Top 10 Motorcycles Of The 1990s

Maybe you’ve noticed: The 1990s are in. It seems like every show on Netflix these days has a ’90s-sounding soundtrack, is based in the ’90s, or is a reprise of an actual ’90s show. Teens are wearing mom jeans. The irritating sound of dial-up internet makes people wistful. Old video game consoles that were garbage back in the day are making a comeback (now our kids can know how good they have it).

With the ’90s on our motorcycle-obsessed minds, we couldn’t help but daydream about the pink and purply graphics of a CBR and the bulbous maroon bodywork of a Ninja ZX-11. Here, we remember some of the best—or at least the most emblematic—bikes of the ’90s. It’s hard to choose just 10, but since Top 10 lists seem to make the internet happy—and they’re approved by ’90s icon David Letterman—that’s what we did. Feel free to supplement the list in the comments section below.

The 1990s were a particularly fecund time for Honda, and especially for its V-4, a layout made famous in the preceding decades by a slew of racebikes like the FWS1000 Formula 1 racer and the oval-pistoned NR500 GP bike, in addition to production machines like the Interceptor, Magna, and RC30. The RC45 replaced the RC30 in 1994. Built in small numbers with pricing to match, it demanded a race team with a budget larger than the GDP of most countries ending in “-stan” to get the most out of it.

The VFR750F, on the other hand, became the everyman’s ride-to-work, blitz-the-twisties, perennial bike of the year. Unerringly smooth and undemanding, the Veefer was the consummate Honda.

In 1991, Honda took a European form-factor and brought it to the US with the ST1100, complete with longitudinal V-4 and Accord-like styling (those mirrors!). No longer just the territory of BMW, the sport-tourer became a staple in motorcycling in large part due to the success of the ST. And it wasn’t a Honda Pacific Coast, so it had that going for it too.

It had the looks, the speed, the championships. When Ducati released the 916 in 1994, it changed Ducati’s trajectory. Before the 916, it was practically a race shop constantly tinkering on the edge of financial ruin. After the 916—though still not out of the woods, financially speaking—Ducati became a household name and earned a new reputation. Pride of Italy. World-beater. Thorn in the side of Japanese OEMs. With Massimo Tamburini’s universally beautiful design and its 851-derived quirkiness, the 916 was to the 1990s motorcycle world as the Sistine Chapel is to the Vatican.

The Yamaha GTS1000 represents the Iwata brand’s willingness to pursue unconventional ideas—a streak that persists to this day (see: Yamaha Niken). The GTS looks like a casually bland sport-tourer, until you notice its bizarro single-sided swingarm front end, designed by American James Parker and implemented at the behest of Yamaha USA. Compared to conventional front ends that act as levers on the frame, Parker’s system acts directly on the frame without multiplying load. The GTS also uses a unique Omega frame, so named because of the shape it makes with the front and rear swingarms. In spite of some unconventional features, the GTS was at heart a fairly conservative machine that failed to captivate a large audience. In the US, it was only sold for two years. Now, it’s practically a collector’s item.

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While Harley-Davidson was making hay on the showroom floors, the Japanese OEMs were trying to figure out how the heck to compete. Nothing really worked. Every bike they produced seemed more concession than inspiration. The Valkyrie, on the other hand, seemed a bit less desperate. For one, its Gold Wing-derived engine wasn’t detuned for a specific “Midwest-influenced” sound and feel; it was hopped up, which made it good for a 12-second quarter-mile. The Valkyrie made it okay to have a different “H” on the tank. These days, anyone competing directly with Harley has figured out the best way to do it is not by pretending to be Harley. In the ’90s that was a bold move and Honda did it best.

The ZX-11 was the bike for its time. When stealth fighters and F-14 Tomcats ruled the skies and when gas was so cheap it didn't seem to matter how we got it or where it came from, the ZX-11 became the two-wheeled embodiment of braggadocio. It was the if-you-can-do-it, you-should-do-it era. The big Ninja was the my-bike's-faster-than-yours, I-wear-Oakleys-because-I'm-a-boss, it's-the-'90s-and-no-one's-gonna-remember-this-in the-morning-anyway motorcycle. If you were a kid in elementary school, you knew the Ninja, "the fastest motorcycle in the world." It's what you talked about at the urinal while clutching your, er, hall pass. Never mind that a ZX-7 (speaking of icons of the era) would lay waste to it around the track. These days, the eco ninnies would make you feel ashamed of your excessive horsepower and eager throttle hand. Back then? Why, you've earned it!

Tadao Baba’s CBR900RR remains one of the most desirable sportbikes of the ’90s. Bet on it as a future, if not right now, classic. The speed freckles, the neon graphics, the perfect welds on the twin-spar aluminum frame all bespeak a time when Honda opened its checkbook and magical things happened. The 900RR weighed about the same as the CBR600F2, but made around 120 hp and handled like no other open class sportbike ever had. It was the shot that started the literbike war.

The Ducati Monster began life as a dream of designer Miguel Galluzzi, who actually drew his initial sketches when he was a Honda employee. While Cagiva was allocating its resources to design a new Ducati Paso, Massimo Bordi granted Galluzzi permission to get some parts for his little passion project. With an air-cooled Desmodue engine from a 900 Supersport, a modified trellis frame from the 851/888 superbike, and an inverted fork from a 750 Supersport, Galluzzi put together his Frankenstein. It was a departure for racing-mad Ducati, and paved the way for the Bologna brand to become what it is today. More than 25 years and over 300,000 units later, the original Monster will always embody style and performance unencumbered by the pressure of chasing lap times.

While the first GSX-R750 rewrote the rule book for sportbikes in 1985 (being 100 pounds lighter than the competition will do that), successive generations grew a little flabby and became overshadowed by the competition. For 1996, Suzuki's pride and joy dropped 40 pounds, got an all-new perimeter frame, engine, and pretty much everything else. Best of all, the so-called SRAD (Suzuki Ram-Air Direct) GSX-R750 exemplified Suzuki's brilliant engineering and its nonexclusive approach to speed. As Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron points out, it's much harder to design a motorcycle to a price point than it is to build a homologation-spec, costs-no-object racebike. At $8,999, the GSX-R was the everyman's superbike. And it was arguably better than all the others. Suzuki's noblesse oblige should be looked upon with admiration and reverence, people. So don't spoil its beauty with stupid tinted screens, spray-can paint jobs, and leopard print seats, please.

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Long before fuel-in-frame and perimeter brakes became trademark Buell traits, motorcycle enthusiasts were pretty stoked on Buells. Buell, we thought, was pretty much the homegrown, American Bimota. But it was complicated. The relationship with H-D looked to be both greatest fault and greatest asset. The RS1200 is from a time when the sky was the limit for Buell. Distinctive fold-up rear seat, purposeful styling, trellis frame, and handcrafted elements made it a unique alternative in the bike world. Still is, actually.

The 1990s were a great time for exotic motorcycles: the Harley-Davidson VR1000 superbike, the Ducati Supermono, the MV Agusta F4 Serie Oro, the Britten V1000, the Bimota V-Due, and the Honda RVF400 and NR750 were all highlights. These exotic machines are still inspiring. They don’t just convey something about their time; they convey something about all time. They were unobtainable then, and now they’re unicorns. They’re the ultimate ’90s keepsakes.