Bike EXIF Daily Update

Vitesse Moto

Chris Hunter — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:30:19 +0000

The trouble with most motorcycle boots is that they’re a compromise. If you’re looking for a helmet or jacket, you’re spoilt for choice. But with boots, you normally have just two options: racing-style boots that are safe but not particularly comfortable, or street boots that won’t protect you very well. So it’s good to see a third, more stylish option, provided by a new company called Vitesse Moto. It’s the brainchild of John Mollanger, a bike nut who’s worked at the top level of both Nike and Puma and now headed out on his own. “Our boots are inspired by everyday footwear—from dress shoes to sneakers, from work boots to casual styles,” he says. And yes, they look terrific. Even better, these boots should have the performance to match their styling. Vitesse has patented a construction system it calls ‘V-Cockpit’, with a monobloc chassis that integrates the comfort and protection elements of the boot. There will be three styles to choose from, as shown above, with prices ranging from US$200 to US$260. Get more details from the Vitesse Moto website.

Vitesse Moto is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Walt Siegl MotoBe XLX

Chris Hunter — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:30:35 +0000

After Walt Siegl moved from Austria to New York in 1985, he built motorcycles as a hobby. Three years ago, he moved his workshop and his family to an old mill town in southern New Hampshire to build motorcycles full time, and he’s quickly made a name for himself as an old-school craftsman. (After all, how many builders have made it into both the Wall Street Journal and DicE magazine?) For his latest bike, Walt has mixed his retro influences with a very contemporary café racer look. The MotoBe XLX is minimal and monochromatic, built around the 60 ci motor from an ’83 Harley Sportster. The Sportster also donated the frame downtubes, motor mounts and neck—on which the VIN number is mounted—but Walt has used chromoly steel tubing for the rest of the frame, making it much lighter than stock. He’s also lowered the front forks 35 mm, hooked them up to a custom-made upper tree, and fitted Progressive springs. The bars are custom clip-ons, fitted with Magura controls and sitting behind a custom headlight assembly. And that striking bodywork—including the gas tank, oil tank, fenders and seat—was all crafted by Walt himself, to his usual superlative standards. Check out the Walt Siegl Motorcycles website for more pictures of the MotoBe XLX and a gallery of his delectable earlier creations. [Images by Eric Ahlquist Photography.]

PS: The Bike EXIF Archives are now up and running, with a complete listing of all 450+ motorcycles we’ve featured since December 2008. You can access them here, or via the tab at the very top of every page. Just make sure you have a comfortable chair, a drink to hand, and a good amount of time to spare …

Walt Siegl MotoBe XLX is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Garage Company Customs CB750

Chris Hunter — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:30:04 +0000

The Japanese motorcycle most commonly associated with café racer conversions is the ubiquitous Honda CB750. But we haven’t seen anything like this one before. It’s raw and different, with a rough ‘n’ ready look that strangely works. It was built by the Alabama shop Garage Company Customs—not to be confused with Yoshinobu Kosaka’s Garage Company in LA—and shop owner Larry has sent us a little background. “We built two bikes for a father and a son, and this one is the son’s bike. We started with a ’75 CB750 from a local junkyard that was pretty rough: the owner of the yard said it had been with him for at least 15 years. We either redid or replaced everything on it. The customer wanted something rigid, but wanted the café look as well. I’ve never seen a rigid café bike, so we elected to use the stock tank along with clubman bars to give it the look he wanted. The stainless 4-into-2 exhaust was a collaborative effort between us and a good friend, Walker at Morgan Performance Fabrication. The motor was completely gone through with all OEM parts and stock specs, and we used a ribbed rear fender instead of a tail section because of the rigid back half.” The result is long, low and mean-looking, the motorcycle equivalent of a rat rod auto. GCC styles itself as “Blue-collared, brash and blunt, building kick-ass bikes on a real man’s budget,” and by the looks of this CB750, they’re on the right track.

Nikon D2H | 1/250s | f/9 | ISO 200 | Focal length 55mm

Garage Company Customs CB750 is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Kawasaki W650 custom

Chris Hunter — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:30:27 +0000

When I first saw this sensational street tracker-styled Kawasaki W650, I thought it was from a Tokyo custom shop. But I was 3,000 km off the mark: this is a Taiwanese bike. It’s 2002 model customized by Qing Chen, editor of the slick Taipei-based magazine Free Biker. After tracking down Qing, more details emerged. Power is boosted from the usual 50 hp via a Peyton Place exhaust system and Keihin Roundslide CR33 Sidedraft carburetion. Qing cut the front fork down a couple of inches, and fitted Öhlins 36E emulsion shocks to the rear. A four-pot Brembo on the front wheel hauls the bike down from speed much quicker than usual. The seat comes from Logic Brand, the taillight and rear fender are from Japanese custom supplier Daytona, and the bars and headlight are generic no-brand types but fit the look perfectly. Wheels are 18” front and back from DID, shod with retro-style Firestones. And it’s all topped off by a superb custom paint job. For more pictures of the W650 and its construction, jump to this excellent Flickr set—and then check out some of the other sets, because Qing has great taste in two- and four-wheeled machinery. [Via the excellent Mulligan Machine.]

Nikon D200 | 1/80s | f/6.3 | ISO 400 | Focal length 18mm

PS: Check out the Bike EXIF Facebook page for more vintage motorcycle goodness.

Kawasaki W650 custom is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Luca Bar

Chris Hunter — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:30:34 +0000

The stock Honda VT750 (or Shadow) is an unassuming Sportster clone. It’s pitched at beginner riders who prefer easygoing Japanese reliability to Harley’s contrived contemporary image. And like most Hondas, the VT750 is neat and well-designed, but could do with a little more style—or brio. This is what young Italian designer Luca Bar had in mind when he penned his retro Scrambler variant: with subtle cosmetic changes, he’s elevated Honda’s anonymous cruiser into a way more desirable bike. Bar specializes in product design, graphic design and fashion, but he’s a petrolhead at heart—and also a member of the Motorcycle Design Association. In fact, you’ve probably seen Bar’s work before, most likely his vision of a potential Ducati chopper—which set the interwebs alight a few months back (shown below). And his recreations of classic Moto Guzzis are equally cool. “Most of my work is made for the press,” he says. “Magazines and websites contact me to get preview renderings of rumors that are escaping from bigger companies.” If you’re a motorcycle magazine art director or editor—and yes, I know a lot of you check into Bike EXIF regularly—it’s worth giving Luca Bar a call.

Luca Bar is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Ducati flat track racer

Chris Hunter — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:30:32 +0000

Every now and then, I get an email from a gentleman called Seth Dorfler, who is well known in US motorcycling circles. Dorfler presides over a seemingly inexhaustible archive of vintage motorcycle photographs, plus Ducati and Moto Guzzi memorabilia. (Much of this material was gathered from his days working for the Berliner Motor Corporation, one of the leading US motorcycle importers from the 1950s to the 1970s.) Seth invariably includes an unusual photo or two with his notes; after our recent feature on Don Castro’s Triumph, this Ducati dirt tracker landed in my inbox. The provenance of the round-case bike has been obscured by history. “I first saw the bike at a Motorcycle show in the 70s,” Dorfler recalls. “The bike was part of the Berliner/Premier Motor Corp. display at the Texas show—one of Berliner’s dealers arranged for it to be on the booth.” After a couple of days digging around, it looks like this lovely machine was built by Eddie Wilbanks—the “Wizard of Odds”—and campaigned in late 70s GNC-Dirt Track Nationals by Kenny McDonald (as #26) and then Steve Freeman (as #68). It looks just as cool today as it did then; is anyone out there inspired to make a streetable replica, perhaps using Ducati’s current 803 cc, 81 bhp Hypermotard motor?

Ducati flat track racer is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Moto Guzzi cafe racer

Chris Hunter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:30:56 +0000

Thirty years ago, if you were looking for a powerful motorcycle to take you from one end of continental Europe to the other, the Moto Guzzi 1000 SP would be near the top of your list. It wasn’t the best-looking bike to roll out of the Mandello del Lario factory. But it did have a bulletproof air-cooled 948 cc v-twin, shaft drive, and 60 long-legged Italian horses that would propel you to over 180 kph. The 1000 SP has always been somewhat overshadowed by the sportier Le Mans, but Filippo Barbacane of Officine RossoPuro has now given the 1000 SP the looks it always deserved. In the space of four months, he’s turned the ultimate Italian sports tourer into a stunning contemporary café racer—and in the process, upgraded the mechanicals too. The engine is now fitted with heads from the Le Mans 1000, and connected to a custom Officine RossoPuro exhaust system. The original forks have had progressive springs installed, with damping at the rear taken care of by adjustable shocks from Mandello neighbor Asatek. Custom Officine RossoPuro brake rotors are squeezed by Brembo callipers, and the bars and foot controls are from Tarozzi. The bodywork is all-new too, flaunting traditional Guzzi styling signatures such as the creased tank and the v-shaped section under the new seat. The overall effect is molto bella; the perfect marriage of classic Italian style and subtle modern updates. The lucky new owner of this bike is Mario Natale from Belgium, but Filippo has two more in the works. And wouldn’t you like one of them in your own garage? Head over to the Officine RossoPuro website if you’re interested. [See more images of this beautiful motorcycle in the photo album on our Facebook page. First spotted on Rocket Garage.]

Moto Guzzi cafe racer is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

1937 Harley-Davidson bobber

Chris Hunter — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:30:57 +0000

James Roper-Caldbeck doesn’t churn out bikes by the dozen. So when a new one rolls out of his Copenhagen, Denmark shop, it’s invariably worth a close look. And this lean green Harley-Davidson bobber is a curious mix of components that work well together. You’re looking at a 1937 flathead engine and gearbox, sitting in a panhead frame—hence the slight rake on the forks. The engine has way more pep than the original: it’s topped with later-era ironheads, and breathes through a Dell’Orto carb. The forks are from an obscure World War II XA (Experimental Army) shaft drive bike, and the tank is a 1947 item. A Bates seat adds to the authentic look, along with Stewart Warner gauges up front and a Sparto taillight out back. And repro Avon tires sitting on lovely 16″ rims. Unfortunately, the bike isn’t for sale: it was commissioned for a customer. But if you live in Europe and you’re looking for a beautifully crafted ‘Old School’ Harley bobber, give Customs From Jamesville a call.

PS: Check out the Bike EXIF Facebook page for more vintage motorcycle goodness.

1937 Harley-Davidson bobber is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

1928 Douglas DT

Chris Hunter — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:30:15 +0000

Did you know that many current Mercedes cars have no dipsticks? And if you buy a new car today, you probably won’t see much of the engine when you pop the hood: it’ll be covered by a giant plastic shroud. I was reminded of that when I first clapped eyes on this lovely picture, which is from the Newcastle Speedway History website. It’s a Douglas from 1928, possibly a DT6 (meaning ‘Dirt Track’) model. And for me, it sums up the appeal of vintage and custom motorcycles: you can see the parts that are doing the work. The ‘Dougie’ was hugely popular with English and Australian speedway racers, and even Steve McQueen: it had a low-set 500 cc flat twin engine that gave an exceptionally low center of gravity, plus a long wheelbase. Put the two together and you have the perfect recipe for ‘leg-trailing’, the predominant style of riding on the cinder tracks in the late 1920s. To modern eyes, over eighty years later, the Douglas might look a little squashed and inelegant. But it has a sense of purpose. There’s not a bracket or weld out of place, and the only aesthetics are related to function. You could say it’s the original ‘naked’. [Thanks to Alejandro Chavetta.]

1928 Douglas DT is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Triumph Thunderbird Sport custom

Chris Hunter — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:30:08 +0000

Uli Brée, the organizer of the huge Triumph Tridays event in Austria, dropped us a line with details of his personal bike. As you might expect, it’s impressive. Brée bought the bike in 2005 and then set about turning it into the ultimate custom Thunderbird Sport, which he calls the TBS-Tridays. Here’s how he did it, in his own words:

Uli Brée: All modifications and alterations are made by my friend and wonderful mechanic Julian Schneider. He has a small but very well equipped bike workshop in Mühlbach im Pinzgau, about 10 km north of Neukirchen (better known as “Newchurch”) where, since 2006, I organize the largest gathering of Triumphs in the world: the Tridays. So it is no surprise that this is the name I gave to my bike. Nor is it a surprise that, apart from a KTM, my garage contains nothing but Triumphs.

Julian Schneider and his colleague Valentin Rabanser turn my ideas into reality with great professionalism and a love of detail, and showing great generosity on how they count the hours they work on my projects. If they hadn’t, the Tridays would have been even more costly.

I wanted to create an elegant motorbike, stylish and eye-catching, but at the same time in compliance with the current standards. I like bikes built on traditional lines fitted with modern components. And I like black, red and white, especially when used together.

The result is the TBS-Tridays!

Frame
I changed the front fork and the rear shock absorber. The latter was replaced by a Wilbers shock that was adjusted specifically for me.

Fork
The Triumph office in Germany supplied me with an upside-down fork for a Tiger 1050. Julian Schneider black-anodized the part, like all the other components required (plates, spacers, etc.) and adapted them. He fitted cast-iron disks and related linkage made by the French company Beringer. From a purely aesthetic standpoint these parts match the style of the motorbike perfectly. The mudguard is identical to that of a Speed Triple 1050. I first thought that it didn’t fit in with the bike’s classic style but now I really like it. The semi-handles and front light in transparent plastic are made by LSL (the rear footrests too), and the grips are by Rizoma. The magnificent digital speedo is from Motogadged and can be switched on using the hazard lights switch. All the adapters, etc., have been made by Julian Schneider.

The brake calipers are by Brembo because I had planned to make a reproduction of Triumph’s red Thruxton exhibited at the EICMA in Milan. Brake calipers, PVM rims and Öhlins shocks had already been ordered when I (and my bank account) unexpectedly received a demand for supplementary taxes. For the moment I have frozen the idea and only fitted some of these costly parts on the Tridays. Where were we? Ah yes, the rims …

Wheels
The PVM rims were produced especially for the Triumph Thruxton. It was a real job and took a long time to fit them on the Thunderbird Sport. The aluminum adaptors were milled down—thank you, Bruno Schneider. The brake caliper is original but the rear disk has been replaced. The rear wheel has been fitted with a 180 Bridgestone.

Motor
I know that there are a lot of people who don’t like the red cylinder cover. To me it used to mean that even the heart of the Tridays had been modified and that even the motor is not original. With technical help provided directly from the Triumph offices in Germany, Julian overhauled the motor. The idea was to do everything that was possible! The cylinders were bored out to 955 cc, Speed Triple pistons were fitted, and Speed Triple and Sprint camshafts too. An extra electronic control unit, open air filters, Supertrapp exhaust slip-ons and a Dynojet kit together help give 110 hp. I didn’t want to fit a flat-valve carburetor even if Julian was keen on the idea.

Paintwork
The bike has been mostly painted by Jürgen Buelacher in Tyrol to my design. Small details have been added like the Tridays logo and the bar code with my data. The Mecatwin tank cap has been black-anodized.

Details
Julian has moved the ignition block into the cover on the left side where an ideal space was created by the use of open-air filters. This seemed a great idea. The tail had been modified at an early stage. The incredibly ugly rear mudguard was the first thing to go. Various parts were made black (anodized, chromed or black lined): adaptors, exhaust, tank cap, plates, footrests, etc.

Costs
Over the years I have invested about 20,000 euros (US$27,000) in the Thunderbird Sport—excluding the motorbike, which has remained the most inexpensive item in the whole project. Bear in mind that the number of hours worked was in fact much higher than that calculated, but it has all been worth it. I’d do it again, even if my bank manager doesn’t have the same opinion. But in fact that’s not the truth—he too rides a black Triumph Thunderbird Sport, wonderfully equipped and adapted by … but of course, Julian Schneider.

Triumph Thunderbird Sport custom is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.