Rare or ununsual bikes you've ridden or owned?

I got a digital shot of a couple I hadn't before.

My first dirt bike. Triumph Tiger Cub 200. Photo 1969.

My Honda CB160. (Street bike didn't work in the dirt) Photo 1971.

In the early 80s I rode a Cheney Yamaha that my dad's buddy built...Very cool bike. As far as I know, Cheney is still around making custom frame sets.

My 1978 Kawasaki 125A4

Not sure if this is accurate but when I bought it the dealer told me 2000 were made worldwide. I loved this bike. On the gate of all yellow and red bikes I had the only green one. Gold rims and swingarm came stock. 

Paul Edmondsons's CR80 Big Wheel ^ - I think from his first 6 Days, plus a Nicely done up one - with a disc front end :

Does this count as rare bike? 2008 Husaberg FS650E street legal supermoto which I have on my garage 

a stroker racing klx370 ,  big wide power band, but fuck was it a nightmare to start hot, 

I had never really known about Fantic motorcycles until the last few years when MXA did a few articles on them.  I went to Italy recently and while there I rented a Fantic 125 hoping to see if I could notice a difference between it and my 2023 YZ125.  It was a huge let down because the bike had been so poorly maintained.  When riding aggressively it was a gamble when shifting if it would engage the gear or false neutral, then fell off the pipe so bad it felt like it shifted up 2 gears.

In 1977 we had a Harley Davidson SX175.  An absolute dog...  But it wasn't bad to putt around on the street with.

Restored 1974.5 Penton Mint 400 and 1977 Hercules GS250 (7 speed). Sold them both as a package deal in 2012.

1976 Rokon RT-340 II - Purchased Summer 2024

Rokon and 1973 DKW 125 Enduro 

1974 Rokon RT-340 I

1973 DKW Enduro 125. Fun little bike.

I owned a 1982 Husqvarna 420 AXC for a while.(Automatic Cross Country)

Purchased as a project but discovered many aftermarket or missing parts so ended up selling it  because parts were impossible to find.

Probably should have kept it, would have been a cool project.

No pics for proof, but I got to ride a few laps at Rio Bravo in Houston on Steve Stackable's ungodly trick AMP CZ back in the 70's. The pic is Steve on the bike...dang sure not me. 

Raced one of these in CO SRAC back in the day interesting to say the least LOL

Depends on what you would call rare but I rode the pre production factory Husaberg 450 70* angle engine in 2008 before it was released.

My dad owns a Husqvarna TE510 1991 and a Husqvarna WR420 automatic 1982.

Some other bikes that stand out in my head is a 2002 VOR enduro bike that had bolted frame tubes and a forward kickstarter.

Have ridden a bunch of TM’s most of them being 125 and 300 2t’s but also a TM 250f enduro 2004.

A couple of GASGAS 300’s in different year models.

When it comes to regular ”rare” bikes my dad owns a 1996 cr500 that was used in the GP’s by Sarholz Honda (confirmed by the team) and I own a 2002 cr125 that was used by a GP team called care innovation/Donjoy Honda. My bike was built for Eric Sorby before he jumped ship from that team and went to the states to ride for PC.

There's a VOR currently for sale near me...I owned one about 15 years ago but got rid of it pretty quickly!

https://denver.craigslist.org/mpo/d/erie-vertimati-vor-503/7837679990.h…

A sponsor of mine had a nick for small brand bikes so he sold TM and VOR at the moment. It was close that I was gonna race a TM the last year in 85’s and first in 125 but we ended up riding Kawasaki’s instead.

I was a 125 rider at the time when i tested the VOR and I don’t remember much about it more than it’s special soulutions on things.

Damn, if that was near me it would be in my garage! 

In 1979 I had a ride through Yamaha R&D for Distric 37 desert racing. They built me a IT175 with YZ125 transmission, ignition and pipe, YZ250 forks and Shock. It was a unique bike to say the least.