Motorcycle Modification

 Ever heard of the V30 Magna? It was a 498 cc V-four cruiser that Honda released in the 80s, In 1984, Honda unveiled the VF500C, better known as the V30 Magna ☁️ a potent 500cc cruiser whose sophisticated V4 powerplant boasted technology carried over from Honda’s famed V4 racing engines: double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, liquid cooling, six-speed gearbox, and more. In fact, the same engine was used in the bike’s sportbike sibling, the VF500F Interceptor. In print ads for the new bike, Honda made sure everyone knew this was not your run-of-the-mill middleweight cruiser  ‘custom’ styling typical of the era. Not surprisingly, you don’t see many custom examples—so when Sean Skinner at motorelic in Virginia got his hands on one, he had nothing to reference for inspiration. That didn’t stop him from building a sharp  street tracker  that’s miles ahead of the source material. Sean’s V30 is also something of a parts bin special, with an Interceptor swing a...

Clay Rathburn is one of those annoying ‘renaissance’ types who seem to be good at whatever they turn their hands to. First was a string of traditional Triumph hardtails—including the irresistible Velvet Underground. Then we had the RVA Overland vintage dirt bike, and a Harley Sportster 1200 that was straight out of the 70s. So it must be time for something completely different. The latest Atom Bomb bike is a classic Triumph street tracker named "Trackmaster", finished in the usual immaculate Atom Bomb style. “The client bought me a rolling Trackmaster frame with a bent up swingarm and clapped-out Betor forks,” says Rathburn. “And, as we discovered later, a hell of a motor in it …” The ’67 motor is sporting a big-bore Sonny Routt 750 kit, big Kenny Harmon cams, steel H-beam rods, a lightened and balanced crank, and a five-speed conversion. “It was a full-tilt race motor. But the valve guides were loose in the head, the seats were cracked, and half ...

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.” ...