Best of bikemart: Modern classics up for grabs this week

Not sure I agree with some of these being classics although its amazing they are so complete.

The GSX750 was big and butch but looked awfully dated once the Katanna style came out. It wasn't really around long enough to get many people following it so its a bit of an aquired taste...

The Honda CB650 that this bike was based on was dreadful. The bike its based on was one of those bikes that was made of cheese and dreadfully unreliable. Even if one ignores that the performance was very poor compared to other bikes of its day. This one is quite pretty for a custom but not sure that the engine will be appropriate...

The GS550 was a sweet mini UJM. Well behaved, economic & fast for its day (but slow now and obsoleted by bikes like the GPZ550 & CBX550 a few years later). I prefer the GS750 (not the GSX!) but its quite a good bike and the right colour and it has standard pipes - many people fitted four into ones which made a lot of noise and killed the top end.

The RD250 was a classic and even when the X7 came out it which was much faster was the bike many of us wanted - maybe not quite so fast but heh it was painted and looked much bigger! (The X7s were a little light on paint and tended to rust in front of the eyes but were also much smaller & lighter so ended up faster too). However the blue is much prettier than the plain jane grey. Nice that this one has the standard pipes. I'm guessing it must be an E because the RD250F around a similar time had cast wheels and the RD250  model didn't have the "fairing" around the back of the seat for long... I would prefer the LC but they are silly money now...

...but the Nighthawk is pretty. I'm sure riding it would change my mind though. By the look of the tax disc it hasn't been on the road for at least five and a half years, and the price is somewhat salty imo.

The RD would be a laugh, and how nice to have the original pipes and airbox.