Motorcycle Modification

If you know the name Glenn Curtiss, you’ll probably remember him for his aviation exploits before World War I. Flying his own planes, he trounced established names such as the Wright brothers in competitions. And despite being American, he was awarded the #2 official French pilot’s license—after Louis Bleriot, who flew the English Channel in 1909. But Curtiss’ first interest was motorcycles rather than airplanes. He not only set the motorcycle land speed record, but also beat the mighty Indian Motorcycle Company in endurance races. Very few Curtiss motorcycles have survived the passage of time, but this lovingly restored 1911 Marvel Single 500 is one of them, and it’s going under the hammer on Thursday at the Bonhams sale in Las Vegas. According to the catalog: “The new Marvel was quite ingenious and bristled with innovation....

The Honda Super Cub is the best-selling two-wheeler on the planet. Since 1958, it’s sold more than 60 million units. So, as you can imagine, there are some pretty cool custom Cubs around — but few are as cool as the machines being turned out by Holland’s Super Motor Company. This is Honda Cub the latest build from SMC, nicknamed Dirty Donkey. “Yes, it does sound like the title of an obscure 70s porn movie,” admits SMC, “but it‘s nothing to do with that. It’s a bike meant to be happy on the dirt track.” Dirty Donkey has been built to race, with tongue firmly in cheek, at the Dirt Quake event organized by Sideburn Magazine in the UK. And it incorporates a few lessons learnt from SMC’s Salt Shaker build. SMC’s inspiration came from vintage motocross, desert racers and dirt trackers: CZs, Maicos, and the Harley/Aermacchi Sprin...

 Vintage Cafe Racer Here’s a little beauty by Deus ex Machina (god from the machine). If you ride and haven’t heard of these guys I’m sure you’ll be reconsidering your next bike. This late ’70s Honda S90 Cafe Racer has been restored to the finest detail. Stripped down to the bare bones; forged Café Racer Seat, overhauled engine and carburetor, they polished up the shiny parts and put a classic coat of white on it to turn heads. The S90 also includes custom-built and polished clip-on handle bars, converted ignition from point to CDI, and gave it a custom Japanese exhaust so you hear it coming. KTC small switches, Daytona speedometer built into Suzuki GT front headlight, Polaris tail light all resting on 18-inch front and back TK Japanese wheels. This may not be the fastest bike on the road but you’re guaranteed to ride in pure vintage style. If you happen to miss out on this classic, you won’t be disappointed by Deus ex Machina’s .

Clean Café Racer and Street Tracker Richard Pollock knows a thing or two about street trackers. Doing business as Mule Motorcycles out of a converted two-car garage in suburban San Diego, he’s built about 100 trackers to date, and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, now that his full-time job as an aerospace fabricator has morphed into part-time consultancy, he has more time than ever to devote to two-wheelers, including doing R&D and prototyping for Streetmaster, a small Southern California speed house for new Triumph Bonnevilles. Pollock’s bread and butter, though, are specials based on two powerplants: Harley-Davidson’s Evo Sportster V-twin and Yamaha’s venerable XS650, the so-called “Japanese Bonneville” and about as good an air-cooled parallel-twin as anybody has ever made. Mule’s latest build is an XS650 with a difference. Strictly speaking it’s not a street-tracker; there are touches of café-racer mixed in. Let’s call it, then, a “café-tracker.” ...