Six-cylinder motorcycles: all production models

“Plurifractionated” yes, but how much? Three is not only the perfect number according to an old saying, but it’s also the minimum wage – we’re talking about cylinders, of course! – to bear this title. Below are the twin cylinders, which are in a category of their own, while the squaring of the circle is achieved with the “poker” (in line or V, with some rare exceptions) which has equipped a large part of the maxis on the market since the 1970s . And then there are them, the majestic six cylinders. Rare commodity today as yesterday, essentially due to a certain tendency to gigantism and a considerable mechanical complexity, with relative costs, which make them products for a few, both customers and manufacturers. But those who own a six-cylinder hardly go back, and those who have had to part with it never forget it, even in the face of weights and dimensions that are often almost “automotive”. The merit goes to an almost “electric” delivery of power and vibrations reduced to a minimum, as well as a sound that can be transformed into an irresistible chant for enthusiasts. But above all to a unique, almost regal charm, capable of elevating the six-cylinder motorcycle to the same status held, in the four-wheeled, by the V12 of supercars and ultra-luxury sedans. But which motorcycles have resorted to this solution, so refined and exclusive? Speaking of racing, Honda was the only manufacturer able to carry this fractionation to the top, when in the mid-1960s it fielded its victorious “inline sixes” in the 250 and 350 cc classes. Before the Ala Dorata, at the end of the 1950s, MV Agusta had also tried it, but the project had been abandoned before bearing fruit, and the Laverda 1000 V6, presented in 1977 to compete in Endurance, would also have had little luck . Here, however, we focus on the road bikes, which made their debut on the two-wheeler market precisely during that decade. And even if their presence in the price list has always been numerically discreet, they have never left since then…