At first glance it is hard to believe that the Honda C100 Super Cub would be the greatest bike of all time, because in 1958 almost nobody outside Japan knew the Honda C100 existed. It was simply a domestic market motorcycle. In fact, if you look through the motorcycle press of 1958 and 1959 you will not find a single instance of the name Honda, let alone any mention of a C100 Super Cub.

Instead, in the early years of motorcycling the Brits were the leaders in motorcycle technology, there were features extolling the might of the British industry: 'The new BSA 250 Star' – thoroughly well made, robust and inexpensive.' Motorcycle shows concentrated on Norton, Triumph, Royal Enfield and the rest, as well as a swarm of obscure European manufacturers. Little did they all know a tsunami was on the way.

Honda entered the TT in 1959, winning the Manufacturer's Award after taking sixth, seventh and eleventh. In 1961 Hondas took the top five places in the Lightweight 125 TT, with Mike Hailwood providing their first win.

Valentino Rossi is a true mercurial talent, sponsor magnet, ageless enthusiasm and a million more characteristics have turned the son of a mid-ranking Grand Prix racer into the Greatest of All Time.

Valentino Rossi approaches his racing in true maverick style, upsetting rivals, undermining competitors and delighting fans in equal measure. But when the visor goes down ice develops in his veins and his racecraft comes into force.

The wild and crazy life of two-time world champion motorcycle racer Barry Sheene is being developed into a feature-length film by a joint British-Australian film production. Simply titled Sheene, it should be funny, dramatic and exciting film depicting the funny, dramatic and exciting life of the racer.

So far only a teaser video has been released on Youtube. Filming has not yet started, there is no timeline for the film's release and no announcement has been made about who will play the lead character.

Sheene is based on his biography Barry: The Story of Motorcycling Legend Barry Sheene, written by his teammate Steve Parrish and MotoGP commentator Nick Harris. IO Films Australia and Deep Spring Pictures UK are still developing the film with a script from Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement who previously scripted the Commitments, The Bank Job, Flushed Away and Across the Universe as well as TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Lovejoy.

Honda is well known of experimenting with 6-cylinder motorcycles, and even though the mighty Honda CBX1000 is probably the first Honda that comes to mind, be prepared to be amazed by the 250cc Honda RC166 racer. Having won the Grand-Prix championships in 1966 and 1967 with Mike Hailwood in the saddle, the Honda RC166 is truly an impressive machine.

There is so much more to the Honda RC166 than meets the eye, and despite being what is now called a small-displacement machine, the Honda RC166 is a marvel of engineering. Packing enough engine combustion size for that era to make it a wild beast, the engine of this jewel revved close to 20,000 rpm, a feature that is still hard to match nowadays.

If you think that the modern-day motorcycles sound aggressive when revved hard, take your time to listen to the amazing sound of this glorious motorcycle. The Honda RC166 had a seven-speed gearbox, and could easily go faster than 240km/h

The BMW R90S, launched in early 1973, changed the general perception of the era that BMW's were unexciting. The first production motorcycle to feature a factory-fitted fairing as standard equipment to make it stand out. Early examples cam in smoke black, and for '76 there was the Daytona Orange. The BMW R90S Daytona Orange even came with hand-painted pinstriping.

The BMW R90S engine was based on the R90/6 touring model, now with a five-speed gearbox. The BMW R90S had higher compression pistons and 38mm Dell'Orto carburetors to crank out its, for that time amazing 67 horsepower.

Also setting the BMW R90S apart were the twin 260mm disc brakes, even if the floating single-piston brake calipers lacked ultimate power.

Leopoldo Tartarini, 83, designer of the most iconic Ducati's ever made, including the 1971 750 Sport, the green-frame 750SS street version of Paul Smart's 1972 Imolo 200-winning factory racer, the 350cc and 500cc parallel twins (which were built in his Italjet factory) and the 900cc Darmah V-twins, passed away 11 September, 2015, at his home outside Bologna, Italy.

Tartarini's motorcycle career began at the age of 20 in 1952, when he won the sidecar class in the grueling 18-hour, single-stage Milano-Taranto open-roads marathon riding a BSA 650 Golden Flash outfit he designed and built himself. After a test a Monza, Count Domenico Agusta offered him a place in his MV Agusta factory race team for the 1954 GP season – an honor Tartarini was obliged to refuse after his mother asked him to stay home and manage the family motorcycle dealership in Bologna.

In 1955, Tartarini signed to race with Bologna-based Ducati as a works rider and development engineer working alongside another new arrival, the legendary chief designer, Ing. Fabio Taglioni. A severe injury in 1956 brought Tartarini's racing career to a premature halt, so in 1957 he embarked upon a 13-month long, 59,545 kilometer round-the-world trip publicity stunt with Ducati export sales manager, Giorgio Monetti, riding two 175cc Ducati singles.

Motorcycle enthusiasts are not simple minded one point focused, We're very aware of what's going on in the motorcycle culture at large because any one of us is either in the new wave of motorcycle cool or isn't. This either matters to a person or it doesn't, but I'd say even our apathy is strategic. For the past few years, the Cafe Racer saw a resurgence in the motorcycle zeitgeist. That tide has gone out at this point, but what I think is interesting is not wat's rolling in to replace it (the Scrambler return), but rather what's left behind.

I should clarify that when I say 'Cafe Racer,' I'm using that term as liberally as everyone else does. That is, what used to be fairly narrow type of motorcycle defined by specific criteria and heritage has become an appropriated shorthand for a much wider swath of custom motorcycles, both good and bad, vintage and modern. Ironically, it's only the traditional Cafe Racers that eem to be waning, in what custom builders are putting together and what people are sharing on Instagram and Facebook.

I'm seeing a lot less checkerboard these days, even if the term Cafe Racer endures. The OEMs are like our parents. As soon as they decide something trendy is safe enough to embrace for the mainstream customer, it's probably over. Yesterday's devil music will play softly in the elevators of tomorrow.

Today the Honda iconic 'Honda Gold Wing' brand celebrates its 40th anniversary. What was launched as a 1000cc motorcycle back in 1975 has turned into an iconic top of the line touring motorcycle now-a-day.

The Honda Gold Wing has over the years introduced many firsts in the motorcycling world, including an electric reverse and not so long ago the first commercial available airbag system for motorcycles.

From the flat-four engine that powered the Honda Gold Wing GL1000 to the current six-cylinder GL1800A, it has grown and evolved in every sense you can imagine.

Indian Motorcycle, with the financial and full knowledge support from Polaris, the Indian Motorcycle engineering team has designed and built a tree new motorcycles in just a few days short of 26 months, sharing a brand spanking new 1811cc V-twin engine, coincidentally the same displacement as the most expensive Harley-Davidson. And also, as you might expect, they made the new range of Indian Motorcycles complementary to rather than competitive with the existing Victory Motorcycle range, which is also owned by Polaris..

The main difference between the Victory Motorcycle and Indian Motorcycle range is that the Victory motorcycles are designed more as performance-oriented cruisers, while Indian motorcycles are the luxury long-distance offerings, though the two actually do crossover at the top end of each range on price and purpose.

So on the face of it, it was not a bad idea for Polaris to purchase Indian Motorcycle. Polaris already has expertise in designing a line of motorcycles from scratch, so doing the same thing again, albeit with a different take, should have been a relative easy job. And the fact it only took a bit over two years suggest as much...

This year is an anniversary year for Honda, Soichiro's crew are celebrating the 55th year of producing the venerable Honda Cub step-thru with a special limited-edition motorcycle.

Since its launch in 1958, Honda has built more than 85 million Super Cub C100s and the firm is producing 1500 Anniversary Little Cubs (the 50cc version of the Super Cub) to celebrate this achievement. This “sadly” Japanese-market-only special edition comes in Black or Fighting Red, with red rims, black hubs, chrome side panels and commemorative decals.

One has to ask what lies behind the little Honda's unprecedented longevity. European rivals such as the Bantam aren't in the same league. Perhaps the answer lies in Zen meditation, Soichiro Honda, the Cub's designer, was in the habit of meditating at Buddhist shrines to clear his mind and get inspired by ancient ideals. By contrast, the guys at BSA, which was at the time one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers, pondering how to turn their war-booty two-stroke German engine design into a doughty utility machine, used nothing more mind-expanding than strong char and roll-ups.