The Harley-Davidson Sportster is a bike that’s been torn down and rebuilt into just about every conceivable genre of the custom motorcycle spectrum that I can think of, some of them are designed to look good, some are designed to go faster and some are designed to do both of these things. Like this one.
Originally released in 1967 the Norton Commando would very quickly become one of the most iconic British motorcycles of all time, the 58hp parallel twin 750cc engine pulled it up to a top speed in excess of 115mph and it won the Motor Cycle News “Machine of the Year” award for 5 successive years from 1968 to 1972.
Old Empire Motorcycles is a British custom motorcycle garage that have been rapidly developing a reputation as one of the pre-eminent European builders.
Walt Siegl is a highly influential motorcycle builder based in New Hampshire – he’s been based in the Granite State since 2007 and he’s been directly responsible for some of the most technologically advanced custom motorcycles anywhere in the USA, or anywhere else for that matter.
This Yamaha XS360 is one of those bikes that was brought back from the dead – when it was found by Shamus Mathers it was in such poor condition that even the individual nuts and bolts had to be replaced.
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.
