BCR Sushi Burn

Etape 3 - Rallye OiLibya du Maroc 2013

Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma came home in fifth place after the three hour ride in the dunes of Mhamid in Stage Three of the OilLibya Rally of Morocco on Wednesday to maintain his third overall position at the half way mark of the rally.

While factory teammate Chaleco Lopez of Chile finished second in Stage Three, Coma was fifth, just over six minutes behind leader and fellow Spaniard Joan Barreda. KTM’s three-times Dakar Rally winner currently has a deficit of around seven minutes in the overall progressive standings behind the leader Barreda and Portuguese rival Paolo Goncalves.

It was a disappointing day for Coma’s teammate Ruben Faria who after a decision made jointly by the rider and the team, withdrew from the competition. Faria broke his hand in a crash in the Dos Sertoes Rally in Brazil in August and is still experiencing pain from the injury. Teammate Kurt Caselli fared better finishing tenth in Stage Three and is currently twelfth overall after picking up a 20 minute penalty on the opening day. KTM support rider Ben Grabham, riding for KTM Australia was twelfth on Wednesday and continues to maintain a strong overall ninth. Riaan van Niekerk, KTM factory rider from South Africa moved up one place in the overall standings to fifteenth place after Stage Three.

Wednesday’s stage included a 250km selective sector between two liaisons of 65 and 98 km. Riders started out on a fast rolling track before descending into a valley to follow the Cheggaga sand plains as far a the flat areas around Lake Iriki. The return trip posed tricky navigation through spectacular dune landscape.

The rally is also the final round of the World Cross Countries Rallies Championship and Coma is the current points leader but has only a narrow three-point lead over Goncalves for the 2013 world title. The KTM Factory Team are also testing and fine tuning the new KTM 450 Rally factory bike, making its first competitive appearance in Morocco and making the final preparations for the 2014 Dakar Rally in January.

Stage Four presents a longer 295 km selective sector in between two shorter liaisons of 49 and 17km respectively. Riders can expect plenty of navigation in a sea of sand and an ascent to Erfoud, just the kind of territory that Coma names as his favorite.

Stage Three: (Liaison 65 km, selective sector 250 km, liaison 98 km)
Results (unofficial):
1, Joan Barreda, Spain, Honda, 2 hours 43.57
2, Chaleco Lopez, Chile, KTM, 2.29
3, Jeremias Israel-Esquere, Chile, Speedbrain 4.39
4, Sam Sunderland, UK, Honda, 4.43
5, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM, 6.17
6, Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Honda, 7.44
7, Javier Pizzolito, Argentina, Honda, 8.25
8, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Honda, 8.27
9, Alessandro Botturi, Italy, Speedbrain, 11.55
10, Kurt Caselli, USA, KTM, 12.09
Other KTM
12, Ben Grabham, Australia, KTM 13.04
17. Riaan Van Niekerk, South Africa, KTM 27.06

Overall Results after Stage Three
1, Barreda at 8 hours 03.44
2, Goncalves at 7.27
3, Coma at 7.41
4, Lopez at 10.52
5, Sunderland 14.16
Other KTM
9, Grabham 46.56
12, Caselli 54.17 (20 minutes penalty for missing WP on Monday)
15. van Niekerk , 1 hour 14.25

F.Rophe photos.

The Ding Dagger by Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina’s ability to take a stock Yamaha SR500 and turn it into a stripped back cafe racer/summertime belter is well known and well respected. The style of the bikes they produce from their Sydney, California and Bali locations are all unique in their own way and this SR500 from the Venice Beach Deus is showing the potential of the relatively new American garage.

The bike was built by Michael Woolaway, Deus Ex Machina’s US motorcycle Design Director. He specifically designed the bike to run the back alleyways of Venice and with this in mind he wanted to keep weight as low as possible whilst increasing the stock bike’s handling capabilities.

This was achieved by adding a new chromoly swing arm and twin rear shocks from Works Performance. He also added a 570cc big bore kit with a ported head, 39mm FCR carburettor and a K&N air filter, this was then complimented with a billet camshaft, twin stainless steel valves, R/D springs and retainers, a full stainless steel megaphone shorty exhaust and a first-time-ever, water-saw etched Deus logo on right side engine cover.



The finished bike has a classic Deus look about it and from a purely functional standpoint, I can’t imagine a better bike for tearing around Venice Beach over the course of a summer. There’s even room for a little lady on the back.

Click for more from Deus Ex Machina.

via SILODROME

Ellaspede Lifestyle

Ellaspede Lifestyle from Ellaspede on Vimeo.

Bob Ranew’s CB750 Redeemed

Bob Ranew cane to our attention last year when he built a rather lovely Kz650, so we were really happy to hear from him again and to get the chance to share his latest shed build, this 1980 Honda CB750C – which Bob calls the “ugly stepsister” of the more popular F model. And he’s right, the donor is no beauty queen. For those of a more nervous disposition, shield your eyes now!

This is only Bob’s second built, put together with limited tools, limited cash and limited skill, but it’s just as well done as his previous bike and more than worthy of a place on The Bike Shed, and when you look again at the donor the kudos from doing it all himself goes up another notch.

Bob’s day job is as an art director at an advertising agency in Raleigh NC, which, as all the media-hacks out there will know, takes up a lot of time. But like many desk-bound creatives he needed an outlet that was more hands-on, emotive and visceral, so having enjoyed his first build Bob decided it was time to do another.

Like any agency guy, the first thing Bob did was to sit  down to mock up a design, and then quickly move on to thinking-up a brand name under which he could label the build, and he settled on the name Redeemed Cycles. …Nice.

With Bob not being a mechanic the donor had to be a runner, but finding a 750C at a reasonable price wasn’t too hard. He started by stripping the tank back to the bare metal but he wanted to add a touch of colour, and he wanted to try to do his own powdercoating. After trying to get a nice clean candy red & clear detail finish using a kitchen oven he admitted defeat and painted the tank with a black inset panel instead. Still looks good though, Bob.

After modifying the rear end of the bike and making a seat Bob decided he wanted to try and get the Honda vacuum carbs to work with pod filters, but again this proved too much to ask, so he ditched the OEM units and replaced them with CR carbs, which turned out to be a great decision in all respects.

Instead of getting into the hassle of relocating everything electrical in the subframe area, Bob took a leaf from the book of his good friend John Ryland at Classified Moto and covered the gap in the frame triangles with mesh.

He also swapped out the rear wheel for a larger one, used a longer shock and lowered the front to give a more aggressive stance and improved turn-in. The engine was repainted engine in satin black and Bob reused the headers that came on the donor bike, adding a new muffler.

It’s a great looking bike, well balanced, well executed and exactly the kind of build and story we love to share on The Bike Shed. So, what next Bob? Will we see more from Redeemed Cycles?

from the bike shed

Mission Le Mans: Do it again, Porsche!

The mission is Le Mans 2014. In support of Porsche's return to the LMP1 class at the world's greatest endurance race, the Stuttgart firm gathered together some past heroes and their cars to make it abundantly clear that nothing has changed. There is only one goal: victory.

'Moby Dick' could reach 227mph on the Mulsanne Straight

Porsche is approaching its current project with typical thoroughness, assembling a team of around 200 employees that are exclusively focused on the start of the upcoming WEC (World Endurance Championship) season, beginning in April 2014. There are eight races scheduled for the 2014 WEC, seven 6-hour endurance events and the real jewel in the crown of Porsche's ambitions, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. To demonstrate Porsche's credentials in this fierce arena, the marque arranged an event at Hockenheim that forcefully illustrated a longterm success story. An incredible 800 Porsche cars have taken the start in 62 years of racing history at Le Mans, with 103 wins and a total of 16 overall victories currently on the balance sheet.

No other manufacturer can match this sort of Le Mans history, although Porsche's last overall win was with the 911 GT1 back in 1998, a car that was a veritable mobile research laboratory based - as the rules required - on a street-legal model. The chassis was lightened, helped by the used of high-strength carbonfibre, and the car's twin-turbo boxer engine allowed the GT1 to reach 350km/h (over 217mph) on the straight.

It was a very different car from that which marked Porsche's first Le Mans win, back in 1951, the third 24-hour race after the War. Porsche followed the advice of Le Mans race director Charles Faroux and started with a 356 SL (Super Light) with an aluminum body.  Drivers Auguste Veuillet and Edmonde Mouche managed 210 laps at an average speed of 118km/h (73mph) to claim a class victory, and the start of Porsche's history of Le Mans success.

In the years that followed, Porsche claimed win after win in the smaller-engined categories but left outright wins to other marques; until, that is, a very determined young man by the name of Ferdinand Piëch decided to build a Porsche to claim the Le Mans crown. 

Piëch’s brainchild was the 917,  unveiled as a star exhibit at the 1969 Geneva Salon despite the fact that it had never turned a wheel. In 1969, three 917s took the Le Mans start, but it was to be a sad weekend. One 917 was driven by Vic Elford and Richard Attwood; Ralf Stommelen and Kurt Ahrens were in a second; and the third was piloted by privateer John Woolfe – who lost his life on the first lap after spinning at White House bend. As the race progressed, Stommelen/Siffert suffered clutch problems, and - despite leading for long periods of time - Elford and Attwood also met with mechanical maladies that meant they were forced to retire.

But Piëch wasn't about to give up. In 1970, no fewer than eight 917s were entered in the 24 Hours, but after an extremely wet race only seven cars were classified - and just two of these were 917s. Nine of the eleven Ferrari 512Ss retired before half-distance (four in a single accident) and not a single works Matra or Alfa Romeo finished. At the end of this race of attrition, it was the 917K of Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann that crossed the line first, five laps in front: Porsche had achieved its ultimate goal.

After that, Porsche was all but unstoppable. After a 917 again took victory in the 1971 race, there were four years when Porsche conceded to other marques but were back to win again in 1976, 1977 and 1979, plus a terrific run of seven-in-a-row from 1981 to 1987.  Among the notable winning cars was the 936/77 -  a phenomenally quick vehicle with almost comically small wheels and an open cockpit, that could reach 360km/h (around 224mph). But probably the most brutal interpretation of the theme - although it was not a Le Mans winner - was the 1978 car nicknamed 'Moby Dick' for its huge overhangs and vast size (official factory name 935/78), a car that could reach 366km/h (227mph) on the Mulsanne Straight. True, many Le Mans racers have been quicker in a straight line, but it's a fairly remarkable top speed, nonetheless.

And then there's the 956, famous in its white-and-blue Rothmans livery - a model that took the chequered flag from 1982-85 and that according to Manfred Jantke, then press chief at Porsche, was "the first Porsche with aerodynamic ground effects". Superseding the 956 was the 962 (both the result of Norbert Singer's talent) , itself the bringer of another three overall victories, in 1986, 1987 and 1994. And finally we reach 1998, the marque's final triumph to date; but if Porsche has anything to do with it, most certainly not the last. 

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Photos: Porsche

Old Empire Motorcycles “Hunter”

Just when you think you know who they are Old Empire Motorcycles rock up at the Bike Shed October Event and lo & behold they’ve re-defined themselves. Again. …Still in the mold of quirky British renaissance engineering, but not just creating the old school Enfield bobbers they’ve become known for, instead they wheeled-out a couple of unique-looking lightweight bruisers, including this genre-busting Honda CB250 Superdream, AKA, The Hunter. It seems like their Vulcan build wasn’t a one-off.

The stubby brutish looks give the bike the stance of an angry cruiser-weight pugilist, waiting for the next round and another chance to give his opponent a bloody nose, but the short tail, truncated front end and lumpy Com-Star wheels are share some dainty touches, and a subtle retro offwhite paint, suggesting a certain amount of refinement: The gentleman boxer in a silk scarf, taking part in a backyard prize fight.

The Hunter started out as a “quick budget build” but considering it took two years to complete and lacks the usual compromises it’s fair to say that OEM don’t easily lend themselves to Quick or Budget. Usefully, the owner was so chilled-out during his long wait that he moved to France to pick grapes with his girlfriend, so the guys decided to deliver the bike to him the hard way. There’s more on this coming soon.

Tucking the number plate away like this suggests a bad boy with something to hide, but apparently it’s completely legal. …Officer.

The donor bike didn’t make the task of rebuilding it easy either, with a wide rear end and too many fugly bits to list, so out came the grinder and after much chopping and slicing the guys lost 3 inches on the forks, and replaced the rear rails with a single looped sub frame.

The tank had knee indents cut out, clips-ons were added up front and the sidepanels were replaced with a handmade leather satchel – presumably to hold a pipe and a pistol – or maybe a Mackintosh, as the lack of fenders front and rear suggest a dry weather ride.

Flying Tiger took care of the paint scheme with a matte ivory finish on the tank and frame, plus the very tasteful logo artwork, which suits the bike to a T. Other details and hardparts include a Smiths Instruments Chronometric Speedo, New rear shocks, Rinders square headlight, the usual posh Brooks grip-wrap and a custom shorty exhaust (breathing in through K&N filters). The tyres are Excelsior.

This is no run of the mill build, and continues to propel OEM into the league of those few custom workshops with a clear brand vision, creating bikes that are designed rather than just built. What makes this all the more interesting is that Alex & Rafe are young guys and this is just the beginning, We look forward to following them on their journey.

Thanks go to Flying Tiger Paintwork, Demeanour customs, TEM Sport, Aerocoat powdercoating and Ekquire Motorcycles.

See more from Alec & Rafe at Old Empire Motorcycles here on their Bike Shed OEM pages, or on their own Website.

via the bike shed