2015 Ducati Scrambler

Looks awesome... and only 375 pounds. Check it out at Road & Track... they've got a series of posts about it.

Lucky Devil "Root Beer Float" Bobber

This root beer brown bobber was built by Kent Weeks of Lucky Devil Motor Works and presented at the the AMD Wold Championship bike build-off in Long Beach, CA in 2010. The Root Beer Float was built to order for Nyla Olsen of Bikernet. Bikernet has a multi-part series about the bike design and build. 

Musket V-Twin Royal Enfield, Check Out the Latest News

Musket V-Twin, Royal Enfield Based Special

See the latest news regarding the Musket V-Twin here. The ORDER page is up now!

The Musket is a Royal Enfield special created by industrial engineer Aniket Vardhan. He designed and made casting patterns for a custom bottom end that used two stock Royal Enfield top ends, either 350cc or 500cc, to make a V-twin engine. It's a beautiful piece of work and is meeting with success in the marketplace.

Beautiful Classic Ducati Cafe Racers

Ducati Cafe Racer at Inazuma Caferacer Blog

Absolutely beautiful Ducati cafe racers at one of our favorite motorcycle blogs, Inazuma Caferacer. 

Darizt Design Honda GL100 Boardtracker

Daritz Design GL100

Here's a very cool little Honda with boardtracker styling from Daritz Design of Indonesia, courtesy of Bike EXIF blog.

Classic Cafe Racers from Vicente Design at the Kneeslider Blog

Vicente Cafe Racer, photo credit Kneeslider Blog

The Kneedslider blog featured several of Vicente Design's classic cafe racers a while back. We are impressed with the caliber of his designs and his craftsmanship in execution.

We posted a link a week ago to the feature they did about their Triumph Hurricane tribute bike, along with some associated material, including a link to Hurricane designer Craig Vetter's website.

Deus Ex Machina Yamaha 400 Thumper Scrambler Kit

Deus Ex Machina Yamaha 400 Kit

The crew at Deus has put together a kit for customizing the Yamaha SR400. It's got that vintage XT500 scrambler vibe; think of it as kind of a tribute to that popular classic. They call it a "custom meant to be customized." Put your own spin on it, make it more streettracker than scrambler, for example.

More on the SR400 here.

Here's another builder's take on the XT500 at the Pipeburn blog, this one an actual customized version of the original, from Mark Apland of Thumper Stuff in Monroe, WA.

1917 Harley-Davidson L17T Boardtracker for sale at Deus Ex Machina

For sale at Deus Ex Machina

The crew at Deus Ex Machina has a 1917 H-D boardtracker for sale. They say its in excellent condition and ready to race. Follow the link and you'll find the you'll find the contact info, phone and email.

Voodoo Vintage Custom Bike Frame Builders Kits for Boardtrackers

Voodoo Vintage Model 6 Frame

Voodoo Vintage offers frame kits for custom bikebuilders, including several models with a boardtracker theme. The Model 6 frame shown to here is said to be a known fit for Yamaha XS650, Honda CB350 and CB360, Suzuki LS650, and "many others."

Follow the link above and you will find a download button for detailed specs in Adobe pdf format for the six frames featured, including the Model 12 boardtracker for Sportster and Buell powerplants.

Lotus C-01 Hyperbike, Limited Edition

The Lotus C-01 200hp futuristic superbike was designed by Daniel Simon, the designer of the Light Cycle in the Tron reboot. Only 100 will be built. The pricetag? $137K.

The C-01 is in fact created by two German motorsports firms, the Kodewa autoracing team and the Holzer Group. They licensed the Lotus name and logo for this special project.

Check out also the C-10 article at Wired.

Indian Scout Cafe Racer from Analog Motorcycles

We've been really impressed with the work of designer/builder Tony Prust, proprietor of Analog Motorcycles, as he's developed the last couple of years or so that we've been aware of him and Analog. Now we've just seen this classic, elegant Indian Scout cafe racer at the Bike EXIF blog (one of our all-time favorite motorcycle blogs, by the way). Impressive. Check it out.

Bike EXIF has featured a number of other Tony Prust bikes in the past. I liked this 1971 Triumph 250 based scrambler, it's especially nostalgic for me because my first bike was a 1971 250 in the street model configuration.

How to Build a Cafe Racer

Honda CX500 Cafe Racer

Charles Tregolan is a professional car designer by trade. In his spare time he designs and builds his own bikes. He's written a set of guidelines for cafe racer builders at the Bike EXEF blog.

The guidelines tell the builder how to scale and set the parameters of a cafe racer to give it a professional look; how to size and place the tank relative to the engine and crankcase, how to set the fork distance, where to set the limits of the seat length relative to the rear axle, and so on.

He uses the Honda CX500 cafe racer you see here as a real-world, guiding example. If you have an interest in building, or plan to build a cafe racer, check out his article.


  

High-Tech, Lightweight Brake Rotors for Harley-Davidsons

Matrix Brakes Disc on H-D

I stumbled across this company, Matrix Brakes, while doing a bit of research on an advanced materials type metal-matrix composites (MMC). They make brake rotors and brake pads for Harleys from an MMC material that is a mixture of aluminum and a ceramic, Silicon Carbide (SiC). The claimed advantages are much lighter weight than stock (1.9lbs vs. 4.9lbs) and greater stopping power. The lighter weight of the rotor is a reduction in unsprung weight, so that would improve the ride and handling of the bike.

They also make carbon-kevlar brake pads.

You can read more about their technology in a slide presentation here. They are also looking for qualfied dealers, you can apply here.

Triumph Flat Track Blog

70's Triumph Flattrack Bike

I just found this blog dedicated to Triumph flattrack racing. A lot of cool pics, but hate to report that the most recent posts are from 2010. Nonetheless, if you are a Triumph fan, check it out for a lot of pics of vintage and modern Triumph flatttrack racers and racing photos.

Triumph Hurricane Tribute for the New Millennium from Vicente Design

Vicente Triumph Millennium 900 Hurricane Tribute

Designer Jean Francois Vicente created this beautiful tribute to the Craig Vetter designed Triumph Hurricane X75. He started with a Triumph 900 Adventurer. The composite body work and triple pipes are of his own design. I think it captures the look and spirit well in modern technology. You can read more about it at the Kneeslider blog.

You can read more about Craig Vetter and the Triumph Hurricane at his Craig Vetter Hurricane pages. You will also find links there to a gallery of Hurricane pictures and a listing of Hurricane articles.

1973 Triumph Hurricane X75

The 2013 One Motorcycle Show Roundup at The Selvedge Yard Blog

1970 Triumph TT100C, "Lemon Drop"

Just found this nice gallery of pics from The One Motorcycle Show of 2013 at The Selvedge Yard blog.

Video from the 5th Annual The One Motorcycle Show in Portland

The Juliet Zulu creative agency documented the See See Motor Coffee sponsored The One Motorcycle Show in Portland last month. Videos and still shots are now up at their site.

McQueen Inspired Triumph Motorcycle Design Concepts by Designcube

Designcube "Great Escape" Triumph Concept Bike

The design team at Designcube, a Barcelona-based industrial design house, has shared renderings of two Triumph concept bikes inspired by classic Steve McQueen films, the "The Great Escape" and  "The Getaway". Both are based on the 885cc Triumph Speed Triple.

Will either one or both ever be brought to market, whether as a conversion kit or custom bike? They aren't saying. These may well remain just design exercises, though it would be very cool to see at least the Great Escape scrambler pictured here come to life as either a custom or a conversion kit.

You can see more Designcube motorcycle and automotive concepts and projects at their online Coroflot portfolio.

P.S. The stunt riding in "The Great Escape" was performed by the late, legendary SoCal motorcycle racer, Bud Ekins, who was a friend of McQueen's. Ekins also stood-in for McQueen as the stunt driver of the Ford Mustang in the awesome chase scene in "Bullit." Here's the 1966 Triumph desert sled that Ekins built for McQueen.

The Return of the Yamaha SR400

2015 Yamaha SR400 

This just knocks me out... Yamaha is bringing the venerable SR400 thumper back to the US market after 20 years of absence. Bikes will be in US dealerships in May as an early 2015 model. The list price is said to be $5,990.

As you can see in the photo here, this bike has truly retro late-Seventies styling. The original SR400 was first introduced in 1978. You can go to Yamaha's SR400 history page and see how closely the 2015 model resembles the 1978 original.

The 399cc aircooled engine is mated to a five-speed transmission, and has a chain drive. Surprisingly, it is kickstart only, no electric starter. Now that is retro.

It's apparent that Yamaha is responding to the success that custom builders like Deus Ex Machina, Classified Moto, and Spirit of the Seventies are having, and the buzz they are generating, with simple, low-cost, retro bikes that appeal to both the new generation of riders (Millennials) and Baby Boomers nostalgic for the bikes of their youth. There also seems to be more than ever a thirst for bikes that, unlike the typical crotch rocket, are easy to customize... Go to Yamaha's SR400 webpage and note the tagline there: "Retro Cool. Built to Customize." I am also sure the success of the 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet thumpers has come to their notice, too.

It's wonderful to see this clean and elegant lightweight bike come back to market. The AutoEvolution.com website has a gallery of eight pics of the bike here.

Photo credit: Autoevolution.com 

Steampunk Tendencies

Nutcracker Rat Bikes at Steampunk Tendencies

A lot of awesome steampunk craft work, art, vehicles, and costumes for your weekend viewing pleasure at Steampunk Tendencies blog.