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ºLD- 1989/90 HONDA GB500TT
gives you the illusion of tearing up the TT circuit. Riding the GB500 makes you feel like you are Mike “The Bike” Hailwood, the 14 time winner of the Tourist Trophy race, including 5 wins in row from 1963-1967 in the 500cc class (just in case you were wondering). Production was limited to just two years in the US due to poor sales performance. Why didn’t it sell well? It didn’t look like the cruisers that were dominating sales at the time. The 1980s were about excess and technology, not looking back towards racing minimalism. Hammer Time and Debbie Gibson, instead of British invasion. The combination of timeless styling and low production was a perfect recipe for the GB500 to become a collector’s item. For example, the 1990 GB500 pictured, alongside the 1966 Velocette Thruxton, sold at the Mecum Auction in Las Vegas in January 2020 for $17,600. It had one mile on the speedo!
Borrowing its styling from 50s and 60s race bikes, the Honda GB500TT was a modern café racer ironically ahead of its time. The GB500 was unlike any other motorcycle available in 1989. An homage to the 50s and 60s British bikes that ruled the famed Tourist Trophy circuit on the Isle of Man in England, it had the look of iconic bikes like the AJS 7R or Velocette Thruxton from decades earlier. The GB500TT (for Great Britain and Tourist Trophy) has a 498cc, air-cooled, single cylinder engine, and was unlike anything Honda had previously offered in the US. All of the bikes were painted a unique deep green so dark it looks black in anything but direct sunlight, with gold pinstripe accents. Featuring clip-on bars, a front disc brake, steel braided oil lines, silver instrument panel, and a sleek body design, all this allows the GB to run with precision and look cool as hell. Weighing only 370lbs, this thumper can scoot and its aggressive riding stance
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