Yamaha is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its SR series with a special edition model in Japan. Produced in limited numbers, the 35th Anniversary Edition Yamaha SR400 offers an exclusive leaf green metallic color, special badging and, in an unusual gesture, a lower price than the base model.

The original SR500 was introduced in 1978 as a street-focused version of the Yamaha XT500. At the time, the SR500 was marketed as something of a throwback with its 499cc single-cylinder engine while multi-cylinder bikes were the norm. Once offered in multiple markets, the SR in recent years has been almost exclusively sold in Japan as the SR400, with a shorter stroke to take advantage of the country’s 400cc licensing laws. The SR400 was produced through 2008 and then re-introduced in 2010 with a fuel injection system replacing the previous model’s carburetor. Continue Reading »

BMW announced it will introduce an all-new Boxer to celebrate its 90th year of motorcycle production, but you didn’t think the German manufacturer would stop there without a couple of other special edition models, did you?

To mark the anniversary, BMW revealed special edition “90 Jahre BMW Motorrad” versions of its R1200GS adventure bike, R1200R roadster and R1200RT tourer in Milan at the 2012 EICMA Show.

All three models come in a Sapphire Black Metallic color with matte black engines, gold anodized suspension and brakes, and asphalt gray metallic swingarms, trailing arms and rear frames, and granite gray metallic cylinder head covers, and a nickel-plated polished brass plate on the upper fork. Continue Reading »

BMW announced it will mark the 30th anniversary of its K series with a special edition K1300S. The 2013 BMW K1300S “30 Jahre K-Modelle” will be presented at the 2012 EICMA show in Milan, Italy in a couple of weeks’ time.

Though perhaps not as popular as BMW‘s R series boxer models, the K series served as a platform for a number of technologies that were either new for BMW or new for the motorcycle industry.

The K 100 was introduced in 1983 as BMW’s first liquid-cooled Inline-Four motorcycle, following the pattern of the popular Japanese models of the time. To separate it from the Japanese competition, BMW arranged the K100′s 987cc engine longitudinally, with the cylinders lying horizontally. The K100 was also one of the first production motorcycles equipped with electronic fuel injection. Continue Reading »