Shovel Love - Saturday Nights

We wanted to put together a short riding film before the snow sets in here for the next 7 months.

Shot by Ryan HK on a single D800 with the Rokinon 24mm t/1.5 & 85mm t/1.5 Cine series lenses.

Shovel Love - Nights from Mad Jap Kustoms on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

Lisboa Art&Moto 2014

The second edition of the international event Art & Moto will be held between 25th and 26th April. Being the only one of its kind in Portugal and having achieved such great success with the inaugural event last year it has naturally evolved in shape and size. Therefore, it is now intended to have a broader format, in a space capable of accommodating more and varied participants and visitors, with bigger and better disclosure, thus seeking to correspond to a natural expansion in size and quality.

The event aims to promote not just a comprehensive lifestyle, but to also link the call for adventure and outdoor action in the world of arts, design, urban trends and extreme sports. Below is a summary of the main objectives of the event:

• To present videos made from all over the world, where bike usage is associated with a lifestyle that involves activities such as surfing, dress codes and art and design in its most retro influence.
• Exhibition of brand new bikes from reputable manufacturers, together with other classic or vintage bikes, cafe racers and customs, created by Portuguese builders who have already achieved international recognition.
• To promote contact between the worlds of surfing and bikes, already existent in other countries but still to be consolidated in Portugal. The display of brands, products and services related to surfing, as well as the mutual appeal to these two groups, integrating them in the same event, will encourage the relationship of these two worlds.
• On a more conceptual level, to have different customization elements, such as bikes, surfboards of fibreglass or wood, garments, footwear, books, helmets and the use of digital imaging networks, while being transversal and common to contemporary urban cultures.

The Grand Raid XXL

GRAND RAID FEATURED ON TV SHOW BORDER TO BORDER

Border to Border airs December 21 at 9PM/ET on The Sportsman Channel.

MORE INFORMATION ON BORDER TO BORDER

Border to Border was born by a desire to rekindle the adventure of hunting. Like the hunters of old who trekked through the West with only basic provisions, a map of the land and a desire to see new country, we intend to recapture that adventure and excitement in a modern world. The rules are simple and self imposed: travel overland from Mexico to Alaska hunting every state crossed. The only meat consumed is what is killed along the way. All hunts are on land open to the public. No fancy lodges or hotels—every one of the 45 nights will be spent camping out. No guides or outfitter, just friends and family.

The goal of Border to Border is to not only entertain and rekindle the American love of adventure, but inspire, educate and motivate viewers for their own DIY hunting adventure.

Read more at http://www.petersenshunting.com/border-to-border/

HONDA CB750 BY RACCIA MOTORCYCLES

Ryan Reynolds is an actor who unknowingly cost me a Scandinavian girlfriend. Back in 2005 I’d been dating a Norwegian girl and I struck upon the idea of taking her to the cinema, we bought our tickets and popcorn and settled in to watch Just Friends – a 2005 film starring Ryan and Amy Smart.

After having spent 90 minutes watching Reynolds be effortlessly charming and occasionally shirtless she turned to me and explained that it wasn’t going to work out, and that she wanted a guy more like Ryan. Now I know that none of this is Ryan’s fault per se, but I can’t help hold him vaguely responsible for stealing Synnøve away from me. So with this in mind you’ll understand my internal struggle when Mike LaFountain of Raccia Motorcycles sent me the images of the Honda CB750 you see here and told me he’d just finished building it for Ryan Reynolds. Not only had the Canadian actor stolen Synnøve, he’d also just taken delivery of one of the most beautiful and elemental Honda CB750 customs I’d ever seen. Damn him.

So far as motorcycles go, they don’t get much more iconic than the SOHC Honda CB750.

When Honda released the model in 1968 it was nicknamed the “superbike” – a moniker that stuck and led to the creation of ever more powerful motorcycles in a sort of two-wheeled arms race between motorcycle manufacturers.

The early CB750s all had 4-cylinder SOHC engines that were as reliable as taxes and capable of cheaply out-performing almost any road legal motorcycle in the world, in the eyes of collectors now it’s these early SOHC bikes that are in high demand – 10 years after releasing the original CB750 Honda released an updated DOHC version in 1979 that had some teething issues and lost some of the sentimental sheen of the earlier bikes.

The 1976 SOHC model you see here was requested specifically by Reynolds – he’d learnt to ride on an early CB750 and as is often the case, we hold the bike we started on in high regard, even years after the fact. He contacted Mike from Raccia Motorcycles and the two men began hashing out a plan for the new bike, it was to be a ground-up rebuild and Mike would have free-reign with the sheet metal.

All-in the bike took 7 months to build and with the exception of the engine and transmission, not much of the original metal remains. A new frame was fabricated from scratch as was the elegant headlight fairing, fuel tank, seat and rear cowling. The seat was upholstered using leather from one of Ryan’s screen-worn jackets – an act that Mike struggled with as he felt it borderline sacrilegious to take scissors to such a nice bit of tailoring.

Raccia Motorcycles is known for creating pristine custom motorcycles so this bike, dubbed “Cold War”, would be a significant departure from the garage’s usual creations. Mike wanted to create a bike that could be ridden hard, raced, dropped, dusted off and look better than it did previously.

The Raccia garage is near an area that produced military aircraft during WWII so he took some of than influence and out it into the fairing and weathered, almost flak-damaged metal work.

In order to ensure the bike would handle as well as it possibly could the front suspension was rebuilt and a new pair of Works Performance shocks were added at the rear, the engine was bored out to 836cc and a performance cam was added, four Keihin CR carburettors were bolted into place and synced before the newly ported and polished head was reattached.

The completed bike has an almost steampunk elegance to it reminiscent of the post-WWII salt flat racers, Ryan is regularly seen carving through California canyons on it – when he’s not preoccupied stealing the hearts of other men’s lady-friends.

See more from Raccia Motorcycles here.

via SILODROME

HARLEY-DAVIDSON XRTT

The Harley-Davidson XRTT is almost certainly the most beautiful motorcycle ever to roll out of the Milwaukee factory of the venerable American motorcycle marque. It was fitted with the legendary XR750 engine well-known to the flat track circuits of the United States and the intent was to fly to the United Kingdom and challenge the Brits at their own game – the Trans-Atlantic Match Race Series.

This series took place over 6 races on paved circuits around the UK and it was widely thought that the Americans, more familiar with muddy ovals, would be far out matched by their cousins across the pond.

As it happened, the Americans brought Cal Rayborn II with them, a factory rider for Harley-Davidson who had won two consecutive Daytona 200 races in 1968 and 1969 before setting two motorcycle land speed records in 1970.

Cal had never been to any of the 6 circuits in the Trans-Atlantic Match Races, he had only seen rough sketches of the tracks on pieces of paper before arriving in the country on his slightly outdated XR750 engined Harley-Davidson XRTT. He’d been promised a pair of new alloy barrels for the bike but they weren’t ready by the time the series started so he raced on his old cast iron barrels – nicknamed “the waffle irons” because they got so hot during racing they could begin to warp.

By the time the 1972 Trans-Atlantic Match Races finished, Cal Rayborn II had won half of the races and was tied for the lead in points – a result no one had anticipated and many had thought impossible.

From a technology perspective, the Harley-Davidson XRTT was a relatively raw machine. It used Ceriani forks, Girling shock absorbers, twin 36mm Mikuni carburettors and dual reverse cone mufflers, a speedometer would have been a pointless addition of a few ounces of weight so it was forgone in favour of a Smiths tachometer sitting next to a small oil gauge.

The fibreglass fairing and fuel tank were both visually stunning and very effective aerodynamically and unlike its sibling the XR750, the XRTT had effective brakes – a four leading shoe drum on the front and a single side disc on the rear.

As the 1970s progressed the multi-cylinder and two-stroke bikes from Japan would come to dominate road racing and Harley-Davidson’s underdog XRTT would be relegated to museums and private collections. The model you see here is the newest XRTT you’re ever likely to come across – it started life as an original early alloy engine, which was sent to well-known XR specialist garage Hi-Speed in Ohio.

The team at Hi-Speed then spent 2 years painstakingly building a new XRTT off the original factory blueprints using as many original parts as possible. Their goal was to create a bike that would be identical to the originals that were built in 1972 and after having poured over these images, I’d say they nailed it.

If you’d like to add this bike to your collection you’re in luck, it’s due to be sold at the Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction on the 9th of January 2015. Bonhams have estimated the value at between $55,000 and $60,000 USD and I have no doubt it’ll sell for at least that if not a little more, although it’s likely that it’ll sell to a private collector and never see the light of day I can’t help but hope it sells to someone who fills it up with oil and fuel and takes it racing.

via SILODROME0

Playing the generation name with two Porsche Carrera GTs

At the tail end of the 1950s, Porsche built a handful of Sebring-exhaust 356 Carrera GT homologation specials. Two further competition-derived Carrera GTs were to follow over the next six decades – but do they share any similarities beyond their inherited appellations?

When the Porsche 924 arrived in 1976, it hardly sparked enthusiasm with the marque’s faithful. Perhaps the VW-derived four-cylinder engine could have been forgiven, were it not water-cooled and at the ‘wrong’ end of the car. But in the closing days of 1979, Porsche’s racing manager made the announcement that a trio of 924 Carrera GTPs would line up on the grid at the 1980 Le Mans race. Preparation for the following year’s entry into the GT class necessitated a run of 400 homologation specials; all of a sudden, the enthusiasts took notice.

Evo of the Eighties

With 210bhp and the wide-arched stance to match, the 924 Carrera GT had been transformed into a true driver’s machine, a recipe honed further in the evo-style GTS and Clubsport models that were to follow once the homologation quota had been fulfilled. Just 15 Clubsports were produced (including the car pictured); these notched the focus-meter up to 11 by boosting power to 270bhp, shedding weight, and including a factory-fitted rollcage. Even the headlamp covers were made of Perspex.

Much like its namesake, the Carrera GT also had roots in endurance racing: it was conceived as a Le Mans Prototype project, apparent as soon as you open the vault-like door and drop deep down in the carbon tub. However, there’s no homologation hangover here; it boasts the build quality you would expect from a Porsche, and once you twist the ignition (yes, it has a proper key), there’s no harsh noise transfer into the cabin. With the removable roof snugly in place, you’re sheltered from the torturous howl of the naturally aspirated V10 – unlike anyone within a five-mile radius.

Experts only

In keeping with its competition background, the gear lever is as close to the driver’s right hand as possible. But more importantly, it’s a conventional six-speed manual – a step on from the 924’s dogleg five-speed, but thankfully a few short of the now-dated paddleshift ’boxes of the noughties. Despite the logical and familiar layout, though, the CGT is famous for catching out the inexperienced driver with its lightning fast controls and tendency to oversteer.

On paper, this pair appears to share little other than a name. But that name has always alluded to the dynamic focus demanded by the most experienced drivers. Today, this – combined with their rarity and Le Mans pedigree – mean they are becoming more desirable to the Porsche collector by the day. Specialists such as DK Engineering have reported a substantial increase in interest in the noughties supercar in the last few months alone; perhaps both CGTs will soon follow their 2.7 RS cousin into the stratosphere.

Photos: © GF Williams for Classic Driver

There’s light at the end of the tunnel – a pink Porsche!

Only a few would be brave enough to purchase a pink Porsche. In its latest short film, Classic Driver dealer Cool & Vintage has given this 964 an eerie foggy backdrop and a haunting electro backing track, in order to weed out timid pretenders…

The 964-generation Porsche 911 seen in the video is currently up for sale with Portuguese dealerCool & Vintage. 

Clef .........