Motorcycle Specs: 10 Best Looking Naked Bikes

Sunday, May 5, 2013

10 Best Looking Naked Bikes

Bikes.. the way they are meant to be, the way they were created... NAKED!

Nothing, I mean nothing comes close to matching a sixties bike than the Royal Enfield Classic 500. Someone wrote if you close your eyes and visualize a sixties British bike, this is the thing. All metal, air cooled, big massive single, spoke wheels, single round headlamp with parking lights, a single speedometer , single me-only seat and now the new bike comes with adequate power at 27 bhp to pull you to a top whack of 140 kmph. Thats peanuts by todays standards, but where else would you get the classic thump and mainly the character of that old British bikes more than this beautifully crafted machine? With the right amount of modern amneties, like EFI, gas shock absorbers, this is not as close but, this is THE sixties British bike. So in case if you have always thought how life would have been during the swinging sixties, wind beating you at the chest, care free and all, now you can get some taste of it, thanks to this big single.

Lots of fans would probably kill me for placing the hallowed MV AGUSTA Brutale at #9 position, but the thing is that when we talk about Naked bikes, usually, we think about metal bikes typically reminding bikes of 80s styling. The Brutale is naked, but not actually metal. No doubt, this is one of the finest looking bike for any generation and any category, but sometimes the bike looks too edgy and of course it still looks very very good, just that to repeat myself, it is not all metal. With the finest carbon, aluminum, titanium and other metals used, Tamburini has created a visual delight. Look at any part of it, from the alloy wheels to the beautiful exhaust, every indivisual part is a treat and every part of the bike compliments each other resulting in a product that is so stunning to look at that it can just be used as a piece of decoration for any exhibition. Performance wise, it can stand up to any competition and in total this is purely and completely an Italian motorcycle. Period.

Well, this is the bike that has redefined Harley Davidson’s original bad boy image with uber coolness, a Harley Davidson that is stunning to look at and can perform. Yes, HDs have always looked fantastic; it was the performance that not too many people wanted to talk about. Harley stood more for leisurely biking with a image of a guy whose attitude says that he couldn’t care less what is happening in and around the world. Then came the Harley Davidson V Rod, the kind of bike which seems to be driven by clean shaven trimmed hair and nails senior executives wearing Armanis and commuting by S Class for office in the day time and after office hours slips and dons a leather jacket and whizzes off in his bad ass 2 wheeler. No more chrome slug, no more extra wide handlebars, things you associate with HD and no more sluggish and slow. Its performance can match and better many Japanese power cruisers. But that is not it. Just look at it, what a stunner. And if the V-Rod was not just enough good looking, they had to bring out the VRSC Night Rod Special. If anyone in the world had an excuse for not buying a HD for its performance, s/he has just run out of the last excuse.

Now this is one bloke with oodles of muscles all around, very well built and so proportionately shaped. The one time racing specialists may not be making an impact in the race circuits, but being a true blue Italian, they are still churning out motorcycles which will take your breath away. Each of the present products looks delicious, but the Moto Guzzi Grisvo SE is really a step ahead especially in the stunning green colour of the SE edition. No doubt the V7 looks classy, but in front of the Grisvo, it looks anemic. And comparatively, it is for the Griso has a heart of 1151cc with 110 bhp on tap and with that neat looking fenders, the twin exhausts, the sculpted tank, those naked round headlamp and dials , all mix up to create a truly lust worthy Italian beauty. This street bike is actually an all-rounder in disguise, a street bike with touring capabilities. Surely many fans would not buy the Grisvo for its performance for at that price, you will get many a bikes with better performance, but those who get into the saddle of the Grisvo knows that this is a thorough bred Italian. Look at the finish, look at the seat, the switches and the entire engine seems to be made in unison with absolutely nothing sticking out or out of place. This is the hallmark of Italian companies and the Grisvo is right there taking charge of this brigade.

The Triumph Thruxton is one of those bikes, which really carries forward the 60s into the 21^st century. Very typical Café Racer styling and yes, one of those rare models which you can buy over the counter as a Café Racer with no modifications needed at all. A very basic bike, actually that is what a ‘real’ Café Racer should be, an air cooled twin engine displacing 900cc with a fuel injected engine. Although it has been made into a Café Racer mode, Triumph made it clear that it will stick to the original 60s concept of café racers and although that means many of today’s modern street bikes might beat the Thruxton in terms of performance, the Thruxton can beat all of them with its sheer perfectly proportioned evocative silhouette. It is sizzling hot with the way the dome shaped rear is perfected, the round head lamps and those mirrors dangling by the handles. The bike looks very symmetrical aided by the beautifully slight upswept exhaust, perfectly placed with one on each side. The engine styling, those back shock absorbers, everything is very very ‘60s’. If it comes to showing off in the busy streets of a uptown bazaar, this bike is just perfect.

This is the Ducati GT 1000 from the Sport Classic range. Surprisingly, the model has been closed for the 2012 models. Yes, Ducati is synonymous with elegant styling, unmatched by any brand now or ever and to choose just one model is a crime, but to be fair to motorcycles world over, I had to choose one Ducati and you can very well guess, how hard it can be, especially since the last new model launch of Ducati, the Diavel, has been bestowed with honours after honours for its look itself, let alone performance and to choose. If it is one bike which every motorcycling fan will like to add to his garage, it has to be the GT 1000. After all, it is firstly a Ducati, but the better part is that it is unlike other naked Ducatis, you do see the tubular trellis frame, but like other Ducatis, it doesn’t immediately evoke the ‘Wow! Ducati!’ effect, but rather, a ‘OMG! A DUC from the 70s” and then your heart starts palpating and before you know, you start drooling. The model you see here is the Biposto, that came out during the mid-2000s and there was also a Paul Smart L.E model in 2006. Do not get fooled by its looks thinking it is as a tribute to the 70s with its air cooled engine and all, because although it is a tribute, that is only superficial, beneath those awesome good looks is a fire breathing Marelli electronic fuel injected, 92 bhp producing engine aided by a 6 speed transmission and as you can see Ducati still gave it an air cooled engine keeping the ‘spirits’ of the gone era.

Without any shadow of doubt, the Honda CB1100 is one of the most beautiful bikes that have been launched in recent times. Launched? Well, at least in Japan and although we have been hearing it will be worldwide launch, we are still waiting for its launch anywhere outside Japan. But, nevertheless, this is one piece of machinery that is probably ‘truest’ to its predecessor, the famous lineage of Honda CB series from the 60s to 80s and still continuing in some modified form. There has been sublime changes from the 80s model especially at the belly (side panels) and thereafter, but the engine is just the same… look wise. If you are a sucker for UJMs of the 80s, this bike is Godsend. And to add to it, the CB1000F (there is a CB1000R model with fairings and all) has a variant, a Café racer version, with a bikini fairing and a small rear seat. The bike with the inline 4 air cooled engine and the double cradle frame will definitely remind you of your first or second bike when you were in your teens and the bike you grew up with. The body lines and simple but very definite, the angles are subtle but delicate and all ends up in a very beautifully made very proportionate motorcycle which actually looks better than its predecessor.

If it was not for the fact that this bike would probably never see production stage, I would have gladly put it in the numero uno position. This Vincent Black Shadow contains the most legendary name in the world of motorcycle and although this is not the original product, Bernand Li has made something which cuts across any time period. You can place this bike in any era and this will never look outdated. Although the legendary engine is missing, doing duty here is another legendary motorcycle, the Honda RC51. And maybe we talk about it in a hush manner, but we do need to admit that the Honda RC51 engine is better than the Vincent original. Yes, the originality is not there, but the product outcome is nonetheless a continuation of the original brand. Legendary British brand, revered Japanese engine and what a looker. From the projector headlamps to the tail light, Bernand Li has really recreated magic. But alas, due to numerous patent laws and the untimely death of Mr. Li last year, only time will tell if this bike would ever see production stage. Just imagine, Mr. Li had even priced it as $25,000 onwards, at such a price, getting a factory produced Vincent would have been a dream, unfortunately, a dream is just what remains as of now.

If it was not for the high price tag of $60,000 and limited edition, the Confederate B120 Wraith would have probably made it as the top bike in this list. Like many fans all over the world, this bike for me is an object of desire and a thing I lust for knowing very well that I can never get my hands on this one. Breaking every possible styling rule that exist, breaking every notion that a designer is supposed to follow, Matt Chambers created something that needs to be kept in a pedestal covered with bullet proof glasses and adored for a life time. This futuristic looking bike is completely hand made and just around 100 were made and the bike usually adorns the garage of celebrities and other big wigs which mean it probably spends more time as a showcase item but this bike is all about the show and the go. The bike can stand along the biggest and baddest of them all and can also do circles around many of them, it is that good! But of course, that is not the reason why it is in this list, this visual delight has so much artistic brilliance that everytime you see the bike (or rather its picture) you will find something very interesting. For instance, just note the pedals and you will know what I mean. For a most ‘lusty’ look, just search for Wraith in the blog.

Well, the most gorgeous bike today on planet earth is most definitely the Norton Commando. It is neither Japanese, nor Italian, nor German, it comes from good’ol England, is overpriced, is not the most technology savvy which by the way makes it even more overpriced, and when you look at it in the flesh, every logic just vaporizes, as if it never existed, you get smitten by it just as we as kids got smitten by Brook Shield in the 80s and Gabriela Sabatini in the 90s. When you see it in the pictures, a most definite second look with a willy smile on your face thinking, man, I got to see this bike… and then you look at a video of the bike running and then the sound… and then your evil inner twin rises to tell you that all those savings and bank accounts, it is time to use them, after all what good use is money if it cannot buy you happiness? Then you land up at a showroom and before you come to terms to realize that your savings probably are not enough to buy this machine, your evil twin and even the one dressed in white with a halo over the head will tell you the nearest and most easily accessible (read easy to rob) bank. When the Commando was launched in 1983 with a 750cc air cooled engine, it was ‘the’ bike with an attitude. Not much has changed in the last 2 decades. If you have $21,000, I believe you will somehow fancy this bike to the ultra-modern Ducatis, MVs and Japanese. That is what beauty can do to a human being. Like I said, sometimes there is just no logic.