Motorcycle names Archives

What do Motorcycle Names Mean? (Part 3)

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves.
There are ones which made you wonder what they mean.
There are just too many, thus we’ll break them into parts.

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves. Manufacturers usually choose them based on heritage, branding, range or the kind of emotions they allude to.

There are too many to think about, so we’ll put in what comes to mind. Here’s Part 3.

12. Honda CBR1100XX Super Black Bird

The CBR1100XX was Honda’s weapon to wrest the world’s fastest production bike title back from the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11. They succeeded in doing so. Honda named their bike after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spylane, which hit Mach 3.3 (3.3 times faster than the speed of sound) or 3529 km/h.

13. Suzuki Katana

Here’s a simple one. The iconic bike is named after the equally iconic Japanese Samurai sword. As such, the name alludes to something of cutting edge, sharp, just like the bike was when it broke new grounds in terms of motorcycle design.

14. Suzuki Hayabusa

Suzuki didn’t want to get left behind in the fastest production bike game and hit back with the Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusa in 1999. Although it fell short of hitting the 200 mph (320 km/h) mark, it did go over 300 km/h thereby winning the game. The name “Hayabusa” is the Japanese peregrine falcon which could hit 390 km/h in a dive. But what most didn’t know is that one of its prey is the black bird. In other words, the Hayabusa is a “black bird” killer.

15. Yamaha Super Ténéré

The Yamaha Super Ténéré was the roadgoing adventure bike named in honour of the Paris-Dakar Rally winning bike. Ténéré means “desert” in the Berber (Northern African ethnic group) language. Had Yamaha used the Arabic word for desert, the bike would’ve been called the “Sahara.”

16. Yamaha Virago

The Virago is one of Yamaha’s cruiser range. Virago means a warrior woman, an amazon. Naming it Amazon wouldn’t have given the bike the right image since it’s not an adventure bike.

What do Motorcycle Names Mean? (Part 2)

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves.
There are ones which made you wonder what they mean.
There are just too many, thus we’ll break them into parts.

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves. Manufacturers usually choose them based on heritage, branding, range or the kind of emotions they allude to.

There are too many to think about, so we’ll put in what comes to mind. Here’s Part 2.

7. Harley-Davidson Softail

It’s named Softail because the rear part of the frame performs the role of a swingarm. Traditional (vintage) bikes were “hardtails” without swingarms. The Softail takes on the look of the hardtail, but shock absorbers sit horizontally underneath the frame to provide damping.

8. Honda Valkyrie

The Honda Valkyrie was a cruiser based on the Gold Wing’s flat-Six engine. If you’re a fan of the Marvel Universe, you’ll know what a Valkyrie is. According to Norse mythology (which includes Thor), Valkyries are female, horse riding warriors.

9. Honda Varadero

The Varadero was the successor to the Africa Twin in 2001. It’s supposed to set the dual-sport market on fire, what with the VTR1000 superbike derived engine. But it was just too heavy. Anyway, Varadero is a resort beach in Cuba. That’s rather far from the Sahara…

10. Kawasaki Ninja

The Ninja name is now a trademark of Kawasaki sportbikes and sport-tourers. The ninja were mercenaries and assassins during the feudal period in Japan. Ninjas operated in stealth and speed.

11. Bimota

Let’s include a number of manufacturer’s names while we’re at it. Bimota is a mix of the names of her founders, namely Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe Morri and Massimo Tamburini. Using the first two letters of the last names resulted in the famous marque i.e. BIachi MOrri TAmburini.

What do Motorcycle Names Mean? (Part 1)

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves.
There are ones which made you wonder what they mean.
There are just too many, thus we’ll break them into parts.

Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves. Manufacturers usually choose them based on heritage, branding, range or the kind of emotions they allude to.

There are too many to think about, so we’ll put in what comes to mind.

1. BMW GS

The “GS” moniker made its appearance in 1980 with the R 80 G/S. It stands for Gelände/Straße (or Strasse), or off-road/road in German. Appropriate for the dual-sport bike.

2. Ducati 851, 888, 916, 995,996, 999, 1098

Ducati superbikes were named with numbers between the 750 SS/Pantah and Panigale. The numbers simply pointed out the bikes’ engine capacities. Other models had and do have their capacities in their names, of course, but they include specific names such as Hypermotard, Monster, Multistrada, Scrambler, Supersport.

3. Ducati Panigale

The Panigale is named after the Borgo Panigale industrial district in Bologna, Italy. It’s also where Ducati calls home. Do make sure that your Panigale doesn’t have the “e” missing, because “Panigal” is a soap manufacturer in the same district.

4. Ducati Paso 750

Debuting in EICMA 1985, the Ducati Paso 75- was a tribute to Italian GP racer Renzo Pasolini. Popularly known as “Paso,” he crashed during the 250cc Monza race in 1973. Jarno Saarinen (who pioneered the kneedown technique) who was directly behind couldn’t avoid Paso and also crashed. The accident caused a chain reaction which involved 12 riders and took the lives of Paso and Saarinen.

5. Triumph Bonneville

This one is quite easy. The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, United States is the prime location where land speed records are made or broken. As for the Triumph Bonneville, it’s an homage to the “Devil’s Arrow,” piloted by Johnny Allen in 1955. The “streamliner” (which basically looks like a rocket) was powered by a Triumph 650cc parallel-Twin which was tuned to burn methanol. It hit a two-way average speed of 311 km/h.

6. Triumph Thruxton

The Thruxton name is actually a racetrack in the UK. But Triumph had built special models for the Thruxton 500 endurance in 1969. They came away with 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd placings. It was the start of the café racer era.

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