Motorcycle Modification

Custom When I first saw this 1969 Norton, I’d have bet big money that it was from one of the established Japanese workshops. But it’s from my old backyard—Sydney, Australia. Damian Bombardiere bought his Commando on the cheap from eBay three years ago. “The seller mentioned a bottom-end noise, but I found it was simply a loose tappet.” With non-matching numbers and a bizarre stepped backbone frame—perhaps to suit a short rider—Damian rode the Norton for a year while debating what to do with it. “I decided to create a street track-dirt track-cafe racer hybrid. And after a year of building, here we have it.” Damian ditched the frame and picked up a stock frame with the rear loop already cut out. He narrowed and shortened the new frame, rebuilt and shortened the forks, and reinstalled the motor. The engine was in good condition, so Damian just ground the valves and added a Joe Hunt magneto. The headers are from BUB, and Damian converted the carburetion to a single...

Street Tracker So this is what happens when two old surf dudes get together. Richard Pollock, our favorite street-tracker builder, was a semi-pro surfer in his youth. Motocross was a way to pass time when the waves were flat, which led to a gig as a bike shop mechanic, which led to a 30-year career as an aerospace fabricator, which then led back to motorcycles, specifically Mule Motorcycles. To date, about 140 machines, almost all street-trackers, have left the refitted suburban San Diego two-car garage that serves as Mule’s build facility. This British Racing Green Yamaha XS650 is one of his latest, commissioned by another surfer, Fred Snyder, a northern Californian whose favorite spot for shooting curls is Moss Landing north of Monterey. Discreet MLAV lettering, for “Moss Landing Assault Vehicle,” just below the Mule logo on the Storz aluminum gas tank is an in-joke between Pollock and Snyder. About the only items that remain from the original XS are the eng...

There must be something in the water (or the gasolina ) on the Iberian Peninsula. The custom motorcycle scene in Spain is booming, and Portugal is not far behind. This is the latest build from Porto’s Ton-Up Garage; it’s a classy Triumph Bonneville T100 that could pass as a desirable limited edition from the Hinckley factory itself. According to Ton-Up’s Pedro Oliveira, “Our goal was to build a classic urban motorcycle—with fine lines, an elegant shape and distinguished colors. Our client lives in Lisbon, and he wanted a bike to use daily in the city center.” So Ton-Up started with a 2002-model T100, finished in green and silver, and with a full complement of chrome. The engine was repainted black, new air filters fitted and the carbs re-jetted to match. On went a pair of off-road exhaust pipes, similar in style to the originals but freer-flowing (and a little bit louder). Ton-Up chopped the rear frame and built a completely new section designed to hou...

Louis75 Jubiläums bike If you live in mainland Europe and ride a motorcycle, you’ve probably bought parts or accessories from a company called Louis. The Hamburg-based company is Europe’s largest moto retailer, and it’s just celebrated its 75th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Louis commissioned Marcus Walz to build a custom bike—and asked for ‘a machine that combines tradition and the future.’ It was also a collaborative project with Louis’ customers: In five stages, votes were taken on Facebook regarding the basic concept, the wheels, handlebar, instruments and the finish. A Ducati Sport 1000 was chosen as the starting point. Walz rejigged the sheet metal to create a slim and wiry look: The tank, seat unit and rear bodywork were beaten by hand out of aluminum, and the rear frame was redesigned. Even the housing of the fuel pump is custom-built, also machined from aluminum and hidden from view by integrating it into the tank. An 800-gram lithium-ion batte...

American Beemer When you’re good, you’re good. And Ron Wood is good. He’s been building winning flat-trackers for 30-plus years, so it should come as no surprise that his latest creation, powered by the inclined-Twin from BMW’s new F800, was right in the ballpark handling-wise, right off the workbench. A shakedown run by a national-number rider at the Willow Springs dirt-track went like this. Wood (to rider after 10 laps): “What’s she need?” Rider: “Nothing.” Wood: “Well, go out and burn off another 20 laps, ride it hard.” Twenty laps later. Wood: “So?” Rider: “We’re done. It’s good.” A regional race in Tucson with a no-name rider in the saddle led to a DNQ, but last month against a field of mostly national riders on Harleys and Suzukis, the Wood-BMW finished fifth with up-and-comer Brandon Bergen doing the honors. Next up was a bigger test at the Pomona “Pacific Coast Nationals” on November 10, Bergen again at the controls. First practice was promising, but one d...

The bread and butter of Bike EXIF is anything but bread and butter motorcycles. It’s the cutting edge of custom and classic machinery. But for most of us, budgets are limited. Workshop space is invariably limited too, and motorcycles are often a pleasure to be squeezed into busy lives. So it’s good to feature a “real world” daily driver now and then. Like this Kawasaki W650 owned by Jérôme Pierre, who runs the French moto blog Un Pneu Dans La Tombe (“A Tire In The Grave”). This W650 is Jérôme’s attempt to personalize and improve his bike without breaking the bank or compromising reliability. He’s lowered the suspension a fraction at the front, and fitted progressive springs. At the back, the shocks have been upgraded to Hagons. The tires are now Dunlop K81 TT100s, the first tires to lap the Isle of Man course at over 100 mph. (“I love those tires,” says Jérôme. “A vintage look but modern efficiency, and a story associated with the Tourist Trophy.”) The W650 mot...

 Super Sport Nelspruit is a remote town in South Africa’s former Eastern Transvaal, surrounded by citrus groves and miles from anywhere. There’s no custom motorcycle scene to speak of, but on the up side, Nelspruit is surrounded by some of the country’s best motorcycling roads. And on those roads, you’ll find Louis Nel riding this lovely Honda CB550F. “I’m a professional accountant by trade,” says Nel, “and these garage builds are a creative escape from my corporate day-to-day existence. It all started two years ago, when I inadvertently spotted the Wrenchmonkees’ CX500.” Nel was bitten by the custom bug. With the help of his brother, he bought and customized a CX500, learning the ropes along the way. After his brother adopted the CX as a daily driver, Nel scouted around for a new project—and happened across a 1976 CB550F Super Sport. The CB was a failed restoration job from Johannesburg, and arrived in boxes of bits. Nel got a mechanic to reassemble th...

Wrenchmonkees ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Ever heard of a Kawasaki Z970? Neither had we. But that’s the moniker the Wrenchmonkees have given their latest custom, a stunning Z750B that’s been bored out to almost a liter. It’s the pet project of company founder Per Nielsen, who wanted to build “the perfect City-Dirt tracker” with a beefed-up motor and loads of torque. According to Nielsen, “Our local engine workshop was keen on the idea of a big bore engine as well. But there are no kits or tuning parts available for these old twins, so we had to do it ourselves.” While the workshop machined out the cylinders, Wössner in Germany built new 89mm diameter pistons. The top end of the DOHC motor was ported and everything else was checked, replaced or fixed. More visible is the departure from the Wrenchmonkees’ signature monochrome look, with an orange frame and pinstriping on the tank. The exhaust pipes are attention-grabbing too; taken from a Yamaha XT500, they’re hooked up to a Su...

By Analog I know a couple of people who’ve owned Yamaha RD350s, and both remember the 1970s air-cooled twin with great fondness. I bet they haven’t seen an RD350 like this one, though. Called “S2RD”, it was built by Tony Prust of Illinois-based Analog Motorcycles. (If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Prust also built the lovely CB550 sidecar combination we featured six months ago.) This bike started as a 1973 RD350 that was halfway towards a café racer conversion when the current owner bought it. After the bike sat around for years untouched, the owner commissioned Analog Motorcycles to finish the job. “I started by cutting off the neck tube and welding on a Ducati S2R neck,” says Prust. “This allowed us to use a set of S2R forks and triples, and to complete the suspension, I also mounted a pair of Progressive Suspension shocks.” The original RD rear rim was then laced to the front hub to accommodate a wider front tire. The rear hub and rim come from a Yamaha...

drift bike One of the most eye-catching motorcycle videos of 2011 was a very unusual one: High Plains Drifters , a high-voltage clip that pitted a Kawasaki ZX-10R against a hot-rodded Mazda RX-7 drift car. It was the work of apparel brand Icon; the machine we have here is one of two bikes that Icon has commissioned for the sequel. It’s a 2012-model Speed Triple 1050 with a rather noticeable modification—a Roaring Toyz extended swingarm kit. (“No welds, silky smooth,” reports Icon’s freestyle rider Ernie Vigil.) The motor has been tuned by PJ’s Triumph of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and fitted with a Leo Vince GP-style carbon exhaust. Icon’s Justin Knauer has just taken the Speed Triple for a shakedown blast around the track: “I’m amazed that the extended swing arm really didn’t effect the handling in a negative way at all. It did make drifting a lot easier though.” Check out the original High Plains Drifters movie here, and keep an eye out for this machine—no doubt wreath...

Ever since I saw the Yamaha built by Frenchman Sonic Seb, I’ve had a thing for slammed XS650s. Granted, they’re not the most practical of customs, but sheesh—they look good. This one comes from Taiwan, the country best known for giving us Rough Crafts. Builder Mark Huang is based in Taipei, and like most Taiwanese builders, he faced a few challenges—the first being the scarcity of the XS650 in that country. “I had to get this 1982 bike from California,” Mark says, “but it was in great condition. I then spent four months turning it into a Japanese-style street bobber.” Since 2005, Mark has been running a motorcycle parts company—so he’s seen a lot of bikes, and knows how to get the look he wants. Central to that look is the tank, and in this case it’s from a tiny Honda CB50. Finished with an amazingly intricate paintjob from Air Runner, it’s matched to a custom seat unit with the bare necessity of padding required for rider comfort. A custom-fabricated aluminum fend...

By Analog Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles has built his reputation with a raft of elegant, mid-capacity customs: the perfect bikes for barhopping and cruising around town. This 1979 Yamaha SR500 has more of a raw edge though, and a name to match—‘Bruto.’ It was commissioned by Mark Wator, who wanted a machine for evening and weekend rides, with a seat big enough for two. “Mark liked some of the ‘raw metal’ builds he’d seen,” says Prust. “With that in mind, he let me loose to do as I pleased—within his budget, of course!” Prust rebuilt the motor to factory specs, and hooked it up to a custom stainless exhaust system from Dime City Cycles. The SR has also been completely rewired, with juice coming from a Ballistic Performance 4-cell EVO2 battery. The front end is now from a GSX-R—and the sportbike calipers now clamp onto aftermarket wave rotors, fed by stainless brake lines. The rear end is kept planted with Gazi Suspension Hyper Lite shocks. Prust completely recon...