Motocyclopedia is site devoted to organizing and categorizing motorcycle models from around the world.

Friday, May 1, 2009

New standards part IV timelines

When trying to categorize these motorcycles it helps to sort out the various terminology associated with them, if only for my sake.

Standard motorcycles: Feature an upright, "sit up and beg" riding position. High mounted handle bars and foot pegs that are directly below the rider's butt create this position. Standards usually don't have much if any wind protection or luggage capacity. Example - Suzuki Bandit

Streetfighters: The term streetfighter came from the 1980's and 1990's shortly after the introduction to plastic wrapped repli-racer sportbike riders. A rider would crash, and rather than replacing the platic fairing, the owner would customize the bike giving it a tough new look. Example - Aprilia Tuono

Hooligan bikes: Hooligan bikes might as well be interchangeable with streetfighters. A hooligan bike is any motorcycle that can easily perform stunts such as wheelies and stoppies. Example - Triumph Speed Triple

Cafe racers: Back in the 1950's and 1960's pretty much every motorcycle would be considered a standard. In Britain it was popular for motorcyclists to modify their bikes (clip-on handlebars, high mounted footpegs, etc) and race their machines from one cafe to the next. Example - Triumph Thruxton

Naked bikes: A naked bike is any motorcycle without a wind protection of a fairing. Example - Ducati Monster

As you can see some bikes fit in one or more categories, they are not mutually exclusive and they do not necessarily mean the same thing. For example a streetfighter is always naked, but not all naked bikes are streetfighters. The lines and identification for all these bikes is often very blurry, so don't take anything to seriously.

First lets get the "old" standards out of the way.
Then there's the "new" standards that I've been going on about.
Finally the smaller versions of the new standards.

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