Motorcycles

Part of the fun of riding a motorcycle (aside from, you know, the actual act of riding) is picking out riding gear. And the most important piece of riding gear is without question the helmet. Obviously, its primary function is to provide protection for your noggin, but it can also be a fashion statement.

Since there’s no shortage of styles, shapes, colors and patterns from which to choose, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a brain bucket that fits your fashion sense. And if you can’t find one that tickles your fancy, you could customize one so it does. Either way, cool motorcycle helmets are easy to attain. And the following 50 (Yep, this is the kind of list Costco would sell.) helmets are the coolest of the cool.

In the world of four-cylinder superbikes, MV Agusta is arguably the most aspirational of aspirational brands, yet still manages to be pretty attainable. But not everyone wants or needs four-cylinders or almost 200 horsepower in a motorcycle. Some folks just want something that’s a bit lighter and a bit less intimidating, but is still a blast to ride.

Now MV Agusta is ready to cater to those types of buyers with its first modern triple, the all new F3 675. But the three-cylinder engine under the tank isn’t the only noteworthy feature of this bike. There’s also a sizable suite of electronics designed to get the full potential out of those three pounding pistons.

If you’re a motorcycle manufacturer and one or more of your models has had a cheeky, colloquial nickname (such as Hog, ‘Busa or Beemer) bestowed upon it, you know you’re doing something right. Suzuki’s GSX-R range, which debuted in 1984 with the GSX-R400, falls into this category, as the various family members that have come and gone over the years have come to be known as “Gixxers,” a mutant phonetic pronunciation of GSX-R as an acronym. It’s even on Urban Dictionary, and you can’t get much more mainstream than that (except for, you know, the Webster’s and Oxford dictionaries).

The current alpha dog of the Gixxer Pack is the GSX-R1000 and, as the name implies, the DOHC inline-four engine displaces just one cc short of one liter (that's 999cc for those of you who aren't up on your metric units of weight and measure). The 2011 model is a rocket ship, but Suzuki has found some room for improvement. And those improvements have been made to the 2012 model.

While burying the speedometer deep into the triple digits in a car is exciting (and something you should only do on a track…obviously…), doing the same thing on a motorcycle ratchets the excitement up exponentially. And going wide-open on a street bike? Even more knuckle-bleaching, as the big-inch engine bellows between your legs and the avalanche of angry air – undiluted by a full fairing – attempts to throw you off the bike and throw the bike off the pavement.

Here are 20 two-wheeled tarmac scorchers guaranteed to thrill.