Motorcycle Types

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­Motorcycles come in many different styles, each offering design and performance characteristics to accommodate specific riding conditions. Let's take a look at the common categories of motorcycles.

Street Bikes
Street motorcycles come with all of the necessary equipment to be street-ready. They have lights, mirrors, a horn and a muffler. Their tires have a tread pattern that provides good traction on both wet and dry roads. Street motorcycles generally come in two forms -- touring motorcycles and cruisers. Touring motorcycles are specially designed for long-distance travel. Their most distinctive features are fairings, aerodynamic wind guards that wrap around the headlight to enhance styling and reduce drag. Touring bikes also come with other long-distance amenities, such as saddlebags and a comfortable passenger seat. Cruisers, which typically have no fairings, offer a more laid-back look. They are built with swept-back handlebars, low seats, and casual riding positions with forward-set footpegs.

touring and cruising motorcycles
Examples of touring motorcycles (left) and cruisers (right)

Sportbikes
Sportbikes are designed to handle well at high speeds and on winding roads. They offer multi-cylinder engines to produce more power, aluminum alloy frames, stiff suspensions to improve handling, high-grip tires and powerful brakes. Instead of sitting up straight, sportbike riders lean forward over the gas tank to reduce wind resistance.

005 Yamaha FZ6
Photo courtesy Darrin Gatewood
2005 Yamaha FZ6, a "naked bike"

"Naked Bikes"
Naked bikes offer the performance of sportbikes without the aesthetics. In most cases, they are stripped of any unnecessary bodywork. Because they're often the product of bike customizers who want a "road warrior" appearance, naked bikes are also called streetfighters, especially in Europe.

Traditionals
Also known as standards, traditionals look and handle like an archetypical model known as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM), built primarily in the 1970s. The UJM was an all-purpose, do-everything bike, and today's standards offer the same versatility and straightforward design.

1978 Suzuki GS550
Photo courtesy Mike Le Pard, Total Motorcycle
1978 Suzuki GS550, a typical UJM

Off-road Bikes
Off-road motorcycles include both motocross bikes and dirt bikes -- machines designed to handle jumps, bumps and other obstacles found on closed racing courses or woodland trails. Off-road motorcycles have narrower, lighter frames, increased ground clearance and advanced suspension systems. They also have a kick-starter to reduce weight and tires with a knobby tread pattern for increased traction. Because off-road bikes usually don't come standard with lights, mirrors, a horn or a muffler, they aren't street-legal.

Motocross bikes
Photo courtesy R. Beaty, MorgueFile
Motocross bikes in action

Dual-purpose
Dual-purpose bikes, also known as dual-sports, are street-legal motorcycles that offer some off-road capabilities. Like dirt bikes, dual-purpose machines are lightweight and durable. Like standards, they offer great versatility for newcomers and long-time riders alike. The dual-purpose motorcycle falls somewhere in between a dirt bike and a street motorcycle. For example, dual-purpose bikes feature specialized tires that work on both dirt and pavement.

Next, we'll explore the history of motorcycles.

The Grand Prix Racer

­Motorcycles that race in the World Championship Grand Prix Series are not simply souped-up street machines. They are high-performing bikes designed specifically for racing at high speeds on closed courses. Most Grand Prix motorcycles today have 990-cc four-stroke engines and are able to generate as much as 230 horsepower.

Having all of that power, leads to an interesting engineering paradox. For a motorcycle to take turns at speeds approaching 200 miles an hour, the bike must be short with a sharp steering head angle on the front forks. Unfortunately, a motorcycle designed this way won't offer great stability when it enters a straightaway. Increasing the angle of the forks, and hence the wheelbase, results in a stable bike, but one that wouldn't be able to take turns at high speeds. While most American street motorcycles lean toward the latter design, a Grand Prix racing bike has to maintain a short wheelbase, making it so difficult to ride that only a few professional road racers are up to the challenge.

Grand Prix motorcycle riders wear one-piece leather suits reinforced with body armor and carbon-Kevlar anti-abrasion material. Because riders lean 45 to 55 degrees to take turns, they must protect their knees with plastic or wood knee sliders. Sliders also help them to gauge how far over they are as they negotiate a turn.