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 -
Scrambler Kit by Mr Martini
The Triumph Scrambler is a modern motorcycle that, with a few clever tweaks, could be genuinely great. Nicola Martini obviously agrees with this sentiment although unlike me, he has the skills and resources to actually do something about it.
Enamel Mug
The humble enamel mug might be an odd thing to love but the little tin cups hold enormous personal significance for me, they remind me of my Grandfather and of camping trips with my Dad when I was still wearing short trousers.
Indian Chout Hillclimber
The Indian Chout is a rather interesting beast, in some respects it represents the American version of the Triton. In off-road racing circles during the 1930’s it became popular to drop a 1490cc Indian Chief motor into an Indian Scout frame, creating a Frankenstein bike with a relatively high power-to-weight ratio for the era.
Goldmember by Goldammer Cycle Works
We featured the Nortorious by Goldammer Cycle Works earlier this week and it caused all of our regular reader’s eyes to explode out of…
Bear Archery Grizzly Recurve Bow
A few years ago on eBay I made one of those impulse buys at 2am that saw me receiving a Bear Grizzly Recurve Bow by Fed Ex a week later.
Steam Trunk
After seeing this picture I’ve realised that we need to bring back steam trains. I’ve also realised that the Beetle used to be a very popular car.
1962 Moretti 2500 SS Coupe
This beautiful 1962 Moretti 2500 SS Coupe with coachwork by Carrozzeria Moretti is one of only 20 to have ever been made, it’s powered by a 2500cc carburettor fed straight-6 with 170hp.
Lensatic Cruiser Compass
A solid compass is one of the most important things a man can own, the lensatic compass is (I think) the best type of compass that exists, ipso facto, every man should own a lensatic compass. Or at least this is how I tried to explain it to my Mrs.
XS650 Café Racer by Alexandre Trotin
Alexandre is one of those guys who seems to have life better figured out than me. Not only is he training to be a luxury yacht captain, he’s living in Guadeloupe, a stupendously beautiful Caribbean island paradise.
audio jar by Sarah Pease Design
Any audiophile will tell you that speakers are everything. Up until now though, it hasn’t been possible to make speakers out of anything. These glass jar speakers by designer Sarah Pease are made using the open source speaker design..
Airship Hangar
Airships represent an alternative form of air transport that I secretly wish was far more commonplace. I’d happily spend 5 days cruising across the Atlantic on a luxurious cruise between London and New York and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Nortorious by Goldammer Cycle Works
Nortorious is one of those highly unusual custom café racers that only comes along once in a blue moon. Although it looks fairly straight forward it’s actually a turbo-charged engineering tour de force featuring more custom engine components than any other bike we’ve ever posted on Silodrome.