Tuesday 17th August, 2010
Three years ago, Ritmo Sereno of Tokyo produced a stunning orange BMW R80 track bike—the highly successful ‘Nakajima’ racer. Now a Ritmo customer has commissioned a road-going version—and this is it. It’s based on a 1991 R100 RS, but many of the other details are close to the track machine. The suspension is Öhlins front and back, the brake system is from Brembo and carburetion is Keihin FCR. Ritmo has paid a lot of attention to weight, so the 230kg-or-so of the stock machine has been reduced to a gossamer 175kg. (The battery holder, oil catch tank and the frame from the engine backwards are handmade in lightweight aluminium alloy.) Power is now around 80bhp at the back wheel, helped by a custom-made 2-into-1 exhaust system routed through a modified center stand. Ritmo has documented the entire build on its website—the link is here (via Google Translate). The level of craftsmanship is extraordinary, but if the authentic orange paint job is a little too garish for you, check out the original and (equally illustrious) Nakajima racer, a lovely blue R90/6. Is there a better custom BMW builder in the world today? Read More »
If the CB750 is the archetypal café racer motorcycle, Steve ‘Carpy’ Carpenter must be the epitome of the café racer builder. He’s a Londoner now based in Orange County, California, and his name is legend amongst CB750 aficionados. This latest Carpy creation is called BRG750—a reference to the British Racing Green paint—and it’s based on a 1973 CB750K. (That means it has a SOHC engine good for almost 120mph, and was one of the last CBs to rule the roost before serious competition arrived in the form of Kawasaki’s 900cc Z1.) Carpy’s attention to detail is legendary, and that’s a big part of his reputation. He’ll grind all the tabs and brackets off a bare bead-blasted frame, and clean up the welds. Then he’ll go over it with a file looking for imperfections of any kind. And then he’ll bake the whole thing in an oven for a day or so, to release any oil residue hiding in the joints. After this particular frame was painted silver and clear-coated, Carpy washed it with thinner and baked it for a another three times, “Just to make sure that all the oil deposits that sit behind welds from years of riding finally get cleaned—or burnt—out. Silver will show any defect up.” Carpy has documented the rest of the build on his website, and if you check it out you’ll see that this CB750 is in better condition now than when it rolled off the factory floor. Virtually every part that is worn or likely to fail has been replaced by a NOS Honda item, including a complete new wiring loom and switchgear. BRG750 now lives in Kansas City with its new owner, Montgomery Drake, and I’m green with envy. Read More »
‘Greaser’ Mike Kramer has an excellent taste in bikes. His ’73 T140 has even been used in an ad campaign for Hassleblad cameras. But my favorite ‘Mike Bike’ is this flat tracker built at Sixth Street Specials in NYC. According to Mike, “The bike is a Triumph 500 with pretty much everything you can think of done to the motor—Megacycle cams, balanced and lightened crank and rods, valves, ARD magneto and so on. The engine has been crammed into a Champion frame that originally held a Yamaha 250.” The motor was built by Hugh Mackie, and all the welding and frame modification was by Fumihisa Matsueda. Right now, Mike is getting a set of reverse cone flat track pipes custom made to fit the bike, “as the TT pipes are not giving me the low end power I need to come out of the corners.” The paintwork was done by Fritz Schenck who did most of chopper builder Indian Larry’s paint, as well as a lot of the Ed Roth restorations. (He’s just finished a ground up rebuild of Ed Roth’s Mega Cycle.) “I reminded him the bike was essentially a dirt bike,” says Mike, “but that didn’t stop him from going nuts on the gold leaf. That being said I have no problem racing the bike—although I’m prepared to throw myself under it to protect the paint should I go down on the track.” Despite the stunning looks, this is one bike that is definitely not a trailer queen.
PS: Mike Kramer was the winner of our Schott jacket competition. Which reminds me: until 11 September 2010, Schott will give Bike EXIF readers 15% off any purchase of $50 or more. Just type in the coupon code EXIF15 when you check out. So if you’ve always hankered after the ultimate leather jacket, now’s the best time to buy—just check out the Schott range here. Read More »
This is one of the most unusual creations we’ve seen for a while. It was built by Paul Brodie of Washington State, a talented engineer with a penchant for classic motorcycles. Brodie was reverse-engineering an Excelsior boardtrack engine using modern materials, and needed a test mule for his embryonic motor. So he built this ’358 Vintage Road Racer’ using an extraordinarily diverse range of parts from Aermacchi, Moto Guzzi, Honda, Kawasaki, Aprilia, Gas Gas and Jawa. The engine is a modern recreation of the design used in a 1919 OHC Excelsior boardtracker: It’s 1000cc, and the dyno records 70.9 rear wheel horsepower at 6000 rpm. (In a bike weighing just 300lbs dry (136kg), that means pretty serious performance.) Bolted to this engine is a Triumph five-speed transmission, controlled by a Jawa speedway clutch. The carburetor is a traditional 40mm Amal, but ignition is modern electronic. Brodie documents his projects in detail, with clear photography of all stages, so his website is invaluable stuff for bike builders. The 358 Vintage Road Racer section is 13 pages in all, covering almost two years of fabrication and building. And since the engine was first fired up in May last year, Brodie has put in an extra 500 hours refining it. It’s an old fashioned labor of love mixing old and new technology—and I don’t know about you, but I reckon the world is a better place for this sort of thing. [Head over to the Flashback Fabrications website for this and other Excelsior projects, plus restorations ranging from an 1895 Roper Steam Bike to a 1972 Aermacchi Ala d’Oro.] Read More »
Thursday 12th August, 2010
I don’t normally pay much attention to the Sturgis Bike Week. In the past, I’ve never been able to see beyond the chrome and billet. But this year’s bike building championship seemed different, with a brace of knockout bikes winning votes in all categories. And I’m intrigued by the machine that went home with the biggest trophy yesterday: Fred Krugger’s Veon, shown above. It won by a big margin—548 points to the 384 points of the second-placed bike, Thunderstruck Custom Bikes’ Sniper.
I’m wondering if this year’s winners could change the perception of Sturgis Bike Week from being a bunch of good ol’ boys swilling beer in South Dakota to a genuine hotbed of style and innovation. The Veon, although powered by a V-Rod motor, is a technological tour de force. Developed with the help of its owner, Peer Toftner, it uses an electronically-adjustable frame: At the flick of a switch, the bike can be transformed from a low-riding cruiser with a long steering rake into a more sporting machine with a shorter wheelbase and a steeper rake. And there are two sets of foot controls to match the different riding styles. Radical, non? Read More »
Wednesday 11th August, 2010
Café Racer Dreams is a new arrival on the custom scene, but the Spanish outfit has grabbed our attention right out of the blocks. This is its first bike, a 1983 Honda CB900 F2 Bol d’Or. It’s been completely dismantled, restored and reassembled to concours condition. There’s a hint of Craig Vetter’s Triumph X-75 Hurricane in the way the bodywork flows from the tank to the side panel, and by trimming away the bulbous endpiece of the standard bike, CRD have created a much sharper look. CRD is run by Pedro (Pery) García and his friend Ruben, and specialises in Japanese bikes of the 70s & early 80s. CRD #2 is almost finished and the third bike is well under way: both these machines will be based on the Honda CB750 KZ platform. I’ll be checking the CRD blog regularly for updates. [Spotted on RocketGarage. Images by Kristina Fender.]
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Tuesday 10th August, 2010
Sometimes it’s the rattiest-looking bikes that are the most interesting. And this machine, known as the ‘Salt Ghost’, is a classic example. It’s owned by Wes White of Four Aces and Tyler Malinky of Lowbrow Customs, and it’s got history by the bucketload. Salt Ghost has been racing at the El Mirage dry lake since the 60s, and like many successful racers, it’s a real mongrel in the parts department. The engine is from 1961 Bonneville, and the chassis is a 1948 Triumph rigid. Even the motor itself is a hybrid, with a nine-bolt head on a 650 barrel, and Harmon & Collins roller tappets. According to the excellent profile on Chop Cult, “The cams have yet to be identified, but they have serious lift—enough for the valves to require .008” and .010” clearances when stock was .002” and .004”.” Heavy-duty fueling comes from two Amal GP carburetors—with no idle circuits, so the motor will die unless revved constantly. The oil tank holds just enough to keep that engine alive for a short blast, and to top it all off, the fuel tank is a rare 1957 Tiger 100R/R item, complete with original paint. it might look like trash to the casual bystander, but this bike is all class. Head over to Chop Cult for the full story. [Thanks to Tyler Malinky.] Read More »
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