Bikes

Brightest And Raddest Neon Motorcycles of the ’90s

They’re bright, bold, and beautiful motorcycles from a time when neon was king.

Updated: August 20, 2020

Motorcycles have always been a source of freedom and self-expression. As such, they move with the style of the times, and when those times were all about hot neon colors, well the results are pretty retro-fantastic. The decade of the 1990s was full-on neon and spawned some pretty funky, bright, and crazy motorcycles, both custom and regular production. From customs handcrafted by legendary builders to a few very cool Cycle World racebikes (and matching leathers!) to one of the loudest graphic packages ever to grace a motocross bike, we take a look back at a selection of neon dreams from the CW archives.

Motorcycles (and colors) that scream the late 20th century.Kirk Willis

First, a KTM-powered dirt-tracker that has a “color that, whether you liked it or not, you saw it.”Kirk Willis

This Vance and Hines-modified Yamaha FZR600 was painted to resemble the teams’ early ’90s racebikes.Kirk Willis

The Honda Mantis prototype had a computer to control suspension and driving force to its wheels.Honda

This Britten V-1100 racebike pairs innovative engine and suspension tech with minimalist bodywork.Harry Ruffell

Radical orange zig zags with cyan and pink underneath brighten up this Arlen Ness Dyna Glide.Jeff Allen

Builder Denny Berg referred to his custom’s appearance as “kind-of-a-surfer-punk-on-acid-look.”Kirk Willis

Known as The Sled, this Arlen Ness custom is eye-popping in color and price of $100,000 in 1993.Cycle World Archives

Cycle World’s road test editor Don Canet had sick custom leathers to match his YZF750 racebike.Kirk Willis

This Cycle World YZF racebike was built to tackle the Daytona 200—a race it did not finish.Kirk Willis

Hot-rod car collector Tom Shiffilea got back to his motorcycling roots with this 650cc Triumph.Jeff Allen

Even with stock paint, the 1991 Honda CBR600F2 is bold both track- and paint-wise.Kirk Willis

Cycle World said the 1992 Suzuki RM250 was “dazzling in eye-popping coats of multiple colors.”Suzuki

The neon orange color scheme of the Honda Fireblade was available in European markets.Cycle World Archives