Motorcycles we saw on the Isle of Man during the TT:

[The Grand Tour]

With the 2019 Isle of Man TT now in the books (as of a few hours ago), and with only ONE fatality this year, I thought it might be a good time to take a look at some of the other aspects of the TT. In this thread, I will show some of the motorcycles that I thought were interesting enough to snap pictures of.

First up is our blood red dry-clutch Ohlins-suspended Ducati Monster 1100S rental, with carbon-fiber Termignoni exhaust and no db killers. We found il mostro to be competent. It handled well, the suspension/tires/brakes were all good. It was surprisingly light. My only gripes are that the low-rpm fueling was a little snatchy, it didn't have a lot of top-end power, and it obviously didn't offer much wind protection at triple-digit speeds. The dry clutch was okay, even in traffic- I've ridden dry-clutch Ducatis before. I think if we had it to do over, I would have rented a Triumph Daytona 675R.

The third pic down is our visit to the Fairy Bridge, right after picking up the bike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Bridge_(Isle_of_Man)

 

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Re: Motorcycles I have seen on the Isle of Man during the TT:

Next up is one of the Isle of Man Police Ducati 1299 Panigale Superbikes. Because there are no speed limits on the Isle of Man, traffic enforcement looks a little bit different than it would here in the U.S.. The police also patrol on unmarked motorcycles, and their police cars are BMWs.

 

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Re: Motorcycles I have seen on the Isle of Man during the TT:

This was parked outside the cottage we rented in Peel. It's a Triumph Thruxton café racer, but it is a special Ace Café limited edition version. The infamous Ace Café is a café in London that was a hang-out for motorcyclists in the '50s and '60s, and was a pretty rowdy place, with numerous large-scale fights between the mods and the rockers.

We met the owner of the Ace Café while we were on the Isle of Man during the TT races, and when we told him we were headed to London after the TT, he offered to buy us a beer if we stopped by. We did, and he actually bought us several beers and our dinners.

 

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This is a $40,000 Bimota Tesi 3D. Check out the front suspension and steering. It has no frame- the front and rear suspension are bolted to the aluminum plates that the engine is mounted to.

My wife really likes Bimotas, and this was a pretty special one. We encountered it at a gas station. I think we were on our way to visit the Fairy Bridge and the Man Cat Sanctuary. The rider was a nice older guy that owned one of the racing teams.

 

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Here are some "Honda" Monkey and Trail bikes. The first pic with il mostro, was taken in the parking lot of the Shoprite grocery store in Peel during a liquor run. The second two pics were taken at the Ballaugh Bridge Jump, across the street from The Raven pub.

There was a conspicuous number of these things on the Isle of Man, and most of them were conspicuously nice, for 50 year old entry-level motorcycles. I talked to the owner of the blue one, and he explained it to me. Real Honda Monkey and Trail bikes are legitimate collector's items, and their prices have been driven up to the point that it doesn't make sense to actually ride one on public roads. So these guys are buying Chinese replicas of Honda Monkey and Trail bikes. They disassemble them, throw all the parts away, sand-blast the frames, and then repaint and rebuild them to a MUCH higher degree of fit and finish, using much higher-spec components in the process. Then they apply reproductions of Honda Monkey and Trail stickers to the finished product.

 

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A Laverda 1000 café racer, parked at the Ballaugh Bridge Jump, across the street from The Raven pub. Solo racing seat and cowl, rearsets, clubman handlebar, and a funky front suspension system.

...and an original Norton Commando 850 parked behind it.

 

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An air over oil Suzuki GSX1400 at the Ballaugh Bridge Jump, across the street from The Raven pub. Sort of like a Super Blandit. We never got this model in the U.S.. I'm a big fan of UJMs.

 

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The Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird, in a color that I don't think we got here in the U.S.. I always felt that the the Dos Equis was always a very competent (180mph) sport-touring motorcycle, even after it was rendered obsolete by the Hayabusa.

 

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A Triumph Sprint ST 1050 triple sport-touring motorcycle. I don't know if we got this color here in the U.S., but I think it's pretty. The Sprint 1050 was always a very stylish motorcycle, with it's triple-outlet under-tail exhaust, single-sided swingarm, and clean lines. It's too bad that Triumph didn't continue to develop this format. Upside-down forks, radial brakes, more horsepower, and a suite of modern electronic rider aids, would make for a heck of a motorcycle.

 

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An absolutely stonking hand-built Italian Beta RR four-stroke enduro racing motorcycle...with a license plate. It was parked at the Ballaugh Bridge Jump, across the street from The Raven Pub.

In the Isle of Man, you can register just about anything for use on public roads, even if it has no lights (but you can't be on the road at night with no lights). We saw off-road quads, side-by-sides, motocross racing motorcycles, dune buggies, enduro racing motorcycles, and so on, all with license plates.

 

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How about the world's cleanest Honda CB500 Four? It was parked at the Ballaugh Bridge Jump, across the street from The Raven pub. I don't think these things looked as good when Honda originally built them back in the early '70s, as this one does now. It was just an absolutely stunning restoration. And what a great colorway.

Bill Wood won the '73 Isle of Man Production TT race on one of these.

 

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An original Norton Commando 850, in an unusually bright color.

 

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A quartet of Bimotas, in the Bimota tent in the main TT compound. I think this was the day we did the VIP package.

The 500 V Due was a 110-horsepower 500 V-twin two-stroke with fuel injection, a cassette gearbox, and a dry clutch. The power-to-weight ratio was astronomical, due to it's 325-pound weight. They cost the equivalent of $50,000 in today's dollars, and are exceptionally rare.

The carbon-fiber encrusted DB9 was powered by a Ducati 1198 Testastretta Superbike engine, had a radial perimeter brake, and cost well over $30,000.

The trellis-framed DB10 Motard was powered by a more powerful version of the engine from the Ducati Hypermotard. They come with an Arrow exhaust system, which is reportedly pretty loud.

The white DB11 was a fully-faired evolution of the DB9, also powered by the Ducati 1198 Testastretta Superbike engine

 

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A Honda CB1300 liquid-cooled retro UJM, parked in Ballabrooie Park, at the fastest point of the Sulby Straight, which is the fastest point on the entire course. We never got these in the U.S. either.

 

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A semi-hazy picture of an MV Agusta F3 800 limited edition AMG model, in traffic at the bottom of Bray Hill before they closed the course.

 

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...and a semi-hazy picture of a red Laverda 1200, at the bottom of Bray Hill. Can you believe we used to ride open-class sporting motorcycles with brakes like that?

 

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A yellow Cagiva Mito 125 two-stroke, the cutest motorcycle in the world.

Designed by the late Massimo Tamburini "the Michelangelo of motorcycles", the Mito bore a striking resemblance to the Ducati 916/996/998, which Tamburini also designed. The Mito is rare in the U.S., but we saw a number of them on the Isle of Man. We saw this one was at the bottom of Bray Hill, and saw it again a couple of days later, parked.

 

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A very special $50,000 limited-edition 212-horsepower MV Agusta F4 1000 RC, one of 250 in the world. Also designed by Massimo Tamburini. The F4 is the only motorcycle I know of, that has radial valves. Seen at the bottom of Bray Hill.

 

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Ducati 1299 Panigale monoposto with white number boards, at the bottom of Bray Hill. Just because...

 

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A Suzuki GT380 ram-air cooled two-stroke triple, at the bottom of Bray Hill. You don't see those very often these days...