What is Naked Speed?

Wednesdays 10pm | 9pm central on Velocity. Master builder Bryan Fuller and motorcycle journalist Mike Seate provide an insider’s look into the craft and culture of motorcycles. In each episode, Bryan and Mike discover top builders from all over the world, join them in stripping down bikes to bare metal and then highlight their transformation into fast and stylish, race-ready machines. From cafe racers, to street fighters, to land speed bikes, they tackle some of the most challenging builds.

White Whale

Orson Welles and Moby Dick inspire an Arctic voyage

The Arctic tern or Sterna paradisaea is a seabird that migrates the length of the world from its breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle to winter in the Antarctic. In 2014, Barcelona-born skipper Albert Bargués decided to emulate the birds’ annual journey and spend a year captaining his aptly named boat The Sterna, with the (ultimately unrealized) goal to spend 365 days in total daylight. The indefatigable travel filmmaker Guille Cascante accompanied his close friend Bargués on the unique voyage, with a second trip planned for Antarctic in 2017 to complete the migratory cycle of its avian namesake.

White Whale in numbers (and words)
Most remote islands visited:
Bear Island, Barents Sea—a research station with a population of nine—and Pyamiden Svalbard archipelago, a Soviet mining town abandoned in 1991 with a population of 13.

The boat
A 27-meter aluminium sailing boat bought in Falmouth, England and sailed back to Barcelona. Built for speed and racing and suitable for the Arctic over fibreglass boats due to the icebergs.

Voyage casualties:
A broken arm (Albert Bargués), an iceberg collision (The Sterna).

Adventurer inspirations:
Tintin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, Patrick O’Brian.

The voiceover:
White Whale features an excerpt of Orson Welles’ unfinished film from 1971,Moby Dick.

Duration of footage shot:
26 hours.

Road Hunter episode 3: Sicily, Agrigento valle dei templi

Third episode of the "road hunter", the new format produced by DMD Helmet. In every chapter DMD bikers invite our road hunter to share a drive with them. This time we where in Sicily for the DMD photoshooting of the new catalogue 2015. This is a little back stage of the photoshooting in the Valle dei templi and a wonderfull ride around the area of Agrigento.

BLACK CLOUD XJ650

We keep banging the Shed drum about folk who head off into an outbuilding, with a bag full of tools and a mind packed with ideas, because without these people the new-wave custom scene wouldn’t exist. The enthusiasm and passion is wide reaching and not bound by language or border. Lukas from the Czech Republic is one such shed-head who has been lured into the custom world. He swore he’d always be a dirtbike kinda guy but stumbled across the café racer concept of modifying motorcycles both old and new, and now finds himself hooked.

Lukas had caught the bug and acted accordingly, borrowing a van and heading out to find a donor; in this case a 1980 Yamaha XJ 650. Three and a half decades had been kind to the mid-capacity four-banger and it ran sweetly so Lukas and his buddy Victor could concentrate on the aesthetics and convert their imagination into reality. Steve McQueen is much adored and an inspiration to many, especially in motorcycling circles and in this case the Ford Mustang from his film Bullitt set the colour scheme for Lukas’ bike.

Before the fancy business of painting could begin the frame required the now familiar chop and loop. The battery and other gubbins has been relocated in the tail leaving the rear triangle open; a mesh crud guard keeps all but the most persistent grime away from the carbs and engine.

Whilst enjoying their newfound outlet for creativity the guys starting amassing tools and equipment and named their endeavour Black Cloud, so it seemed fitting to produce a trick top clamp.

Lukas wanted to achieve the flat line look so trimmed the bottom of the fuel tank and TiG welded the seems back together. The existing off centre and ugly tank cap was discarded, blanked off and replaced by a more symmetrical version. The paintwork is the work of another mate drafted in, Adrian from across the border in Slovakia laid down the Bullitt green, gold pin stripes and airbrushing to the tail.

The sturdy motor was treated to a good service, with new seals and gaskets where required before coating in high-temp matt black paint, with some gold accents to match the pin striping. Corroded nuts and bolts have been swapped out for shiny nickel or chrome plated ones.

Lukas seems to have a good network of friends keen to help out at Black Cloud, Pavel pitched in with his wiring skills cutting out any botched repairs and hiding all the necessary electricity in the tail.

Good friends, sharing a passion for motorcycles and bringing a vision to life. Sounds like a perfect recipe from the Shed cook book. Lukas has another project in the pipeline, keep an eye on Facebook for updates, but in the meantime McQueen’s Toy is for sale.

Thanks to Michal for the photographs.

via PIPEBURN

1974 Honda CB550 – Café Cycles

Written by Martin Hodgson.

The CB550 was not a staple of the classic café scene back in the halcyon days but if they built them like Café Cycles that might have all changed. With the Café Racer culture booming again it’s easy for the new generation to forget its simple roots.

Most of the world’s biggest custom builders and even manufacturers have turned out big dollar Café bikes, but in a small workshop in Rhode Island a lover of British bikes and a master of hand formed aluminium parts, Pete Chase is proving the old simple ways still work. In fact he likes British bikes so much he barely cuts them up, preparing to turn out perfect custom Hondas with a British flavour!

Having half a dozen CB500 and CB550 bare frames in different states of disrepair in his workshop Pete needed a spark of inspiration to get this particular bike going. That came when passing by a yard sale he spotted from the corner of his eye what appeared to be an inline four cylinder engine. Pulling over he discovered it was in fact a CB550 engine that turned over relatively easily, asking price, just $40. Now with just a frame and engine to work with Pete set about building a masterful café bike just like it was done in the days of old.

To ensure the CB would be firing for many years to come the cases were split and a full rebuild undertaken. The rod and crank bearings were Plastigauge’d to ensure all were to spec while the primary chain and all bottom end seals were replaced. These are smart changes to make on any CB engine that has been left sitting, so to the new clutch and springs Pete installed. Up top the cylinders were honed, genuine Honda rings fitted and the head rebuilt, with mild porting, lapping of the valves and also polishing the cam lobes and rocker arms.

With the engine now ready to give years of active service Pete selected the right frame from his collection and then set about cutting it in half. In his own words “I basically chopped the bike in half right behind the gas tank. I built a new rear end with hoop in the back. I made new shock mounts about 2-1/2 – 3 inches forward from stock. On the swing arm I moved the lower shock mount forward by about 2 inches. This allowed me to lean the rear shocks forward, and raise the ass end up” and who can argue with that, a man on a mission with a grinder cannot be stopped!

While this is definitely a Japanese bike the tins and paint work combine the best of British. The old art of hand forming metal is one of Pete’s specialities and he made the beautiful seat pan and cowl in true Café Racer style. The tank is from a later model CB550 and what could be more Old Blighty inspired than a colour scheme of British Racing Green and Wimbledon White. The paint work is so good you’d never guess it was done in his parent’s garage due to an overcrowded workshop. The Lucas light, velocity stacks, Norton style exhaust and blacked out engine all hark back to a day of simple, classic styling.

Japanese bikes weren’t exactly popular amongst the café crews of the 60’s, but if you took any of the Café Cycles bikes back to the glory days of the Ace Café it’s hard to think that even the tea sipping Norton aficionado’s wouldn’t be reaching out to shake Pete’s hand, Bravo!

[Photos by Matt Francis]

via PIPEBURN

De Tomaso's most successful saloon was – a Maserati

In an effort to forget the unsuccessful Citroën era as quickly as possible and instead take up the mantle of the legendary 1960s Maserati Quattroporte, the then-new Maserati owner Alejandro de Tomaso plundered his own larder…

When Alejandro de Tomaso took over the reins of Maserati from Citroën in 1975, he was confident of the potential for a comfortable, high-performance saloon. He had already created such a car in the form of the De Tomaso Deauville, and believed that a new Maserati Quattroporte was the way to go for the beleaguered Trident. According to De Tomaso, the 1974 Quattroporte II, built on the extended chassis of a Citroën SM, was not right at all: the 3.0-litre V6 – a sad let-down after the powerful V8 of the first Quattroporte series – combined with front-wheel drive, left little room for sportiness. Alejandro was not impressed.

A Maserati born from the De Tomaso Deauville

De Tomaso let the Quattroporte second series die a quiet death, with only a handful made, and soon afterwards came up with the Quattroporte III – a development of the Maserati Kyalami, a coupé that was itself based on De Tomaso underpinnings. The third-generation Quattroporte used a modified De Tomaso Deauville chassis, and it was powered (through the rear wheels) by Maserati 4.2- and 4.9- litre V8 engines with up to 300HP. Meanwhile, the clean, sharp design of the new saloon came from the pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Good things come in threes

The handling, performance and ride of the Quattroporte III convinced the pundits. If the Italian saloon had some weaknesses in the details, it was nevertheless extremely popular and the transport of choice for numerous celebrities, including the Italian President Alessandro ‘Sandro’ Pertini, the American publisher Malcolm Forbes and star tenor Luciano Pavarotti. With over 2,000 cars built, the Quattroporte III went down in history as one of the most successful models of Maserati ever created.

On 6 February 2015, Artcurial in Paris will offer the Maserati Quattroporte III in the attractive colour combination shown here. The car comes from the estate of the Moroccan King Hassan II and has covered 124,000km. The estimate is just 10,000 to 14,000 euros.

Photos: Rémi Dargegen for Artcurial

This article is part of the series 'Cars we Love', in which we bring you our favourite classics and modern classics, every Saturday morning.

Which famous sports car is hidden beneath this Opel Manta body?

It’s a sunny day in the Alps, sometime in 1972. A Mk1 Opel Manta leads a convoy of vehicles through the twisting mountain passes – but beneath the familiar coupé body is the running gear for what will eventually become the Porsche 924…

At this point, the project is destined to blossom into a new front-engined Volkswagen coupé, an eventual replacement for the mid-engined 914. Volkswagen has already commissioned (and paid)Porsche to develop the new car on its behalf; the engineering team is using a pack of ‘mules’ to test various engine and suspension set-ups. 

Hiding in plain sight

These come to include not only a trio of Opel Mantas – chosen for their packaging similarity to what’s only known as ‘Project EA 425’ for the moment – but also a BMW 1600, bought second-hand back in April to serve as a basis for initial tests on the Audi-derived 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine. And while the Weissach-based engineers make developmental headway both at home and on the road, Harm Lagaay finalises the exterior design in the clay studios, ahead of a final presentation of EA 425 to the VW board in Spring 1973.

The story doesn’t end there, as we know. Roughly a year later, VW will launch the Scirocco – and contemplate passing EA 425 over to Audi, for which it could serve as a replacement for the 100. Eventually, though, a deal will be struck whereby Porsche assumes the rights to the design, and EA 425 will become the entry-level Porsche 924: the company’s first front-engined car.

One heck of a tail

Although initially upsetting the purists, the 924 will go on to compete at Le Mans, while Turbo and Carrera GT variants cater for those that will bemoan the car’s lack of power. But first, let’s stop off in Autumn 1976. A top-secret programme has been launched to attack the endurance records set by the Mercedes C111 prototype earlier this year, using a standard (albeit turbocharged) 924 as a basis. During aerodynamic testing, the 924 bodywork receives drastic modifications, including covered wheelarches and a ‘long-tail’ – but management ultimately deems the latter too far a deviation from the standard car.

Soon, Porsche will hear of a fresh attempt by Mercedes to shatter its own endurance records with a new Wankel-engined prototype. The top-secret 924 project is canned and archived – but some of the aerodynamic addenda investigated will ultimately come to be used on the road-going Carrera GT homologation special.

Photos: Veloce Publishing

The pictures and information in the article above are taken from a new book from Veloce Publishing, entitled ‘Porsche 924 Carrera - Evolution to Excellence’.

via http://www.classicdriver.com

QUÉ BONITA! A SUBLIME R100 RS FROM SPAIN

By Wesley Reyneke | Rather Be Riding

Ever since he established Kiddo Motors in 2010, Sergio Armet has held our attention with a steady stream of keen-looking builds. Customers have noticed too—so Sergio’s had to grow his team.

Last year, 24-year-old Christoffer Mårtensson—a product designer from Malmö, Sweden—hopped over to Barcelona to join the workshop. He’s now cut his teeth on this stripped down BMW R100 RS.

The BMW’s owner was after something “in a classic café style”—with a budget geared towards reliability rather than outright performance. “The idea was to keep the patina,” says Sergio, “but with a clean and minimalistic look.”

Sergio immediately set Christoffer to work on the frame. Rather than rebuilding just the rear, the team decided to redesign the entire frame from front to back. “We wanted a straight line from the engine through to the subframe,” says Sergio, “and wanted to eliminate the BMW’s characteristic engine incline.”

Once the frame was done, Kiddo modified the drive shaft to work with the revised geometry and reinforced the top yoke. They then added a hand-made leather seat and front fender to complete the bodywork.

To make sure the BMW runs for years to come, the engine was completely overhauled. Sergio also decided to bring the electrical system up to date: he’s installed a 14V alternator, a 14V voltage controller, power coils and a new CDI.

All of that’s hooked up to a brand new, simpler wiring harness, running off a Motogadget m-Unit and a Lithium-ion battery. (The battery’s mounted behind the gearbox in a custom-made casing.) Motogadget also supplied the Motoscope Tiny speedo (sunk into the headlight) and handlebar switches, and Kiddo have installed a keyless m-Lock system too.

The rearsets are from Tarozzi—fixed to a set of one-off brackets—and there are mounting points for passenger pegs. Up front are a pair of Tommaselli clip-ons. The headlight is from Kymco and the taillight is a LED Bates-style unit.

Other neat little touches include a Monza gas cap, Goodridge brake lines and blacked-out Norton style silencers. Avon Roadrider tires round off the package.

We can’t tear our eyes away from the BMW’s tank though—finished in bare metal with a dash of turquoise.

Note how the color of the fuel lines matches the tank—it’s just one of many thoughtful details that make this build simply magnifico.

Kiddo Motors website | Facebook | Instagram | Photos by Roger Casas | See more Kiddo builds in the Archives

via BIKEexif

JD Classics opens boutique showroom in Mayfair

Essex-based classic car dealer JD Classics has opened a discreet new 10-car showroom on the site of a would-be art gallery in the heart of Mayfair, London…

The headquarters of the company will remain in Maldon, Essex, home to the firm’s 60 craftsmen, technicians and engineers. However, with the company developing such an international reputation in recent years – and the client base to go with it – it was in need of a more central location, with closer proximity to the major airports for clients on flying visits.

Discreet yet inviting

The new site is far from brash: it might be located in one of the Capital’s wealthiest areas, but the showroom is a low-key affair tucked away on a quiet side street, a stone’s throw from Berkeley Square. Rumour has it that JD Classics fought off competition from the world’s top art galleries in securing the site. That’s another race victory for the company, then.

JD’s CEO Anthony Wenyon reveals that much thought went into both the location and the general aura and choice of cars on display from the company’s impressive stocklist (virtually 100% of which it owns outright, by the way). “Derek Hood [JD Classics’ founder] and I spent a long time searching for the right location, and then on deciding how to create the right atmosphere. We wanted it to be warm and inviting for not only our existing customers, but also to passers-by more familiar with the art world and the Mayfair lifestyle – people that might not yet have considered a high-end classic, hence the open-door policy.”

Wall-to-wall with automotive beauty - literally...

The spaces in the Mayfair showroom are reserved for the company’s upper-echelon cars only, so expect the likes of E-types, Miuras and Lussos, all presented immaculately, beautifully lit and set against a backdrop of bespoke murals and classical music. Whether you happen to be in the area, or are on a one-night stopover in the Capital, the new site is a must-visit location for any classic car enthusiast.

Photos: JD Classics

JD Classics in Mayfair

26-28 Mount Row
Mayfair, London, W1K 3SQ
​Tel: +44 (0)207 125 1400

Rallyteam ........