Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more. Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Ben Branch -
Keychain Knife Sharpener
This keychain knife sharpener designed by Tom Stokes is an order of magnitude more useful that that commemorative Boca Raton keychain you’ve been carrying around since 1996 – this one’ll sharpen any blade you slide through it and it also includes a flathead screwdriver, a small channel blade/cutter and a bottle opener.
Yamaha XS 360 by The Hookie
The Yamaha XS360 is an interesting motorcycle, the model never saw a huge production run and were, in many respects, the slightly smaller brother of the much more famous Yamaha XS400.
Beltway Motorcycle Glove by Icon 1000
I featured this glove by Icon 1000 in last week’s Silodrome Selection over on Bike EXIF, it occurred to me as I was writing…
Honda CB750 Cafe Racer by Steel Bent Customs
Michael Mundy, the proprietor of Steel Bent Customs, has a penchant for building some of the cleanest cafe racer motorcycles you’ll find anywhere. He tends to favour the Honda CB750 and has now got the process of turning the bike from a lumbering over-weight bike into an exceedingly clean, pure example of what a cafe racer can be if the builder sticks to the core of what the genre originally entailed.
Half Moon Orchard Gin
Half Moon Orchard Gin is a recent creation from the distillers over at Tuthilltown Spirits, it’s an interesting spirit with a base of near neutral spirit from both wheat and Hudson Valley apples.
Harley-Davidson Sportster Custom by Art of Racer
This bike is a Harley-Davidson Sportster custom by Art of Racer, it’s based on a 1991 Sportster though the only parts of the original bike are the engine, transmission and carburettor. That rather unique looking frame, modified springer front-end, suicide clutch, saddle, handlebars, rear fender and fuel tank are all custom creations.
Crovel Extreme II Survival Shovel
The Crovel Extreme II is the follow-up to the now world famous Crovel Extreme I, a tactical survival shovel that packs over a dozen tools into a single, mid-sized utility shovel.
Unimog 4×4
The Unimog 4×4 is quite easily one of the most iconic off-road vehicles ever made, it sits alongside the Land Rover Series I/II/III/Defender, the original military Humvee and the Land Cruiser FJ40/FJ60 as a “proper” 4×4, with no traction control, no air-conditioning and most certainly no LCD TV screens.
Volta Sound Block
This is the Volta Sound Block, it’s a passive sound amplifier for the iPhone made from a solid block of Northwest Alder wood and an American Bison horn. The iPhone dock is lined with Pendleton Wool and the Bison horn is held in place with a series of surprisingly powerful neodymium magnets, the Sound Block is supplied with its own carry bag, making it the perfect accompaniment for those summer camping trips.
Honda CB250N by Ellaspede
The humble Honda CB250N isn’t the sort of motorbike you’d usually see being customised, especially not to this degree. That said, the team at Ellaspede have been making quite a name for themselves working with slightly unusual motorcycles. In fact, they’re currently giving one of them away here.
Iain Sinclair Cardsharp 2 Credit Card Knife
This credit card sized folding knife by Iain Sinclair is one of the cleverest bits of gear we’ve come across in recent memory.
Crookes Radiometer
The Crookes Radiometer is one of those historical curiosities that even today has scientists hotly debating back and forth about how it actually works.