CAFÉ RACER 76: 04/28/14

lundi 28 avril 2014

’76 Honda Goldwing – Adam’s Custom Shop

I’ve got to admin that I’m a total sucker for a good Goldwing. Now with that said, please don’t ask me exactly what it is about these Japanese gigantors that really pushes my buttons. Sure, the flat four and shaft drive tick the ‘unique’ boxes and the ‘CB750′s bigger brother’ look of the initial models really helps things along. But going from our previous ‘wing posts they tend to stand out from the crowd with a magic little something; there’s just this solidity and a ‘skunk works’ vibe they exude that gets me every time. And this bike, from the nowlegendary Adam Nestor from Adam’s Custom Shop in Rävlanda, Sweden is no exception.

“Hello again, Pipeburn. My name is Adam Nestor. I’m 25 years old and I run a company called Adam’s Custom Shop where I build and modify motorcycles. I do anything from small parts to complete constructions including painting, turning, milling, welding and design; I’m proud to say that I do it all.”

LA SUITE / MORE ......

WSBK : Sykes consolide son statut de leader à Assen / Sykes extends championship lead at Assen

lundi, 28 avril 2014 07:23

Le Champion du Monde en titre a fini deuxième et quatrième

Tom Sykes et son coéquipier Loris Baz se sont battus pour le Top 4 dans la première course de la journée à Assen et le Britannique était à la poursuite de Sylvain Guintoli, qui allait s’imposer, jusqu’à ce que le drapeau rouge ne mette fin à l’épreuve cinq tours plus tôt que prévu.

Après avoir perdu plusieurs positions en début de course, Sykes avait dû revenir sur Baz et Jonathan Rea pour reprendre la seconde place et rattrapait Guintoli lorsque la course fut arrêtée en raison d’une fuite d’huile sur la piste. Le Champion du Monde en titre était alors confirmé à la seconde place et Baz à la quatrième, à seulement 4.459s du vainqueur.

La deuxième épreuve a été retardée et réduite à dix tours après une première tentative qui n’avait duré que trois tours sur une piste détrempée. Après un long moment d’incertitude, les pilotes ont fini par reprendre leurs places sur la grille de départ et Sykes a terminé en quatrième position, tandis que Baz était septième.

Sykes mène désormais le Championnat avec un total de 108 points, 12 d’avance sur Guintoli et 15 sur Baz.

Tom Sykes : « Sylvain Guintoli imprimait vraiment un bon rythme au début de la première course et au départ j’essayais de le suivre. Je suis passé sur une zone humide au freinage, l’arrière a commencé à partir et j’ai dû sortir de piste. Je me suis retrouvé avec une sacrée tâche devant moi. La Ninja ZX-10R fonctionnait bien et je sais que j’aurais pu me rapprocher de Sylvain mais le doubler aurait été une autre affaire. Je suis assez content d’avoir fini deuxième de cette course. La seconde épreuve a eu lieu dans des conditions difficiles. Nous avions fait une petite modification sur le set-up de notre ZX-10R et ce n’était peut-être pas un bon changement. Le positif est que nous étions plus proches que d’habitude et rétrospectivement, je pense que nous avions la possibilité de mieux faire. Je suis donc satisfait, les pilotes les plus proches de moi au championnat ont eu une mauvaise course et cette quatrième place n’était donc pas un mauvais résultat. »

Loris Baz : « Je n’étais pas bien au début de la première course et j’avais failli chuter dans le tour de formation. Il y avait un virage qui était mouillé et j’ai manqué de peu de chuter. Après ça, j’étais un peu inquiet sur cette section mais j’essayais de suivre le rythme. C’était difficile au début mais je pense que j’aurais sûrement pu finir troisième. J’essayais de doubler Jonathan Rea puis les drapeaux rouges sont sortis. Nous n’avions pas assez de grip au début de la seconde course. Ça allait un peu mieux sur la seconde partie de la course mais il y avait vraiment peu de grip à l’arrière et c’était très dur. Ça a été un week-end difficile après avoir remporté la Superpole mais nous avons pris quelques points et évité de prendre trop de retard sur les autres au championnat. »

Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team, Assen FP2

SBK World Champion

In the first race of the day Sykes and Baz were always part of the top four battle, with Sykes chasing early leader and eventual race winner Sylvain Guintoli in patchy track conditions until the race was finished five laps early.

Sykes had to drop back for a time when he ran wide and he had to re-pass Baz and Jonathan Rea in his fight back to second place. Sykes was well on his way to catching Guintoli until a red flag came out to stop the race because of an oil spill. Called as a result after 16 of the planned 21-laps Sykes was ranked second and Baz fourth, the young French rider only 4.459 seconds from the race winner Guintoli.

A ten lap second race was much delayed because of rain as the riders were about to start, with the first attempted running only lasting three laps. Two hours after the scheduled start a fully wet race two put early race leader Sykes in fourth place at the flag, with his team-mate Baz seventh.

In the championship Sykes now leads with has 108 points, with Loris Baz third on 93 points.

Tom Sykes: “Sylvain Guintoli was definitely setting a good pace at the beginning of race one and I tried to get back to him in the early part of the race. I caught a little bit of damp track surface on the brakes and the rear end came around. I had to run off the track but I left myself with a lot of work to do. The Ninja ZX-10R was working well and I know I could have got a lot closer to Sylvain but passing is another thing. I am happy enough with second in that race. Race two was held in very greasy conditions and we had made a small alteration to the ZX-10R set-up and it probably wasn’t the best change. The good thing is that we are a lot closer than we used to be and I am sure we could have been even closer knowing now what we did not know at the start of the second race. For that reason I am happy and the guys closest to me in the championship had a bit of a bad race, so fourth was not too bad.”

Loris Baz: “I did not have a good time at the beginning of race one and I nearly fell in the sighting lap. In one corner it was wet and I nearly crashed. I was worried in that section after that but I tried to take the leading pace. It was difficult at the beginning but I think I could have finished third for sure in race one. In the last couple of laps I was waiting to try and overtake Jonathan Rea but the red flags came out. In race two we had not enough grip from the beginning. In the second part of the race it was a bit better but little grip in the rear so it was very hard. It was a difficult weekend in some ways after winning Superpole but we took a few points and did not lose a lot to the first riders in the championship.”

32TOONE BOBBERTRACKER

We don’t post many Harleys on here. They’re what us Brit’s call ‘Marmite’ bikes. People love or loathe them in equal measure, but the more we see – and like – the more we have to tip our proverbial hats off to a marque that really understands it’s riders. There’s no denying the pleasing lines of the big 45 degree V-twin and one thing HD mastered early on was the art of turning petrol into sound. That ‘potato potato’ throb is unmistakable.

The Harleys that tick our boxes are the most basic and stripped-back, like this simple build from Santiago Ares of 32toOne, which he put together for his wife. Santiago was born in Buenos Aires and moved to the U.S. in the mid 80′s, so he grew up and went to school in California while playing with muscle cars and riding dirt bikes.

After working for 15 years in advertising Santiago realized that “life was too short to be selling Smoke and mirrors”, so he decided to switch careers and moved into the world of custom motorcycle building. “I have an attraction to well-built objects especially if they have an engine, two wheels and they look like old dirt bikes.” Santiago now has a garage/shop in Vero Beach, Florida, where he builds and restores bikes for himself, his friends, and clients around the globe.

Harley’s are not one of Santiago’s favourite bikes, but he does have a great deal of respect for Milwaukee’s finest, their shared characteristisc with American muscle cars – torque, heavy, simple – and the fact that they are built in his adoptive country, the US of A.

“How did got into this project? I’m at a point where I don’t look for bikes any more… I feel that bikes find me, and that was the case with this Sportster. I went to have lunch and came back with a 1995 883 with 500 miles on it. … At the same time, my wife was asking me for a bike, and I thought it was perfect, but I can’t have a plain looking Harley sitting in my garage, so another project was born. An 883 bobber-tracker.”

“I removed both fenders and other extra heavy parts, chopped the tail of the frame, added a solo seat, powder coated the engine covers, custom pipe, Avon tires, custom paint job with a stringer that resembles a surfboard since surfing is an important component in our family, aftermarket levers and air cleaner assembly”. Knowing that his beloved wife would be piloting the bike, Santiago didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so the forks, rotors and calipers were donated by a Buell for superior stopping power.

Gauges and indicators were removed, “…like a dirt bike. Less is more.”

“I’m very happy how the bike turned out which is now a keeper. I get a lot of comments about the bike, even from hardcore Harley riders.” Although Santiago’s wife seems less convinced with her noisy, not too comfortable bike with no neutral light and no speedo. “I guess have to look for another one for her and keep this for me.”

See more for Santiago’s collection at 32toOne.

via PIPEBURN

BOB’S CB550

Bob Ranew is a self confessed day dreamer, but his fantasies do not simply drift off into the ether, he captures them in metal, Bob is a serial shed builder. He caught the custom bug early when he recruited Classified Moto to create him one of their stellar builds, but not content with the joy he took from the work of the Professionals, Bob chose to dirty his own creative hands. Bob’s first appearance on The Bike Shed was with his home brewed Kz 650. Next he exhibited his advancing skill set with his CB750. Now he has finished this lovely Honda CB550, it’s story comes chock full of advice, warning and inspiration for aspiring shed builders.

After reading an article extolling the virtues of Honda’s oft overlooked middleweight CB Bob smelled a project. When a down on his luck mates need of a cheap ride coincided with a good looking 78′ CB55o appearing on Craigslist for $775 the build was on. Excited at the prospect Bob headed straight out to buy the bike, “Three things I learned from this build. 1. Never buy a bike in the dark.’ A dimly lit barn concealed plenty of the old CB’s woes, and she ran with little provocation. Bob handed over the readies.

“2. Just because it cranks and “runs” doesn’t mean no work required.” This second revelation came to Bob when he had the bike back in the bright light of day. The first indication all was not as it seemed was the Choke cable that was held open by a stack of thirteen zip ties. The prophetic unlucky number… The bike struggled to life then raced at idle, the exhaust was full of holes, the clutch lever held on with duct tape, the tank secured by further zip ties, the battery precariously wedged against the frame using the awol rubber tank mounts, the badges were held on with silicone caulk, the list went on. Bob, crest fallen, discovered what the night had concealed “This thing is a POS.”

“I found a used set of exhausts and had a mechanic look at the bike. Things missing, bolted on backwards, amazing it would even crank. Meanwhile, my buddy drops off the face of the planet. Still don’t know where that guy is.” Which brings us to the last of Bobs lessons learned “3. Friends will let you down.” Over-invested but undeterred Bob pushed on. He rendered a photoshop mock up as a guideline and set about chopping and de-tagging the frame, after reshaping the seat Bob had the outline of his mock up and started on the visuals.

“I decided to try my hand at painting. I continued the black from the seat across the bottom of the tank. I added a simple Copper stripe to add a pop of color and then decided on a clean white as the overall color. I kept the side covers but wanted to jazz them up a bit with new graphics pulling in the new color scheme.” The beautiful vintage palette also features the chosen name of Bob’s bike building enterprise, Redeemed Cycles. Redeemed indeed.

‘With just some simple mods and paint I think she turned out quit nice.” Understates the man himself. We couldn’t agree more, classic elegance and proportions given the paint design they deserve.

“I made a ton of mistakes along the way, but in the end, Im very happy my buddy disappeared and I was forced to build this thing.” Highly likely that if the wandering friend ever stumbles across these images of his abandoned build he will strongly regret that disappearing act.