Rare or ununsual bikes you've ridden or owned?

I raced an ATK 360 at a few CMC Trans Cal races in 1987. Bike almost killed me at Carlsbad. Crashed at the bottom of the big down hill. When I got up I could not find the bike. It went over the fence and into the ravine at the bottom. Good times. 

But it was fun to ride as it was so light feeling compared to my 1987 CR500. 

I owned a '74 XR75, which would be rare today, but back in 1981 it was pretty common. I have ridden some weird bikes, though. 

My friend had an '84 Cagiva 250 that I rode. I think that bike had a left-side kickstarter, if I remember correctly. What I definitely do remember is that the kickstarter had "Cagiva" embossed on it, just like every other part on the whole motorcycle. I guess they wanted you to know where those parts came from! 

My other friend had a Suzuki RV90 - it was a fat-tired trailbike like a Honda FatCat or Yamaha BW200, only from the '70s. (Suzuki was first to the fat tire game??) That thing was a blast to ride! You could do feet-up brakeslides, come to a complete stop, and then count to ten before putting your foot down! Haha. 

2010 fe390 husaberg. Rode it about 200 yards, loaded it right back into truck. Big old nope for me lol. 

Owned 71 sl70 in blue. Never saw another like it. Ridden late 90s atk 360?  I forget it was 20 years ago. It had the talon hubs ohlins suspension all the trick parts. Left side kicker and was a pos. 

My 2003 racebike, Benelli 900 triple, radiator under the seat.

I have a lot of Can-Ams and SWMs as my first "real" bike was a 1979 C-A 175. I also have some Italian Puchs with Rotax motors. I would be really interested in a picture of the 250 SWM with the Fox Factory Forx as I am getting ready to start on my '82 250 and an extra set of Fox forks that would match well with the Fox piggyback shocks I have set aside for that bike.

I've had and still have some really cool old stuff.  Here's a 1980 TGM 125 that I plan to swap in a 250 motor I was able to source.  

This is a 1977 250 Can Am desert racer currently setup as a 250 MX-3.  It's an MX-3 250 with a 6 speed gearbox and a black Qualifier gas tank for extra range. I have to keep that tank in storage as they are very rare and prone to breaking easily. The pictured tank is a painted MX-2 tank as the black tanks are super brittle. I found it in a junk yard in Billings, MT over 20 years ago with the original tank.

Very cool thread from the past. Love the 03 TM 300! Also saw a Yamaha BW80 on the first page, my first bike also. Here's my rare bikes:

06 KTM 625 SMC. Last year of the LC4 motor. Fun bike, lots of looks, stares, comments.

My 2000 TM 250 (pictured) and 02 TM 250 work in progress. Would love to try a newer TM 2 stroke.

I had an 82 YZ250 back then.  It was a dang good scooter.  Sold it due to back issues.  That’s when I quit riding until I started back in 2019.  I fought back issues for years. Until I got to the right doctor and had surgery in 1997.  Took years for my back to get better.  

I look every now and then hoping to find a good 82 that’s not ragged out.  I think 83 they went to to goofy radiator.

I had to go back and edit my response.  Mine may not have been an 82.  Cause after thinking, my YZ back then had a Power Valve and pretty sure all the power valve bikes had radiators, 82 was first year for PV.  Been too many years I can’t remember,  heck mine could have been an 84 cause I don’t recall a big goofy radiator like 83 has.   I recall one year back then a big radiator shroud.

I rode a Cagiva 250??? Was really a 190. Not to be confused with the very nice 125 or 500 they made. 

We had one of these when I was around 6 years old. It was the first dirt bike I can remember owning: ‘72 Harley Davidson 90:

I just had regular ones after that.

Friend of mine had one in Jr High. 

Have a 74 MR50 in real good shape Dad bought it a few years ago for $600 him and Dad both didn't really know what it was.  Then I got ahold of it to go through it started researching it. Now he will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.

I owned a Fantic trials bike and a 1976 Penton MC5 250. I still own the Penton.

73 Monark. I think only 2200 were imported to the U.S.

I still have one and it’s my favorite of all my four stroke Bergs. Will never sell my 390!

I raced a KTM300mx back in the mid-late 80s. Very hard to even find details of that model now, and I have no idea how it ended up in Australia. I believe it was a Euro model? 
I really need to go digging to find photos of that super fast heap of shit.

78 Husky 125CR. Fairly rare in that not a lot were sold. More expensive, heavier and slower (in most conditions) than the Japanese 125's, Sublime handling for the times though and on a rough euro style track more competitive than given credit for. I just finished a light mechanical resto on this one and will do a few vintage races on it this year

 I raced some Golden States at the end of 87 and I remember Mike Healey getting the most massive holeshots on those things. 

Since Johnny Oz brought roadrace bikes into the conversation, I remember I rode a pre-release 2017 GSX-R1000 back when I worked for Suzuki. It was one of a fleet of magazine bikes that needed break-ins, so the fleet custodian asked me to take one home for the evening. (Sure, no problem!) Not rare now, but at the time not even the dealers had one yet. 

my bro and i. 73 montesa 25 and me on a 74 ty 80.

95 Husaberg FC501

Not the best bike for a 14year old. Remember it having a super heavy feeling front end, not that I was setting sag or even tire pressure at the time. Gearbox was notchy too I remember. The left side kickstarter wasn't fun. It was super trick though...

I'd love a yz100.

I owned this Johnny O’ Mugen for a number of years !

I own this Honda 410 AJS.

Nice!  I have a friend who puts Honda motors in other brand frames...Here's his latest: Honda 200 in a 1979 KX 125 frame.  The KX frame was leftover from a 79 KX restoration.

That Hercules is very very cool.