Hamann updates Mystere Range Rover, loses pink chrome exterior

Looks better

Hamann has updated its Mystere aftermarket program for the Range Rover and thankfully the car has lost its pink chrome exterior finish.

Back in March at the Geneva Motor Show we saw Hamann's strikingly pink Range Roverwhich looked as if it was built specifically for Nicki Minaj. Now, the vehicle has returned but without the pink look as it's wearing a more appealing gunmetal matte paint which makes it look more sinister and less girly. The British premium off-roader has been fitted with a full body kit including a new front spoiler featuring built-in LED daytime running lights.

The hood is now made entirely from carbon fiber while the side skirts have added an extra 80mm to the vehicle's width. Other changes include carbon GFK composite front wings, different rear spoiler integrating the end pipes of the rear silencer which have been milled from a solid block, along with an electronic lowering module that brings the Range Rover closer to the road by 40mm.

Hamann installed massive 23-inch alloys wrapped around in 305/30 R23 tires and used various materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, Alcantara and leather to spice up the interior cabin.

Source: Hamann

NEW AND NOTED: 5 MOTORCYCLE BOOKS

For many of our followers in the northern hemisphere, the nights are drawing in. It might mean less time for riding, but it leaves more time for building and fettling—and reading. So we’ve picked out five books that have impressed us recently. Is there room for one of these on your bookshelf?

Alpinestars: One Goal. One Vision. 50 Years Alpinestars is celebrating a milestone this year—its 50th anniversary. It’s always been one of the most stylish moto apparel brands, but did you know that it started out as a boot manufacturer in Northern Italy? Alpinestars’ rich and visual heritage is now chronicled in a hardcover, full color book, a journey through five decades of octane-fuelled motorsport.

Between the covers you’ll find 256 pages of contributions from legends like Roger DeCoster, Kenny Roberts Sr., Randy Mamola, Mick Doohan and Jeremy McGrath, as well as veteran motorcycle journalist Chris Jonnum. And as you’d expect, the design is impeccable. $45. [Buy]

The Total Motorcycling Manual This new release from Cycle World magazine is one of those books that will keep on selling forever. It’s a horribly clichéd phrase, but the words ‘instant classic’ spring to mind. The Manual fits into that small category of essential motorcycling non-fiction, alongside David Hough’s Proficient Motorcycling series and Keith Code’s A Twist of The Wrist.

But it’s just as much about looking after your bike as riding it: it’s packed with 291 detailed tips on gear, riding techniques, and maintenance. The design is easy on the eye, allowing you to dip in and out at random. And although editor Mark Lindemann blots his copybook with a heretical criticism of Moto Guzzi’s iconic Le Mans, I have to give this one a very firm recommendation. [Buy]

Motorcycle Graphics: Outsider Art, Graphics and Illustration England’s hardest-working motorcycle journalist has delivered an absolute peach of a book, cataloguing the murkier recesses of moto-related art. Inman is best known as the co-founder of the edgy magazine Sideburn, so you won’t find cheesy watercolors of wartime Harleys or advertising pin-up girls. Instead, we’re introduced to 30 top artists including Conrad Leach, Takumi Iwase (aka Tokyoguns), Raulowsky and Deus’ Carby Tuckwell.

The imagery is punchy, and so is Inman’s acerbic writing style. Choice quote: “Deus has helped introduce motorcycling to the world’s urban creatives, who would otherwise be nipple-deep researching the latest moustache wax and fixed gear bicycles.” [Buy]

The Art of BMW: 90 Years of Motorcycle Excellence Motorbooks has reissued this lavish volume to coincide with BMW’s anniversary celebrations. Peter Gantriis’ 208-page photo essay covers all the classics, from the seminal R32 to the latest S1000RR superbike. The machines are from the collection of BMW enthusiast Peter Nettesheim, and the images are absolutely top-notch. If you’re a hardcore Motorradfahrer, you probably already have this book. If you have even a passing interest in motorcycle design, it’s worth adding to your bookshelf. [Buy]

The Ride + Bike EXIF Calendar + Motorcycle Dream Garages Bundle Of course, we can’t talk about motorcycling books without mentioning our own production. We’ve put together a deal with the publisher of the Bike EXIF calendar to offer The Ride, the 2014 calendar, the best-selling Motorcycle Dream Garages book, and a set of four 8×10 metallic prints on heavyweight Kodak Endura paper for just $124.99. That’s a hefty saving of $96. Order the bundle here. (Of course you can get The Ride on its own too, including the Collector’s Edition for shipping to the US or Europe. Just head over to the Gestalten webshop.)

via BIKEEXIF

WILKINSON BROS BMW R75/6 CAFE RACER

(See the feature first posted at BikeEXIF.com by its editor and publisher, Chris Hunter, who has his finger on the pulse of today’s global custom and classic motorcycle scene.) 

Old stock BMW airheads catch our eye. We dig their unique profiles and opposed-cylinder power plants, but also recognize their potential as even more unique customs. Below is a feature penned by Chris Hunter of BikeEXIF.com about one of our Good Spark Garage bikes: Casey Wilkinson’s 1976 BMW R75/6.

1970s-era BMW airheads respond well to the cafe racer treatment. But you don’t often see one with a mono-shock conversion. This 1976 R75/6 is owned by graphic designer Casey Wilkinson of the motorcycle-mad Wilkinson Brothers, and he spotted it at the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. Despite having 100,000 miles on the clock, Casey bought it, and started drawing up a racy profile for his new acqusition. He mocked up a subframe and swingarm with quarter-inch steel round bar, and shaped a new tailpiece with insulation foam board.

This served as a template and guide for metal fabricator Cliff Meyer of Meyerbuilt Metalworks. Cliff stayed true to the mock-up, but carefully addressed each mounting point and joint, improving the overall strength and fitment. His hand-formed aluminum tailpiece is a work of art.

“The goal of this project was to compensate for a limited budget with elbow grease and creativity,” says Casey. So the foot controls are made from bicycle freestyle pegs and hand-cut aluminum flat stock, finished with plumbing nipples for the toe pegs. The rear shock is from a Suzuki GSX-R750 and the headlight rock guard is an aftermarket MG auto part, fastened to the bucket with springs. The stock motor chugs away with shorty Dunstall-style mufflers and K&N pod filters. It’s a daily rider with more of a flickable-fun persona than its original touring stance.

For a temporary solution, an old motorcycle jacket serves as the seat cover. The tailpiece houses a teensy lithium ion battery, and the top fork brace was CNC’d by ToasterTan Custom Braces. The logo “Good Spark Garage” comes from the Wilkinson Brothers’ moto-culture blog (which is highly recommended). “If we had more equipment and time, perhaps Wilkinson Bros could evolve into a custom bike shop,” Casey wonders.

He’s off to a good start with this BMW cafe racer; hopefully we’ll see more customs from the Wilkinson Brothers in the future. –Chris Hunter, editor and publisher of BikeEXIF.com

At Good Spark, we utilize what tools we have, take our projects as far as our skill-sets allow before calling on craftsmen. Yep, perhaps Wilkinson Bros could evolve into a custom bike shop; that’d be great. In the meantime, we have a lot of good friends/craftsmen to lean on. They help us achieve exactly what our minds and pencils conceptualize, rather than stopping short of a goal. When all is complete, we then ride the heck out of our bikes.

To see another Wilkinson Bros / Meyerbuilt Metalworks collaboration, see the Wilkinson Bros Kawasaki W650 Cafe Racer here.

via goodsparkgarage

Spirit’s RD400

Chris Bullick originally bought his RD400C in 1977 when he was a sixth former, and the same year that EMI signed the Sex Pistols, Star Wars was released, and Elvis left the building. The RD400 was a relatively short -lived model, produced for only three years from 1976-79, but was a bike that did wheelies off the throttle at a time when nothing else did, and handled better than its ‘characteristic’ Kawasaki and Suzuki counterparts. On a good day, a set-up RD could give a Triumph Bonneville or Norton Commando a run for their money.

1977′s model was supplied with US-spec tall handlebars, giant rubber footrests sedately positioned below the engine, and large self-cancelling indicators. It wasn’t long before Chris had removed the cow-horn bars, replaced the weighty chrome silencers, and repainted the bike with the classic yellow-black-white race livery of Kenny Roberts’ TZ750. …But that’s where the story stopped for 30 years.

Chris pursued a career across the globe, started a family and the RD slumbered behind a false wall in a garden shed. In 2012, having eventually got the kids to leave home, Chris decided that a restoration was in order, and a natural choice was Spirit of the Seventies in Chris’ native Kent where he used to thrash along the same A-roads as a lad.

Chris’ plan solidified that summer when he visited Tim and Kev at Spirit and a chance sighting of a Yamaha RD400/TZ350 hybrid behind the shed started “a conversation”, which turned into some ideas, then renderings, then a bone fide rebuild.

Spirit started by replacing the flimsy front end with an R6 setup, chosen for its performance and authentic-looking RWU forks, complemented by a Spirit headlight on LSL brackets, machined clip ons and Oury grips. Tim and Kev retained the original clocks and key-worn instrument panel as they are the familiar face of the bike: “Chris was looking at them all those years ago and it seemed appropriate to keep them. They could’ve been replaced but it wouldn’t have been right.”

Next, the “ridiculously heavy” original cast alloy wheels were replaced with refurbished later-model, lighter-weight RD400E rims wearing modern Bridgestone BT45s with a short carbon fibre Spirit mudguard.

The engine was vapour-blasted and powder-coated before receiving a re-bore, porting and jetting by Martin at Taymar Racing who shares the building with Spirit. Martin is a specialist in Yamaha 2-stroke restorations ever since racing and tuning LC350′s at nearby Brands Hatch way back when. New flat-slide Mikuni carbs (from a TZR250-2MA racer), foam air filters, and race-bred expansion pipes (that had been hanging in Martin’s workshop for 20 years but perfectly matched Spirit’s needs) helped release more power from the 40bhp motor.

Chris’s original aim was to lose 10kg to give the bike “a bit more zest” that could convincingly do a track day. Spirit’s and Taymar’s combined efforts created an extremely light 145kg rocket (20kg saved by ditching the original cast wheels and replacing the rear swingarm with a lightweight FZR400 alloy unit) that produces 50bhp at the rear wheel.

Since the lines of the bike were in Chris’ words “so timelessly right” he wanted to retain the original side panels and tank. A sophisticated grey-and-black Revolution paint job, subtly echoing the Roberts Yamaha race livery of the past, and a two-tone leather seat by Glen Moger did just that: keeping the original spirit but simultaneously updating it.

Well done Tim and Kev. See more from Spirit of the Seventies on their Bike Shed Pages or on their Website.

Posted by Hugo@TheBikeShed