January 25th, 2012 | custom |
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
The best custom motorcycles have a coherent look—a visual balance and flow that literally stops the traffic. And the modifications should perform on the road as well as in front of the camera. So this bike, a mix of Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki parts from different eras, shouldn’t work. But strangely, it does—and very well too.
The core of this custom is a 1975 Suzuki GT550. It was created by MotoHangar, a Virginia-based workshop run by Pat Jones. Pat wanted to combine the old with the new, with particular attention to the suspension. “The bike handles like a modern sportbike, but with the charm of a vintage two-stroke,” Pat reports. “I wanted a more ‘road worthy’ two-stroke.”
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
MotoHangar completed the mods entirely in-house, including the paint and graphics. They gave the GT550 a custom subframe, and fitted the tail section from a Kawasaki GPZ. The air-cooled triple is bored .50 over, and has been boosted further with modified Kawasaki H1 expansion chambers. The seat is crafted from elk leather, and sits in a fiberglass seat pan. A Honda headlight sits up front, and the rear suspension is from a Kawasaki ZX-6R. The swingarm is a Suzuki SV650 item, and at the other end are GSX-R forks. It all helps to reduce weight, along with the GSX-R wheels.
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
The instrumentation is a little more down to earth, with just a tachometer and voltmeter providing information. And the oil reservoir, adding a twist of humor, is a German “Pilot’s Beer” aluminum beer bottle.
This GT550 is one of the most ambitious customs we’ve seen recently, but somehow, Pat Jones has made it work. And I bet it’s a blast to ride, too.
[Spotted on Return of the Cafe Racers.]
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
Suzuki GT550 custom Honduki
January 18th, 2012 | custom,Japanese classics |
Honda CB750 custom
Honda CB750 custom
It’s not easy to make a Honda CB750 custom stand out these days. Even if it’s a big money bike. But this budget build by Canadian Mike Salek caught my eye. Salek began riding bikes at the age of 10, and was starting to feel jaded. “After several years of riding canyon roads and doing track days, I decided I wasn’t going to buy a new mass-produced bike every two years. I started buying bikes that were ‘different’, and a CB750 was always on that list.”
After working his way through a Ducati 999R, a Honda RC51 and a Ducati Monster 1000s i.e., Mike decided he was ready for a vintage classic. “I always loved the Japanese ‘Brat style’ and the things the Wrenchmonkees were doing,” he says. “While digging through Bike EXIF a couple of years ago, I read about a guy who built a bobber on a very tight budget and with very little experience. Nothing fancy or polished, just a raw, cool, badass bike. So I figured, why can’t I do that?”
Honda CB750 custom
Honda CB750 custom
It took Mike two years to find a decent CB750, locating this 1975 model at a wreckers. The bike had been sitting in a barn for the last 12 years, but it ran great—despite most components being rusted out. “The day I got it home I started taking the Honda CB750 custom apart and ordering parts. It was done on a strict budget of $3,000, including the bike. Which was a challenge, but I wanted to see if it was possible to build something cool on a minimal budget.”
Honda CB750 custom
Mike wanted theHonda CB750 custom to have the proper stance and patina, and sacrificed everything for those two aspects. So he lowered his CB750 about three inches, and sat it on 4.00” x 19” (front) and 4.50” x 18” (rear) Firestones. The 4” headlight, wheels, triples and shocks were all sprayed or powdercoated black. Then Mike fitted a gold chain, a CRG bar end mirror, and cut the OEM pipes short.
He fabricated a new seat pan and seat, and custom-made the rear frame section to suit. But the paint and side covers are ‘as found’, with a simple polish to show off the original patina. “This Honda CB750 custom has been more fun to ride then any other bike I have owned,” says Mike. “Just looking at it makes me smile.”
Honda CB750 custom
December 28th, 2011 | custom |
Factory customs don’t get any more ‘factory’ than this. Say hello to Morsus, a unique custom machine built for aftermarket exhaust giant Akrapovic. They commissioned specialists Dreamachine Motorcycles of Slovenia to build a bike to promote Akrapovics new range of custom exhausts.
Morsus is the result. And what a result. It went from drawing to finished article in just two-and-a-half months and went on to win major European custom show championships culminating with an entry to the AMD World Championship of custom bike building. In the Freestyle class, where anything goes, Morsus was placed 11th out of 43 of the best customs in the world. The winning bike from Japan took over three years to build and had an unlimited budget.
So far, only the men behind Morsus have ridden it – such is its value. Both Dreamachine and Akrapovic say Morsus is priceless. MCN, then, is the first – and probably the last – publication to get a ride…
The name means sting
Morsus is Latin for ‘sting’ or ‘bite’, which is very apt considering Akrapovic’s logo is a scorpion, but the imagery doesn’t end there. The clip-on style handlebars to the mirrors are intended to mimic a scorpions arms and claws. The curvature of the middle section is the arachnid’s body, while the sweeping upright seat cum tail section firms the poisonous tail sting. In all it’s a brilliant translation of idea to finished product.
Of course, that brings a few problems riding it. I eye it with a combination of admiration and caution as it looks to have a sting in the tail. The seat is carbon fibre with nothing more than grippy strips of material to cushion my backside. And it gets worse because Morsus is a rigid framed ‘hardtail’ with no rear suspension whatsoever. Where’s the nearest proctologist?
Gingerly I squat on the seat taking care to ensure jacket zip or anything else doesn’t scratch expensive carbon fibre or carefully applied titanium lookalike paint. Then, to my surprise, the seat gives a little.
Underneath the saddle, bolted between frame and seat, is a small Fox air shock. The whole seat unit reaches forward either side of the frame’s upper spine to a pivot point close to the headstock. This pivoting motion is damped by the shock. It’s simple but very effective. Meanwhile, the reach to the bars is a stretch and accentuated by low footpegs positioned somewhere near the rear wheel spindle. It’s time for Morsus’ enormous 26-inch wheels to move.
Designer Tomaz Capuder explains where the hidden starter button is located while at the same time turning the ignition key on. I thumb the button and twist the throttle to wake the single S&S Shorty carb that splits to feed the two big cylinders.
A million atomised fuel droplets explode
Krakatoa’s 1883 eruption surely had nothing on this. The noise of a million atomised and compressed fuel droplets explode as one to overpower me. Ye gods, it’s loud. Akrapovic has a reputation for legal yet power-producing exhausts, but there’s definitely no silencing material at any point in the Morsus’ two swooping, hand-made titanium pipes. There’s a butterfly valve inline somewhere but its effect of straining out thunder is minimal.
At running pace the palm of my hands are hurting with all the body weight heaped on them. Better to go faster and get some supportive air under my chest.
The 1852cc air-cooled twin is claimed to give up to 140bhp with a shedload of torque. In reality, it’s more like a warehouse full. The thin and tall 120/50-26-inch Vee Rubber rear tyre skips on the cold Tarmac before digging in and Morsus punts forward with the thrust and noise of Concorde at take-off.
I toe up another gear and all is well. With the throttle barely opened Morsus is simply ticking along in third gear. Hook fourth and the exhaust note is now barely a burble. Small throttle movements have no effect, whereas a quarter-inch turn in either direction gets it leaping forward or instantly slowing due to the immense engine braking.
Morsus has no instruments to clutter the beautiful the beautiful, flush-finished top yoke or block the view of the spinning front tyre. I guess we’re doing 70mph around Akraprovic’s test track and it’s natural to short shift through the remaining gears.There’s no need to rev the engine and stress it. Just make sure use of that kick-hard torque. Capuder’s words of caution flash back into my head as a corner approaches: “Morsus is a show bike; it is not a sports bike but ride with feel for what is natural.” I take ‘natural’ to mean ‘Don’t f*** up’.
I soon realise that 26-inch wheels have a lot more gyroscopic rotational force than anything I’ve encountered before. Basically, this means the Morsus wants to go straight on. It’s a battle to steer the bike through even a simple curve and a great deal of counter-steering is needed to keep the bars turned. It its wheels were made if anything heavier than ultra-trick, lightweight carbon-fibre/sheet ally, I’d have ended up with Popeye’s arms or a huge repair bill.
As a result, slow entry speed is everything with exaggerated upper body lean at mid-corner and a fistful of throttle on the way out, complete with a huge smile. Morsus is also one of those bikes where you can forgo comfort because of what it is. It’s a showpiece; a headturner; a rolling example of creative design and art.
December 23rd, 2011 | custom |
Ducati Monster 900 custom
The Ducati Monster is one of the best-selling motorcycles of recent years. But it isn’t the easiest bike to customize. This one, a 1996 model that’ll be featured in the next issue of Italian Motor Magazine, shows what can be done: it was inspired by 1970s racing Ducatis, and was built to a tight budget in a garden shed. The most expensive parts are the Öhlins shock and the Keihin carbs, which the London-based owner financed by selling his daily ride. ”Everything else was bought slowly over two years—a mix of new, used, converted and fabricated parts. I wanted to keep the project simple and achievable, because I’d never taken a bike to bits before, never mind put one back together!”
The result is evocative of retro-motorsport cool, with a paint scheme and seat design to match. The rest of the bike looks ‘lived-in’, with alloy parts “Scotch-Brited” rather than polished. The bike was completely stripped for powder coating, and the frame was chopped at the tail. Keihin FCR 41mm carbs and a lightened flywheel boost the performance without breaking the bank, helped by new pipes and a modified airbox. Other trick parts include an Oberon clutch upgrade (mated to a Ducati 916 master cylinder), Motogadget instrumentation, and a custom top yoke and clip-ons.
To get the full story, look out for Issue 5 of Italian Motor Magazine. Or better still, subscribe.
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December 11th, 2011 | Japanese classics |
At face value, there’s nothing unusual about Paul Dutra’s taste in motorcycling. He owns a heavyweight tourer—a Gold Wing, natch—and he likes to make a big trip every year. But Dutra’s Gold Wing is not a 900 lb road sofa with a sound system, sat-nav and heated seats. El Guapo (“The Handsome One”) is a rusty, stripped-down custom with hand-beaten bodywork and not a pannier in sight.
Dutra’s bike is a 1975 GL1000, with a flat-four 999 cc motor. It had been faithful to its former owner for 35 years, and although it was time to move the bike on, the original owner didn’t want to see it scrapped. He wanted it to go to someone who could completely transform the machine, giving it a new and unexpected lease of life. That person ended up being Paul Dutra of Back Alley Motorcycles in Ontario, Canada.
When Dutra arrived to collect the Gold Wing, it was sporting a Vetter fairing and a full set of Krauser luggage. “It was all decked out with fog lights and extra brake lights,” Dutra recalls. “He had taken very good care of the bike, and had spare oil filters and plugs. He even gave me a period-correct Honda sync gauge in its original box. I managed to take the bags and fairing off, then lowered the forks through the trees and stuffed it all into a very short Dodge Caravan.”
Dutra put the Gold Wing on the chopping block. With no budget for bling, he decided to turn it into a “Rat Café”. The first problem was the tank, which isn’t really a tank on a Wing: it’s an air box and glove box that leaves a gaping hole in the frame. The real tank is under the seat. “This made for a really interesting build, as there are no tanks on the planet that would fit the Wing frame … I was trying to get rid of the tank under the seat, because of the “Cafe Racer” look I was going for.” After fabricating a traditional backbone for the frame, the only thing that would fit was a rusty old tank from a KZ550.
Dutra then chopped the rear frame and fitted different angles and bends until he had the right tail. “I wanted to lower the bike, so I went with 11.5-inch shocks. That gave me the ride height I was looking for.” Dutra hammered and welded up a rear cowl out of 3/16” plate, lowered the forks through the trees, and mounted up Tomaselli clip-ons to the uppers. With help from a couple of friends—including Tim Aysan from Do The Ton—the wiring was finished and the bike was fired up for the first time.
After some final adjustments to the shocks, Dutra took the Gold Wing out for a shakedown ride. Then he immediately loaded up his backpack, and rode out to L.A.—a round trip of over 5,000 miles.
He made it there and back in nine days.
Images courtesy of m2020photo.
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