Bike EXIF

Group Chat & IM for Teams Communicate with co-workers in real time. Used by Netflix, Dropbox & Salesforce. $0/unlimited users. Get started >> From our sponsors

 

 

Bike EXIF

The world's most exciting custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Eye Candy: Two New Walt Siegl Leggeros
4/27/2015 12:01:02 PM

We make no apologies: we're featuring the latest two customs from Walt Siegl because we can't tear our eyes away from them. And we're not alone—a few days ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathan Welsh fell for the charms of these Ducatis too.

We've already covered the story behind the Leggero bikes in depth here and here. But Walt's new builds show how the concept can be stretched without losing its appeal. The commissions came from clients with very different requirements, so we have a 'naked' bike with a classic look, and a faired machine with a more modern vibe.

"The choice of color and graphics can dramatically change the 'language' or feel of the machine," says Walt. "I know this is largely true for any bike, but I think it's especially true for the Leggero."

The faired machine has a more modern exhaust system than usual, and a contemporary aluminum swingarm—55 millimeters longer than most Leggeros.

"It puts more weight on the front wheel, and gives more stability coming out of turns on the power," says Walt. "The rider gets more front-end feel, with the same trail as the shorter chassis. It makes the bike look less compact though—which is not necessarily a bad thing."

Siegl is happy to adapt his design to client requirements, hitting the sweet spot between (relative) affordability and full customization. He makes small runs of key parts—such as the ultra-light frame—and uses computerized CNC data to turn out smaller components when needed.

"I get to know what my clients need, and not just by asking for their height and weight so we can tune suspension and ergonomics. We also talk about their cars, their watch, their riding habits, and the colors they like in the motoring world.

"We talk about the kind of performance they are looking for, where they live, and what they will end up doing with the bike. With these particular builds, it was obvious I was working with two very different men."

The Leggeros, we're told, are 'tight and light'—which you can sense just by moving them around. Siegl has worked hard to get the geometries right and reduce weight, by using magnesium wheels, Kevlar bodywork, and cromoly frame tubing.

There is no shortage of power. The 900SS-derived motors are rebuilt and blueprinted by ace technician Bruce Meyers, who adds big bore 944 kits and ported and flowed cylinder heads. "He is simply the best engine builder and Ducati expert in North America," says Walt. "Truly a legend in the Ducati racing community."

Another legend involved in the Leggero story is painter Robbie Nigl of Peach Pit, who conveniently has a workshop an hour north-east of Siegl's base in the old New Hampshire mill town of Harrisville.

"I love to work with people at the top of their game, and Robbie Nigl is the best painter I’ve come across," says Walt. "Over the last twenty years I’ve seen his work on many racebikes, including mine. He puts so much pride into his craft, and won't let a part leave his shop until he and the customer are both 100% satisfied."

Blistering performance and traffic-stopping looks: it’s an irresistible combination. And the potential to fine-tune the Leggero configuration adds an extra layer of danger.

It's a good job Walt doesn’t have one of those carmaker-style configurators on his website. We'd lose hours of valuable riding time specc’ing up the ultimate cafe racer.

Walt Siegl | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Anthony Blasko

 

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Pipeburn.com

App Monetization Guide Learn The Best Practices For Successful App Monetization From our sponsors

 

 

Pipeburn.com

Bringing you the world's best café racers, bobbers and custom motorcycles

'84 Suzuki GR650 – Anvil Motociclette
4/27/2015 7:58:41 AM

Want a quick and easy way to sort bikers into 'buyers' and 'builders'? It’s easy – just talk about a tragically unpopular model. See, a buyer will judge a bike on its factory form. These are the guys that think showroom looks are somehow hard-wired into a bike’s DNA; the guys who will dismiss an entire model or range because they don’t like the size of the headlight or the shade of red on offer. Then there’s the builders. These are the guys who can see beyond the superficial to appreciate the soul of a bike, no matter how ugly it’s superficial, outward appearance. Italy’s Anvil Motociclette fancied themselves as the latter, and to test the theory they took on the challenge of customising the optimistically named Suzuki GR650 'Tempter'. It didn’t tempt us before, but it sure does now.

The Anvil 'Pixie' Seiemmezzo (or 'Six Fifty') was originally a Suzuki GR650 from 1984. The donor bike wasn’t exactly loved by the Anvil boys at the start of the build. "It is definitely the worst starting bike we’ve ever worked on," says Anvil’s Marco. Calling it after one of the world’s greatest bands sure raised the bar, as did naming it anything but 'Tempter'.

"The only reason why we decided to bang our heads in frustration to get this bike looking beautiful and loose hours of sleep in the process was its engine." Large parallel twins like this scream 'classic motorcycling' from the rooftops in an unmistakable British accent, guv’nor.

The boys had eyed the model even before the build began, flagging it as a possible base for a customer who was after a bike with a traditional aesthetics wrapped up in a fresh, Anvil treatment.

"We’d come across this unfortunate model launched by Suzuki in 1983. It was so unpopular in Italy that it was available for only two years. So we started toying with the idea of ​​a two-cylinder build, a choice motivated by trying to give the customer a lightweight and manoeuvrable."

On paper alone, it’s not hard to be impressed. 650cc’s, 51CVs (Italian for cavalli vapore, or steam horses – a tax horsepower measurement) and only 180 kilos – on paper it has Kawasaki’s infinitely more popular W650 licked. But those aesthetics. Oh, the horror.

"After the purchase of the bike we started the complex task of the transformation. First, we completely cut the back of the frame off and then we rebuilt it from scratch with a new set of lines that suited our look a whole lot better."

From the Japan-meets-Harley, chopper-esque beginnings, Anvil have clearly worked hard to transform the GR into a light and compact café racer with a touch of brat. The factory handlebars have been replaced with two Tommaselli clip-ons. The stock 'chrome spittoon' headlight has gone – replaced with an agricultural item that’s now small enough to be able to fit between the middle of the front forks.

"Instead of the old 'elephant saddle,' we made a seat tailored in a 'Giuliari 70' style and the rear fender is now a brushed aluminium unit. The horrendous mufflers were removed and were replaced with two torpedoes from an old Norton. The filter box and tray under the seat were dismantled and removed. Now thanks to two stainless steel flanges, there are cone filters that help with the new muffler’s freer flow."

Thanks to the 16″ rim at the rear, they were able to mount a tire with a nice, deep profile. This change has clearly helped delete the bike’s original Easy Rider stance and has given the build a much more sporty appearance. Pronto!

'The visual strength of the bike is definitely the tank; it originally belonged to a Kawasaki S3 two-stroke. We reshaped it on the inside to allow it to fit on the new the frame and, as with all our builds, we left the wear and tear intact before painting and decorating."

"The bike now looks better, and the mods make it agile and great fun to ride. It looks fast, but it’s enjoyable even if you do not want to travel at ten tenths. The riding position, without rear sets, is quite comfortable. And while it’s not a bike you’d welcome on long trips, this set-up does not exclude weekend get-aways from the city should the mood take you." And we guess that with a bike like this, it would take you. Often.

 

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Bike EXIF

Advertising is hard We do it all day. Let us teach you what we've learned. Learn how the experts market their startups. Grab the free ebook. From our sponsors

 

 

Bike EXIF

The world's most exciting custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Electrifying: Digital Directiv's custom Ducati
4/25/2015 12:01:54 PM

If you could buy a brand new Ducati SportClassic today, what would it look like? We reckon it’d be very similar to this—a rapid custom from electrical whizz Joe Tessitore of Digital Directiv.

'Bella' is a ground-up restoration of a 2007 Sport 1000s, boosted with seriously upmarket performance kit. It's inspired by the limited edition Ducati MH900E, the hand-built predecessor to the ill-fated SportClassic line.

Joe has re-imagined the SportClassic with high-tech changes, modern improvements, and upgrades that spared no expense. But the effect is low key rather than flashy. "I wanted only the educated eye to be able to appreciate the subtle changes that went into building this machine," he says.

Almost every part on this bike has been adapted from modern Ducatis or the MH900E itself. "It had to be classy and timeless—so no billet parts or carbon fiber," says Joe.

Everything feels like it belongs on a factory machine—from the Marchesini forged 999R wheels (wrapped in sticky Pirelli rubber) to the Öhlins superbike forks and Brembo brakes.

Joe recruited some of the best in the business to help him build the bike. "Many builders take pride in doing everything themselves, but at the expense of the final product. I'm not one of those guys," says Joe. "Everything has to be perfect and if someone is an expert at what they do, I'm not afraid to involve them in the project."

Portland-based Masic Industries was enlisted to refinish every single nut and bolt back to factory-new condition. They also refinished the mildly modified frame and wheels, and polished every aluminum part including the engine covers. All seams and casting marks have been removed and many components have been given a brushed finish, a signature feature of the MH.

Jeff Johnson of Illegal Designs hand-formed the one-piece aluminum solo tail section, which mounts using the stock seat latch for easy removal. He also adapted Monster 1100 headers into an amazing underseat exhaust, capped by Cone Engineering cans.

Ginger from New Church Moto was the only choice to make the sexy hand-stitched suede seat and matching pad. Tying it all together is deep black and charcoal paint laid down by Tony’s Customs.

Digital Directiv builds are always packed with high-tech wizardry. (After all, Joe has written the definitive starter guide to motorcycle wiring.) And Bella is no different. There's discreet LED lighting all round, with hidden brake lights, taillights, and turn signals at the back.

A key no longer controls ignition: instead, an iPhone-compatible Bluetooth system tells the bike when you're approaching. You can turn the bike on and off as needed, as long as your phone remains in your pocket.

The electronic coup d'état is even more unusual: Joe has wired a modern Ducati 1098 digital dash unit into the SportClassic electrical system, using a custom harness and new ECU firmware. That may sound simple, but it took over a hundred hours of R&D on both hardware and software.

"An aftermarket dash could have been mounted with much less time and effort," Joe admits. "But it would have taken away from the factory feel that was a requirement of the Bella project."

It's a unique and functional work of art, blurring the lines between custom and factory. And unlike most customs built to this level, it's designed to be ridden.

Tempted? Bella is being offered for sale via the website Touch of Modern.

Digital Directiv | Facebook | Instagram | Photos by Pierre Robichaud, post production by Michael Bonior

 

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Pipeburn.com

Advertising is hard We do it all day. Let us teach you what we've learned. Learn how the experts market their startups. Grab the free ebook. From our sponsors

 

 

Pipeburn.com

Bringing you the world's best café racers, bobbers and custom motorcycles

'74 Rickman Metisse by 66 Motorcycles
4/24/2015 8:46:06 AM

Written by Martin Hodgson.

The name Rickman carries a pedigree like few others in the motorcycle industry, when it is followed by Metisse you are dealing with royalty, the king of custom frames built by two genius brothers with racing in their DNA. But what you have before you is no off road scrambler, but a 100% street legal urban tracker that can be easily returned to its roots in no time at all. An original classic or a ball tearing street weapon, it's a 1974 Rickman Metisse with Triumph power built by Australia's 66 Motorcycles and is simply known as "The Brit".

For those not familiar with the Rickman brand it was a creation of two very successful Scrambles racers of the Golden Era, Don & Derek Rickman. Despite great on track success throughout the late 50's and into the 60's they became less and less impressed by the machines the big factories were turning out. So rather than complain they put their engineering minds together and started building frames and components that could accept an array of factory engines. Instantly they were on track winners and every man and his dog wanted one, so they entered into limited production runs and the rest they say is history. The bike before you sports one of Rickman's Metisse frames built in 1974 to accept a 750cc Triumph engine, a popular combination at the time. Normally a Rickman Matisse would stay untouched, but the owner wanted his Metisse street legal, designed for on road rather than dirt bike riding and it had to be able to be converted back to original specs.

That's no easy task but 66 Motorcycles are masters of turning wrecks to riches, now starting with quality they built a masterpiece. The bike was stripped down to its bare frame and some serious elbow grease was put in to restore the shine of the nickel plated frame. The recently rebuilt engine to competition specs was in fantastic condition internally but needed work to bring its aesthetics up to Metisse style standards. To give the front end more road appropriate performance a set of Yamaha XS650 forks have been rebuilt to the desired specs. A set of custom triple trees have been modified to accept the XS stem while modern tapered bearings provide precise steering. To pull this urban warrior to a rapid halt is an industry leading 4 pot Brembo caliper mated to a 320mm disc with power provided by a Nissin master cylinder.

The Metisse frame by the Rickman brothers is a thing of beauty, over engineered, welds to die for and nickel plating mean the body work needs to be first class to match. 66 Motorcycles picked up a highly polished aluminium tank from Japan and then set about modifying it to fit the frame and give the look they were after. The tracker rear is also aluminium but was designed to fit a Triumph Thruxton, but with considerable work including narrowing and shortening, it now fits the frame like it was meant to be. The seat is upholstered in period leather with just enough padding to soak up the odd bump.

Making the Metisse street legal required the fitting of indicators, horn, headlight and tail light, a set of idiot lights and a mirror to see the traffic disappearing behind you. And while the Metisse frame is magnificent, 1970's electrics are not, so a new wiring harness was made to run all the road going requirements and an Anti Gravity 4 cell Lithium battery has been located under the seat to provide a strong 12v.

The front rim is a Morad item laced to an XS hub while the Dunlop K180 tyres provide both the look and the grip that are befitting of this modern Metisse. The finished machine by 66 Motorcycles is simply a thing of beauty and one the Rickman brothers would no doubt give their approval. Now its owner has the keys to an urban assault warrior that can easily be converted back to the original scrambler classic just the way it was born, as Don used to say, job done!

 

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Bike EXIF

Advertising is hard We do it all day. Let us teach you what we've learned. Learn how the experts market their startups. Grab the free ebook. From our sponsors

 

 

Bike EXIF

The world's most exciting custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Fuller Moto's Minty Fresh Norton Commando 750
4/23/2015 12:01:14 PM

The Handbuilt Motorcycle show rocked Austin, Texas earlier this month. As the name implies, the show was filled to the brim with custom motorcycles—including this show-stopping Norton Commando 750 from Fuller Moto.

Fuller Moto is an Atlanta, Georgia-based shop run by Bryan Fuller. When Bryan’s not presenting Velocity’s Naked Speed, he builds one-off hot rods and motorcycles.

As builders go, he’s pretty versatile. The last Fuller build we featured was a raw, retro-futuristic Ducati Scrambler—a stark contrast to the clean, immaculately-finished Norton we’re looking at here.

Kyle Frey is the owner of this Norton, nicknamed 'Misty Green.' Once a resident of New York and part of the hustle of the Financial District, Kyle decided to leave the city behind—choosing a life in the Texas hill country in the aftermath of 9/11.

Bryan picks up the story: "Kyle had seen our café racers and was interested in transforming his Norton Commando. He'd inherited it from his uncle, Fred Heistand.

"Fred had come across this Norton as a matching numbers unit, with a frame and four milk crates full of parts. But it'd been sitting for years. The spokes were junk and the kicker was stripped, so it was unusable."

When the Fuller team began stripping down the bike, they found a solid piece of two-inch round stock holding the frame backbone together. It was no doubt a fix for the famously flexible frame of the 1968 Commando—so Fuller built a brand new cromoly frame from scratch.

The Commando uses an oil-carrying frame, so the process wasn’t without its challenges. The tail section bodywork hides a small reserve tank (as well as the battery and regulator), with lines running from the frame to the oil pump. And there's an ingenious new crankcase venting system, with a vent tube hidden inside the frame downtube. It exits to a hidden slot in front of the steering neck.

One of the goals of the project was weight saving. At 464 pounds or so, the Commando is not too heavy—but it only has 58 hp to push it around in stock form. So Bryan swapped the heavy forks out for a much lighter (and shortened) CB550 setup. NYC Norton supplied new, custom-drilled triple trees to hold the CB forks.

A set of dirtbike hubs found at a swap meet went to Buchanan's, where they were laced to aluminum rims—19" at the front and 18" at the back. The swingarm was lengthened two inches, with a new righthand side designed to accommodate the new rear wheel. The all-new brakes are from Beringer and the shocks are from Fox.

While the suspension was being fettled, the engine was rebuilt by Beno Rodi, an English bike expert. "He's in his 70s, and still enters a hundred motorcycle races a year," says Bryan.

"He knows these old Nortons inside out, and has a stash of old and new parts to fill the gaps where necessary. The motor wasn't in too bad a shape, so Beno did a basic ring, hone, valve and port job."

Beno also gave the transmission a good once over, and installed a new open primary drive kit and clutch. "It works really smooth—light to the touch, and doesn't slip."

Bryan Heidt (AKA ‘Super B’) cut the original drive cover to leave the system exposed, while still offering a little protection for the stator (and Kyle’s foot). Most of the fasteners on the bike were replaced with ARP 12-point, stainless steel units.

With the chassis and engine sorted, Bryan could move onto his favorite phase of the build: bodywork. "I’ve been wanting to do a fairing forever," he says, "and this was the right bike for it."

He started by making a buck, in a shape reminiscent of the old Manx racers, but more streamlined. The bodywork was then beaten, English-wheeled and hammered out of alloy, before the tops and sides were rolled and finished. The windshield is a trimmed reproduction Ducati ‘double bubble’ item.

An old English lantern was cut up to make the head and tail lights. "It sounded like a good idea," says Bryan wryly. "But the vibration from the parallel twin broke both glasses." They started over, but this time the hot H4 bulb threatened to melt everything. Switching to LEDs ultimately solved the problem.

With the finish line in sight, Wes Hines (Fuller Moto’s ‘mechanical whizz kid’) and Super B assembled all the mechanical components, while Bryan planned the graphics.

The rims and Beringer brakes were anodized red out of the box. As beautiful as they looked, they didn’t match Kyle and Bryan’s vision for the Commando. "We just felt like Norton Green was called for." So the wheels were stripped and re-coated; the rims went green, and the brakes were anodized satin black.

The bodywork was polished before being painted by Atlanta-based Joe Patterson. Chastin Brand then handled pinstriping duties, adding highlights matching the green on the Smiths rev counter. John Whitaker crafted the leather for the seat, tank and tail.

All that was left to do was give the Norton a decent shakedown. So Bryan spent a month riding it back and forth to work and around town. "She starts first kick nearly every time and hits with a rumble out of the Cone Engineering stainless steel mufflers. The Beringers stop perfectly, the clutch is smooth, it sounds good, the seat is comfortable… proud papa!"

The whole project took the Fuller crew a couple of years to complete—but the 'Misty Green’ moniker was only chosen at the very last minute. Bryan picked it when he joined ace photographer Matthew Jones in the misty Georgia countryside early one morning, to shoot the bike before it was shipped off to the show.

A new dawn for an old classic—just the kind of build we like around these parts.

Fuller Moto website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Matthew Jones — Instagram

 

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions