Items15The creator’s order
  1. 1BMW R32BMW R32BMW's first motorcycle, from 1923, is the rare case of a layout so right that a company has never let it go. Max Friz set a flat twin with its cylinders jutting into the airstream on either side, cooling both equally, and sent power to the rear wheel through a shaft rather than a chain. Neither…0
  2. 2Brough Superior SS100Brough Superior SS100George Brough built the SS100 in Nottingham from 1924 as the machine he wanted to ride, and a journalist's phrase, "the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles," stuck because the finish backed it up. The engineering underneath was largely conventional; the long, low stance, the big V-twin and the deep, rounded…0
  3. 3Harley-Davidson Knucklehead engineHarley-Davidson Knucklehead engineHarley-Davidson Model EL, 1936 Harley's first overhead-valve big twin is where the American cruiser silhouette was fixed. The rocker covers that gave the engine its nickname, the teardrop tank and the instrument panel set on top of it became styling cues the company carried forward for…0
  4. 4Vincent Black ShadowVincent Black ShadowThe Black Shadow of 1948 is engineering worn on the outside. Philip Vincent and Phil Irving hung the bike from its big V-twin instead of wrapping it in a full cradle frame, and gave the engine a baked black finish that made it the visual center of the machine. The other detail everyone remembers…0
  5. 5Honda Super CubHonda Super CubThe most persuasive argument that good design is about people rather than spectacle. Launched in 1958, the Super Cub put a small engine under a step-through frame with a broad front shield, so anyone could climb on in ordinary clothes and ride to work or make deliveries. Honda has kept the same…0
  6. 6Triumph Bonneville T120Triumph Bonneville T120If you picture a "classic British motorcycle," you are probably picturing a Bonneville. The T120, a performance version of Triumph's 650cc Tiger twin unveiled at Earls Court in November 1958, took its name from Johnny Allen's speed record runs on the Utah salt flats. The first version wore heavy…0
  7. 7Honda CB750 and CR750Honda CB750 and CR750Honda Dream CB750 Four, 1969 Honda's brief was that a four-cylinder engine with four mufflers should be the basis of the design, borrowing the look of its Grand Prix racers, and that row of pipes became the signature of the machine. The big front disc brake drew crowds at the Tokyo Motor Show as…0
  8. 8Moto Guzzi V7 SportMoto Guzzi V7 SportThe bike that turned a tall touring V-twin into a long, low sports machine, and the clearest example here of a single packaging decision changing a whole silhouette. Lino Tonti moved the generator off the top of the engine, which let him run a lower backbone of straight, triangulated tubes and tuck…0
  9. 9BMW R90SBMW R90SHans Muth's R 90 S, built from late 1973 to 1976, showed that a sober touring brand could look fast. Its small cockpit fairing on the handlebars came fitted as standard, and the bike is widely credited as the first production motorcycle sold with a factory fairing. The smoky silver paint of the…0
  10. 10BMW R80G/SBMW R80G/SThe tall adventure bikes in showrooms today owe a great deal to this one. In 1980 BMW put its 800cc boxer twin into a large-capacity off-road machine, and the name says the brief: Gelände and Straße, off-road and street. The design highlight is the Monolever, a single-sided rear swingarm that…0