When it comes to custom motorcycles we don’t often hear about the guys building sub-$1,000 machines in their garages – most of the builds that garner attention cost a minimum of $10,000 with some of the more labour intensive builds costing many tens of thousands more again.
I have a huge soft spot for motorised bicycles like this one – dubbed the “Pistone-Pedali” by its creator Chris Rindos. When motorcycles first appeared they looked far more like this than anything we’d consider a motorcycle in the modern day – in fact the first motorcycles were just bicycles with engines attached, much like the hand-built, 49cc machine you see here.
This beautiful Triumph Bonneville by Dime City Cycles is currently being given away to benefit an orphanage in Peru, the competition is open to a full international audience and it even includes free shipping to your current country of residence.
The BMW R100 RT was first released in 1978 as a fully faired touring bike, it was fitted with BMWs boxer twin with a 1,000cc capcity and a not-at-all-shabby horsepower rating of 70 (51 kW).
The Spare Parts Company is a short film about Roland Sotello – the owner of the famous Spare Parts Company motorcycle shop in Old City Philadelphia.
The BMW R60/5 was part of a series of motorcycles release by BMW in 1970 that marked a huge turning point for the company. The R50/5 (500cc), the R60/5 (600cc) and the R75/5 (750cc) were all based on entirely new frames that did away with sidecar-mounts, meaning they could be much lighter.
The Kawasaki GT550 was fitted with a DOHC transverse, 4-cylinder, air-cooled engine with a total capacity of 553cc, it could produce 58hp at 9,000rpm and some claim it could top out above 140mph. Power was fed to the rear wheel via a shaft drive and a 6-speed transmission, making it a slightly unusual bike for the early 1980s.
The 1982 Honda CB750 was a DOHC (double overhead camshaft) model and was know for being more reliable than some of the earlier CB750 DOHC motorcycles…
This incredible Ural Racer is a creation from the mind of Joao Alves, it’s based on a stock 2013 Ural Solo sT but I think you’ll agree, the finished bike looks like a totally new creature. Joao has given the Ural Racer a beautiful mid-70s fairing, a studded cafe racer seat, a 2-into-2 chopped exhaust, a set of clip-on handlebars and an entirely new personality.
The Honda CB750 is quite easily one of the top 10 most important motorcycle models of the 20th century. Now, I know that that’s a very big of a big claim to make, so let me back it up with some history before we continue any further.
The brand new 2013 Honda Grom is one of the more exciting developments in the world of modern production motorcycles in recent memory, it’s a bike built purely for fun, it’s simple, it’s well made and it’s as cheap as chips. Well it’s $2,999 USD, so it’s as cheap as chips with some caviar and white truffle on them.
The CB550 was only produced between 1974 and 1978, its predecessor was the CB500 and it was succeeded by the CB650 all of these bikes were offered under the price point of the iconic CB750 and all of them seem to have developed their own groups of dedicated fans, many of them are finding a second wind as project builds with interesting and creative conversions to cafe racer/scrambler/tracker/Brat-style bikes.
