, you know?
00:42:47In a way.
00:42:48You know, it's just like kind of crazy to me
00:42:51how these styling attributes can not only span
00:42:56different manufacturers but now different categories.
00:42:58Mm-hmm, yep.
00:43:00So let's, we're gonna get into modern bikes.
00:43:03We're running already at like 40 something minutes.
00:43:05So we gotta make up some time.
00:43:07So we're not gonna talk about a ton of modern models.
00:43:09I think overall, motorcycles in the modern age
00:43:12become almost all very good looking for the most part.
00:43:17There's very few that you go,
00:43:18oh God, when you see it, right?
00:43:20So let's talk about, we talked about Indian,
00:43:25you know, their bikes now, great looking motorcycles.
00:43:28But I think the best looking FTR
00:43:32is probably the best looking Indian.
00:43:34And it's being discontinued, unfortunately.
00:43:38But it's kind of a, you know, flat tracker-ish.
00:43:42They took a chance and it was a great looking motorcycle.
00:43:46But it's maybe just not what American cruiser buyers
00:43:49are looking for, unfortunately.
00:43:52Yeah, I thought for sure that Street Tracker class
00:43:56was gonna be a thing in like 2019.
00:43:57And it just never, it never became a thing.
00:44:00And yeah, you know, that bike was a good looking bike.
00:44:03And yeah, it's kind of sad to see it go.
00:44:05But the Americans spoke with their wallets
00:44:07and they didn't want it, so that's how it goes.
00:44:09Yeah.
00:44:10I will say the 101 Scout is pretty sharp looking too.
00:44:14Yeah, it is.
00:44:15We got one of those at the office, yeah.
00:44:16But it's sharp looking, not because of the shape
00:44:20of the bike, but the take on it,
00:44:25of making it very kind of racy and badass, right?
00:44:28Yeah, it's like a cruiser with, yeah,
00:44:30like with race influence, with an inverted fork
00:44:34and fully adjustable and big Brembos.
00:44:37And yeah, it looks like you want it,
00:44:39like you think, I wanna go fast on that thing.
00:44:42Yeah, exactly.
00:44:44So Harley-Davidson, like there's, you know,
00:44:46like Harley-Davidson's classically
00:44:49are still great looking.
00:44:51They have really good paint and finish
00:44:53and the lines are classic and all that stuff,
00:44:56but some catch the eye more than others.
00:44:58And, you know, I won't, I haven't grown
00:45:01into the new glides as much, like the fairing,
00:45:08like the road glides, Sharknose fairing is,
00:45:13you know, I think it has too many like LED headlight,
00:45:16modern-ish to it.
00:45:18Same with the Street Glide, but then you look
00:45:22at something like the Lowrider, the ST, you know,
00:45:26like that thing looks sick.
00:45:29Yeah.
00:45:29You know, that's a good looking soft tail motorcycle.
00:45:34Yeah, totally.
00:45:34And I feel like people my age, that's like what they,
00:45:37when they want, I wanna be on a Harley,
00:45:39they wanna be on a Harley that looks like that.
00:45:41They don't wanna be on a Road Glide or a Street Glide.
00:45:43They want something that, yeah, looks like a boy.
00:45:47I still really like the Heritage Classic in my opinion.
00:45:51That's still the best looking Harley.
00:45:53I love the look of that bike.
00:45:54That is a very, very good looking bike
00:45:57because it's classic and-
00:45:59But modern, but modern, but classic.
00:46:01Modern, but classic, yeah, I know.
00:46:02But I mean, like someone that's completely uninformed
00:46:05in Harleys will walk up to you on that bike.
00:46:08And they'll know what it is.
00:46:09Yeah.
00:46:10They'll know it's a Harley, but they'll be like,
00:46:11man, what year is that?
00:46:13That thing is so clean.
00:46:14And you're like, well, it's a 2024.
00:46:17And they're like, what?
00:46:18You know?
00:46:19Yeah.
00:46:21We were at a bike rally like this summer
00:46:23and some guy had a new Harley Davidson,
00:46:26I think a Heritage Classic actually.
00:46:28And I'm looking at it, I'm like, oh, that's nice.
00:46:30Is that like a 2016?
00:46:33And he's like, no, man, it's a 2024.
00:46:38He kinda got mad, but like, I don't know.
00:46:40It looked modern, but classic.
00:46:42And I wasn't begging on his bike being 20 years
00:46:45or 10 years old.
00:46:46It just, you know?
00:46:48Yeah, I mean, well, there you go.
00:46:51Like Harley styling, it's not huge departures
00:46:53all the way back from, like we said,
00:46:55the Hydra Glide and the XL, you know, all those bikes.
00:47:00Like it's just the WL, like that's just what Harley is.
00:47:05And that's how they do their business.
00:47:08So let's talk about some European bikes real fast.
00:47:14What about MV Agusta?
00:47:17I like the look of their bikes.
00:47:19Not all of them.
00:47:20I don't like the look of the,
00:47:22what's their like sport touring, the Veloce?
00:47:25Yeah, yeah, okay.
00:47:26That one I don't love the look of.
00:47:28But how about the Super Veloce?
00:47:30Like that thing is, I mean, it's got this retro style.
00:47:36It's been voted the most beautiful bike at EICMA
00:47:39when they announced it.
00:47:41I think that bike is one of the best looking bikes,
00:47:45modern motorcycles you can look at.
00:47:47Yeah.
00:47:49You know, I think the 1000 Series Auro
00:47:52isn't as good as the 800.
00:47:53I think the 800 has it spot on.
00:47:55And I think they went a little too racy darling
00:47:57with the 1000.
00:47:59You know, the paint is a little more racy looking
00:48:03compared to the classic understated,
00:48:06but beautiful streamlined design of the 800.
00:48:11I mean, MV Agusta definitely has design language
00:48:14all their own and they've been using it
00:48:16for quite some time, you know.
00:48:18That they have, that they have.
00:48:20So, you know, and you've got, you know,
00:48:26people would say like Ducati, like the whole line,
00:48:29you know, they're all pretty good looking motorcycles.
00:48:33But I think there's some standouts
00:48:35and it's not their super bikes.
00:48:37You know, I think that the Scramblers,
00:48:41they got style for days, man.
00:48:42And they have a classic shape that is good looking
00:48:45that catches everybody's eye.
00:48:49The desert sled.
00:48:51I always loved when they had the desert sled.
00:48:54I remember thinking, yeah, just like,
00:48:57kind of just pictured myself going through the desert
00:49:00in some like work boots and old leather work gloves
00:49:03just with a bandana on it being like.
00:49:06Like you had good proportions.
00:49:07Yeah.
00:49:08Yeah, really good proportions.
00:49:10Yep.
00:49:10Yep.
00:49:11It's almost like they kind of copied Triumph,
00:49:14you know, during the Steve McQueen era,
00:49:16but they, you know, Triumph couldn't really figure it out.
00:49:19I mean, they had it obviously,
00:49:20but then they kind of lost it
00:49:22and then Ducati reinvented it for them, you know?
00:49:25Yeah.
00:49:26But now Triumph's back and they have a, you know,
00:49:29modern take now too.
00:49:30But it's kind of crazy how things work.
00:49:32Triumph, like we said, we talked about the speed,
00:49:37speed triple 1200 RS, good looking bike,
00:49:40but there's some of their modern classics, man.
00:49:43They're just stunners.
00:49:45Yeah.
00:49:47Speed Twin.
00:49:48It's my favorite.
00:49:501200, right?
00:49:50Speed Twin 1200.
00:49:51Yeah, Speed Twin 1200 is absolutely just one of my,
00:49:55as far as modern bikes, my favorite looking bike.
00:49:58Something that I would, I think if I was super rich,
00:50:00I would want two, one to ride
00:50:01and one to park in the living room.
00:50:03Nice.
00:50:04Oh yeah.
00:50:05No, yeah, they're great looking motorcycles.
00:50:07And the beauty of a Triumph is the fit and finish.
00:50:12You get close up on that bike and it's awesome.
00:50:17You look at the paint, you look at the hardware,
00:50:18you look at the switch gear,
00:50:20you look at the details on that bike or, you know,
00:50:23that's where they blow a lot of other manufacturers
00:50:26out of the water is just on their fit and finish
00:50:28and how nicely the bikes are put together.
00:50:31Yeah.
00:50:31Makes them beautiful, best looking bikes,
00:50:34especially when you're up close, you know.
00:50:37BMW, BMW has, I think, reinvented its look
00:50:43and it's good now.
00:50:45The asymmetrical days, you know,
00:50:48with like the big headlight on one side
00:50:50and a little headlight on the other side,
00:50:51like, man, they made some ugly looking motorcycles.
00:50:55You know, they went from like really good classic
00:50:57to like this just massive, now they're back.
00:51:00Like, I think the, like, especially the M1000RR,
00:51:05man, that's an insane looking motorcycle.
00:51:07Yeah.
00:51:08Yeah, like awesome.
00:51:09I did always like the odd looking headlight,
00:51:14asymmetrical headlight on like the S1000RR.
00:51:16And it wasn't terrible.
00:51:18Yeah.
00:51:19Oh, I hated it.
00:51:20I hated it.
00:51:21Yeah.
00:51:21Yeah, I don't know.
00:51:23It's funny, cause that bike,
00:51:24and then also the, we're talking about MV Agusta.
00:51:28I can't remember which one it was,
00:51:29but back in the day when I was a kid,
00:51:32going to a super bike test with my dad just to hang out.
00:51:35And those were the two bikes that I remember
00:51:38because of their look.
00:51:39The F4.
00:51:41Yeah.
00:51:42Yeah.
00:51:43Yep, yep.
00:51:44So I think that, like I said, the M1000RR is,
00:51:50it's aggressive just like Ducatis are aggressive,
00:51:54but it's got this softness to the edges.
00:51:59Like weird, like it goes into the air intake
00:52:01and it goes, like, it just has, it has this like,
00:52:06the edges aren't as sharp
00:52:08and it makes it look really, really nice.
00:52:11Yeah.
00:52:13And then you've got the M paint job on it
00:52:14that just brings it up to another level.
00:52:16Carbon, yeah.
00:52:17It's almost like they didn't try as hard.
00:52:19Like they made something look really awesome
00:52:21and racy and sharp, but yeah,
00:52:24some more round, smooth surfaces that, yeah.
00:52:29Yep.
00:52:30So what about a real quick couple of Japanese ones
00:52:34and then we'll get into like what we,
00:52:37we'll each go over like something that's ugly
00:52:40and then we'll get to our favorites
00:52:41and we'll get, we'll get out of here.
00:52:42So give me some Japanese stuff that you think looks good.
00:52:49Some current stuff?
00:52:50Yeah.
00:52:51R1, R bikes.
00:52:53Yeah.
00:52:54You know, especially the new, the new,
00:52:56all of them, like the new 2025 R3, 2025 R7, R9,
00:53:02you know, R1 now with his updated wings.
00:53:04Like, I mean, those bikes have,
00:53:07that R bikes is like totally a cool thing.
00:53:10Yeah.
00:53:11Yeah, I agree.
00:53:12The R7, the new colorway they came out with
00:53:14or paint job for 2025, like that thing looks awesome.
00:53:19Yeah.
00:53:20I missed it, but good to know, you know.
00:53:21Yeah.
00:53:23Good looking bikes for sure.
00:53:24Okay.
00:53:26What about you, Adam?
00:53:27I mean, Evan.
00:53:32For Japanese bikes, I would say,
00:53:35hmm, I really like the, the,
00:53:40the Neo classic that Honda has going,
00:53:42like with the, the, what is it?
00:53:45The 650, the CB650R, I believe they call it.
00:53:48And then even like the, the big one,
00:53:51the black edition, the CB1000.
00:53:54Yeah, both of those, like a modern take
00:53:57with some classic sort of, yeah, I dig those.
00:54:00And Husqvarna's got that going too a little bit.
00:54:03I know they're not Japanese,
00:54:04but something that's modern looking, but yeah.
00:54:08Tasteful.
00:54:09Yeah, I agree.
00:54:10Nice.
00:54:12Let's get into some bikes that we think are not attractive.
00:54:17You know, you know what, we're gonna,
00:54:19we're gonna go to best looking personally
00:54:23and then best looking or worst looking
00:54:25of all time personally.
00:54:27And then we'll, we'll, we'll close it with that.
00:54:29So I'm gonna give Adam first crack
00:54:32at all time, best looking.
00:54:35Oh, all time, best looking.
00:54:36Obviously you and I just are gonna completely agree
00:54:39the Ducati 916, you know.
00:54:42100%.
00:54:43Absolutely.
00:54:44Probably the 96, if you really wanted to break it down
00:54:47by a year or two, the 96 or 97,
00:54:49that is literally the one you want.
00:54:51Like you want a 96 or 97.
00:54:54Like that thing is just like, they're just so sick.
00:54:58Perfection.
00:55:00Timeless style.
00:55:01Just, you know, that bike will never not look cool to me.
00:55:04So I would say that's the best looking bike.
00:55:07Forever at the top of, of the list.
00:55:10Absolutely.
00:55:11Forever at the top.
00:55:13It's gotta be a 96 or 97.
00:55:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:55:17For sure.
00:55:18For sure.
00:55:18What about you, Evan?
00:55:19What's your, what's your, your thoughts on best looking?
00:55:23Okay.
00:55:24Personally, I just have always loved the,
00:55:26the Yamaha DT1 look with having just a,
00:55:30an off-road background.
00:55:31And there's a picture of one on the wall
00:55:33here at the office.
00:55:35Just like a three-quarter rear shot.
00:55:37It's just always been a motorcycle.
00:55:39I love the lines, like the seat into the tank.
00:55:41It's just, it's simple.
00:55:42It's just flat?
00:55:43Yeah, it's just flat, simple.
00:55:45Especially with like a knobby tire on it.
00:55:47It's just, it just is a bike I look at
00:55:49and makes me want to go.
00:55:51It reminds me of like on any Sunday.
00:55:53It just makes me want to go just kick up some dust
00:55:55with some buddies out in the desert.
00:55:57Yeah, cool.
00:55:58I mean, it's a, it's a good looking shape.
00:55:59I mean, it's no 916, but okay.
00:56:01Yeah.
00:56:02You know.
00:56:03Yeah, yes.
00:56:04And I will give a bonus with the Speed Twin 1200.
00:56:08Okay.
00:56:09As a modern bike,
00:56:10because I just have always, always loved those.
00:56:12Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll give you a high five on that one.
00:56:16That's a, that's a great looking motorcycle.
00:56:18It's a great riding motorcycle too,
00:56:19which I think, I think actually ups its looks.
00:56:23Totally.
00:56:24Because you get off of it and you get off of it
00:56:25and you look at it and you go, man, it's so good.
00:56:27Because that bike's cool
00:56:28because you could ride it to a cafe for coffee.
00:56:31You could go out to dinner on the bike
00:56:33and you could go rip the canyons up
00:56:34and it's excellent in all those places.
00:56:37Yeah, it really is.
00:56:38You know what I mean?
00:56:39And it doesn't look out of place in any of those places.
00:56:41Yeah.
00:56:42It's, it really does do that.
00:56:45So I'm going to go first on all time worst looking.
00:56:51This thing is just funky.
00:56:53And every time I look at it, it throws me off
00:56:56and it's just got these weird,
00:57:01like intersecting curved round shapes.
00:57:04And that's a Prilius Moto 6.5.
00:57:09Man, it like, it, they tried too dang hard.
00:57:14Yeah.
00:57:15You know, I think, I think that the diner's name
00:57:17on that one was Philippe Stark, I think was his name.
00:57:20And he just, he just lost the plot.
00:57:23I think he had a good idea,
00:57:25but he just, he went too dang far with it.
00:57:28It's just the, you know,
00:57:29it's got all these intersecting curves on it
00:57:33that just makes it look like someone took a Nautilus shell
00:57:37and broke it and tried to put it back together.
00:57:40Yeah, that one's goofy looking.
00:57:42I actually kind of like it in like an oddball way.
00:57:46Me too.
00:57:47Me too.
00:57:48Me too.
00:57:50Definitely has a weird egg shape going on though.
00:57:52Yeah.
00:57:53So that's my, that's my worst looking motorcycle.
00:57:56What about, what about you, Adam?
00:57:59Mine is, is, I think it can be definitively said for me,
00:58:04I've always not liked the looks of this bike,
00:58:06but the 2016 Suzuki GSX-S1000F,
00:58:11if you guys can recall what that thing looks like.
00:58:15Yeah, it was just a-
00:58:16What an ugly bike.
00:58:18It was like lackluster.
00:58:19Like it was like, like a half-assed styling attempt.
00:58:23Like they were like,
00:58:24it has to look like a sport tour.
00:58:26And they went, well, okay, not good enough.
00:58:29Right?
00:58:30Like, it's just very odd.
00:58:32It's like an ugly minivan, like an ugly minivan.
00:58:34It's just like, what?
00:58:35Like, like why would you make a bike so disgusting looking?
00:58:40You know, it's no wonder that bike only stayed
00:58:43in the, in the U.S. model lineup for a very short,
00:58:45short duration.
00:58:46Very short duration.
00:58:47Yeah, I would agree.
00:58:48I mean, but, but Suzuki's had misses over the years.
00:58:52I mean, they've had some amazing bikes.
00:58:53Like we talked about Katana, GSX-R750,
00:58:56but you look at like, like a late nineties Katana.
00:59:01You know, like when they,
00:59:02when they changed Katana to this sport,
00:59:04like a low end sport bike,
00:59:06and they put those full fairings on,
00:59:08they, God, those were ugly.
00:59:10They were so sad.
00:59:11I've always had an affinity for Suzuki Katana.
00:59:14So I take that personally, but I totally,
00:59:17I totally agree.
00:59:18Like the worst Suzuki Katanas were like,
00:59:20if you remember like 04 or 05.
00:59:23Yeah, okay, yeah.
00:59:24Like, oh my God, those were hideous, you know?
00:59:27So, so yeah, yeah.
00:59:29Suzuki is one manufacturer who's gotten it wrong a lot,
00:59:32but honestly now they're kind of set
00:59:35in a new design language and they're doing pretty good.
00:59:37The stuff now is, is rad, you know?
00:59:40So, all right, Evan, let's see what you got.
00:59:44My ugliest looking, worst looking bike of all time
00:59:48is the Honda Rune.
00:59:50You're fired.
00:59:51Boo, boo.
00:59:52You're fired, you are fired.
00:59:54Boo.
00:59:55That is not a good looking bike.
00:59:57Prepare, prepare for, for hate from the comment section.
01:00:02You are screwed.
01:00:03I like that bike.
01:00:05I think it's a, granted it was, it was pretty wild.
01:00:08It was big, it was crazy, but like,
01:00:11man, they, they did it with that bike.
01:00:13They went big, they went like outlandish,
01:00:18and it's cool.
01:00:19It is cool.
01:00:20It's cool.
01:00:21It looks like a bodybuilder.
01:00:22Not a commercial success by any means,
01:00:24but definitely a cool looking bike.
01:00:26No, I mean, a hell of a collector's bike now though.
01:00:29Yeah, I would think so.
01:00:30Because for that reason, you know what I mean?
01:00:32I think, I don't think it was the looks
01:00:34that made it hard to sell.
01:00:36It was an expensive bike at the time.
01:00:38You know what I mean?
01:00:39And so, it just didn't sell well.
01:00:41But for the technology it had, it's really not,
01:00:43it wasn't an expensive bike for how radical it was.
01:00:46Yeah, I mean, value-wise, sure,
01:00:48but it still had a high price tag at the time,
01:00:52and so that made it tough to sell.
01:00:54But I still think, you know,
01:00:56it's got some very, very nice design with it,
01:01:02and everything was thought out on that bike.
01:01:04And I think you're gonna get,
01:01:06I think, honestly, you're gonna get a lot of comments,
01:01:08Evan, that are gonna be like, you're wrong,
01:01:10but there's also gonna be people
01:01:12that think you're right as well.
01:01:13And I can see that.
01:01:14Probably people my age that were like little kids
01:01:17when that bike came out, and you're like,
01:01:18what is that thing?
01:01:19No, I think you're gonna get,
01:01:20I think you're gonna get a mix of all demographics
01:01:24that agree and disagree with you.
01:01:26It was a polarizing bike,
01:01:28but I think Adam and I both agree
01:01:30that it was still a good-looking motorcycle.
01:01:32Yeah, viewers should vote in the comments.
01:01:35Yeah, for sure.
01:01:36Team Evan or Team Wahee Justin?
01:01:39Yep, well, it's clear that we're right
01:01:42because we picked the 916,
01:01:44and that is undisputed champion
01:01:47of good-looking motorcycles.
01:01:49So we're right, you're wrong.
01:01:52Sorry, sorry.
01:01:53So we're gonna leave it at that.
01:01:54That's the takeaway from this episode.
01:01:56Evan is wrong about motorcycle styling,
01:01:59and Adam and I know what's up, you know.
01:02:02So there's a lot of factors
01:02:05that make motorcycles good-looking, you know,
01:02:08and a lot of it is X-factor,
01:02:10but there's also timeless designs that have come out
01:02:14that stand the test of time because of their shapes.
01:02:17So that's that.
01:02:21Put down in the comments
01:02:23what you think is the best-looking bike,
01:02:24what's the worst-looking bike.
01:02:26If you agree or disagree with our comments,
01:02:29don't go super hard on Evan.
01:02:30Be nice, be sensitive, don't make him cry,
01:02:35but make it stink.
01:02:36Make it stink a little bit, please.
01:02:38So thanks for the support.
01:02:39Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next one.