Rare or ununsual bikes you've ridden or owned?

I guess this qualifies given some of the other bikes in this thread.  (Always kicks me in the balls to see Joe's old posts).

Had a 79. Added safety seat and tank. Jumped better farther smoother than the 92 ktm 300 my dad rode. He wasn't too stoked about that ktm after that....

Back in "77 I was stationed with a guy that insisted I give his "73 Yamaha SC500 a try.  I gave it 2...the first and last.  Super Hunky reviewed it and said the only thing it did right was not leak around the gas cap.  He was right.

I rode a Cagiva 125 before the move to the '87 CR125

I bought a Honda CBX750F from a Air Force pilot. He bought it in Germany and brought it back stateside. I heard there were only about 5-7 in the USA.

The Honda shop I worked at brought in a Honda NSR400 to sell. I was riding RZ350's at the time so they wanted my opinion on it. I found it heavy and underpowered compared to my Yamaha's.

Lastly, the infamous Muzzy Raptor 850! Another Air Force pilot bought it and had it delivered to my shop. We set it up and I got to take it for it's shake down run. There are definitely faster and more powerful bikes available these days but this bike ripped!  It was scary fast!

I've had the chance to ride Honda RC30's and RC45's as well but these 4 are the ones that stand out the most.

My first ever bike if you don’t count a pull start small tired mini.  MR50 much more  rare than a Z50 but much faster and cooler. 

Yeah pretty rare when I break it out for a pitbike every now and then I get all kinds of guys after it.  This one when I got my hands on it I am pretty sure it still has the stock tires on it.  Still needs a few things but it's pretty sweet I'll put a pic on later.

81 Maico 490 I am just finishing building 

77 KTM 250

72 CZ 360 

My first bike. I loved that thing.

Every time I see a 78-80 CR for sale, my first thought still is to ask him if it’s a decent buy or not…..

My dad has a YamaTaco - I think it’s a YZ360 motor in a Pursang frame. 

1985 CR80R2 big wheel (21"-18")

I remember those and the similar RM80. They always looked like the forks and swingarm were too spindly for the wheels.

I took my buddy's Aprilia 450 for a spin. Nice looking bike, and the twin engine had a cool, unique sound. Definitely not the fastest 450 you'd ever ride. 

I rode a 250 Praga at the MTRA national dual sport in Missouri. 

Read this article about them. To say they were rare is an understatement. 

https://dirtrider.net/forums3/threads/praga.28428/?amp=1

Not too many of these bikes in America...

Kramer shocks

Mine too. 1975 kawasaki kd100m. Bulletproof. Oil injection two stroke. Road mine for three years, than onto first Mx bike (Suzuki rm80). Good times. However my most different Mx bike, would be 95 husaberg fc650 (torque monster), difficult to start. Boy did Husaberg, joel Smets bike have gobs of power. Scary fast. Visited the Husaberg factory in Sweden in 95. Cool little factory with about 25 people working there. 

1973 Montesa 250

1977 Ossa GPIII

1966 Greeves Challenger 

1955 Ariel Red Hunter Scrambler 

 Not really rare but kind of a funny coincidental kind of thing related to a Hodaka Wombat.  The first bike I had was a Wombat that I bought with paper route money when I was 15.  Shortly after buying it,  got my learner's permit which stipulated NO riding after dark , NO riding on highways and NO passengers. The Delta MX track in Delta Ohio was having their TransAm race in the summer of 74 and I HAD to go, but couldn't wrangle up anyone to drive me there (only about 50 miles away) .  So, me and a buddy used the wombat to get there and had a great time and by the time we were headed back it was starting to get dark. It was a pretty buzzy ride doing 2 up on a 2 stroker and trying to go 55ish and adding the "after dark" part made it more memorable, but also meant I broke ALL 3 rules related to my learner's permit ... oh well, didn't get busted for it.  Several years later I joined the Air Force and needed to sell the Wombat and let it go for a whopping $150.00 , but it did have a few broken spokes .  

40 years later, I was browsing thru Craigslist and saw an add for the same year Wombat as mine.  The ad mentioned that it did NOT have a title and the transmission didn't work right as it wasn't shifting right.  I knew that I could easily get a new title and based on my experience as a teen with my first Wombat, I knew the transmission was fine but needed to have the side cast shift mechanism adjusted. Went to look at the bike and it was in fantastic shape!  With the owner thinking it had a bad tranny , I got if $450.00 , brought it home, adjusted the side case shift linkage (like I had done many times as a kid) and it ran and shifted great.  The title was easy to get and was about $40 to get it retitled. 

Bike isn't worth a lot to anyone else so I think the bike will be with me until I can't ride anymore or look at it in the garage anymore.   

I have a friend here in Colorado who still has his Praga that he bought new...He told me last week that there is a collector wanting to buy it from him.  Apparently the collector bought out the remaining bikes and parts that were located in Florida somewhat recently.

There's at least one in the US (imported into Tampa, FL area) and I almost had another 20 years ago until UPS started playing games and shipped it back to sender in Italy after I requested a hearing on their denial for entry (by law they were required to honor my hearing request but they summarily shipped it back). Not that I'm still bitter about it (sarcasm)...

It used to be easy to get stuff into the US from Europe 25 years ago.  Just have it shipped in boxes via Mail Boxes Etc. directly to home. I got a few bikes that way!

Yep, believe that mag review on the SC500 also had a comment on the engine performance that was something like "all torque and no action" which seemed hard to believe for a 500.  That review was even more critical/negative than TM400 tests I'd seen back in the day. 

That’s awesome man. And “bulletproof” is a great word to describe that Kawasaki. So many good times on that bike. I think that was the beginning of me taking really good care of my things. I washed that bike according to the manual. That meant, putting  bags over the levers and grips with twist ties, and taping the bottom of the air box so water wouldn’t splash up in there. Complete nerd. One time, I forgot to take the fucking tape off the airbox and couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t  start. My dad brought it into the dealership and the manager pulled me aside and said I think I know what you did and I won’t tell your dad.  LOL

That Husaberg looks bad ass though!

I never knew they made these.

May have already posted this before but a  414 Montessa and a 1980 125CR Husqvarna. That Husky took lots of work to get decent HP out of it including a Mikuni carb and a PCP pipe later to be known as Pro Circuit Products. MXA did a build on that 125 with Mitch’s help.

Wauw the TM awakes memories. I had a 1992 Pink TM 125 with 85 motor. Then I had an 2003 125 TM. Amazing bikes

Awesome story!! Love it and I can totally relate to it!

Took my buddy's 1971 Ossa Stiletto 250 for a spin at the track once. False neutrals just about everywhere on that gearbox if you didn't clutch it just right. Had a crap ton of torque, but absolutely no top end speed. Also didn't have a killswitch to shut it off, it had a de-comp lever that would vent the cylinder at the top to shut it off. Also took his 1960's Ducati scrambler ice racer for a spin on the lake.