Custom Motorcycles

As motorcycles become more reliable and maintenance intervals get more spread out, one consumable remains on a fairly frequent interval for motorcycles. Tires have made tremendous advances in the last decade, but they are still the most frequent maintenance items for motorcyclists. With the rates for mounting and balancing tires going through the roof (My local shop charges $60 for a pair of tires with the wheels off the bike.), buying a tire changer makes a lot of sense. I’d been eyeing No-Mar Tire Changers for quite a while before pulling the trigger and installing one in my garage. In less than a month and after changing a dozen tires, we’d have already spent about 35% of the cost of the No-Mar Classic HD Motorcycle Tire Changer at our local motorcycle shop, but what’s most important is how convenient it is having a tire changer in my garage available when I need it. I no longer have to load my wheels into my truck, drive to my local shop, wait an hour (or more) for them to be ready, and finally take them home to reinstall on my bike. 

Meanwhile at BikeBrewers.com, in the Netherlands, our friend Joeri posted this custom Yamaha XV920 from New York. Well, he posted it four years ago, but we just now bumped into it while avoiding actual work.

It’s on rainy, cold nights like this one that I’m glad I have a garage. Looking at your motorcycle parked outside as it’s pelted with rain, sleet, hail, mud and other unpleasantness can make you weep with impotent rage. Cover it? Motorcycle covers are a hassle to put on and remove. First, you have to wait until the bike cools to avoid melting the cover to the exhaust. Plus, they can blow off your bike, get shredded and messy-looking, and trap moisture underneath, which can cause rust and mold. Nasty!

Like me, you probably know Aerostich as the company making funky one-piece motorcycle oversuits that go over your regular clothing. Well, that suit is called the Roadcrafter, there are many derivations of it, and it’s basically the class uniform for veteran moto-journalists. However, many people don’t know Aerostich also makes much, much more. Like this, the Protekt jeans.

This time last October, I was flying through serpentine roads in the foothills of the Sierra just south of Yosemite on board a Ural Gear Up (okay, I was hardly flying) to meet some of my closest friends for a camping trip prior to getting married the following weekend. The temps began to drop rapidly as we ascended in elevation, making me all the more happy to have chosen the REV’IT! Westport Overshirt as my jacket of choice for the ride.

What to do if your resto-mod Z1 just doesn’t feel up to snuff? First of all, relax, and realize you are not suffering alone. Here’s what RCM, an offshoot of AC Sanctuary, has to comfort you, according to its website:

For some, it is all a big joketh. Whilst the temptation is to scoff, hurl stones and jeer at the failure of the  pre-Recession chopper industry, a quick consultation in the book of Google reveals that Big Dog is still in business back in Wichita, good for them! Ten years ago, they’d just moved into a big factory showroom in Costa Mesa, California, where the Apostle Fonzie sampled all their wares, beginning with the bargain-basement $24,000 Coyote. It all goeth around and cometh back around in a big circle, now is the time to stock up on custom motorcycles at steep discount.

No score and one decade ago, the builders of custom choppers were selling their wares in great numbers to everyone with a Home Equity Line of Credit, until the Equity wandered off into the desert and many went off to live in mangers. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

Harley-Davidson can’t seem to catch a break lately. The Motor Co. has come under fire for a multitude of different reasons, but mostly because everyone’s a bunch of whiners. That’s right, I said it. It seems like most people complaining about all the new Harley-Davidsons aren’t people who would consider buying one anyway, so what’s the point in voicing your displeasure other than for kicking someone while they’re down? Didn’t your parents raise you better? One of the new models coming out is the Street Fighter, which we can expect sometime in 2020, but Harley-Davidson, under Erik Buell’s leadership, used to build some pretty wicked bikes that were easily transformed into badass street fighters. Unfortunately, though, they went the way of the dinosaur.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

The trip from drawing board to reality is complete for the three finalists in Indian’s Scout Bobber Build-Off: That’s  Christian Newman‘s concept bike in the lead photo, and here it is in the metal along with Christian, who’s a mechanical engineer dealing with mining equipment in Buffalo, NY.

Another year and another Born Free down. This year marked the 10th annual Born Free show, a custom motorcycle event that started out as a chopper house party in Signal Hill, CA in 2008, that evolved into a block party, and then eventually one of, if not the biggest custom chopper and motorcycle shows in the world, and somehow they pack it all into two days. Shows like Sturgis and Daytona are obviously huge events too, but they’re a week long and more so a rally, plus they don’t place the focus on small-time DIY-type builders of vintage bikes like Born Free does.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is one of the world’s premier car enthusiast destinations. Located in Los Angeles, the museum showcases automotive culture from around the world while celebrating Southern California’s rich history of automotive innovation, competition and design. The Petersen features exhibits primarily revolving around four-wheeled vehicles, but due to popular inquisition and demand, in addition to the vision and wealth of knowledge from the exhibit’s guest curator and motorcycle historian, Paul d’Orleans, the “Custom Revolution” exhibit was born.

… were announced at the Chicago International Motorcycle Show last weekend. Billing itself as the world’s largest elite-level custom motorcycle building competition, this year’s competition involved over 350 custom motorcycles and $100,000 in cash and prizes spread across every stop on the IMS tour. The championship round took place February 9 – February 11 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, where over $70,000 in cash and prizes were awarded. Winners were selected by a panel of expert judges including Chris Callen, Editor of Cycle Source magazine; Chris Theis, custom builder and stuntman; Evan Favaro, custom builder; George Stinsman, custom builder; Max Ness of Arlen Ness Motorcycles; and Nick Beaulieu, custom builder and 2017 champion. Judging was based upon creativity, craftsmanship and building ability. To learn more about the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows, please visit:  motorcycleshows.com

And at some point, God said let there be photos on MO that you can click on to make them even bigger and clearer, and so it came to pass. But not by 2008, when we ran this 50th anniversary celebration of S&S Cycle. For the occasion, S&S handed out engines to a bunch of custom builders, which bikes were then photographed by the illustrious Michael Lichter, six of which are featured in this MO feature. Too bad the photos are so tiny, and even worse that when you click on them they stay that way. Little did we know that the custom cruiser Ice Age had already begun.

Hitting the road (or trail) on a motorcycle can make you feel like a modern day cowboy chasing the sun into a horizon of new experiences and foreign places. I think just about every motorcyclist will agree with me in saying that there’s an air of adventure that is inherently built into every bike. Whether it’s on or off-road, motorcycles can take you places in a way other vehicles cannot.

I’m not much of a cruiser guy, but this past July Motorcycle.com sent me to my first media launch for the 2018 Indian Scout Bobber ( which ended up being pretty rad). As I have mentioned in previous articles, I am a gear nerd and have amassed plenty of jackets, pants, boots, helmets, etc., over the past 10 years since I began riding. With all of that gear I still found myself without a subtle jacket that one might classify as a cruiser jacket. The folks here at MO tasked me with finding a jacket that might fit the bill and suggested I look at the new line-up from Rev’it!.

Here’s our weekly guide to the upcoming motorcycle events and rides that are happening within the next thirty days.

Here’s our weekly guide to the upcoming motorcycle events and rides that are happening over the next several weeks.

The Born Free “vintage chopper and classic motorcycle show,” is now in it’s ninth year of existence, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The event took place at the 17-acre Oaks Canyon Ranch located behind Irvine Lake in Orange County, CA, June 24-25. As the event continues to grow and larger brands and manufacturers participate, some will worry the core values the show was built on may begin to dissipate. This has not shaken the steadfast resolve of founders Grant Peterson and Mike Davis to keep the event grounded in its grassroots upbringings. This is a hard-core enthusiast-driven show that relies on its attendees for direction when making decisions, and we hope to see that continue for many years to come.  

The Stampede kicked off the weekend’s excitement for the Born Free motorcycle show yesterday at the legendary Costa Mesa Speedway in Orange County, California. The night’s festivities included short-track racing of everything from tank-shifting Harleys to rigid-frame minibikes and liquid-cooled Indians.

Leave it to none other than the Spanish-based El Solitario to shake up the custom bike scene. While we can always appreciate the perfection of custom builds such as the likes of Roland Sands, the great thing about custom builds is beauty is in the eye of the… build-holder?

I don’t remember how I stumbled upon the Facebook group, RestoMod Motorcycles, but I’m glad I did. The basic gist seems to be outfitting old sportbikes with modern wheels and tires, which to some is probably blasphemous. But then we’re not in church, are we? There are some pretty amazing bikes on here, and this one built by Darren Begg in the great white north (Ottawa) fairly leapt off the page (possibly because Darren’s also a professional photographer).

MV Agusta and coachbuilder Zagato have released more information and high resolution photos of the F4Z. As expected, the F4Z is just a one-off creation, so no, you will not be seeing it in showrooms. As it turns out, the F4Z is a custom order commissioned by an unnamed Japanese businessman who asked Zagato to build a motorcycle that was unique yet classic and didn’t subscribe to any fleeting trends.

Check out this video from the Born Free 8 show of custom builders Aki Sakamoto of Hogkillers, Bryan Thompson of Thompson’s Cycles, Caleb Owens of Cro Customs, and Go Takamine of Brat Style, as they discuss their dedication to designing and building custom vintage bikes.

I was in awe as Ian Drysdale blipped the throttle of the V-8 in his Melbourne workshop. The sound reminded me of a howling F1 car. Very few bikes make the hair stand up on the back of my neck when they are free revved – some MotoGP bikes, any Pro Stock drag racer, any two-stroke racer, and definitely this amazing home-built machine.

If you’ve been salivating over Harley-Davidson’s Breakout since its CVO introduction in 2013, you’re in luck. After a year hiatus, the Breakout returns for 2016 in CVO form with a variety of changes (upgrades?), and for a price tag $800/$1,200 less than its predecessors ($26,499/$26,899 MYs 2013/2014 vs $25,699 MY 2016). There’s the standard Breakout for $18,799, but we’re going big, and when you go big you go CVO.

One of the popular truths of cruisers is that custom bikes sell stock ones because they appeal to buyers’ dreams. Try to think of any recently cruiser model that didn’t have a factory-sponsored custom. With the release of the 2016 Indian Springfield, we figured that a custom example was only a matter of time, predicting that it would be a venue for showing off the factory accessory catalog, but when builder Len Edmonson of Azzkikr Custom Baggers took the wraps off his latest creation, the Pioneer 111, we were stunned. He’d created a bespoke springer front end for the Springfield, which lengthened the bike to close to 10 feet.

If you’ve got a hankering for a BMW roadster, but the stock S1000R is just a little too mundane for you. Perhaps you should take a look at the trick limited edition Purebreed Cycles “The Brooklyn Project” S1000R. President and main builder for Purebred, Guillaume Brochu, is currently taking orders for 40 custom S1000Rs that he claims put out 175 hp at the rear wheel (a 15-hp gain). Additionally, the bike weighs in at a svelte 380 lb. ready for the road. (In our  2014 Ultimate Streetfighter Finale, we measure the S1000R at 450 lb.) For those who are unfamiliar with Brouchu, he is currently featured on a 10-episode French language TV series airing on Historia (the History Channel) in Quebec, Canada.

The 16th Annual V-Twin Expo commenced on an uncommonly sunny February day at the Duke Energy Convention Center in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. Around 180 different exhibitors from Japan to Florence, Kentucky were doing business in the hustle and bustle of trade-show booths, demonstrations, and seminars. The future of the V-Twin motorcycle industry was being laid out and displayed in the 200,000 square feet of floor space and several annexed conference rooms.

Riding an exotic custom motorcycle with actor Keanu Reeves seems an unlikely scenario, yet there I was on the twisty roads in the hills above Malibu aboard a machine bearing the initials of the film star. The KRGT-1 translates into the first production bike from the partnership between Reeves and veteran custom builder Gard Hollinger in a venture called Arch Motorcycle.

Allstate has sponsored a custom bike giveaway for the past four years. Each year a new custom bike is built by a legendary custom builder (Arlen Ness created the 2013 and 2012 bikes), and riders enter a sweepstakes for the chance to win the bike. For 2014, Rick Fairless of Dallas Strokers fame was given the nod to take a Victory 8-Ball from stock to custom. This year, Allstate and Fairless planned a twist, with the winner receiving the custom Victory plus a VIP trip for two to Fairless’ shop at Strokers Dallas for a paint consultation with Fairless. Next, the winning bike will be sprayed with the paint scheme that Fairless and the winner developed.

Florida, like California, has a large motorcycle population thanks to the mostly year-round riding environment. This nearly perfect climate was reason enough for John Gatti to move from his hometown in nearby Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to South Florida. Drawn into the world of drag racing at the young age of 15, a lack of funds upon his arrival in Florida meant he had to learn to make his own performance parts. As his skills grew over the years, so did his goal of owning his own shop, one where he could design and build the one-off bikes spinning around in his imagination – a wild mix of vintage racing heritage melded with streetfighter personalities.

The introduction of the Moto2 class into the world championship in 2010 was met with mixed emotions. Moto2 spelled the end for the beloved 250cc two-strokes, but it also opened up a new world for engineering innovation. Based around a spec Honda CBR600RR engine, the essence of the class was to have brilliant minds develop a chassis around it to lap a racetrack the quickest. Instead of hunting for horsepower, emphasis would be placed on engineering excellence and rider talent to win races.

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