Speed Shop Design's "Beezerker" BSA Custom

Beezerker BSA  

Don't think I've ever seen any custom quite like Chris Flechtner's "Beezerker" BSA custom. It looks like a blend of Art Deco and steampunk design concepts.

Chris Flechtner was the owner, designer, and builder at Speed Shop Design in Seattle, WA when he built Beezerker, but has since taken his skills to Tokyo where he's designing and building bikes. He entered Beezerker in the 2010 AMD World Championship custom bike build competition, where it took fifth place in the freestyle customs category. Everything but the BSA A65 motor and the tires was designed and fabricated by Chris.

Chris is not a typical custom bike builder... besides building custom bikes and cars, he professionally restores priceless samurai swords, having apprenticed under the renowned Tatsuhiko Konno, designs boutique furniture, and has an MFA in design and metal arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His blog is here.

A tip of the hat to the folks at the Return of the Cafe Racers blog, who served up a great post about the Beezerker a couple of years ago... I just stumbled into it today and was so struck by the Beezerker that I had to do a post about it here. If you're a cafe racer fan, visit them on a regular basis... they are one of our favorite bike blogs, and have been on the Cool Stuff We Like bloglist since last year.

As an added bonus, here's a link to a Kneeslider blog post about another of Chris's custom builds, the "Speed Shop Special #6." It's based on a 1978 Ironhead Sportster.

Classic AJS Scrambler

AJS Scrambler

Just because it's beautiful...

I don't even remember where I found this pic. Stumbled across it today while going through some files and thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment, just because...









    

BikeCraft Magazine Issue No. 1 Has Hit the Newstands

So-Cal Triumph Featured in BikeCraft

 BikeCraft magazine is here at last... bobbers, cafe racers, streettrackers, oh my. I just bought a copy of issue numero uno, Summer 2012, and I love it already... great photography, excellent writing, and lots of bikes... in this issue alone, more than a dozen innovative and novel customs from across a wide spectrum of brands. 

Dave Edwards, editor-in-chief of Cycle World  for many years, is at the helm of this new quarterly from Mark Barnett, publisher of the now-defunct Barnett's Magazine (which I really liked and bought on a regular basis). The design and layout of the mag reminds me very much of Cycle World.

The Triumph streettracker pictured here was one of the very cool featured bikes. It was designed and built by the legendary designers and craftsmen at So-Cal Speed Shop for Champions Moto, the first in a limited production run of ten bikes.

Harleyton 45 Featured in BikeCraft

At the other end of the spectrum, there was a great piece about Englishman Nick Roskelley's Harleyton 45 Cafe Racer, a Harley 45ci flathead in a Norton frame. 

I've been eagerly awaiting the debut after seeing the preview of BikeCraft at the back of the now-defunct  Barnett's Magazine final issue. It's better than I hoped for. Check it out at your favorite newstand now, or get setup with a subscription online for $14.99 per year (four issues) at their website.


Update: Actually the Champions Moto Triumph will be a limited production run of twenty bikes, not ten... my mistake

         

Metisse Limited Edition Steve McQueen Desert Sled

Rickman-Metisse Steve McQueen Scrambler

The Rickman brothers at Metisse Motorcycles are taking orders on a limited edition run of 300 Triumph desert sleds that they claim are faithful reproductions of the original that they built to Steve McQueen's specs years ago, right down to the custom footpegs, the 35mm Cerianis with 7" of travel, the Triumph front hub, BSA rear hub, and the BSA fork yokes.

The engines are period-correct reconditioned 650cc twins with single Amal carb.

Awhile back we posted about the new Triumph Steve McQueen T100... well, this bike is the truly fitting tribute to the late, great McQueen.  

If you are interested, go here to fill in your contact information and Metisse sales will contact you. 

      

Falcon Motorcycles, Ten One-of-a-Kind Customs

Falcon Motorcycles Vincent, "The Black"

Falcon Motorcycles was founded in 2007 by Ian Barry and Amaryllis Knight with a very specific mission: They would design and build "ten unique machines without compromise" based on  "ten unique British [motorcycle] engines," each with a racing pedigree. Each bike would truly be one-of-a-kind, never to be duplicated.

Falcon Motorcycles Triumph, "The Bullet"

Their first bike was "The Bullet," based on a Triumph Thunderbird pre-unit construction twin engine, which gained fame as the bike that Marlon Brando rode in The Wild Ones. It immediately caught the attention of the custom motorcycle world and enthusiasts all around the world, putting Falcon Motorcycles on the map.

Three of the ten are completed now and sold: "The Bullet," "The Kestrel," and "The Black." Seven are planned and still available as of this writing. Go to the Falcon gallery to see info concerning the remaining seven project bikes.

Metisse Motorcycles 997 Cafe Racer

Metisse Parallel Twin 997 Cafe Racer

British motorcycling legends Don and Derek Rickman of Metisse Motorcycles are bringing an entirely new bike to market... The Metisse 997 Cafe Racer, which was introduced at the Nov. 2011 NEC international motorcycle show in the UK.

The Metisse is based on a proprietary 997cc parallel twin. The UK motorsports composites company, TS Composites, helped design the tank and seat combination, and is the exclusive supplier of these components to Metisse.

We haven't seen anything yet about the availability of production models, or any recent test rides. Brit bike website Motorcyclenews.com published a piece about their test ride of the prototype in late 2009, however. When we see any new news about the availability, or any published test rides or reviews, we will update here.

BTW, follow the link above to TS Composites to see another Metisse surprise.... which we will blog about in a followup.