The Engine Designs of Von Dutch
Von Dutch, aka Kenny Howard, was a prolific artist and self-taught engineer, and a founding father of the Californian Kustom Kulture movement of ’50s and ’60s.
Engineering
The Galaxy Custom Yamaha XS650
Meet Galaxy Custom Galaxy Custom is a Bulgarian custom motorcycle garage, interestingly it lives inside a workshop that builds bespoke high-end furniture – this means they have the skills, personnel, and equipment on hand to build just about any bike they can dream of. Their previous builds have included a couple of BMWs – including a…
Walt Siegl L’Avventura
The L’Avventura by Walt Siegl Motorcycles is a new low-volume production bike, designed from the ground up to be highly competent both on and off the asphalt. With a kerb weight of 345 lbs, a tuned 1100cc Ducati L-twin, and state-of-the-art suspension, the L’Avventura is more than capable of wiping the floor with many high-end production…
1956 Cooper-Climax T39 Bobtail Racer
The mid-engined Cooper-Climax Bobtail was an early part of a major global motorsport revolution. Its mid-engined layout combined with a space frame chassis and lightweight alloy body would form a template that would be copied far and wide – eventually becoming the de facto structure for almost all sports racing cars.
1933 Model 1 Enigma Cipher Machine
The Enigma was invented shortly after the end of the First World War, and it would go on to be one of the most important machines of the Second. The device itself is relatively small, about the size of a mobile typewriter, but it was capable of encrypting messages in any of 159 million million…
Earnest K-Canvas® Tasker Motorcycle Pants
K-Canvas is a new material developed by the team at Earnest Co. to offer the comfort and wearability of cotton canvas, with the extreme durability of Dupont Kevlar®. Through trial and testing they created a fabric with 52% heavy duty canvas and 48% Kevlar® that’s comfortable to wear, and is so strong it easily passed…
Jack Ehret’s Vincent Black Lightning
Jack Ehret, the Black Lightning, and the road near Gunnedah On January 19th, 1953 Jack Ehret rolled his Vincent Black Lightning onto the gleaming asphalt near Gunnedah in eastern Australia where a 2 ¼ mile straight straight stretch of road had been closed by an accommodating constable, so Jack could take a shot at setting a new…
ExoDyne Electric Motorcycle
The ExoDyne Electric Motorcycle The ExoDyne is what happens when a talented veterinary orthopedic surgeon turns his attention to building himself an electric motorcycle. It’s there work of Alan Cross, an Atlanta based Vet who also happens to have a degree in engineering, and a wide swathe of metalworking and fabrication skills that are self-taught….
Short Film: The Black Falcon
The Black Falcon is a custom motorcycle built by Ian Barry and his team at Falcon Motorcycles in Los Angeles, it’s one of the most highly-respected and detailed custom bikes of the modern era – and the fact that it’s powered by a 1950 Vincent Black Shadow V-twin only adds to its appeal. This film…
Britten – Return to The Island
Britten – Return to The Island is a look at one of the most fascinating motorcycles of the 1990s – the Britten V1000. The film is 8 minutes long, and provides a wonderful look back at an often overlooked piece of motorcycle history. Official Description The Isle of Man TT is, without doubt, the most…
1954 Pegaso Z-102 Series II Saoutchik
A Brief History of the Pegaso Z-102 The Pegaso Z-102 was a technologically advanced sports car built by the Spanish in a Hispano-Suiza truck factory between 1951 and 1958. It’s difficult to know exactly how the risky Z-102 project managed to get approved by the accounts department, but the fact that the chief technical manager of the company was…
Pur Sang Type 35
A Brief History of the Pur Sang Type 35 The Pur Sang Type 35 has the unique distinction of being the first replica car ever to appear on the pages of Silodrome. Although if the Pur Sang faithful ever hear you refer to the car as a replica, they’ll be out for your blood. Automotive historians…