As you well know Bali is a lot like the old west, fairly lawless, lots of bars, hookers etc. So when Adrian rocked up to The Temple for a little R-n-R from the Euro JR. cup we figured a bit of the open road may do him some good. Bali is putting in a high-speed toll road and its not finished, but that didn’t stop us from sneaking in and firing off a video of young Adrian fanging the shit out of a custom Yamaha 225cc Deus café racer.
jeudi 27 novembre 2014
RUST & REDEMPTION
Had filming not already wrapped on next years “Mad Max: Fury Road” then the production team may well have rethought the titular character’s vehicle of choice had they seen stills of this fearsome looking Yamaha XS1100 from the team at Rust & Redemption. All bare metal, knobbly rubber, spiky bits and skulls this is a bike that looks poised to tear into a post apocalyptic world. But as the second part of the Rust & Redemption moniker suggests, this machine opts to tell a different story, a story not of destruction, but of rebirth; of rising from ashes, not leaving a trail of them in its wake.
The bike was built as a homage to the city of Detroit, Jason from R&R tells it best.
“Detroit – a city that is rusted out and broken down. A city that is slowly beginning to rebuild and re-invent itself into something new and different. After years of decline Detroit is working hard to redeem it’s troubled past.”
Once the hotbed of the American Automotive industry the city has in recent times been subjected to much decay, high crime rates and a dwindling population. But it is fighting back and that is the inspiration of this machine.
Jason came across a forgotten ’79 Yamaha XS1100 oddly named Evan, it was a poor imitation of its former self, perfect for the build concept.
“We wanted the bike to have a modest bare metal feel with an industrial cafe/city street fighter look. We wanted to show the mechanics of the bike. Stripped down. Exposed. Something with attitude. All characteristics of Detroit.”
They tore the bike back to its bare bones, reviewing each parts necessity and deeming whether it enhanced either the function or form of the bike before either binning or reworking it and putting it back in a better place. The aim was to utilise what they had instead of turning to new bolt on parts. Items such as the foot pegs and bars were massaged and modified into a superior form until they met Jason’s scrutiny.
“If I don’t like something, I hate it. I will redo it until I like it or someone tells me it is fine.”
The tank is the stock item with the badges removed and new panels welded and smoothed in, like most of the bike it was sanded back to bare metal, the fabric of the city. The lean tail piece was hand formed, the ubiquitous loop rejected in favour of a sharp apex jutting aggressively skyward, mirroring the triangular light upfront. We have seen this shape of headlight before in the ‘Shed, but never inverted like this. Never much liked it before, love it with this execution.
“The paint is as minimal as possible. We didn’t want to busy the bike with a bunch of cosmetic paint work. We wanted the metal to be displayed so as to get the true form of the machine showing through. It needed to not only show it’s war wounds but also have an appearance so that there didn’t need to be a concern over potential scuffs or scratches as it rides through the streets of Detroit.”
The Rust & Redemption Skull logo was painted onto the tank and then fatigued to match both the bike and the city. The same companies Speed and Strength emblem adorns the tail. The R&R team offer a full range of bike gear and casual clothing with the same themes and graphics, this machine now supports the range as an attention grabbing billboard for their design work.
Jason loves what he does, it allows him to travel, build and ride cool motorcycles and to fix them when they break, but it is clear no matter how far he roams, that his heart lies in the city of Detroit. If even a small portion of its inhabitants share his passion and drive then the city is in safe hands on its path to redemption. Caps off to you sir.
from The Bike Shed
cafe racer
The 59 Club Australia 'Cafe Racer' was filmed in the Yarra Valley Victoria using 3 Go-pro cameras. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions on the day.
The 59 Club Australia 'Cafe Racer' was filmed in the Yarra Valley Victoria using 3 Go-pro cameras. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions on the day.
The 59 Club Australia 'Cafe Racer' was filmed in the Yarra Valley Victoria using 3 Go-pro cameras. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions on the day.
MAIDSTONE H-D CAFE RACER
Maidstone Harley-Davidson is a proper, grown up dealership with the usual expansive showroom packed with Milwaukee muscle, a full-on clothing emporium and a parts department large enough to keep the average customer happy for years. But that’s just it, the average customer is now more discerning, wanting a bike not available in the 3 inch thick accessory catalogue.
As you can imagine, a main H-D dealer workshop is a rather well kitted out facility, perfect then for letting creativity loose. Inspiration for this project was varied, from early 20th century board track racers to flat trackers but the first spark of an idea was a picture of a chopped Sportster seat. Building a whole bike around an idea for a seat isn’t the craziest beginning we’ve heard of, by any stretch.
The guys chose a SuperLow as the foundation. A good beginners Harley, slightly lighter and more nimble than the rest of the family. Obviously this is to be taken with a pinch of salt, or a grain as the Yanks put it. Calling any Harley light is like saying Kim Kardashian’s butt is petite compared to the Epcot Centre, we’re splitting hairs. It’s also one of the cheapest bikes in the range and seeing as so many parts would be changed anyway this made sense. And not being a particularly racy model would mean improvements would be more obvious, and head technician Dave A.K.A. Junior #5 would make sure of this.
Where possible the less handsome but necessary inner workings have been hidden away, and the more mechanical and exciting parts emphasised to hint at the work that had gone on with the motor. A 1200cc conversion running ported and flowed blueprinted heads, a more aggressive cam sucking through a Roland Sands Design velocity stack air filter and shouting through a carbon tipped pipe. Lairy!
Rearsets and clipons morph the rider from couch potato to racer in one fell swoop, jumping from stock bike to this must feel like the difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle. Gilles levers and Biltwell grips finish off the bars and an RSD speedo bracket tidies up the cockpit.
The smaller, peanut tank from a Forty Eight is a common custom option but it was decided that the more rounded and classic lines of the original SuperLow unit suited the tail and kept closer to the original design brief. And passing petrol stations is now possible thanks to the tanks extra capacity.
To match the new purposeful riding position a cafe seat and tail was fabricated to sit on the existing frame rails. The green and silver paint with gold pinstripe came courtesy of Image Design Custom. If you’re into paint jobs have a look at some of their previous work, rather excellent. Progressive Suspension shocks out back and matching springs inside the braced forks are a huge improvement over stock whilst RSD preload adjusters offer further fine tuning.
To harness the extra shove the gearing has been altered which required an XR1200 type belt roller setup with an RSD belt guard. Velocity stacks, loud pipes and whirring belts; this thing must sound epic.
Ex-racer and now Head Technician Dave A.K.A. Junior #5 has certainly delivered on the brief and turned a lazy budget cruiser into this B road belter. If you find yourself in Kent why not check out Maidstone Harley-Davidson showroomand maybe ride this bike away
via The Bike Shed
HYUNDAI Santa Fe - T1 Rally Raid
Honda CLR125 Scrambler – Dream Wheels Heritage
Another day, another great custom from Portugal. We’re not sure what they are putting in the Peri-Peri but whatever it is, we’re more than little keen to get our hands on some. This graffitied gob-smacker is from Dream Wheels Heritage, a shop straight out of Porta, north of Lisbon. Hélder Moura and his team of merry metallurgists have created the best small capacity Honda we’ve seen in a month of Sundays. And it’s got a rack for your skateboard, to boot. What’s not to love?
“With the law allowing anyone in Portugal with a car license to ride bikes up to 125cc without the need for extra testing, this is definitely a new market that could become quite interesting,” notes Hélder. “So far we have not seen many bike builds based on such small capacities. Dream Wheels Heritage aims to change that and therefore we decided to tackle this project: our Honda CLR125 CityFly Scrambler.”
“Originally, the Honda CLR 125 City Fly was a natty little urban bike (forget the supposed off-road potential) to be enjoyed mostly in the city and in flat areas, mainly because its 125cc engine was not designed for speed, but to be economical and reliable in daily use. This type of bike was and still remains the model of choice for Portugal’s delivery of pizzas, couriers, and so on. And it was a pizza guy that sold us this bike, too. He bought it specifically to ride for work because he had no full bike licence. He sold us this bike and then took some lessons to get a licence to ride his new motorcycle – a Honda NX400.”
“This Honda uses the same engine as the 124cc Honda XLR125, which means it’s an old lump – but it’s already proved to be extremely durable and reliable one. In other words, typical Honda. It stock form it puts out around 11 bhp and 8 ft-lb or torque from a bike that weighs in at 120 kilos.”
“What we were really looking for when we were searching for a donor was to get a bike that had all the legal documentation and that was in a decent, working condition. Once that was sorted, we decided that the style we wanted to give this bike was the Scrambler look; one whose functionality was much more off-road capable than the original design and who’s lines were a good mix of the new and the old.”
“The list of what we changed is pretty lengthy. Basically, it started with a new sub-frame, seat, fenders, and the restoration of a Yamaha FS1 tank from the 90s. We customized an ex-fridge magnet to make the gas cap. The new handlebars are a Renthal ‘Fatbar’ model. Then we added a new headlight and an oval front plate.
The tires are Heidenau K67s and the front 18” wheel is from an Yamaha XS400. We added some new 18″ rims and spokes at the back, and finished them off with some red spoke clamps.”
‘The front brake and disc are also from a Yamaha XS400. The fork is a reworked set from a Suzuki RMX 50. New NGK spark cable was added, along with some new air filters from K&N. We used some new light switches and a horn from Blitz Motorcycles because we really like their stuff.
To finish, we added a new LED brake light, lowered the whole thing about 10cm and added a used FMF Mega Max II exhaust with a new, handmade collector. And as you can probably see from the photos, the bike also has a removable skateboard holder.”
“We couldn’t have done it without the support of Pitta Designs who did all the paint and typography, Luís Conrado for the seat, Bicas Customs for the skateboard and Pedro Marcelino for the photos. We really hope your readers like it.”
[Photos by Pedro Marcelino]
via PIPEBURN
SandRaiders 2015
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