The Kawasaki Z650 is every bit a scaled down version of the successful Kawasaki Z1 design and, as such, it shares much of the looks and a good deal of the performance too. Often played down in the Kawasaki family tree, nestling in the shade of the larger machines, the Kawasaki Z650 is arguably a pivotal moment in Kawasaki's success. The design was a great achievement in its own right, stealing sales off the Kawasaki Z1, as well as spawning the Kawasaki Z500, 550, and 750 and then the Kawasaki GPz series of the 80s, a real legacy indeed.

Back in 1976 there was a vast selection of middleweight machines vying for the customers cash, from the Yamaha RD400 all the way through Honda CBD400's, GT380/550's and Suzuki GS550's sat in showrooms luring the buyer in. This would indicate one out the main reasons behind the 650cc choice that Kawasaki made, as the Kawasaki Z650 would stand out from the norm. Hopefully ensuring that a buyer would stretch just that little bit further to buy the biggest machine they could.

Reduction in manufacturing costs meant the Kawasaki Z650 was at the time very competitive priced. The initial batch Z650's sold incredibly well, outstripping other machines of the time by a good margin.

Despite sharing its design and overall looks with the Kawasaki Z1, the Z650 engine is a very different beast once the covers and casings are removed. Unlike the Z1, with engine components that ran in roller bearings, the crankshaft of the smaller 650cc engine spins in plain metal bearings and requires high oil feed pressure to maintain their operation.

The Bimota DB7R Diavolo Rosso, so what do you do when a standard Ducati 1198S is painfully ordinary? Everybody with some money in the world seem to commute on a Ducati Desmosedici RR, it takes something truly special to stand out.

Something like Bimota's standard DB7? It might get you noticed, but why take chances? The 2010 Bimota DB7R Diavolo Rosso attracts more attention than Valentino Rossi at a Grand Prix. And for just over 2.3 million Baht you get the only load-bearing carbon-fiber frame and swingarm offered for sale to the general public, along with a matching carbon-fiber fuel tank. And that's not all: A GPS dash from GET Electronic Systems provides all the usual data on vital systems, plus lap times, section speeds and a whole lot of other stuff you won't have time to read on the straightaways.

Load circuit-specific engine-management data for that next track day. Plugged into a laptop afterward, it builds a 2D track map that lets you critique your lines and see how close you are to a theoretical quickest lap, all with no transponders. There's enough storage in there to save for ip to 100 tracks. As if that wasn't enough, it knows when you're back on public pavement and switches the engine's command/control computer back to street mode for the ride home.

Horsepower, we use it a lot, we know the numbers for our own bikes, but what is horsepower? The term 'horsepower' was first used way back in the 1700s as entrepreneurial Georgians tried to find a way of selling their newly invented steam powered machines to mine owners.

Powering the pumps that were used to clear water from mines and lift the coat out of the shaft was done by horses, so these men made claims regarding how many horses it would take to match the performance of their machines.

Although they didn't actually use the term 'horsepower', the comparison soon became the standard sales pitch. It took another half-century and the intervention of legendary inventor James Watt for the term to become commonplace and defined. In the late 1770s, Watt's genius revolutionized the construction of the steam engine. His new machine was far more efficient than the old Newcomen engine at pumping water out of mines, but he needed a term to convince the bosses at coal mines that they should invest in his engine.

At this point, the historical records are split in their opinions on exactly how Watt calculated a horsepower, but basically, he estimated how much weight an average pony could lift and over what distance in a minute and came up with a figure of 33,000 feet pounds a minute. Which became known as 'one horsepower'.

MV Agusta's 17-year domination of the 500cc World Championship with their prima maniera (first generation) four-stroke Grand Prix racers, has only been matched in the modern era by the equivalent class supremacy of Honda's NSR500 V4 two-stroke. Indeed, the parallels between the two very different motorcycles are fascinating, for each began life as a futuristic but flawed creation, and only achieved success once this was jettisoned in favor of a more conventional, yet still distinctive design.

Both the MV Agusta 500 Quattro and the Honda NSR500 had to struggle against a compatriot rival for eventual supremacy, alternating championship wins before gaining the upper hand – though in MV's case this came thanks to Gilera's retirement after winning the 1957 world title, whereas Honda eventually saw Yamaha off in the 1990s.

Each, however, owed its initial dominance to the supreme skills of two men, John Surtees for MV Agusta and Freddie Spencer for Honda, before coming into the hands of Hailwood and Doohan – who achieved such all-out dominance that it was news when they didn't win, rather than vice versa.

]When I was a little kid growing up in countries around the world, and in a English town, just a few years old, my dad took care of some motorcycles for friends of him, just for parts of the year. One was a Honda Scrambler, with the high pipes, and another was a Triumph Bonneville. That Triumph was in some ways my first motorcycle – I rode thousands of kilometers in my mind, fantasizing I was exploring the world, visiting my friends in far away places, all on that Triumph Bonneville, siting up there making motorcycle noises with my feet sticking off the saddle!

Even today, when I think motorcycle, that Triumph is still the first thing I think of. I've got a soft spot for Triumphs to this day. I was just reading some information about the new Triumph Thunderbird, and that was making me think again about Triumphs, and how I need to have one.

The Honda PCX developed, designed and manufactured in Thailand, the PCX belongs to a category of scooter that is entirely new to its country of origin. While there is now rising demand among youths and urbanites for attractive new scooters, motorcycles have long been popular in Thailand, used for everything from commuting work and school, to deliveries to leisure, and practical, easy-handling underbone manual transmission motorcycles with their roots in the Super Cub are local favorites.

Why a Honda scooter was born in Thailand

There are two main reasons why the PCX was created in Thailand, introducing an entirely new category of scooter. First, thanks to continued economic expansion in Thailand, people want a commuter bike that goes beyond practical considerations to offer a more premium feel and greater pride of ownership. Sitting on a larger, plusher seat with a more relaxed leg position isn’t just more comfortable for the rider—it is also a sign of a more relaxed and affluent lifestyle.

The second factor was the associates of the Honda Motorcycle R&D Center in Thailand and their spirit of challenge. They wanted to create a scooter that would be popular not only in Thailand but also in Europe, where scooters are appreciated for their ease of use. The associates aimed to create a truly global Honda bike that would be popular throughout the world.

'Don't feel bad. You're not the first 750cc rider to get blown off by a Yamaha 350cc,' said the Yamaha RD350 ad in 1975, showing a dazed rider. The Yamaha RD350 has been the most revered performance motorcycle in many countries. Renowned for its prowess on road and track, the Yamaha RD350 with its stock output of 39 horsepower at 7500rpm.

The Yamaha RD350 is infamous for its terrible handling. At its heart is an air-cooled parallel twin two-stroke engine displacing 347cc, fed by twin carburettors and reed valves. The Yamaha RD350 owes its origin to Yamaha R5, one of Yamaha's first attempts at making a street legal racer. Yamaha modeled the frame along the TZ-series of racers in the production guise. An extended front rake-compared to the TZs was main cause for the lazy turn-ins. What makes it an icon is breakneck acceleration in straight line and power-to-weight ratio closer to race motorcycle than street motorcycle.

Most serious motorcycle collectors concede that the Parilla 250 Wildcat is a cult collector bike. The Parilla 250 Wildcat is a “high-cam,” 250cc dirt bike that came with the road race engine from the relatively expensive Parilla Grand Sport model. The Parilla 250 Wildcat Scrambler was built strictly for the American market.

Moto Parilla was founded in 1946 in Milan, Italy by Giovanni Parrilla. Giovanni created a full-bore, thoroughbred, 250cc overhead-camshaft racer that was soon rivaling Moto Guzi for the checkered flag. In the years to follow, the Parilla engine would shrink to 175cc, yet power was increased to over 20 horsepower. In 1958, Giovanni traveled to America with Parilla factory rider Giuseppe Rottigne to race the 250cc Daytona Grand Prix. Unknown in America, the 175cc Parilla machine won the 250cc Grand Prix by a convincing margin.

Most manufacturers had an anti-dive system and an associated acronym. Honda's NS500R had TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-Dive Control), Kawasaki's GPZ600R used AVDS (Automative Variable Damping System) while Suzuki used NEAS (New Electrically Activated Suspension).

All these systems were based at the bottom of the fork leg and simply tried to reduce the rate at which forks dived under braking. Most systems worked by using brake fluid pressure to force a piston down against adjustable spring pressure and then closing a valve to restrict fork-oil flow, thereby making the compression damping stiffer. There were different ways of making anti-dive work.

When Norton announced in December of 1987 that the company was going to produce 100 motorcycles powered by its air-cooled rotary engine, they were all spoken and paid for up front within a few weeks.

Quite astounding really, except these buyers were mainly savvy collectors, knowing that their purchase would surely increase in value. If the number had been 10,000, which is what the Norton would have had to sell in order to expect reasonable profit, maybe the results would have been different.

The story of the Norton Rotary engine is a pretty messy one, one of misdirection and missed opportunities. It began back in 1969 when BSA/Triumph hired an engineer named David Garside because he had worked on a rotary-engine project with the Rolls Royce company. For those unclear on the concept, rotary engines make power by one or more rotors rotating, as opposed to reciprocating engines which have pistons going up and down. The rotary has the advantage of fewer moving parts than any four-stroke engine, but is way more complicated. It is also thirsty, and offers no compression braking.

As we would say in Thailand or China, 1969 was not a stellar year to have been hired by the British motorcycle industry, which was going into an irrevocable tailspin, but Garside went to work on the idea of a small rotry that would fit into a 250 chassis. In 1973 the remnants of the once-great industry was lumped into one large group, Norton/Villiers/Triumph, headed by an astute businessman, Dennis Poore. He realized that the old pushrod, kickstart engines were fast approaching extinction, but he had no real money for research and development. The best Poore could do under the circumstances was to develop the rubber-mounted Commando, but with this fellow Garside on staff he felt that the opportunity for a completely different engine was in the future.