Custom Motorcycle Builds

[DaveM]

SIX YEARS IN THE MAKING: Ducati 916SPS ‘Project X’ by VR Customs.

The Isle of Man TT and the Dakar rally are arguably the two toughest tests in all of motorcycling, pushing man and machine to the very limit, and sadly claiming lives along the way. But it’s in these two races, among many others, where Vendetta Racing UAE plies their trade and gives them a reputation for building bulletproof bikes to hunt for the win. Racing, however, can be a restrictive practice...

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[DaveM]

Dunstall Drainpipe: A rare Norton resurfaces in the USA

Modern race bikes are shiny, perfect things: they have the air of being extruded from 3D printers in a hermetically sealed laboratory. But in days of yore, the typical racer was usually a little battered and bruised, with unique welding marks and bodged-up brackets and bodywork.

We have to admit to preferring them that way, and this Dunstall ‘Drainpipe’ Norton is the perfect example. It’s no Italian supermodel, but it’s still very compelling to look at.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Paul Dunstall was one of the most famous tuners and race bike builders in Britain. His Norton Domiracers were a force to be reckoned with on the track, and after complaints from competitors, Dunstall ended up moving up into the production classes as a homologated manufacturer.

But despite the increased competition, that didn’t stop a Dunstall from winning the Isle of Man Production TT with Ray Pickrell on board.

This particular Dunstall belongs to American Jamie Waters. He’s one of the world’s top collectors of the marque—and a man who likes to ride and even race his bikes, rather than just park them up.

Dunstall built this Drainpipe (or ‘Spine Back’) for the 1969 racing season, and then sold it in the early 1970s to the Swiss Norton importer, who continued to race it in European events. Jamie bought the bike nearly 15 years ago, after seeing it advertised on a vintage race bike website.

He decided not to ‘restore’ it, but preserve the patina. “Fluids, valve adjustment, tires, and fitting a removable belly pan are the only things I’ve done to it,” he says.

“The bodywork is as it was when I purchased the bike. The bike continued racing for years after being purchased from Dunstall. I know it had at least one tip over due to the crushed megaphone that was with the spares … Fiberglass bodywork items are racing consumables.”

The ‘spine back’ and ‘drainpipe’ nicknames come from the three-inch central chassis tube, which is augmented by one-inch bracing tubes. The central tube doubles as both the swing arm pivot and oil tank for the dry sump engine—helping to keep dry weight down to barely 300 pounds, even with a conventional iron cylinder barrel.

Designed by Eddie Robinson, also of Seeley fame, the frame was intended as a replacement for the more conventional twin downtube ‘Lowboy’ Domiracer. It was designed to handle the 72 hp being squeezed from Dunstall’s 745cc Norton-based twins, but was still tied together well, and felt impossibly narrow for the time.

“I have large-format photos showing the bike in front of Dunstall Equipe,” says Jamie. “The originals are large enough to identify my bike, based on frame and tank welds, bracketry, and other bits and bobs.”

“There was no fairing on the bike at that time. But it was in a late configuration with a Blair exhaust, and dual Dunstall front brakes, and so on.” Today the Norton retains the Blair exhaust, but the front brake is a period original Norton Production Racer item—with an 11.5-inch single disk.

“The front brake was swapped out a long time ago when the bike was being raced in Europe,” Jamie reveals. “It’s an original NVPS Lockheed Racing unit, as used on the Production Racers of 1970-71.”

“The cast-into-the-slider calipers of the Dunstall brake in the original photographs were not suitable for racing: the heat of the calipers transferred directly to the slider and the fork oil. This was the same setup Dunstall was offering on his street Commandos. A terrible idea—and probably something that was simply fitted at the time of sale.”

These Dunstalls are extremely rare, but luckily for us, crack photographer Doug MacRae has managed to capture Jamie’s bike in detail, half a century after it first hit the tracks in Europe.

The number of original machines purported to have been built for the 1969 season has seemingly grown from three to six over the years, but Paul Dunstall has reportedly confirmed that they made only three spine frame bikes—or solus frames maybe—in total.

One is in the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu in England, one is the bike shown here, and Jamie has seen photos of another that he believes to be genuine, in the States.

Jamie has not raced his Dunstall in competition, but he’s done vintage track days on it. “The turn-in is fantastic—no doubt the extreme forward position of the engine helps that,” he reports.

“That said, there’s no free lunch, and corner exit can be a handful if the throttle is applied too early. If you’re Ray Pickrell, no sweat. If you’re Jamie Waters, much sweat!”

Jamie Waters | Images by (and thanks to) Douglas MacRae | Instagram | Print store

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[DaveM]

HooliGhana: A Super Hooligan racer builds a KTM drift bike

It’s been a challenging year for most people. But the restrictions that have come from the worldwide pandemic have sparked new forms of creativity. For hooligan flat track racer Andy DiBrino, the result was a wild drift video titled ‘HooliGhana,’ with a BMW E36 and a KTM 790 Duke—both piloted by him.

Based in Tualatin, Oregon, Andy’s an experienced motocross, flat track and road racer. He’s also a two-time Super Hooligan AMA National flat track champion. But there hasn’t been much racing this year, so Andy discovered a new pastime: drifting at his local go-kart track.

“I bought a late 90s BMW E36 drift car from a local Formula Drift competitor,” he tells us, “and drifting became a new hobby of mine. Not long after, I had the inclination to take the 790 out to a parking lot to see if I could drift it too.”

Andy had been toying with the idea of creating a gymkhana-like motorcycle video for years—but now, the idea of combining the car and bike was appealing. “I had seen it done before with the ICON videos, but not with the gymkhana format. And definitely not with a single person doing both the driving and riding.”

“I felt I had a cool, unique idea. And it was the perfect time to make a video with all my other events postponed, and people sitting at home looking for entertainment.”

Andy has a lot of bikes in his garage, including a couple of motocross bikes and Kawasaki ZX-10Rs. But he opted to use his 2019-model KTM 790 Duke flat tracker—because he’s used to getting it sideways on dirt.

Andy raced and developed this bike all of last year, and had it perfectly setup for this year’s Super Hooligan campaign. In stock trim, it’s a frighteningly agile 105 hp / 373 lbs weapon, that KTM have aptly nicknamed ‘The Scalpel.’ But Andy’s race bike is a long, long way from stock…

“I was the first guy to build a KTM hooligan bike,” Andy tells us. “I knew this bike could be a game changer, because of how light it is compared to the other brands racing like Harley-Davidson and Indian. The goal was to add a third consecutive Super Hooligan title to my belt, but I came up just shy in the runner-up spot. But not without a successful season though, with three race wins and five podiums on the KTM”

“I went crazy on this KTM build. The customization of the bike was as fun as racing it for me. I got a lot of grief from hooligan racers, saying I was taking it too far or something. But I feel most people would agree, half of the fun is the build, and I wanted to make this one special”

Super Hooligan rules dictate that your race bike must be a twin with a displacement of at least 750 cc, and that its frame must remain stock. Harley-Davidson Sportsters and XG750 ‘Street’ models are popular, and relatively easy to modify. (Andy won both his titles on the XG750.)

Getting the more complicated 790 Duke flat track-ready required some heavy lifting, but Andy had help from Savage Custom Fabrication. “They were responsible for all the custom work,” he says, “and the fabricator, Travis Johnson, is a true artist. I had the vision, and he brought it to life for me.”

“It was a lot of fun pioneering the KTM, and now he has built at least five other identical 790 Dukes for hooligan racers all over the country.”

Savage Custom Fabrication built the KTM’s new fuel cell, and a one-piece fiberglass body kit. They also fabricated a new subframe, foot controls, and a bunch of relocation brackets, mounts and spacers. The arrangement’s capped off with a seat cover from Saddlemen.

Up front, a set of S&S Cycle Indian FTR750 triples holds 43 mm Öhlins forks. Out back, a custom-built Öhlins shock is hooked up to a specially designed flat track swingarm from C&J.

Durelle Racing built a set of 19” wheels for the KTM, with a quick-change rear hub and Dunlop DT3 tires. The brakes are a combination of MotoMaster rotors, with a Brembo rear caliper and a MotoMaster Supermoto front caliper. The sprockets are from Superlite, matched to a D.I.D. ERT3 chain.

EDR Performance built and tuned the Duke’s 799 cc motor, adding a DynoJet Power Commander in the process. Tucked behind the bike’s right-side number board is a Competition Werkes muffler, and the exhaust’s catalytic convertor’s been eliminated too. There are less noticeable upgrades too—like a set of Samco hoses, and a MotionPro catch can.

Up top are a set of ODI ‘McGrath’ bend handlebars on 2” Rox Speed FX pivoting risers, along with a set of Cycra hand guards. The hand guards and front brake aren’t typically seen on flat track bikes, but Andy had added them for some asphalt TT-style races that never happened.

The only mod he added for drifting was a set of axle sliders for crash protection. And he removed the custom steel skid plate and accompanying lead piece, that add weight to the bike to bring it within the rules for Super Hooligan racing. (Race bikes can’t weigh less than 400 lbs, but the KTM comes in at 340 lbs in this trim.)

Andy’s hope with HooliGhana is that a major sponsor will catch on, and throw enough money at him to build a drift-specific machine for the next video. Because although he had fun throwing around the 790, there are better ways to set up a motorcycle for drifting.

“Purpose-built drift-bikes usually have much longer wheelbases and extended swingarms,” he explains. “My 790 Duke has a custom flat track swingarm that allows me to run the same wheelbase as a XR750 and FTR750, in the 54-55” range.”

“The shorter the wheelbase, the more traction a bike produces, which is not what you want for drifting. Because the bike becomes way twitchier when slinging the rear end around. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to get the KTM to not hook-up and wheelie so violently all the time.”

“It took some adapting to, but I was able to make it work without making any modifications.”

For the next bike, Andy’s leaning towards the new KTM 890 Duke R—which not only makes more power than the 790, but actually weighs a hair less. But for now, he’s content to keep slinging the 790 around whatever dirt track or gymkhana course he finds himself at.

And looking at the HooliGhana video, he seems to be having more than enough fun with it. If only we had a fraction of this skill.

Andy DiBrino Instagram | Images by Nick Zaback | Spotted on Asphalt & Rubber

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[DaveM]

Speed Read, 15 November 2020

A peek at a seriously cool cyberpunk scooter concept from BMW, plus an R100 rescued from the wrecker’s yard in Spain, a gorgeous Guzzi T5 from Italy, and a Suzuki V-Strom clad entirely in wood. Yes, really.

BMW Motorrad Definition CE 04 The problem with most compact scooters is the styling. They’re spindly, plastic-y things, and look like they’d splinter into a dozen pieces if dropped. There are a few exceptions though, such as Piaggio’s Vespa brand and the Honda Zoomer—and it looks like BMW is about to join that party.

The ‘Definition CE 04’ is an urban electric scooter concept, and it looks good. BMW as a company is heavily focused on EVs right now, and Motorrad prototypes have a habit of making it into production, in slightly revised form. So it wouldn’t surprise us to see this scooter hitting the showrooms late next year.

BMW says the concept has ‘production readiness’—and the company already has a lot of experience with electric scooters, via the pricey but effective C Evolution model. We’re hoping it goes into production looking exactly like the prototype, with agreeably chunky bodywork and vivid color highlights. [More]

BMW R100 by Ønix Design BMW is definitely looking towards the future, but there’s still a lot of love for older Bayerische Motoren Werke bikes amongst owners. Most bikes that are four decades old and falling apart get sent to the wreckers, but airheads tend to get a reprieve.

Like this 1977 R100 from Valencia in Spain. This was a basket case built up by an enterprising (and young) mechanical engineer called Iñaki Bellver, who runs a workshop called Ønix Design in his spare time.

The rescue job was commissioned by a local doctor, and Iñaki has performed the surgery very well indeed. There’s nothing radical on the build sheet, but lots of neat details—from lifting the fuel tank slightly to even out the lines, building a new subframe and seat unit, and completely revising the cockpit with Renthal Ultra Low bars and all-new controls.

The new stainless steel 2-into-1 exhaust system is fully legal in Spain, the engine has been refreshed for the next four decades of service, and there’s a Motogadget Motoscope Tiny speedo flushed into the top triple tree. The forks have been dropped a notch and new YSS shocks level out the rear.

Virtually everything has been rebuilt, or stripped back to bare metal and powder coated or painted. The result is perfecto.

Moto Guzzi 850 T5 by Remastered Cycle Luca Morelli has been running Remastered Cycle for 11 years in Brescia, Italy, and he’s built almost 100 bikes to date. This stunning T5 is his latest restoration: it’s 35 years old but looks as good as new, and could probably show a clean pair of heels to the current V9 model too.

The Guzzi has been totally stripped down and rebuilt, with a modified aftermarket tank, a new seat, and a new subframe and tail unit—all fettled by Luca and his crew. Bitubo forks and YSS shocks upgrade the handling, and Brembo master cylinders and new brake hoses help haul everything to a stop.

The mighty V-twin now breathes easy through classic Lafranconi exhausts, and Luca has added a quick action Tommaselli throttle to amp up the excitement level even further. It’s old school motorcycling at its best. [Remastered Cycle]

Suzuki V-Strom DL650 by James Hay The arguments around form versus function will rage forever in the custom scene, and never be answered. We generally sit in the middle, somewhere on the uncomfortable fence—but occasionally a bike comes along that is so extreme, we just have to feature it.

This is one of those bikes, from Canadian builder James Hay. “I haven’t seen anything quite like my bike on your site, so can’t guess whether or not you’ll find it interesting,” he says. “It is a bit of a head-turner here in Ottawa.”

It’d turn heads just about anywhere in the world, because it’s a Suzuki V-Strom re-clad with entirely wooden bodywork. James got his inspiration from a 1920s H6C Hispano-Suiza car with a wooden body, and after he got soaked during six hours of riding in heavy rain, he decided to pull the trigger and build himself a land yacht.

James has used methods similar to boat building and aircraft bodywork, with copper nails through layers of wood, plus fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Dzus fasteners allow the lower panels to be removed to adjust tire air pressure and do oil changes without major disassembly.

It’s been a long-term project: James started in 2013 with drawings, then made a one-fifth scale model. A full size buck followed, with clear pine used for the final body. And instead of paint, there are eight to ten coats of boat varnish.

Why? “I like the way it looks, and so do lots of others,” says James. “Kids sometimes wave! It’s big fun. Keeps the wind off, and my gas mileage improved about 10%.”

“I completed a new dashboard last winter, and then the panels that fill the area between gas tank and the forward fairing. I figure this project is done now, and I can just ride the darn thing.”

We’d love to ride it too, but would be scared of dropping it …

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[DaveM]

UNIQUE SPIN: Yamaha XV920R by Bonafide Moto.

Whatever your creative pursuit, motorcycles like boy bands always run the risk of becoming another cookie cutter example unless you’re committed to truly following your own path. Among a select group of popular donors, the Yamaha XV is particularly susceptible, so to the rescue comes a man who builds strictly for his own personal tastes. Growing up around muscle cars, Manello Dorais brings an all...

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[DaveM]

Cafe ‘Blade: A home-built Honda CBR900RR cafe racer

We’ve learnt to never underestimate garage builders. After-hours projects are usually executed with little money, but an abundance of time—and that sparks creativity and ingenuity.

This home-built cafe racer is sharp and minimalistic, but it’s also a bitsa of the highest order. Using a crashed 1996 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade as a donor, builder Leo Poulsen built it up with a mash up of parts that’s borderline genius. Oh, and it’s the first build out of his home garage, too.

Leo started out as a car mechanic back in the day, before working as a motorcycle mechanic, and later workshop boss. Now he’s passing his skills on to the next generation at a technical college, while wrenching on bikes at night, in his 30-square-meter home garage in Jutland, Denmark.

“Working with bikes in the late hours is like therapy for me,” he says. “Working in my workshop, good music on the radio and a cup of coffee and all the difficulties of the day seem to disappear.”

The 1990s Fireblade is an unlikely donor for a cafe racer, but Leo reckons the principles are the same. “This is my point of view on a modern cafe racer,” he explains, “trying to be true to the spirit of the original cafe racers of the sixties. Making a stock bike lighter, faster and of course cool looking…all of this inside a reasonable budget.”

“The goal of this project was to make a bike usable for an everyday ride, and still capable of doing a decent lap time on an occasional track day.”

Most of the parts on Leo’s Fireblade are second hand bits from other bikes, which have been refurbished or modified. The paint work and some of the suspension upgrades were outsourced—but the rest was done by Leo, or with help from friends that had access to things like laser cutting and powder coating.

The front forks are stock on the outside, but were rebuilt with internals from a newer Fireblade, plus a bunch of Öhlins parts. It’s a trick setup too, with an alloy housing, Teflon bushings and a low friction spring. The rear shock’s an Öhlins unit from an Aprilia RSV Mille, re-sprung and re-valved to match the bike, and the steering damper is from a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6RR.

The wheels are Marvic magnesium units with an interesting backstory. “I bought them from a guy, who bought them from a guy, who should have raced them on a VTR1000 SP on the Isle of Man,” says Leo. “But apparently he didn’t, because they didn’t fit his VTR… and that brought them to me.”

“Due to the doubtful history, I had them refurbished at a specialist in the UK, who blasted, crack tested, acid primed and power coated them.”

Leo refurbished the stock brake calipers, then added EBC Vee-Rotors and braided stainless steel lines from Goodridge. He also added Accossato brake and clutch controls, Walter Moto rear sets, and one-off brackets for the fluid reservoirs. And all the spacers and bushings for the brake lines have been cut from carbon fiber tube.

Up front is a second hand Ducati Monster 1200 headlight sourced via eBay, complete with an LED daytime running light. It’s mounted on a laser-cut bracket that also holds the Motogadget tachometer, and the bike’s top yoke has been machined down so that it all integrates neatly.

Other cockpit upgrades include TRW clip-ons, mated to Motogadget bar-end turn signals and mirrors. Leo rewired the bike around a Motogadget mo.unit blue controller, and packaged all the important bits in a custom-made box above the crankcase. That let him slim the switches down to a single three-button Motone cluster.

“I always liked the clean look of a race bike handlebar,” he says, “and the three button unit is as close as it gets to that look. Thanks to the amazing possibilities of the Motogadget mo.unit, and some upgraded hydraulic brake light switches, the daytime running light can be turned on with a little dab on the brake pedal.”

The Fireblade’s fuel tank survived the crash that originally sidelined it, but the rest of the bodywork is gone. Out back, Leo sourced a carbon fiber tailpiece for the Norton Dominator SS, from Zero Limits Carbon. It’s been finished off with an embossed race pad, and sits on a custom-made aluminum subframe.

With 130 hp on tap and famed Honda reliability, Leo left the motor alone. It was simply checked, serviced, dry ice-cleaned, and then upgraded with a Factory Pro Evo gearbox shift kit. It wasn’t repainted though; a deliberate move to retain a measure of patina, and to let the engine cool itself “as intended by Honda.”

The exhaust system is a combination of race headers that were on the bike when Leo got it, and a titanium and carbon muffler from a Yamaha R6. The headers were in a bad state, so they were glass blasted, polished and then sanded back to the original finish. New springs and a hand-made bracket hold everything together.

Leo left no stone unturned, and the Honda’s fully loaded with custom spacers and bushings, upgraded hardware and new bearings and seals. A fresh coat of paint is complemented by semi-gloss powder coating on the frame, subframe and swingarm.

Leo’s once-wrecked Fireblade not only has the perfect stance, but is also well-equipped and weighs in at just 170 kg, wet. But he’s not planning to enjoy it for long. It’s for sale to make space for his next project…

“It’s A GSX-R1100 Slabside,” he says, “planned as a Yoshimura AMA Superbike replica with the same goal as on the Fireblade: make it lighter, faster and cooler looking than stock.”

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[DaveM]

FRENCH EVOLUTION: 2011 Ducati 848 SBK by JC Racing.

It was one of the most beautiful and sought after bikes of the ’70s and when an ageing Mike ‘The Bike’ Hailwood took one to victory at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, the legacy of the Ducati 900SS was set in stone forever. Hailing from Béziers, in Southern France, Jérémie Duchampt has always been a big fan of the Bologna brand. But what he felt was missing from the last ten years of the company’s line...

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[DaveM]

Doragon: A Harley Sportster 1200 custom from Dubai

I didn’t see many motorcycles when I paid a brief visit to Dubai a few years ago. The streets were full of Toyota Landcruisers, growling supercars and Mercedes sedans with black tinted glass.

But the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates has a thriving biker scene if you know where to look, and even an annual custom show called ‘Art of Motorcycles.’

One of the key players in the local custom scene is Möto Rauch & Staub. A full-service workshop with a café and barbershop attached, it was started up by German Marco Möller. South African photographer Antonie Robertson lends a hand on the custom builds.

This 1999 Sportster is the ‘shop bike’—a quirky carbureted XL1200 that Marco (below left) and Antonie (below right) can use for running errands.

“The idea was to build a small, fun scoot that could be used as the shop daily,” says Marco. “We wanted to trim off all the proverbial Harley fat that these bikes are known for. Because the first thing that happens usually is new owners ‘upgrade’ the bike with chrome covers and cheap indicators!”

The XL1200 was stripped down to the essentials, and the ideas started flowing. This was not to be a big budget build, so a little inventiveness was called for.

And since Dubai was in lockdown during the build and Marco and Antonie had time on their hands, they decided to do as much fabrication as possible—rather than ordering in off-the-shelf aftermarket parts that could take weeks to arrive.

They located and installed a set of Sportster Forty-Eight forks, but that immediately created an extra problem. “The hardest part of the build was fitting a 16-inch aluminum disc wheel—popular with the older Sportster models—into the forks,” says Antonie. But the wheel was necessary to match its twin at the back.

So the hub was machined down, and fettled so that the brake rotor matched the caliper. “When that all lined up, I had to design a new axle and spacer bushes to placed the wheel square in the center of the new forks,” Antonie reveals.

“Now, even though it’s a 1200, the scoot has a tiny stance and feels very unassuming. But put the little dragon into a corner and you’ll love the 16-inch front wheel.”

The other big fabrication job was the new headlight, which is a repurposed old spotlight from a Jeep, with new high- and low-beam internals. Multiple cut aluminum shapes were hand-hammered, welded up, filed down and hand polished, to create a single unit that looks like it was sandcast back in the day.

“This was a major task with all the facets we had to consider, and it’s my favorite part of the build by far,” says Marco.

The satin black powdercoated bars are a ‘Bootlegger’ bend from TC Bros, and kitted out with Lowbrow grips, Japanese Posh switchgear, and a master cylinder and clutch control that were lying around the shop—both from KustomTech.

The throttle is repurposed from an old Japanese bike, and there’s no speedo on the bars. Instead, a tiny MMB unit sits down low, below the tank on the left hand side.

The tank was literally a rust bucket found on a shelf in the workshop. Given the classic peanut shape, it was a good match—so the boys cleaned it up, flushed out the inside, and made it fit.

“We wanted it to be a one-seater. We wanted to keep the shocks too: we did play around with the idea of a hardtail, but considering it would be a run-around, we decided to go more for comfort.”

Ideas were kicked around for a rear fender treatment, and Marco and Antonie eventually took inspiration from the Japanese approach. There’s a bobbed and kicked-up fender, a recessed indicator mount and a small hand-shaped aluminum cover that completes the frame for a harmonious line.

The taillight assembly, now with LEDs fitted, was made from a salvaged exhaust. It’s quite an aggressive look, but also follows the fender line. “We wanted the rear line to be smooth, but still give the tail section an aggressive stance with the Duro Median tires we decided to fit,” says Marco. The shocks are from Progressive Suspension, and another salvage find.

The engine has been treated to a Screamin’ Eagle slide carb and ignition system, a complete new custom exhaust system, and a chain drive conversion kit for a more classic look.

Less visible is the new wiring loom, centered on a Motogadget m.unit control box. Much of the wiring now runs inside the frame, with a lithium battery and the bulkier electronics now hidden under the seat on the left side.

Hand made (and often intricately engraved) details abound all over this Sporty, from the trimmed and polished covers to the aluminum skid plate and custom air intake filter. There are even Japanese coins discreetly embedded around the machine, in obscure places such as on the brake calipers.

“This bike was about figuring out what we wanted to build, and what we wanted to come out of Möto—now and in the future,” says Antonie.

“We didn’t have a big budget for expensive, off the shelf parts. We wanted to make everything ourselves, or use what we literally had lying around. And when we bought parts, they were always altered to fit.”

Like they say, necessity is the mother of invention. This Sportster might be cobbled together from found parts, but we’d take it over your typical Sturgis exhibition V-twin any day.

Möto Rauch & Staub Instagram | Images by Nihed Baouab

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[DaveM]

Hot Rod: A Californian Honda CB700SC Nighthawk restomod

Everyone knows and loves the iconic Honda CB750, but have you heard of the Honda CB700SC Nighthawk? Honda marketed it in the US from 1984 to 1986, as an answer to the infamous 1983 tariff. But it was a pretty rad motorcycle in its own right, too.

In a bid to help Harley-Davidson, the US slapped a 45% import tariff on all foreign motorcycles over 700 cc. The CB700SC’s 696 cc inline-four meant it could sneak under the limit, and it still made a respectable 80 hp and 61 Nm. It also had a shaft drive, twin front brakes, and hot rod styling with 16” split-spoke wheels.

The Nighthawk design has aged uncharacteristically well for its era. So it’s no surprise that the owner of this particular Nighthawk opted for a tasteful restomod, rather than a full-blown custom. His name is Chris Wimpey, and he’s a photographer based in San Diego, California.

“For this build I started with something that many riders can relate to,” he tells us. “A somewhat odd bike, one that might be lurking in the back of a garage or barn, as this one was, literally. Maybe not the typical starting place for a custom build. Perhaps something very affordable, for builders on a budget.”

Chris started the project in a friend’s shop in Portland, Oregon, where he would occasionally visit, but eventually moved it to his home garage. He did most of the work himself, but outsourced the serious fabrication and welding bits, along with paint and upholstery. And he taught himself to use CAD software, so that he could have a few smaller parts 3D printed.

Inspiration came from Honda’s racing history—specifically the early superbikes and endurance racers that Chris is enamored with. His goal was to retain much of the Nighthawk’s mid-80s vibe, but make it “compact, muscular, and capable, and a bit lighter, both physically and visually.”

The donor was bought as a stalled project with less than 20,000 miles on the dial, but Chris took a peek inside the motor anyway. Luckily both the internals and oil were squeaky clean, so he simply treated it to a thorough service with new fluids and filters.

The bike had come with a partially disassembled airbox, but given that Chris wanted to keep the area under the seat clean, he had no desire to reassemble it. So he did some research, and designed an intake system that would match the original’s air volume, to run optimally. A friend welded the part up using aluminum, and it uses a K&N filter.

Chris then installed an aftermarket four-into-one exhaust system from M.A.C. Products, and dropped a DynoJet kit into the carbs to fine-tune the motor. “Everything came together very well, and the engine runs like a champ,” he says.

Moving to the chassis, Chris refurbished the Honda’s stock forks and brakes, and opted to keep its quirky 16” wheels, wrapping them in Pirelli Sport Demon rubber. The Nighthawk is sort of a rolling project, so in some photos its wearing its original rear shocks, and in others a pair of replacement RFY units.

A previous fall had left some light damage on the tank and fairing—but the Nighthawk came with a spare tank. So Chris sent the ‘neat’ tank off for paint, and then discovered after the fact that the filler neck diameters were different. So he very carefully modified the filler on the freshly painted tank with a Dremel tool.

The original, damaged tank was then hacked up, to make a tailpiece that would echo the same lines. The main electronic components sit under the hump, the seat sports a read leather cover, and everything sits on a fresh subframe. Overall, the setup complements the lines of the OEM parts beautifully.

Most of the Nighthawk’s cockpit is stock too, starting with the fairing. Chris had to do some fiberglass work to repair the dings, and painted the tinted screen black since it was badly scuffed. He kept the original instruments too, but swapped the bars out for his favorite retro superbike bend.

There’s a host of harder-to-spot mods too. The swingarm’s been braced, and there’s a Lithium-ion battery hiding in custom-made box. Chris installed LED turn signals all round, and sunk an LED strip into the rear of the frame for a taillight.

The Nighthawk’s new livery is striking, and is a direct nod to the Honda racing colors of the 60s. “One of my favorite bikes is the Honda RC166 ridden by Mike Hailwood,” says Chris. “A six cylinder wonder.”

Chris did all the sanding and priming himself, and then handed the parts to his painter friend, Joe Bell, who specializes in vintage and classic bicycles. The engine was done in black with red logos, and a wrinkle red finish on the valve covers.

This 80s wonder now looks a whole lot sharper, but still delightfully retro. And it’s a goer, too… “The bike’s handling is great. With its 16” wheels it is quick and agile, and the stock fork works well, once the proper fluid and air pressure are applied. The TRAC anti-dive unit is surprisingly effective, with a good range of adjustment.”

“At the time of its introduction, Cycle magazine referred to the CB700SC as the ‘California Hot Rod.’ I like to think that my version picks up where the factory effort left off.”

Chris Wimpey | Instagram

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[DaveM]

BURNING LOVE: Yamaha XV750 by Elvis Custom.

Keep your eye on the custom scene for long enough and you start to get a feel for the design of bikes that emanate from each country across the globe. While certain places may favour a particular style, when it comes to the Central European nation of Poland, almost all of their bikes take on a lean and mean vibe that’s impossible to shake. This Yamaha belonging to Radoslaw Tyc is no different and...

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[DaveM]

Add Lightness: A wild Harley Softail street tracker from SMCO

Suicide Machine Company build machines that go fast and turn well. Brothers Aaron and Shaun Guardado have a taste for speed, and it’s right there in their company slogan: “Fast Loud Deathproof.”

So when they were invited to build a custom Harley for this year’s Born Free show in Southern California, it wasn’t likely to be a chopper. Instead, SMCO took a Softail Standard, shaved 160 pounds [72 kilos] off it, and built a rapid street tracker that’s borderline insane.

“The first step was to plan out where we could save the most weight,” says Aaron, “and improve the handling of the bike. We integrated components that we’ve used in our past from road racing, flat track racing, and previous builds—leaning towards strong, lightweight composites, and fabricating with aluminum and titanium.”

So in a bid to add as much lightness as possible, this Softail street tracker is loaded with carbon fiber parts.

The wheels are 17” carbon Blackstone TEK items, supplied by Brocks Performance; a Ducati Diavel front, and a Ducati 959 rear. They’re shod with Pirelli Supercorsa TD rubber—a street legal tire designed for track use too.

The front forks are custom units from CeraCarbon with fully adjustable Öhlins internals. Both the upper and lower tubes are carbon fiber, with a ceramic coating bonded to the lowers for zero resistance.

The Speed Merchant supplied a new swingarm, which is mated to a custom shock from Gears Racing. The entire subframe’s been rebuilt too.

With better suspension and rubber, SMCO chose to also upgrade the brakes. So they installed Brembo .484 CNC radial mount calipers, with full floating rotors from BrakeTech USA, and trick dry-break fittings from Core Moto. Even the paddock stand is ‘performance’ (it’s a carbon fiber unit from GDH Motorsport).

SMCO also eliminated all of the Harley’s steel bodywork, shaving off even more weight. Long time readers of Bike EXIF might recognize the monocoque bodywork—it was designed by Alex Earle, in the same style as his early Ducati flat tracker. Made entirely from carbon fiber and capped with a Saddlemen seat, it took a little modification to fit over the Softail’s bones.

There’s a ton of trick fabrication happening under the bodywork too. Fuel’s held in an aluminum cell with a quick-fill cap, and a carbon box houses a Speedcell Lithium-ion battery, while also supporting the seat.

SMCO have experience extracting maximum performance from Harley’s Milwaukee-Eight power plant. “Our Road Glide Special from 2019 is cranking out over 130 hp and 145 Nm,” says Aaron. On this bike, they installed a cam, cam plate, oil pump, and adjustable pushrods from V-twin tuning gurus, S&S Cycle.

They also swapped the fuel injection for a 45 mm Mikuni carb. It’s fed by a modified air cleaner from San Diego Customs, with the SMCO logo machined into it by Horsepower Inc. Custom-made titanium exhaust headers run high and tight under the body’s side boards, into dual titanium Austin Racing mufflers.

The bike’s also running a standalone ECU from The Speed Merchant, to make it work with the carb. It allowed Aaron and Shaun to ditch the stock wiring harness and can-bus system, setup their own wiring, and install CNC Racing’s Ducati Panigale switchgear.

The full parts spec on this performance-driven street tracker is eye watering. There’s a chain conversion with custom sprockets from CeraCarbon Racing, and mid foot controls that use carbon plates matched to Roland Sands Design pegs and shift levers.

Up top are are ProTaper dirt track handlebars, narrowed and mounted on RSD risers, with Brembo RCS controls. The carbon fiber levers are from AEM Factory, as are the fluid reservoirs, which are ‘direct mount’ units that require no plumbing. There’s also an upgraded hydraulic clutch actuator from Baker Drivetrain.

A Baja Designs Squadron Pro LED handles headlight duties, with an FIM racing-style LED tail light setup below the tail.

“This project challenged us to save weight anywhere we could,” says Aaron, “to increase the handling and performance. We also tried to keep anything we didn’t need off the bike. These factors always influence the overall design of our bikes.”

Unfortunately, this year’s Born Free show was postponed until next year, so the bike’s gone off to do a stint at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. But it’s no trailer queen—as soon as it’s done time at the museum, SMCO plan to unleash it on the track.

“It’s amazing to ride. We lightened the bike by over 160 pounds with the carbon and titanium, and eliminating unnecessary parts. With the improved seating position and the increased performance of the engine, this is a real weapon.”

“It’s both street friendly for canyon riding, and ready to hit the track.”

Suicide Machine Co. | Instagram | Images by Jose Gallina

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[DaveM]

Speed Read, 22 November 2020

A Ducati 848 that pays homage to the classic 750 SuperSport, a lean, mean and green Triumph Thruxton RS, and an easy-going BMW R650 scrambler. Plus we have news that BSA are set to resume production.

Ducati 848 by JC Racing This is only the second Ducati superbike that Frenchman Jérémie Duchampt has customized—but he’s already cracked the code. Starting with a stock 2011-model Ducati 848 Evo, Jérémie decided to build a modern take on the classic 750 SuperSport.

This build is a clever mash-up of parts, along with some wild design ideas. The sharp fairing is a carbon fiber unit from designed Paolo Tesio’s company, Tex Design. Jérémie modified it to fit, and added a small Plexiglas headlight cover and screen to it.

He also built an all-new subframe, then capped it off with a fiberglass tail section, made to spec by FF Prodesign. The tail and fairing both complement the OEM tank perfectly, creating a silhouette that tapers sharply towards the front. Smaller pieces in between, like new intake ducts, help tie everything together.

The exhaust is particularly interesting—it runs up under the seat, but then exits on top of the tail hump rather than out the back. Jérémie also upgraded the Ducati with an Öhlins rear shock, a Lithium-ion battery, LED lighting and a bunch of carbon fiber trim pieces.

Topped off with a livery that’s straight out of 1975, this cafe racer is a compelling mash-up of old and new [JC Racing]

Triumph Thruxton RS by Unikat Motorworks The Triumph Thruxton RS is the most performance-oriented modern classic that Triumph sells. Its motor has the best tune of all Triumph’s Bonneville models, and it comes with adjustable Showa and Öhlins suspension out the box. But what if you want the Thruxton’s performance, but not its classic cafe racer looks?

Simple: you set Poland’s Unikat Motorworks loose on it. That’s what the owner of this Thruxton RS did, with a very simple brief. Unikat’s client wanted even more top shelf components, graffiti logos and a hit of lime green. The result might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it sure is bold.

To give the Thruxton a less classic, burlier stance, Unikat shortened the tail and capped it off with a small custom-made cowl. They ditched the classic taillight assembly for a slim LED item, and fitted a stubby LED headlight up front to match. The tank is stock, but the Triumph’s lines are way different now.

Other upgrades include tubeless Kineo wire-spoked wheels, wrapped in Heidenau supermotard tires. Unikat stripped the front forks to have them anodized black, and swapped the rear shocks for high-end Bitubo units.

The stubby twin exhaust system looks like it runs straight through, but it actually has internal baffles, so that it sounds good without being obnoxiously loud.

Unikat also fitted new clip-ons, with Rizoma reservoirs and personalized Womet-Tech levers. But the biggest job was refinishing the smaller parts in black. The Thruxton RS is a modern bike, and stripping all the little parts off for powder coating (and putting them back) took much longer than expected. [Unikat Motorworks]

BSA reborn, and electric A historic British marque is set to resume production—but not as you’d expect. Indian billionaire (and chairman of Mahindra Group) Anand Mahindra has just outlined his plans for the Birmingham Small Arms brand. And it involves batteries.

Mahindra Group, which is the world’s largest tractor manufacturer, purchased BSA back in 2016, but there hasn’t been much talk about what they planned to do with it, until now. The plan is to set up a new facility in Oxford, England, and release two new models next year: an internal combustion motorcycle, followed by an electric one.

There are a couple of takeaways here. First off, this isn’t the first time Mahindra have dipped their toes in the motorcycle industry; they relaunched the Jawa brand two years ago. Secondly, the decision to develop and manufacture bikes in the UK is a smart one, since it’ll be hard for potential customers to imagine a BSA that isn’t made in Old Blighty.

But more than anything, it’s exciting to see another brand push into electric technology. Some die-hard vintage bike fans might scoff at an electric BSA—but we can’t wait to see how it turns out. [Source]

BMW R65 by Gas & Oil Bespoke Motorcycles Are there any new ways to customize classic BMW boxers? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to do them well. This 1983 R65 by Gas & Oil in the Czech Republic doesn’t break any new ground—but it’s attractive, tidy, and looks perfect as a classic daily runner.

The biggest changes are a vintage Yamaha tank up top, a new leather seat, and a reworked subframe. Gas & Oil propped the rear up on a new pair of YSS shocks, and ditched the airbox for a pair of K&N filters. The battery’s been swapped for a smaller unit, and relocated to a custom-made box in front of the swingarm.

The cockpit’s kitted with high-and-wide Renthal bars and grips, and a single dial. Those are matched to the stock switches and controls, with a small chromed headlight out front.

The overall vibe screams Sunday morning scrambler, but in a practical sense. There are no knobblies or pipe wrap here; just mild dual-purpose tires from Dunlop, and ceramic coated headers that terminate in a pair of classic ‘cigar’ mufflers. Oh, and it has fenders at both ends, too. [Gas & Oil Bespoke Motorcycles | Images by Ondřej Ždichynec]

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[DaveM]

THE LONE WOLF: Indian FTR1200 Scrambler by Heritage & Sons.

The Indian FTR1200 was greeted with enormous excitement when the project was announced and the first pictures emerged. When the bike finally arrived it didn’t let anyone down, looking like a flat track weapon and providing a grin-inducing ride on the street. But the truth is, we haven’t seen more than a handful turned into customs, that’s largely down to how good the stock machine is.

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[DaveM]

Not Too Late: A Brat-Style Honda CB500 Four

Most custom projects are completed in a matter of months, or even weeks. But sometimes the story of a bike can stretch out to years or decades.

That’s the case with this delightful Honda CB500, which has spent the last 13 of its 46 years in the care of Italian enthusiast Pierluigi Intini, who lives in Rome. He bought it in 2007, when he was just 24. Pierluigi now knows the perky inline four inside out, and he’s transformed it not once, but twice.

The Honda originally replaced an Aprilia 50cc scooter that he’d been riding since the age of 16, and it was a thoroughly researched decision. After tossing up between a Kawasaki Z500 and a CB, he opted for the Honda and went hunting in the classifieds. “I found it. A gold and black K1, about 20 km from my house.”

At that time, Pierluigi didn’t have a motorcycle license. He handed over €3300 [US$3,900] to the seller and asked him, “The first up and all the others down, right?” After figuring out the gears, he rode slowly home.

The CB500 was not entirely original. It came with a 4-into-1 Marving exhaust and two seats—one original, and the other a ‘Giuliari’ seat that was used on the track back in the day. High handlebars had been fitted, and the tank sealed inside with Tankerite.

Pierluigi got his license, learnt to ride properly, and spent the next few months fettling the bike, seeking out obscure spare parts and good mechanics. He restored the mechanicals and bodywork to factory spec, and got a certificate to prove it— from the Italian motorcycle federation that certifies historically interesting motorcycles.

But the café racer bug had already bitten Pierluigi, and the flames were fanned even more after he saw the bikes in the mafia movie Romanzo Criminale. The day after he got historical interest approval, he bought period-correct Tommaselli clip-ons, and commissioned craftsman Michele Calbi to reproduce by hand a matching pair of rear-sets.

The bike followed Pierluigi from Rome to Naples and then to Copenhagen, always with the iconic ‘Roma’ number plate. And eventually it wore out.

A couple of years ago, Pierluigi mustered the funds to carry out the final transformation, leading to the Japanese influence we see here.

The CB500 now has a traditional custom tweaks like a neatly looped rear frame from blacksmith Paolo Arivella, and a bespoke flat seat from the Rome specialist Selle Moto Cl Racing. But the other mods are less conventional. “I am 186 cm [6’1”] tall and she has always been a little too short for me. And I want it more ‘technological’. I like genre mixes, I want a hybrid.”

The Honda is now essentially a ‘modern brat’—with LED headlights, and a modern fuel gauge, clock, indicators, and stop light.

The suspension has been raised 45mm both front and back, with the forks rebuilt and new shocks installed. The brake system is all new, with the front brakes converted to dual disc.

The engine has been completely rebuilt with 0.25 oversize pistons and grinding work on the heads. It’s fed by rebuilt and custom-jetted carbs, and exhales via new Silver Cerakote Sidewinder pipes from Carpy’s Café Racers, topped off with a shorty muffler from Dime City Cycles—who also supplied the LED headlight.

The front sprocket has gone down a tooth from 17 to 16, there’s a quick action throttle for faster response, and a Daytona electronic ignition keeps the spark nice and tight. The CB500 now has three dimmable LED instruments too: a rev counter, a clock, and a speedo with a GPS control unit for speed detection, all from Intellitronix. They’re mounted into a dashboard from Cognito Moto.

Every metal part has been polished or refinished to as-good-as-new by Alessandro Pini Metal polishing. Pierluigi repainted the engine himself using a silver VHT coating, but entrusted the stunning green-and-black bodywork to the Campana paint shop in Rome.

“In the end, I got the result I was looking for,” says Pierluigi. He’s called the old Honda ‘La Fouat,’ which means ‘Not too late.’ “It’s 46 years of life. This is the result.”

“Criticism and praise? There are always and necessarily both,” he says.

From us, it’s just praise. Pierluigi has created a stylish, timeless brat cafe that fits his physique and riding style, and should keep running for another four decades.

Images by Simone Galli.

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[DaveM]

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH: 1995 BMW K1100 by David Manchester.

A midlife crisis usually involves one or more very bad decisions and a rather large dent in your bank account. In fact many car and bike manufacturers design products to appeal directly to this market, in the safe knowledge most of us will go through this phase sooner rather than later. But more than a little creative and very handy on the tools, David Manchester of New Jersey, USA...

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[DaveM]

Suka-Tune: A Yamaha TW200 From Deus Japan

The Japanese have a profound love for motorsport and craftsmanship. Linguistic and geographic isolation has fostered unique styles and trends over the years, from the over-the-top Bōsōzoku bikes of the 80s and 90s to the minimalistic brat builds popularized by Go Takamine.

But there’s another, lesser-known custom genre that permeated the Land of the Rising Sun during the 90s: the ‘Suka-Tune’ style.

We’d never heard of it either. It takes its name from the Japanese word Sukeru—meaning ‘see-through’ or ‘transparent’—and Suka-Tune scoots were characterized by their stripped-down yet still functional nature. They borrowed traits from other genres to create utilitarian two-wheelers for the streets of Japan.

Though the genre’s popularity has declined over the last few decades, Tomoyuki Soeda, head wrench at Deus in Japan, has decided to return to the idiosyncratic and spartan street scramblers his latest one-off build.

Called ‘Dirt Dauber,’ the project began its life as a 2002 Yamaha TW200—the undisputed platform of choice for ‘90s Suka-Tuners according to Soeda—before being stripped down to a rolling chassis.

In typical Suka-Tune fashion, the chassis, subframe, and just about everything else on the bike is on full display. The TW200 is devoid of any side panels, covers, or extraneous bodywork of any kind.

In a bid to bolster handling, the Trail Way’s budget-friendly suspension setup has been swapped out for a high-performance arrangement. An inverted GSX-R front-end is slotted into one-off triples, and an adjustable mono-shock is mated to a swingarm that’s been stretched by nearly 4” (or 10cm).

The Gixxer’s upside-down fork also comes with upgraded stopping power in the form of Brembo brakes with a 40mm caliper.

The most noteworthy addition to the big-wheeled single, however, is a new dual-subframe.

The bespoke framework includes a short subframe supporting the rider, while under/behind it is a custom trellis-style unit bolted onto the main chassis. This provides extra structural integrity to accommodate two-up travel.

Both sections of the frame have been topped with a one-off seat made from a combination of smooth and distressed vintage leathers, with red accent stitching and brown piping.

Below the main seat is a discreetly hidden, wedge-shaped electronics box. Beneath the pillion is an Italian-made under-tail superbike muffler from GPR Exhausts. Though it follows a similar path to the stock component, the header on this TW200 is actually a custom part, and at the intake end is an FCR carb.

A trellis-style wraparound license-plate holder complements the trellis subframe, and the extended swing-arm has been equipped with a pair of industrial looking folding passenger foot-pegs.

The 196cc Japanese dual-sport has also been treated to an new cockpit. Gone are the stock handlebars, with a high-and-wide item off a 1960s CB450 now mounted on a set of risers before being outfitted with vintage-style switchgear and rubber grips. Motogadget m.blaze indicators poke out from both bar ends.

A simple tachometer now provides the Yamaha’s sole instrumentation, and there’s a single round mirror fixed to the right side of the bars to keep everything street legal.

The stocker’s small MX-style fuel cell was jettisoned in favor of a vintage item plucked off of a 1970s Yamaha trail bike donor, injecting some old-school flavor into an otherwise modern interpretation of a Suka-Tune build.

The vibe is further helped along by the addition of a classic round headlight with a yellow lens and an antique circular taillight. Tomoyuki also opted to maintain certain stock aspects of the build that happen to jive well with the rest of the custom work, with the TW200’s punched-out skid-plate and ultra-chunky Bridgestone Trail Wing rubber remaining in play.

The final piece of the puzzle was figuring out the livery. Looking for a way to subtly pay homage to early TW200 models, Soeda selected a deep royal blue livery juxtaposed by a bright orange ‘Deus’ script logo.

This contemporary re-imagining of the TW’s 1989 paint also includes a matching blue passenger subframe. The rest of the bike sports a combination of gloss and matte black components, plus a dash of bare metal—from the muffler, fork lowers, spokes, and cooling fins.

As the custom motorcycle world expands, it’s become increasingly difficult to build something that stands out as unique. But Soeda and his team have managed to do exactly that—and in spades.

Like a fine piece of art, the longer you spend taking in this build, the more the minor details jump out at you.

It may not share the same recognizable appeal as traditional scramblers or cafe racers, but the Suka-Tune genre is a style we hope to see much more of in the future.

Deus Japan | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Toyohiro Zenita

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[DaveM]

A Riva for the Road: An Indian Scout sidecar from France

Few modes of transportation can rival the elegance of the wooden boats made by the renowned Italian company Riva. But what if you could capture that sophistication in a well-executed classic sidecar rig?

That’s exactly what the French sidecar specialists, Alternative Sidecar, have just done. Based in Ablon-sur-Seine (about ten miles from the Parisian city center), their latest build pairs a modern Indian Scout with a new version of one of their existing sidecar designs. Except this one’s been finished with luxurious leather and wood finishes.

To pull it off, Alternative Sidecar roped in Jacques Jouvin of Atelier JAB—a carpenter that specializes in automotive work. Jacques has experience creating wooden trim for cars, motorcycles and sidecars, and has even built his own wooden Yamaha XS650 cafe racer.

With the team assembled, all that was left was to find a suitable donor. They settled on a current-model Indian Scout 1200, and sourced one from the Indian dealership in Valence.

Alternative Sidecar hadn’t built a rig on a Scout until now—but luckily they’ve been building sidecars for modern classics for five years already. So they took their existing ‘Gran’Large’ design and reworked it to sit lower, and to match up with the Scout’s proportions.

Their proprietary attachment system doesn’t require any frame mods on the parent bike, which means that they can now offer this new ‘Gran’Sport’ unit as a kit.

All of Alternative Sidecar’s rigs use frames and attachment arms made from MIG-welded steel pipe. They also use a ‘big wheel’ design with a swing arm and shock, for maximum comfort. This particular unit’s using a Hagon shock, plus a Brembo disc brake that’s linked to the bike’s rear brake pedal.

The bike itself has been fitted with stiffer fork springs, and a stronger set of rear shocks from Shock Factory to match.

Other sidecar features include a 50-liter trunk, and a full complement of LED lighting. It’s also sporting a Brooklands-style windscreen, and a chrome grab handle and footrest. Alternative Sidecar have even built in a USB charge port, and there’s a cover for when you want to protect the interior.

But it’s that Riva-inspired wood trim that steals the show. Working with solid mahogany as a primary wood, and sycamore for stripe inlays, Jacques hand-shaped the floor and outer step, and added a stripe that runs down the front. He also made new armrests, and backings for a set of custom badges.

But Jacques isn’t the only master craftsman that laid hands on this project. There’s a leather artisan near Alternative Sidecar’s HQ who specializes in car interiors; he handled the stunning burgundy leather upholstery.

The pin striping was laid down by Taka Hira—a well-respected striper in France with over 40 years experience. It sits on a green base with just a hint of flake, with gold tank logos that were hand-painted by Studio Kallico.

From the color palette to the materials used, this elegant sidecar rig is so well judged it hurts. If we had a 1960s Riva Aquarama moored nearby, this is the bike we’d pick to ride down to it.

Alternative Sidecar Instagram

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[DaveM]

CUSTOM COLLABORATION: Bike Shed X Royal Enfield.

When COVID-19 first hit, much of the two-wheeled industry came to an abrupt halt, along with pretty much every other sector. Annual meet-ups, customs shows, press launches, and other events in the space were pushed back if not outright canceled. It was a scary and uncertain time for many of us. With no end anywhere on the immediate horizon, however, a growing number of outfits are learning to...

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[DaveM]

Speed Read, 29 November 2020

An oddball selection this week, with a Ducati x Lamborghini limited edition, an electrified Kawasaki G3, a Super73 e-bike given the BMX treatment by ICON, and a range of pet toys from … Indian Motorcycle. Let’s start with the most conventional news, which is the release of the new Honda Rebel 1100 cruiser.

Honda Rebel 1100 The rumor mill has been in overdrive about this bike for a while, and it’s finally broken cover. The biggest ever Rebel uses a modified version of the current liquid-cooled Africa Twin engine, and if you hate gearchanging, you can specify it with a DCT transmission rather than a conventional six speed ‘box.

On paper it, looks good. Curb weight is a reasonable 487 pounds (220 kilos) and the seat height is just 27.5 inches. Power output is a hefty 87 horses, cruise control is standard, and the price is a remarkable $9,299 for the six-speed manual. That’s $700 less than the Harley Sportster Iron 1200 and over $3,000 less than the ABS version of the Indian Scout.

The downside to the bargain? The styling doesn’t fit the established American cruiser genre, and that’s going to put some buyers off.

Honda knows it too: “Since the Rebel 1100 out performs just about any cruiser, we didn’t fall into the trap of just making it look like grandpa’s sled either. Forget the chrome-and-fringe bling: this Rebel is a whole new take on how a cruiser should look.”

It’s a brave move from Honda. The new Rebel will almost certainly be great to ride, and it’ll have Honda reliability as standard too. But will that be enough to convert image-focused Harley and Indian buyers? We’ll be following this one with interest. [Rebel 1100 product page]

Aaron Laniosz’s electric Kawasaki G3 A year ago, an electric Honda S90 conversion by Aaron Laniosz caught our eye. Built for less than $1,000, it won the global Deus Bike Build-Off competition.

Aaron didn’t rest on his laurels though. “As soon as I finished the S90, I was eager to start working on my second motorcycle,” he reports. “I wanted it to be much faster than the first. And it needed a similarly small frame, because I would be working again in my studio apartment!”

Aaron spooted a 1974 Kawasaki G3 going for $300 on Craigslist for $300, with brand new tires and tubes. He stripped the tank down to bare metal, cut down the rear fender, mounted a pair of Krator handlebars, and fabricated a custom cowl. The foot pegs are also mounted further back on the swingarm, to stretch the riding position.

The brushless DC electric motor is a Chinese-made QS138 with 3000W, widely available for around $500. The programmable Votol EM-150s controller can plug into a computer, to adjust settings such as throttle response—a big step up from the Honda in both power and sophistication.

“The programmable controller gives the bike the feeling of a hod rod,” says Aaron, but the original drum brakes and suspension are a weak link. “Any any speed over 50mph a thrilling feat!”

The 72V, 21Ah battery supplies just enough power for a spirited 25-mile trip, but that might change as Aaron develops the bike further. “It’ll continue to evolve as long as I own it,” he says, “an unfinished hot rod, in contrast to polished and perfect electric motorcycle projects.” Follow Aaron’s progress on his Instagram page.

Treat your pets with Indian motorcycle gifts We see some odd stuff in our inbox, but this one takes the [dog] biscuit. Indian has just released a range of canine-related gifts including bandanas, collars and leashes, plus playtime toys and a feeding bowl set.

There’s even a T-shirt, that staple of the moto industry. Indian has helpfully provided a detailed sizing guide to ensure that your mutt enjoys a flattering fit.

The most creative item in the range is a Pull Toy: a rope attached to a rubber Indian ‘tank’ that has little holes in it for hiding pet treats. Looks like Indian’s commitment to shaking up the American v-twin market knows no bounds.

Ducati Diavel 1260 Lamborghini In a week that finally saw the death of the mighty Yamaha V-Max, Ducati has just extended its power cruiser range. It announced a 630-unit limited edition Diavel, which will be sold for $31,995 in the US. The Diavel 1260 Lamborghini is a homage to the new Lamborghini Siàn FKP 37 supercar, itself a limited edition that will be available in only 63 units.

The hybrid FKP 37 is the most powerful Lamborghini ever produced, with 819 hp on tap, but the mods to the Diavel are mostly cosmetic. The bodywork and air intake on the Diavel have been tweaked to mimic the Lamborghini’s lines, the vehicles are finished in the same paint, and the wheels of both machines share styling cues too.

The two brands are both based in the Emilia-Romagna region, but the connection goes deeper in the financial sense because both are ultimately owned by Audi (and therefore VW).

Every few years, rumors fly about Audi jettisoning its Italian companies, and VW has recently hinted that the group might restructure its Italian subsidiaries. The obvious reason for that would be to spin them off. Which leaves us wondering if the Ducati/ Lamborghini hookup is a way to showcase the synchonicity between the two brands…

Super73-S1 by ICON Motosports The SoCal brand Super73 has sent a jolt through the electric bike scene. Since 2016, they’ve been making rugged little urban cruisers with a range of up to 75 miles and a top speed of up to 28 mph.

The bikes are inspired by the small motorcycles that were popular with West Coast bike builders in the 1970s, and Super73 now has an additional link to the mainstream moto scene: they’ve hooked up with our friends at ICON for a one-off called ‘Chromo Steezy.’

The ICON-modified bike is an S1 model, which means it has a removable 768 watt-hour battery, an LED headlight and brake light, and a rear cargo rack. The design is so minimalist, it’s hard to believe it’s not a vintage pushbike rehash.

The Portland crew have given it an 80s-inspired BMW treatment that goes beyond paint and powdercoating. They’ve moved the BB shell back about three inches, fabricated new head tube and fork dropout gussets, and installed a ‘seat tube.’ The grips are from ODI and the rubber is from Vee Tire Co.

“It’s the feeling of a smooth summertime ride and a fully charged battery,” the ICON guys report. They gave the bike to local rider Chester Blacksmith—watch as he takes us on a tour of Portland and hits all the spots required for a party rockin’ time.

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[DaveM]

R100XE: The BMW R80G/S evolution we deserve

The BMW R80G/S created a new genre of motorcycling when it first appeared, and is considered an icon today. The ‘GS’ designation is still a staple of BMW’s range, but it’s evolved a lot since 1980—both technologically and visually. By 1987, the R100GS already had a very different vibe to its predecessor, and the modern GS machines carry almost none of the original’s DNA.

Robert Sabel of Roughchild Motorcycles in California wonders what a modern G/S would look like if that wasn’t the case. What if the R80G/S got better… but still looked the same? That was the inspiration behind his latest project—a bike he’s dubbed the ‘R100XE.’

Based in downtown LA, Robert leads a team of four that only works on BMWs, and specializes in classic airheads. Their client on this project was the CEO of a publicly traded tech company who has a deep love for the brand.

“He used to work in a motorcycle shop as a kid and lusted after a Singer-style BMW airhead,” explains Robert. “He currently owns the new R1250GS and an R100GS Paris Dakar. He’s experienced the woes of buying a used bike and difficulties of keeping it on the road. This bike had to be top shelf, safe and reliable, with room to stick his wife on the back.”

“The goal was a ‘continuation’ model of the R80G/S: What if BMW manufactured that bike today? He left all of the design decisions to me—even allowing me to choose the color.”

To the untrained eye, the R100XE looks like a lightly fettled R80G/S with a black paint job. But it’s actually one heck of a sleeper. For starters, it’s not an R80G/S at all… Robert and his team actually started with a 1993 BMW R100R—picked for its stronger motor, and newer mono-shock Paralever swingarm design.

Finding the parts to dress it up like an R80G/S wasn’t hard. Roughchild have been operating in LA for eleven years now, and they had all the necessary parts sitting on their shelves. So the fuel tank, headlight nacelle and front fender are all OEM R80G/S parts.

The subframe’s an R80G/S part too, but it’s been modified to suit the R100R’s main frame. Up top is a custom seat, made to look like the original, but slightly shorter. The rear fender consists of an Acerbis unit, blended with the stock rear fender to offer full coverage.

Roughchild also gave the boxer motor a kick in the pants. It’s been rebuilt and treated to a twin-spark conversion, with a Silent Hektik ignition system.

It’s also now sporting Mikuni VM34 carbs with Uni pod filters, and a brushed stainless steel exhaust from Staintune. There’s a custom sump guard mounted to the stock R100R oil pan, and a nifty lockbox hand-made to sit on top of the transmission.

Next, the BMW needed appropriate running gear. Up front are the forks and brakes from a 2019 Triumph Scrambler 1200XE. The adjustable Showa forks were rebuilt to the same length as the factory R80G/S forks, and are held by a set of custom triple trees (from Cognito Moto) that also hold the headlight housing.

The Triumph’s Brembo radial calipers are hooked up to custom stainless brake lines, linked to a brass Y-piece connector. That connector actually comes from a 1966 Porsche 911, and includes a pressure-operated brake light switch. An R80G/S master cylinder does duty on the control side.

Out back is an Öhlins shock with an external reservoir. The wheels are a combination of BMW hubs, stainless steel spokes, and Akront rims in period correct G/S sizes; 21” in front, 17” out back. Aggressive Continental TKC80 tires offer the right balance of on- and off-road grip.

There’s nothing Roughchild didn’t update on this airhead. That classic headlight bucket houses a modern LED light up front, and a GPS speedo from Speedhut, with a custom face, up top. There are also ‘telltale’ LEDs from Kat Dash, Renthal handlebars, and Barkbuster Jet hand guards with integrated led turn signals.

The switches are OEM R80G/S items, rewired to work with Motogadget’s mo.unit blue—a Bluetooth-enabled control unit around which the whole bike is wired. It now runs with a Shorai Lithium-ion battery (stashed under the tank), and a keyless ignition.

Finishing touches include a license plate light and rear turn signals from Rizoma, burly off-road foot pegs and factory R80G/S mirrors. There’s also a Unit Garage canvas saddlebag, attached to a mounting system from KlickFix. And since practicality was high on the list, this G/S has a center stand and crash bars, too.

Robert opted to wrap his client’s build in Jeep’s terrific Rhino Gray color, with a bunch of parts redone in black. It turned out to be a good call, because his client actually has a Rhino Gray Jeep.

By drawing on experience, and mixing together the right parts in the right way, Robert and his crew have built a rugged, good looking and, most importantly, capable classic boxer. Simple and purposeful, the R100XE is a great ‘what if’—an exercise in alternative BMW history, if you will.

Roughchild Motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram | Images by (and with special thanks to) John Ryan Hebert

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