‘63 Honda C110 – Dauphine-Lamarck

‘Jolie laide’ is a unique French expression that is often used to describe someone or something that is unconventionally attractive. The direct translation into English is ‘ugly beautiful’, but you’d be mistaken if you were to think that the phrase was a case of damning with faint praise. It’s been used in reference to some of the world’s most beautiful women, include Sofia Coppola and the remarkable Charlotte Gainsbourg. And today we’d like to use it in reference to something else rather remarkable. Meet the most ugly beautiful bike we think we’ve ever seen, Dauphine-Lamark’s unconventionally beautiful ‘69 Honda C110.

“This is my new time machine,” say’s DL’s Philippe Ricaud. “It’s a 1963 C110 that eats 125s for breakfast. I brought this bike on the internet for $50. The engine was dead but the overall condition of the frame was rather good so I took her home.”

“For this bike I wanted to create a simple, fuss-free racer. I also decided to create it with Honda NOS parts. I started with the engine and installed an S65 piston and a 16mm carburetor with nice, big jet. She goes all the way up to 60mph now, which is pretty exciting if you happen to be on board.”

“Next I decided to reduce and reinforce the front forks, which really made the bike look more trimmed down and lean. I also reversed the handlebars, added some sporty Michelin tires, and topped it off with some cool Takegawa grips.”

“Dauphine-Lamarck’s speciality is 60s, 70s and 80s Honda motorcycles; we aim to make our bikes accessible, especially for suburban Parisians, and therefore we often choose smaller Hondas. The Philosophy of DL is all about the passion for the history of objects, or the beauty of their past. What can we do with these beautiful old things? Honda have a lot of popular two-wheelers under 126cc with beautiful histories. And the best part is that people still appreciate them, in spite of modern influences.”

“I think that the motorcycles we create correspond more to a way of life than to some specific genre or type. Hopefully that shows in this build. I hope your readers enjoy it.”

[Photos by Ana Le Lardic]

via PIPEBURN

1969 DE TOMASO MANGUSTA

The De Tomaso Mangusta is said to have been named “Mangusta” (meaning “Mongoose”) after a deal fell through with Carroll Shelby to build the next generation Shelby Cobra under the De Tomaso roof in Italy. The mongoose is the only animal that eats cobras in the wild, they’re known as fearless and agile animals with the added bonus of built in acetylcholine receptors which render them immune to snake venom – I’m sure the subtlety of the name wasn’t lost on Carroll.

Despite the agreement falling through the two men are said to have remained good friends and rumours abound that the first few engines used in the early Mangustas were actually built by Shelby’s engineers in the USA.

The Mangusta was released to the public in 1967 as a replacement for the De Tomaso Vallelunga, a car that had been plagued with issues resulting in less than 60 being made. The all-new Mangusta was conceived to battle it out with other mid-engined Italian cars of the era and so it was fitted with a fire-breathing American V8 (either a 289 or 302 depending on the shipment location) coupled to a ZF 5-speed transaxle and clothed in a stunning body designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

De Tomaso sold approximately 10 times more Mangustas than they had Vallelunga, making the car relatively successful for the small-scale manufacturer. The design of the car and its American heart led to it being successful in the USA where 251 of the 401 chassis were sold, the ease of maintenance and cheapness of engine parts made it a hugely popular exotic car – it’s been estimated that the Mangusta would have maintenance costs approximately 80% lower than a comparable Lamborghini or Ferrari from the same era.

The Manugusta did face a small number of challenges, probably most importantly its weight distribution of 32/68 (front/rear) led to it being a little tail happy when driven with gusto. The chassis was also not particularly rigid and the ground clearance was so low it could almost be used as a boat during heavy downpours. These drawbacks don’t phase true connoisseurs of classic De Tomasos, these are men with a penchant for young women and old cologne who don’t believe you’re really driving until the rear wheels are overtaking the front bumper and the tires are producing enough smoke to cause PTSD to manifest in the residents of Pompeii.

With a total weight of 1322 kilograms (or 2914lbs) the Mangusta stood only 3 inches taller than the Ford GT40, the classic Giugiaro wedge looks utterly stunning from any angle, the gullwing doors over the engine bay offer a wonderfully unsubtle way of showing off the V8 and the gated shifter is something that all cars should be fitted with as a matter of course.

If you’d like to roll the Mangusta you see pictured here into your garage you’ll need to attend the Monaco 2014 Sales held by RM Auctions on the 10th of May and make sure you pack your chequebook as it’s likely to sell for well over $200,000 USD.

Photo Credits: Tim Scott ©2014 Courtesy of RM Auctions

via SILODROME

Honda SL70 Scrambler

 

Todd Hunter from Northern California has taken a old stock Honda SL70 and transformed it into one heck of a scrambler. Honda SL70 was first introduced in 1971; it was a small motorcycle with a cradle frame and four-speed gearbox.

 

According to Todd “I began riding motorcycles fairly late in life, I bought my first bike, a 2006 Triumph Bonneville T100, new from a dealership when I was 40. I have also been building and customizing scale motorized models for as long as I remember and have a passion for miniature mechanisms and environments. The horizontal engine Honda’s are like “scale models” of full size bikes – all of the same components and challenges to build, but with less complexity, and less risk.

My resto-mod philosophies – To achieve a sort of factory original look but with modern equipment. Often, subtle visible hints of being modernized are unavoidable and/or desired. I want a person who has memories of, or is familiar with a vehicle to look a little closer and say, “Wow, I wish they built these like this when I owned one”. I aim for a simple “cleanliness” of lines and appearance. A balance of function and form – instead of one following the other. I have done this with a few boats, an old camper, old Jeep, and now – 7 Honda mini motorcycles. My next build will be a proper sized bike….

This Honda SL70 was purchased as a campground bike to be strapped to the back of our camper and used for errands and mini ADV rides into the mountains. I kept thinking about how it has a proper frame and not a pressed steel frame like most Honda minis and how I wanted to modify it somehow, even though it needed nothing for the purpose it was purchased for. A friend of mine races vintage motocross bikes and turned me on to the ISDT races. I watched some old video of these races from the late ’60s and really liked the look and romance of the vintage scrambler type bikes.

The idea behind the build was to convert a 1971 Honda SL70 to a scrambler style with modern amenities. I wanted it to have longer stance, and the seat and tank to be more horizontal which really changed the entire look of the little bike.

The build started with a 1971 Honda SL70 street legal in CA. The engine was built from Honda 50cc to 124cc with JDM Takegawa parts, custom oil cooler, etc. Supposedly makes 15 or 16 HP and allows this bike to keep up with most 250s around town. The ignition is 12 volt CDI but I use a 6-volt reg/rec, battery and bulbs. The engine is also fitted with Mikuni VM26-606 and ’80s era Cobra Muffler from salvaged ATC125 three-wheeler with custom internal baffleing.

The Stock SL70 frame with tab for oil cooler mount was welded below the head tube, and a relocated bracket for seat/tank mount to level out the tank and seat, both welded by me. The seat features stock pan with custom comfort-butt quilts (its a tiny bike that I ride the shit out of, you know!).

At the front this Honda SL70 Scrambler features, Renthal aluminum with black epoxy coating and a stock 5″ diameter metal bucket headlight. The fuel tank is stock SL70 with logo indentations filled and smoothed, mounted 5 degrees higher than stock at the rear. The stock SL70 rear fender was relocated 4″ aft with custom bracket to accommodate the longer swingarm. While the front was relocated to tire hugger level and mounted with fender stays fabricated by me, both fenders were painted to match the tank.

The front wheel is a stock SL70 16″ rim laced to 1974 Honda CB125s hub, with CB125s mechanical disc brake and caliper that I chose to add because without it, this build would have been too easy. The 16″ rear wheel was salvaged to replace stock 14″ rim laced to stock SL hub. The front and rear wheel was wrapped in Shinko tires.

Honda SL70 Scrambler also features a swingarm from 1983 Honda XR100 with tabs ground off and twin gas shocks. The forks are stock triple clamps using SL70 upper pipes with CB125s lower housings using all internal springs and pistons from SL70 but flanged guides and seals from CB125.

The biggest challenge was the front suspension. Figuring out which factory parts were compatible to achieve the look I wanted. This includes the near archaeological restoration of the internal caliper mechanism in the cable-actuated disc brake that looked like it had been recovered from a sunken shipwreck. The front end is a hybrid cocktail of Honda CB, SL, CL, and CT parts – some of them cut to fit. Another challenge was teaching myself how to weld.

Last but not least is the paint job, which was done from spray cans. The green is Honda automobile paint from 2008 called Kiwi Green Pearl, and the white is Duplicolor. Green was mixed and put in cans for me by an auto body supply store. Clear coat is a 2K (2 part) rattle-can that includes a hardener capsule in the can that is broken and mixed with clear before use. The frame is painted Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze wich has a unique sublime olive/gold tone to it in the sunlight, then clear coated.

From building customizing scale-motorized models to building this beautiful Honda SL70 scrambler, Todd has shown us that anything is possible at any stage of our life!

Special thanks to Todd for putting together the details of his build.

via http://motorivista.com

KAZUMA KZ400

In a time when we are lucky to be presented with a constant, multi-channel, extravaganza of fantastic creativity and engineering prowess, it’s easy to get complacent sitting behind screens and smartphones adding a ‘like’ here, a disparaging comment there or simply wishing you could join the tribe and put your own stamp on something designed for the masses and built in the thousands.

After years of drooling over the plethora of custom bikes on the internet; brothers Pedro and Jose from the Costa Blanca, Spain, set up a blog Retrocustomracer in 2009 to feed their and others daily habit for two-wheeled wonderment.
The time came for them to get out from behind the zillion-pixel Retina display and see the world in full-on Technicolour, by building & customising a bike of their own. With limited budget and mechanical facilities they enlisted help from those more capable and found some locals to help out, which meant keeping a tight handle on the Euros. They have smooth glistening roads winding through the beautiful mountains to ride, with the hot Mediterranean sun beating down on their backs, my heart isn’t exactly bleeding for their ‘predicament’.

Back to the bike. Its a ’77 Kawasaki KZ400, the Japanese manufacturers answer to the VW Beetle which was built in huge numbers. As a result, by 1977 they were pretty unbreakable with a well proven 400cc twin. Jose and Pedro had their chums iron out some minor mechanical gremlins and repair the wiring loom before stamping their “post-apocalyptic, industrial design” on the KZ named Kazuma.

New side panels were fabricated with recesses to feed air to the cone filters and what looks like the pocket from Pedro’s trousers fixed to the right hand side. Presumably for a stash of gas money, or perhaps a pair of speedos should they get bored of the mountains and need to hit the beach. Not envious at all!!

The seat has been recovered and left in comfy mode with plenty of foam while modified Harley-Davidson Sportster shocks firm up the ride. Below that, a pair of Fishtail mufflers from a Ural side car outfit ensure Siesta time is not spoilt in the mountain villages.

Rubber is a Pirelli MT043 at the back and there’s a Bike Shed pop quiz for you tread geeks out there as to what the front is. New indicator units front and back keep everyone else aware of Jose and Pedros’ plans while the low mounted mirror gives the other perspective. Kind of makes sense really to look down to try and see an approaching car bumper rather than attempting see through your own elbow and your passengers shoulder.

We are spoilt by visual offerings from Wrenchmonkees, El Solitario, Kevils, Spirit of the Seventies et al but sometimes you’ve just got to get out there and ‘do it’ whatever your skills, budget or circumstance. And frankly, I’d be pretty happy giving Jose and Pedro’s KZ a blast from Alicante to Albacete and back. …The guys are now selling ‘Kazuma’ to fund another build so keep an eye on the Bike Shed classifieds or drop them a line if you’re interested.