The Wazuma V8F

Wow. Here's what you get when you mate a Ferrari 3.0L engine to a BMW M3 gearbox, a hybrid of motorcycle and open-wheel performance car: the Wazuma V8F. I believe they are going in to production... but can we buy here in the States? I don't know.

(Note that the website is in French. I used Google Chrome's translation feature to read in English.)

Roc City Cafe Racers Article

CB350 Cafe Racer w. Roc City Alloy Tank & Seat

Last year we posted about the beautifully crafted alloy tanks and seat assemblies made by owner/fabricator Sean Pelletier at his shop, Roc City Cafe Racers in Rochester, NY. The styling and crafting recalls the work of British bike builders of the Fifties. Sean just contacted us by email with a link to a recent article about his passion, his shop, and his work in a 585mag.com. Check it out here.

Chappell Customs Yamaha Star Bolt Bobber

Chappell Customs Bolt Bobber

We've been posting here about Yamaha's rollout strategy for the new Bolt V-twin: They gave ten prominent custom bike shops a Bolt to see what the builders would make of it. This is the second in a series of posts about each bike that began with the Roland Sands Design street tracker. Today's post is about the Chappell Customs bike.

The Chappell Customs Star Bolt build, a bobber, is complete now. The monoshock rear end they've designed will be available as a kit. It will require some frame cuts, but is a bolt-on affair, so no welding is required. The shock was specifically designed for the Chappell Bolt by renowned SoCal motorcycle aftermarket suspension shop, Works Performance. The kit will also include the custom seat and subframe you see here. The chin spoiler will also be for sale soon.

Custom Monoshock Rear End

Check out the Chappell Customs blog for a series of posts about the build, including some videos of the shop action.

H/T to BikeEXIF blog.

Ten Bolt Customs at Star Motorcycles Facebook Page

Bolt Custom by Jesse Rooke of Rooke Customs

In an earlier post about the Roland Sands Bolt street tracker, we noted that as part of its rollout strategy for the new Star Bolt V-twin, Yamaha shipped new Bolts to a number of prominent custom bike shops to see what the builders would do with it. It was a total of ten shops, in fact. As part of our followup on that subject, here's a link where you can see all ten of the Bolt customs at Star's Facebook page.

Portland 2013 Mini Maker Faire Sept. 14-15

The Portland, OR Mini Maker Faire returns Sept. 14-15. It will be held in the North parking lot of the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) again this year, you can find a map and directions here.

One-day and two-day tickets are available for purchase online now, or at the gate. Admission prices are:

One-day: Adults $12, Youth (3-17) $8, Seniors (65+) $8.
Two-day: Adults $20, Youth $14, Seniors $14

OMSI members receive $3 off.

There will be ten food carts onsite this year. There will also be a beer and wine bar.

We attended last year. There was a good crowd of all ages and a lot of booths, and plenty of hands-on activities for people of all ages. There should be a great turnout again this year.

Retro Moto Blog

Bultaco 250 TSS Vintage Roadracer 

We like the Retro Moto Blog for its excellent photos of vintage and classic motorcycles: Roadracers (like the Bultaco 250 TSS here), street bikes, dirt bikes, motorcrossers, and more. You'll also find coverage of vintage motorcycle shows and racing events. Check it out.

Photo credit: Retro Moto Blog, Bultaco 250 TSS 

BIKEEXIF Custom Motorcycle Blog

If you love custom bikes of any kind --- cafe racers, bobbers, bratstyle, street trackers, choppers, classic, vintage --- or all of the above, you'll want to visit BikeEXIF.com on a regular basis. You'll find quality pictures and editorial content.

BikeEXIF is the creation of Chris Hunter of New Zealand. Chris was formerly the creative director for an advertising agency, so he knows how to design a quality website. In the video embedded below he discusses his vision for the site. Below that we have a link to his new book at Amazon, The Ride: New Custom Motorcycles and their Builders, which was published just this past week.

Seaweed & Gravel Blog and Vintage Bikes

1972 HD Sprint for Sale at Seaweed & Gravel

Seaweed & Gravel is a SoCal based company with an eclectic line of interesting products: vintage and custom bikes, vintage apparel and jewelry, surfboards, boots, bonsai trees, and other things. Check out their cool blog and current and past inventory of vintage and custom bikes.

Silodrome Gasoline Culture, a Cool Motorsports Blog

Check out Silodrome.com for all sorts of motorsports goodness.... motorcycles, cars, boats, art, clothing, films, gear... there's a special category for cafe racers, too.

The Bolt: A Sportster Killer from Yamaha?

Yamaha Star Bolt

Earlier today we did a post about the Roland Sands street tracker based on the new Yamaha Bolt. The 58ci  air-cooled V-twin is targeted right at the Harley-Davidson Sportster. So, we thought we'd followup here with a link to Cycle World magazine's Bolt vs. Sportster comparison test, which was published online just yesterday.

Back in March Cycle World published a "first look" at the Bolt and the Bolt R-Spec models here.