Wednesday 11th January, 2012
This is the latest build from Spanish shop Café Racer Dreams, which is starting to look like the southern European counterpart to the well-established Wrenchmonkees of Copenhagen. CRD #10 is called “Night Track”, and it’s a 2007 Triumph Bonneville. The mods are well-chosen, tightening up the aesthetics of the Bonnie and giving it a sharper, more retro look. Read More »
Most custom motorcycles fit within a particular genre. And that genre will have its own conventions, as well as its fans and detractors. But occasionally you see a bike that is utterly timeless, almost beyond ‘classic’. And this is one of them, from the New Hampshire workshop of Walt Siegl. “I was hoping to create a motorcycle that has the charm of the big roadsters from the 60s and 70s,” says Walt, “but with modern performance. I also wanted to build a bike that doesn’t require too much maintenance and technical expertise to keep on the road.”
The FX Roadster started out as a beat-up 1970 Harley FLH. “I always liked the look of the shovelhead engine. And the aftermarket offers so many good choices for updated mechanicals—you can build a really strong motor/transmission combo.” So Walt enlisted Andrew Rosa of Rosa’s Cycles on Long Island to rebuild the engine and transmission: “Over the years I’ve had quite a few motors built by Andrew, and his work is the best I have come across,” says Walt. Read More »
Saturday 7th January, 2012
By David Edwards — Richard Pollock knows a thing or two about street-trackers. Doing business as Mule Motorcycles out of a converted two-car garage in suburban San Diego, he’s built about 100 trackers to date, and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, now that his full-time job as an aerospace fabricator has morphed into part-time consultancy, he has more time than ever to devote to two-wheelers, including doing R&D and prototyping for Streetmaster, a small Southern California speed house for new Triumph Bonnevilles. Read More »
Thursday 5th January, 2012
I know a couple of people who’ve owned Yamaha RD350s, and both remember the 1970s air-cooled twin with great fondness. I bet they haven’t seen an RD350 like this one, though. Called “S2RD”, it was built by Tony Prust of Illinois-based Analog Motorcycles. (If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Prust also built the lovely CB550 sidecar combination we featured six months ago.)
This bike started as a 1973 RD350 that was halfway towards a café racer conversion when the current owner bought it. After the bike sat around for years untouched, the owner commissioned Analog Motorcycles to finish the job. Read More »
Tuesday 3rd January, 2012
I’ve always imagined BMW Motorrad designers to be technicians in white lab coats. So I was surprised to discover that the leader of BMW’s motorcycle design team is a freewheelin’ Swede with a passion for old-school choppers. Ola Stenegard studied Industrial Design in Stockholm and worked for SAAB and Indian Motorcycles before joining BMW in 2003. “I grew up in a garage, more or less,” he says. “My older brother was into bikes. My Dad taught me how to weld almost before I could read, and Mom taught me how to draw. Eventually I connected the two.” Stenegard’s portfolio includes the HP2 Sport and the S1000RR, the superbike that’s currently giving the Japanese ‘Big Four’ serious headaches. We gave him a headache too—with the traditional ten questions of the Bike EXIF interview.
What was the first motorcycle you bought with your own money? I consumed a whole bunch of bikes before I turned 18—from Hondas to Kawasakis, 125s to 350s. I cut them up and transformed them into café racers or bobbers. All were reckless acts of youthful bravado, and I can’t remember actually paying for them. The first ‘big’ bike I bought was a 1970 Triumph Trophy 650, a 70s-style chop. I had just turned 18. Today it would be pure hippie glory, but back then, it was nasty as sin. It had a coffin tank, a 6”-over fork (with no rake) and a white banana seat. The next winter, I turned it into a long fork chopper, Swedish style. Did all the work myself, and sketching it all out. It was a great learning experience. My school grades went way down south, but I was rolling! Read More »
The best custom motorcycles have a coherent look—a visual balance and flow that literally stops the traffic. And the modifications should perform on the road as well as in front of the camera. So this bike, a mix of Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki parts from different eras, shouldn’t work. But strangely, it does—and very well too.
The core of this custom is a 1975 Suzuki GT550. It was created by MotoHangar, a Virginia-based workshop run by Pat Jones. Pat wanted to combine the old with the new, with particular attention to the suspension. “The bike handles like a modern sportbike, but with the charm of a vintage two-stroke,” Pat reports. “I wanted a more ‘road worthy’ two-stroke.” Read More »
Friday 30th December, 2011
By David Edwards — Named after a South American cactus known for its hallucinogenic properties, “Achuma” is part old Harley and part motocrosser, a Shovelhead-powered streetfighter that’s got a style all its own. There’s even a built-in skidplate for inner-city curb jumping! “Yeah, I don’t look too hard at what everybody else is doing,” builder Satya Kraus says about his styling influences.
The 35-year-old was born and still lives in the shadows of Northern California’s mighty redwoods. A fairly ordinary early career path led to a computer company gig, but working with his hands, making things he could actually hold and feel called out, and in 2004 Satya chucked it all to build choppers. Ink, awards and bike commissions soon followed, but a rigid frame’s limitations bothered him. Kraus grew up riding dirtbikes and appreciated the spine-friendly benefits of a working rear suspension. “I wanted something with a racier look and feel, a real ‘roadable’ machine,” he says. Read More »
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