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Edited Date/Time
2/22/2016 8:41am
And I, of course, realize the FE's have a lot of goodies for the extra dough whereas the RC RM250/RMZ450 were basically normal Zooks with RC's graphics and the yellow rims. But curious if, over the years, any of the bike manufacturers have released factory "replicas" to the public.
Unsold 1994 model RMs were released in 1995 with an Albertyn replica graphics kit.
Standard bikes, with talon wheels, Yoshimura pipes and replica graphics.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Also in 1974 the first YZ 250 was released. It was based on the extensively modified DT1 Don Jones and team Yamaha had using for the previous 2 years.
And the same year, Husqvarna released the 250 Mag. The "Mag" referred to the engine with smaller, lighter, magnesium cases. I don't remember it being advertised as a "works replica", it was known or thought that "this is a team" bike/engine.
Half way through 1974, Maico brought out the 74 1/2 Adolf Weil replica. It had a works aluminum tank. Moved up shocks and other changes to be very close to what factory riders had recently been riding. Change was happening so rapidly in '74 that week to week teams and riders showed up with completely different bikes.
In 1976 Suzuki produced the first RM 370 and RM 250. They looked exactly like what Roger and crew were racing at the elite levels. The suspension was amazing for 1976. The alloy tank was a thing of beauty.
In 1978 Honda released the CR 250 Elsinore or Red Rocket. The bike was identical in appearance to what a large Team Honda was riding. Like the '76 RM the production version was not a full works bike. I'm sure mainly for mass production and cost reasons. Still the red rocket was an amazing motorcycle. A massive improvement for Honda who had, by all appearances lost interest building a production dirt bike.
Just to add confusion to the "works" label, in 1978 Bob Hannah took a production YZ 250 off the showroom floor, raced and won a bunch of supercrosses then gave it away in a drawing. There was a magazine article written somewhere about that bike. From what I remember it was truly stock and unmodified. In this case is production "works"? Or is" works" production?
2010 Musquin Edition:
2010 Nagl Edition:
2012 Roczen Edition:
2012 Cairoli Edition:
Pretty sure most of the KTMs was Europe only....
in 2007 KTM made of these few Nick Wey replicas, these things were sick,they had full motors, hinson clutch, cranks, gear box, ported head, high comp piston, cams, SXS fork and shock, SXS brakes, wheels, CDI box, cases, they were basically actual factory bikes. They were awesome. The next year I think (08) KTM made an SXS125, they only made like a dozen of those because thats how many factory motors they had left. We had one customer lucky enough to get the bike, same deal, a full factory 125 motor, suspension, pipe and silencer, that thing was unreal.
Then Honda dropped these production baby's in the store in 78.
You see this on the road racer side where they release homologation specials.
Pit Row
Does anyone have any idea what I'm remembering?
"Supercross wonders '78 Yamaha YZ250/400Yamaha was in the thick of motocross every year after the introduction of the YZ models, but the company truly arrived in 1978. All of the '78 YZs were strong and versatile performers. The large single shock under the fuel tank was still an advantage the other brands couldn't match. In '78, Yamaha finally got the weight of the complex system under control with an all-new 250 engine and aluminum swingarms. Yamaha riders Broc Glover, Bob Hannah and Rick Burgett won all three outdoor titles on their works bikes, but Hannah won the supercross crown, often aboard totally stock production YZs. The bikes were so stock that Yamaha raffled off the winning bike to a lucky fan in the stands at each supercross. It was a public relations dream that paid off big."
Bultaco the Maico you describe were the GP series. I got mine before Labor Day weekend out of the first shipment that Maico East received.
The Adolph Weil AKA AW Maico didn't hit until 76 and I had a 76 AW400. Of the three Maicos I owned it was actually my least favorite.
I'm waiting for someone to mention the Bengt Aberg replica and name the company who made them.
Post a reply to: So other than KTM FE's & RC Suzukis, have there been any other "replica" bikes sold by the manufacturers?