TRIUMPH 675 DAYTONA CUSTOM

Kev Taggart and Tim Rogers are stuck in the past. They run the English workshop Spirit Of The Seventies, turning out exquisite resto-mods based on Japanese classics like the Kawasaki Z750 and the Yamaha XS650.

So this latest bike is a surprising change of direction. “Our client came to us with a rather delectable Triumph 675 Daytona,” says Kev. “The bike was in track trim—it was virtually race-ready, with Öhlins suspension, rear-sets and a 130bhp engine tuned by T3 Racing.”

The owner had a problem though: he was due to marry, and his wife-to-be insisted that he slowed down a little and stuck to the Queen’s highway. So rather than sell his beloved Triumph, he gave it to Spirit Of The Seventies for a thorough makeover.

“Being a nostalgic bunch, we thought we could restyle the bike with a blend of Retro-GP and modern Moto2 looks,” says Kev. The fairing and seat were designed in-house and handcrafted by Ian Pitney, a vintage car panel beater. This was the first bike that Ian has worked on, and Kev was pleased with the result. “Ian overcame plenty of challenges to produce something quite dramatic, hand-cutting the side vents and molding the aluminum panels around the frame and engine.”

The central air-intake on the original 675 Daytona fairing had to be reconsidered, so a slotted, circular funnel was fashioned around the new headlight. Once the fairing was completed, Skidmarx designed and fitted a one-off screen. A leather seat pad was carved and stitched by Glen Moger, and the bodywork was covered in matt paint by D-Luck’s Paintshop in Brighton.

The Triumph was then rewired and fitted with a keyless ignition system from Motogadget.Co-Built welded up a lovely low-level 3-into-1 stainless steel exhaust system, using headers originally made for a racer in the British Supersport series.

Various other additions such as Oberon bar-end indicators were added, and the bike was serviced and dyno’d before having its super-stiff suspension softened for road use. It should make a hell of a road bike—classic looks with truly modern performance.

Head over to the Spirit Of The Seventies website to see Kev and Tim’s more traditional work, including the concept bike renders they’re equally famous for.

Images courtesy of Grant Robinson.

from BIKEEXIF

12 O'Clock Boys - Exclusive Trailer

How many of these bikes are nicked? Why the fuk don’t they at least put on a helmet? Yea, I kind of want to hate this, but at the end of the day when you strip out everything else, these guys just love dirtbikes like I do so I can’t really hate or throw down judgement on them too much. As cool as being a 12 o’clock boy is and as fun as pulling wheelies is, I am not sure it’s the best career path, but whatever, well worth a watch I reckon.

“Pug, a wisecracking 13 year old living on a dangerous Westside block, has one goal in mind: to join The Twelve O’Clock Boys; the notorious urban dirt-bike gang of Baltimore. Converging from all parts of the inner city, they invade the streets and clash with police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public. When Pug’s older brother dies suddenly, he looks to the pack for mentorship, spurred by their dangerous lifestyle.”

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo testing at Brno

While Honda and Suzuki were testing at Motegi, Yamaha’s MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were at Brno also testing.

Strangely enough Yamaha has not released any information regarding the two-day test, and whether they finally debuted the seamless transmission, what other things they were also testing, and also how Lorenzo is feeling after his two collarbone surgeries after his crashes at Assen and Sachsenring.

The two riders just tweeted banalities when they were at Brno:

My Yamaha M1,some Bridgestone tyres,my team,the circuit of Brno and 32 degrees wrote Valentino Rossi, while Jorge Lorenzo tweeted “First morning in Brno with plenty to test” and photos of his helmets and one of a fawn (that Lorenzo called Bambi) crossing the track.

While fans of the two riders were able to get into the Brno circuit and post videos on YouTube of the test, that supposedly was supposed to be behind closed doors.

However, rumors from around the web reported that both Rossi and Lorenzo, were able to complete around sixty laps each on Tuesday - the Italian also suffered a harmless crash - and they did test the seamless transmission, that gave both riders an initial and positive feedback.

There was also speculation that Yamaha had also brought the 2014 version of the M1, but no one was able to prove if it was true.

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

SBK Silverstone: here come the Paddock Girls

At the end of the last round of the World Superbike Championship in Silverstone, there were happy faces and there sad faces. Among the happy people there were winners of the two races, Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Pata) and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), both of whom clinched their first victory of the season, poleman Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing), who scored ​​the first WSBK Superpole of his career and, on Sunday, ended up on the podium tweice, and Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s duo, Leon Camier and Jules Cluzel, who couls jump on the podium for the first time in 2013 (with the English rider also celebrated his birthday).

Despite his shoulder injury, championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing) saw his lead in the standings increasing from 4 to 13 points over his closest rival, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), who lost the Superpole because od a mild shower on Saturday and was unable to be really competitive on the slippery asphalt on Sunday. Sykes was arguably the most disappointed rider of the weekend, followed by Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK), who finished ninth on both races, and his teammate Chaz Davies, who suffered an engine failure in Race-2 when he was clarly fighting for the win. The Ducati boys surely did not enjoy that much of the Silverston races either, though Carlos Cehca managed to get an encouraging second place in qualifying.

As usual, the lovely paddock girls had some work to do to cheer up these guys and their fans, but we are pretty sure that these alluring smiles did help to alleviate all the disappointment. The ‘English Roses’ did not fail to enchant, we’ll see if the girls of the Nurbugring will do the same in the next round, scheduled on September, the 1st.

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

HARLEY XL883R BY SHAW SPEED

Like Gulf Oil, Martini is a brand inextricably associated with speed. The blue and red stripes are one of the most distinctive liveries in motorsport, and forever associated with the Martini Racing Porsches from the 1970s.

Martini hits its 150th anniversary in 2013, and the English shop Shaw Speed & Custom has joined the celebrations by creating a pair of hot-rodded Harley Sportster XL883Rs—one in white, and one in silver, as shown here.

Each bike has a rebuilt motor with a tuned Screamin’ Eagle 1200 conversion, race-spec heads and pistons, and a custom-fabbed exhaust system. The forks have been fitted with Öhlins internals and finished in gold to match the rear shocks.

A lean Roland Sands Design gas tank and RSD bars add a little attitude, and the stock XL883R brake rotors have been replaced with larger versions fore and aft, beefing up stopping power.

The original fender rails have gone, with the frames modified to accept kicked-up rear fenders. The wheels are also custom built, with modified Dyna rims taking 180mm tires at the rear.

Head over to the Shaw Speed & Custom site for more images of both Martini bikes, and a thorough rundown on the technical details.

from BIKEEXIF

Extreme wheelie challenge with Ducati Hypermotards

Take two professional stunt riders of the caliber of Luke Emmons and Aaron Twite, give them a pair of 2013 Ducati Hypermotards and have them challenge each other in a series of riding skills and call it the ‘Game of Hype’.

This is just one of series of five videos for the “Game of Hype” series presented by Cycle World and this shows how extreme that the two can get while doing wheelies, and all for hamburger.

Do we really have to say that trying to wheelie a 97.7° isn’t for everyone, unless you would like to spend some quality time with a cast on or picking up pieces of your bike.

from Twoowhelsblog