HONDA CL750 SCRAMBLER

Honda’s most important motorcycles? Tough question but the Super Hawk 305 and Scrambler 305 have to be in the conversation. These were the two that put Honda on the big-bike map in the mid-1960s, each more than a match for British 500s of the day. And now the aftermarket firm Cobra USA has just paid homage to the CL77 Scrambler, with a new showbike that started life as a 2010-model Shadow RS750. Cobra’s Denny Berg is the man responsible for building the bike, which amazingly isn’t all that changed from stock. The mid-level twice-pipes are an obvious addition, as is the bench seat, but the rest is an exercise in paint and some nice detail touches

1950 HARLEY PANHEAD

KAWASAKI KZ400 CUSTOM

Alex Patrocinio edits the Barcelona-based custom culture magazine El Diablo, and this is his bike. It was a 35-year-old UJM with a seized engine when Alex found it, but his friends at the custom shop Mad Crow Garage have turned it into a very smart street tracker. A select few mods have transformed the stance of the bike, particularly a cut rear frame with repositioned shock mounts. The engine was rebuilt, and a new battery box and wiring system were installed. That tight-fitting rear fender is a 5” Triumph unit, but the tank and bars are refurbished stock items. A rich, vintage-themed paint job is the icing on the cake, courtesy of Welok Studio and the Rocket 88 Hot Rod Speed Shop. Muy bonita.

DP CUSTOMS GULF BOBBER

A couple of months ago, DP Customs’ 1979 Harley café racer was a king hit with Bike EXIF readers. So here’s the latest machine from the Arizona outfit: it’s also a ’79 ironhead, but with a totally different vibe. According to DP’s Justin Del Prado, “We started with the idea of building a low slung, stripped down bobber and wanted to incorporate some ideas from the classic Steve McQueen movie Le Mans. We really love that race era, and try to let it show through some of our bikes.” DP tore the stock ’79 apart, chopped the frame and hard-tailed the rear. (“This keeps the factory numbers vs. going with an off-the-shelf aftermarket frame.”) The bike sits 4″ lower and longer than stock. DP laced the wheels (21″ and 16″), built the exhaust, and created the paint and graphics with simplicity in mind. “We’re not into cluttered bikes with too much going on.”

KAWASAKI Z1 BY AC SANCTUARY

Japan probably has the most diverse custom motorcycle culture in the world. They like monkey bikes and mopeds and 110-cubic-inch Harleys and everything in between. And nothing is immune from the touch of the angle grinder, or the hiss of the metalflake spray gun. But there are a few companies that eschew this excess, and AC Sanctuary is one of them. Headquartered in Tokyo, it’s a chain of workshops that specializes in the retro superbikes of the 1970s

MOTOMORPHIC JAFM

Next Generation Concept

YAMAHA SR400 BY LUXE MOTORCYCLE

YAMAHA SR400 BY LUXE MOTORCYCLE

Luxe is one of the smaller Japanese custom builders. They’re based in a little white-painted wooden workshop at the foot of Mount Akagi, and like most of their ilk, stick to the four staple ingredients of the Eastern scene: the Yamaha SR400, SR500 and XS650, and the Kawasaki W650. But they’re not afraid to try something different once they get their hands on those bikes.

This Yamaha SR400 is owned by a Mr Su-Tarou, and it bucks the trend for dark, monochromatic styling. The paintwork has a sunkissed, retro feel—Orangina colors balanced with flashes of red on the rear brake drum, flashers, grips and … that extraordinary muffler. Mechanical mods include a tuned SR500 engine, uprated Kehin caburetion, an underseat oil tank and upgraded front brakes. Just the thing for a leisurely blast along a coast road on a warm summer’s evening.

DERBI MULHACÉN HOT BOB

DERBI MULHACÉN HOT BOB

The great Spanish names of Ossa, Bultaco, and Montesa have gone, but Derbi remains—albeit as a subsidiary of Italian giant Piaggio. Most Derbi motorcycles are sub-125 cc city bikes, but the Mulhacén 659 is an interesting crack at the burgeoning scrambler market. It’s powered by a Yamaha-designed big single, reportedly the largest engine ever fitted to a Spanish motorcycle. At the 2006 EICMA show, Derbi revealed this ‘Hot Bob’ concept: unsurprisingly, nothing came of it, but the Mulhacén is gradually making a name for itself as a respectable scrambler with a strong dash of style. The latest variant from Derbi is the “Mulhacén Café 659 Angel Nieto Limited Edition”, a tribute to a 1970s Spanish roadracing hero. It has a slightly better paintjob than Hot Bob.

YAMAHA XS650 TRACKER

YAMAHA XS650 TRACKER

The king of street tracker style in the US is Mule Motorcycles‘ Richard Pollock. Right now he’s working on a Yamaha for a customer in Vancouver, Canada—and here’s a sneak preview. The project began as a request for a frame, but soon turned into an complete bike build. According to Richard, “It has all my normal frame mods, a Shell 750 kit and cam, valve springs and 34mm Mikuni carbys. The front hub is stock XS650 Yamaha, rear is a special 36-hole Barnes. We used GSX-R forks with stock lower clamp and calipers, then made a special top clamp to accept AFAM DT bars”. The detailing is exquisite and even at this stage, the bike looks beautifully balanced. We can’t wait to see the finished product.

2009 BARBER VINTAGE FESTIVAL AUCTION

2009 BARBER VINTAGE FESTIVAL AUCTION

he annual classic motorcycle auction in Birmingham, Alabama, often throws up something interesting. In 2006, it was a 1913 Flying Merkel that sold for a staggering $130,000. This year, one of the stars is likely to be the famed 1951 Vincent Black Shadow Chopper (above) from Redneck Engineering. There’s some tempting machinery amongst the 90 lots registered so far, including a 1938 BMW R51, and three crackers from 1949: a Douglas trials bike, a Vincent HRD Rapide (Series B) and a Harley-Davidson WL Class C privateer racer. The auction is scheduled for Saturday 10 October, and if you can’t make it there in person, you can bid online. With many motorcycles being offered without a reserve, it’s a real chance to pick up a bargain. Just watch that 13% internet buyer’s premium.

TRIUMPH MECATWIN ROCKETEER

TRIUMPH MECATWIN ROCKETEER

One of our all-time favourite cafe racers is Mecatwin’s stunning Triumph 800 Racer. The French workshop specializes in Triumph and Harley customs, and has recently released the Rocketeer, a custom version of the Rocket III. The Rocket is already somewhat extreme, having a 2.3-liter inline triple, so Mecatwin has wisely left the 140 bhp engine alone. Instead, it’s cleaned up and blacked-out the visual elements, and upgraded ancillary components such as the exhaust system. It’s enough to transform the bloated cruiser into a more hardcore machine with a tiny hint of the rat bike aesthetic—less Electra Glide and more V-Rod, if you like. We’d never ride one of these in a million years, but it’s still an interesting machine to contemplate.

MOTO GUZZI AMBASSADOR RACER

MOTO GUZZI AMBASSADOR RACER

If you’re a fan of the Euro custom scene in Japan, you might guess that this molto bella750cc V-twin is the work of Ritmo Sereno. It has that signature Ritmo ‘look’: shiny, factory-fresh authenticity mixed with clever custom detailing. But this vintage Guzzi is no trailer queen. It’s actually a fully-functioning racer, and Ritmo has been running it at Fuji Speedway in the ‘Legend of Classic’ historic racing series. (After taking off the cute little tool roll, presumably). There are more images of the Ambassador in recent posts on theblog of Ritmo’s CEO, Siroh Nakajima. And if you’re heading over that way, also check out the shots of the rare and beautiful Magni currently being prepared in Ritmo’s Tokyo workshop. That one’s going to be a beauty too.

ATOM BOMB DOCTOR WHO

ATOM BOMB DOCTOR WHO

The latest build to come out of Clay Rathburn’s workshop in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia is this lovely 1962 Triumph 6T Thunderbird. The original plan was to produce a running mockup for a customer in Connecticut, who would then tear down the bike and paint and reassemble. As the build progressed, the customer wisely decided to let Clay finish the job: “Maybe you should go ahead and paint the tins and make it an Atom Bombbike.” The dark, understated paintwork sets off the polished motor beautifully, and a casual observer would probably wonder if this is a vintage original or a tastefully recreated custom. Neat touches abound, from the perfect curve of the bars to the short fork gaiters and the deep, glossy finish on the tank. Yes, ‘Doctor Who‘ is another classy, sure-fire winner from Atom Bomb, and we can’t wait to see what Clay comes up with next

PEACE FROG INDIAN ARROW

PEACE FROG INDIAN ARROW

If you’re wondering what the famed Indian badge is doing on such a delicate, lightweight motorcycle, read on. After the Second World War, Indian changed ownership and stopped producing its traditional big motorcycles. In the US, new owners released small and somewhat under-engineered models: the Arrow, Super Scout and Warrior. In England, a company called Brockhouse rebadged Royal Enfields, and sold those as Indians. And that’s what this bike seems to be. It’s a very unusual custom from a small (they don’t yet have a website) but rather interesting shop called Peace Frog, based in Kumamoto in southern Japan. Perhaps it’s based on the Royal Enfield Crusader, which had a 248cc pushrod OHV. Peace Frog exhibited at the recent New Order show in Kobe, Japan’s premier custom event. Hopefully they can hold it together and become a fixture on the Japanese scene. Indian proved less adept at the business side of things—in 1953, the company stopped manufacturing its own motorcycles and sold repainted, badge-engineered Royal Enfields imported from Britain.

RON WOOD BMW F 800

RON WOOD BMW F 800

A couple of years ago, BMW USA took the Rotax engine from an F 800 and gave it to legendary flat track builder Ron Wood. Wood obliged by building this exquisite machine, and on its very first competitive outing, it finished in sixth place. The F 800 was the loudest bike on the track: the AMA race announcer reported that the BMW “sounded like a bear coming out of his den for the first time”. But aside from the exhaust system, the motor in this bike is mostly stock, and it even retains the electric start. Wouldn’t it be great if BMW made a road-legal version of this?

VICENTE DESIGN

VICENTE DESIGN

You may know Jean-François Vicente. He used to run a French retro custom outfit, VD Classic, that we’ve featured before. J-F has a new company now, called Vicente Design—and he’s pursuing a more eclectic style of bike building. “One day I woke up thinking twenty years of SRs and XT500s was enough,” he says. “I didn’t want to spend my life designing only ‘neo retro’ bikes.” So J-F bought this Yamaha through a classified ad in the US. It had a Kenny Roberts frame and was intended for dirt track use, but was in bad shape. So J-F rebuilt it as a 70s Yamaha TZ-style production racer, spending a lot of time on the dented and cracked frame. The tank, seat housing and front fender are made from carbon fiber. The engine was blueprinted and rebuilt to race spec, and mated to a racing gearbox located in Japan. The bike now weighs less than 115 kg—and not surprisingly, “handling is perfect”.

CUSTOM TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE

CUSTOM TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE

This 2005 Triumph Bonneville has been subtly modified with matte black paint, lowered bars, a Thruxton seat, no front fender and a complete custom fabrication for the rear fender and lighting. The Canadian owner, adman Bruce Sinclair, has also designed custom pipes that change the performance and sound of the Bonneville quite dramatically: “The problem with the new stock Bonneville is that it doesn’t sound like it used to,” says Bruce. “The new bikes seem to have a lot more table manners than the old—which is ok for some, but not for me.” Bruce calls his pipes ‘Blunts’ because they’re recycled from the original Triumph stock mufflers. “I took the straight sections from both sides of each pipe and welded them together to create a 6” mini baffle on the end of the open headers. These Blunts give the perfect tone to a Bonneville and shave 14lbs of metal off the weight.” 

HARLEY V-ROD RACING SIDECAR

HARLEY V-ROD RACING SIDECAR

I  didn’t realise this machine was a Harley when I first spotted it. It’s the extraordinary creation of Hog Wild Racing, regular winners at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The custom chassis was originally built to fit a Suzuki TL1000R, but upgraded to accommodate a V-Rod engine in 2003. The stock belt has been converted to chain drive, and the motor pumps out 110bhp. The electronics and fuel injection systems are stock, but have been remapped. Wheels are custom-built 15” Keizers, with a 13” on the sidecar. The top speed is a whisker over 100mph and the bike, unbelievably, is road legal even in California. In 2006, Hog Wild entered their sidecar racer in the world’s toughest rally—the Dakar—and were leading their class when a sprocket broke, took too long to repair, and triggered disqualification.

BMW ISDT ENDURO RACER

BMW ISDT ENDURO RACER

BMW’s profile in the racing enduro market seems to be slipping of late. (Which is a pity, because the G450X offers promise, as well as BMW’s usual 24-month warranty.) But this factory-endorsed, 900 cc boxer enduro from almost thirty years ago shows what could have been. In 1980 it won the German and European enduro championships, plus the prestigious ISDT. The bike apparently sports 50 bhp and weighs just 132 kg, and inspired the cultish BMW R80 G/S (Gelände/Straße, or off-road/street) built from ’81 to ‘87. That machine married the 800 cc R80/7 engine to a strengthened R65 chassis, and was the only BMW twin to be unaffected by the launch of the K series