On this page, you'll find a few of my all-time favourite motorcycles. Some are still running today in very limited numbers, others are almost rare enough not to exist; still others are design-studio dreams which didn't quite make it off the drawing board.

All have one thing in common: they're inspirational.
- Nick

The Norton Nemesis

A show of hands, please; who remembers the blaze of publicity surrounding the Nemesis?...

A pity, because on paper, it would have been the most hair-raising motorcycle ever produced, and might well have raised the bar regarding the way current Hypersports bikes are built. Designed in 1999, it's performance figures have not yet been surpassed in 2006. Honda Super Blackbird, Suzuki Hayabusa, Kawasaki ZX-14? All are put to shame by this monster. The only production combustion-engined vehicles to rival it's projected acceleration and speed are the McLaren F1 supercar of 1994 (627 BHP and 365 Km/h) and the recently-launched Bugatti Veyron (1 000 BHP and 400 Km/h.)

After the English Norton company laid down tools in 1970, the company - famous for such all-time classics as the 850 Commando twin - disappointed it's supporters by never producing another motorcycle. In the late 1990s, the rights to the Norton name were bought by an American consortium which planned to capitalize on the name's provenance.

A range of motorcycles covering most roles and capacities was planned. The Nemesis was to have topped the range, rendering every other litre-plus sports bike on the market obsolete almost overnight.

This view of the 209 kW 'B' version of the engine clearly shows the provision for three spark plugs per cylinder.

The Nemesis was to have been powered by a 16-inch wide 1 500 cm3 transverse-mounted V8, producing 175 kW (235 BHP.) With an all-up mass of 202 Kg and a modest frontal area, this would have propelled the bike from 0-100 Km/h in 2.5 seconds or less, going on to a projected top speed of 350 Km/h in road trim.

The bike was designed from the beginning with an attitude that cost was no object. Features included a high-silicon cast aluminium-alloy frame, carbon-composite bodywork, extensive use of magnesium alloy and massive rim-mounted front brakes, with four-piston calipers as integral parts of the flat-plane front forks.

The revived Norton company planned the bike's life cycle well. Successive evolutions of the Nemesis would have included push-button gearshifting, an instrument-panel mounted rear-view monitor with integral camera replacing rear-view mirrors, and an electronically-controlled reactive suspension system similar to that found in contemporary Formula 1 cars.

Sensing that other manufacturers would follow their lead and attempt to produce motorcycles capable of beating the Nemesis, a 209 kW (280 BHP) evolutionary version of the engine was designed for future versions of the bike. To make the engine run reliably at the terrific rotational speeds and compression ratio it was to have featured, the engine would have incorporated no fewer than three spark plugs per cylinder. Information leaked from Norton at the time credited this version of the Nemesis with similar 0-100 Km/h acceleration as version 'A' (due to the abundance of power, rear-wheel traction would have become the major problem preventing a faster time), but with top speed increased to around the 380 Km/h mark in road trim.

As a person who's had one of these firmly at the top of his wish list from day one, I'd have had no complaints... except that in styling terms. it looks like an almost-exact copy of the Yamaha Thunderace. With the engine being so narrow, they had the opportunity to create a mean-looking bike that was slim at the same time. So why not do it?...

If Norton had had the chance to bring the Nemesis to market, pricing would have been around the £32 000 mark (If that figure means nothing to you, remember that in 1999, a 173 BHP, 310 Km/h Suzuki Hayabusa cost £8 000.) However, due to financial mismanagement and other contributing factors, the revived Norton company became insolvent, and the Nemesis never got beyond prototype stage.

(...if it had been produced, maybe it would have been appropriate for Norton to rename it the 'Dodo' - because whoever had tried to max this out on public roads would shortly have become extinct...)

The Münch Mammut 2000

Not to be outdone in the mine-is-faster-than-yours stakes, the revived German Münch Motorcycle company, headed by Friedl Münch (famous from his company's inception in 1966 for it's fast, heavy and hyper-costly 1200TTS) launched the limited-edition (only 250 examples were built) Mammut 2000 in 2001.

To each his own with regard to the styling taste, but one thing's for sure: with only a streetfighter-type nose fairing, the rider would have the Devil's own job staying on the bike at the speeds it was capable of.

Powered by a 1 998 cm3 in-line four equipped with Cosworth-designed cylinder head and Schwitzer turbocharger, pumping out 260 BHP @ 5 650 r/min and 218 ft-ibs, the Münch Mammut 2000 (pronounced Moonk Mamoot - German for 'Mammoth') was credited with a 0-100 Km/h figure of about 2,3 seconds and a top speed of around 350 Km/h. All bodywork was carbon-fibre; Öhlins suspension was standard fitment front and rear. Stopping power was also impressive, assisted by twin Beringer eight-piston front brake calipers. The factory took the innovative approach of making this the first production vehicle ever to be capable of interfacing with a personal computer, so that factory engineers could perform fault diagnosis and trouble-shooting of the bike over the internet.

The 1966 1200TTS - the Mammut 2000's spiritual predecessor.
Only built to special order, it came at a time when overhead cam, in-line four-
cylinder engined bikes like the Honda CB750 were beginning to take - and keep -
the upper hand over British overhead valve parallel twins and triples. It was the
fastest, most expensive and most technically-advanced motorcycle of it's day.

Those examples still in existence today (a number have been written off in spectacular accidents) are cherished by their owners; all of whom have realised that in performance terms, no production machine - absolutely nothing - has been produced before or since that can touch it (with the possible exception of single-seat aircraft.) The first bikes to be delivered cost around US$ 82 000. If you want one, two problems await: can you find one - and can you afford what the owner will surely ask for it?...

Good hunting.

The BMW R90S

With it's 898 cm3 boxer twin engine pushing out 49 kW at 7 000 r/min, and the bike itself capable of a genuine 200 Km/h, the R90S was regarded as one of the reigning superbikes of 1974 - this when the catch-phrase 'Superbike' was just coming into being. It was one of the day's star performers, but it cost too much for most - a hefty US$ 3 400.

BMW's period magazine advertisement for the R90S.

It signified a new - to most of the American and European market - approach to motorcycle building, which reflected BMW's penchant for outright autobahn domination. As a result, most biking magazines criticized the bike's ultra-soft suspension, which led to excessive front-end dive under heavy braking, but were unanimous in their praise of the bike's low- to mid-range torque, blistering (for 1974) top-end, unbeatable build quality, uncannily low fuel consumption (around 43 MPG, even with heavy throttle use) and the eccentric amount of tools in the toolkit, which enabled the rider to cope with almost any roadside eventuality. Not that he really needed them - by this point, BMW had a reputation for reliability which far surpassed any other motorcycle manufacturer - a position the firm has kept to this day.

The transverse boxer twin layout, with gearbox in line, high-mounted
alternator and and rear output coupling for the shaft drive; this configuration
has survived unchanged into the 21'st century. It combines an optimum centre
of gravity with a very high degree of engineering control over lateral weight
distribution - factors which are vital for good handling.
Note the kick-starter lever on the rear of the gearbox housing.

The 'autobahn approach' showed in the bike's on-the-road performance. Tall gearing allied with high torque at low revs, plus the plush suspension, meant that long-distance cruising was suddenly easy. A favourite baseline for contemporary comparison was the 900 cm3 Kawasaki Z1, which would beat it by a slender margin from a standing start - but would be left for dead by the R90S in a 100 Km/h roll-on start.

The other thing which helped the R90S's reputation was it's looks. For BMW, the bike was a radical styling departure which helped the company shed the conservative image it had acquired in the 1950s and 1960s. The small nose fairing and classy lines meant that the overall appearance of the bike screamed: Racer! And the bike actually did enjoy racing success in the USA, taking first and second places in the first AMA Superbike race in 1976.

In a further effort to keep it exclusive, BMW hand-painted each R90S. Two 'smoke-finish' colour schemes - medium orange fading to dark orange, and light grey fading to charcoal grey, were chosen. No two of the paint schemes were ever exactly alike, making each bike unique.

Despite its comparatively high price, BMW sold more than 17 000 R90S's from 1974 to 1976, and offered an upgraded 1 000 cm3 version (the R100S) from 1977 to 1984. This was the bike which made a guest appearance in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film ''The Terminator'' in it's final year of production.

Surviving examples of the R90S and R100S are rare on the second-hand market, because their owners - often older enthusiasts who purchased the bikes new - usually don't want anything else. As a result, it's not unusual to see examples which have racked up 300 000 Km or more...

The 98 BHP R1100S of 1998 (left) and the 122 BHP R1200S of 2006 (right) are direct descendants of the R90S.

The MV Agusta 750S America

It all depends on your point of view, and crucially, whether or not you could afford one. The sexiest bike of it's time, and still good-looking in the 21st century, it nonetheless offered no real advantage over every other machine of it's day - except a chance to wear the most prestigious badge in biking on your fuel tank. Which today means that it begs the question: The most desirable bike on Earth - or the most over-priced and irrelevant?

The company's trump card in the 1960s and 1970s was it's racing provenance. A host of the greatest track legends of the time raced for MV Agusta; men like Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read and John Surtees.

The company was the motorcycle division of the Agusta Aeronautical company, which today builds military and civilian helicopters. The race bikes won 37 championships between 1952 and 1974. Attempting to capitalize on this success, Count Domenico Agusta ordered production of the 600 Tourer of 1965. One of the ugliest bikes ever made, it nevertheless bristled with technological innovation: an in-line four with electric starter and double overhead cams, disc brakes front and rear, and shaft drive. Despite the cost, a lot of owners with fond memories of the company's race heritage became frustrated with the bike's intended role and tweaked it to turn it from a tourer into something with a little more street cred.

The unattractive 600 Tourer, whose race-bred
technology provided the basis for the much
better-looking 750 Sport.

When launched in 1969, the 750 Sport cost the equivalent of two-and-a-half Honda CB750's. The company soldiered on, losing sales hand over fist to the Japanese 'Big Four', whose bikes offered the same performance, handling and reliability, as well as steadily improving technology, for far better money. In 1975 the 750S underwent a slight cosmetic redesign to turn it into the 'America', named after it's intended target market.

Today, the bike will cost you in the region of £20 000.

The Kawasaki H2 750

The original Widowmaker, and one of the best-proportioned bikes ever built. A bit of a paradox? Yes, I think so. You wouldn't expect something this beautiful to be a certified killer, would you?

A 1973 evolution of the 1969 500 cm3 H1, the H2 was more or less the same bike with a simple capacity increase to 750 cm3. As was usual for the era, no improvements were made to the handling, frame rigidity or braking.

The period road tests make amusing reading today, at least to those of us used to fast bikes that have become horribly sanitised and politically correct. Tank-slappers at 185 Km/h, anyone? What about the high-speed handling, which was politely described as 'vague'? This is the bike which inspired the witticism ''It handles like it's got a hinge in the middle.''

Today, at least, you can choose. You can ride one of the finest-looking bikes ever built, or you can ride something that won't try to kill you if you look at it the wrong way. My advice? If you've got one, keep it for summer afternoons, when you can polish it, admire it, let the neighbours envy every detail, right down to the three chromed exhausts, and finally take it for a sedate spin.

Start it up. Hear the most compelling two-stroke engine sound ever.
And, taking it for that spin, don't listen to that voice on your shoulder that says: ''Aw, come on. Just a little faster...''
Others have been there; most survived to tell the tale. There's no need to be quite that brave anymore.