2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant

With Harley-Davidson recently unveiling two new models, the Street 750 and Street 500, we were wondering who would be the first to customise one. Well, we don’t have to wonder anymore. The guys from The Speed Merchant were approached by Mike Davis from Born Free on behalf of Harley to see if they were interested in customising one to be showcased at the Born Free show. Of course they said hell yeah. “Having never seen one in person, it was very intriguing” says Brandon from The Speed Merchant. “The new Harley-Davidson Street 500 is what showed up at my shop with about 3 months to get the job done.” They were given an open brief by Harley, but with all the choppers at Born Free, they wanted create something a little different that would stand out from the crowd.

Speed Merchant engineer and designer Brandon “Brawny Built” Holstein decided to build the bike with a nod to the Flat Track tradition. He started by removing most of the stock parts from the bike. Front end, wheels, bars, rear fender, battery, rear subframe, and exhaust – shedding 50lbs (22kg) from the stock bike. He replaced the stock wheels with some Sun Aluminum rims with SS spokes laced up to HD hubs. The front end was replaced with a set of Speed Merchant mid glide trees made for the HD 48 Sportster. Huntington Beach Harley Davidson donated the front end to the build. They topped off the front end with SM preload adjusters. To finish up the front, Brandon made a classic styled aluminum number plate that incorporates the overflow for the radiator and a LED driving light supplied by Lazerstar Lights.

Brandon used a Speed Merchant radial mount brake bracket up the front and mounted a Tokico caliper to it. The bars are a custom set made in house as well. The controls are off a GSXR 600, and 750, topped off with some Pazzo levers. The throttle is a 1/4 turn set up from Joker Machine – used mainly for speedway.

“Next I decided to mount the tank in a different position.” says Brandon. “I raised the tank by about 4″ to provide a more traditional stance. To match the line of the tank I started with the tail section next. After cutting off the stock subframe, and pulling the wiring from under the seat, I started laying out the new subframe set-up. Part of the new subframe houses all of the stock wiring just under the seat. The new tail section was shaped out of aluminum. Once the tailsection was finished, I fabricated a seat pan that was handed off to Bates Leather. They nailed it with this custom tuck and roll design.”

To change the stance of the bike, the guys at Speed Merchant used some tall rear shocks supplied by Ohlins USA. “They were kind enough to support this build.” The taller shocks provided extra ground clearance and helped to enhance the stance of the bike. To round off the rear section of the bike, Brandon decided to modify the rear swingarm by adding some extra bracing and hollowing out the square tubing. Then they made a battery box to mount the 8 cell Anitgravity Battery just above the swingarm.

Having such a new model created some challenges for Brandon and his crew. Like trying to find a front sprocket to convert this bike to a chain drive. “Luckily I was able to find one. I used a Super Sprox rear sprocket, with a black EK 530 chain. I made a custom aluminium front sprocket cover. Rounding out the rear end was a radial brake bracket with a Tokico caliper to match the front.”

The last thing that SM fabricated was the custom exhaust. Cone Engineering donated there 2″ core muffler for this build. Brandon used this and then recreated the front headers to fit the bike – a full stainless system is just what the doctor ordered.

The paint was done by John Edwards of Old Tyme Custom paint. SM wanted to keep it really clean and simple, but highlight the gold on the bike. Once the color was laid down the bike was handed over to Pacman Line & Letter Company to pinstripe and hand letter the Harley-Davidson. Then finally some pearl was laid over the top before clearing it.

The bike was unveiled at last weeks Born Free 6 and attracted an unprecedented amount of attention – with a constant crowd around the bike for the whole show. The guys from Speed Merchant some it up best with this quote: “In a sea of choppers, it was for sure, the dark horse and a massive attention grabber.” 

Photos by Mike Quinones from ourCaste

via PIPEBURN

1963 LOLA MK6 GT

The Lola Mk6 GT is a car that may look vaguely familiar – it was the result of a collaboration between Ford and Lola, and it would eventually become the basis of the iconic and hugely successful Ford GT40.

Similar to the GT40, the Lola Mk6 GT had a mid-mounted Ford V8, a space-frame chassis, a lightweight body with a Kammback profile and an exceptionally low roofline. The Mk6 was entered into the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, due to the lack of a transport truck the Lola was actually driven to the circuit from the Lola factory in Slough, before undergoing an oil change and rolling out onto the track.

Ford were deeply impressed with the performance potential of Eric Broadley’s Lola Mk6, they saw it as a vehicle that could take the fight to the dominant Ferraris, and win. Lola was contracted to built the GT40 by Henry Ford II himself and just a year later the first completed vehicle rolled out of the factory.

The Ford GT40 would go on to win Le Mans 4 times in succession between 1966 and 1969, ending Ferrari’s dominance and vindicating Henry Ford II’s gamble on Eric Broadley’s mid-engined design. The runaway success of the GT40 led to the original Lola Mk6 being forgotten by most, which seems a shame as the humble Lola was essentially the beta version of Ford’s first Le Mans winner.

Only 3 Lola Mk6 chassis were made before attention shifted to the GT40 program, as you can imagine this rarity coupled with the heritage of the model has led to soaring values – it’s exceptionally rare for an original Lola Mk6 to come up for sale and when it does, collectors from around the world fly in for the auction.

If you’re in the market for an original Mk6, you can click here to visit this particular car’s lot listing care of RM Auctions.

Photo Credits: Robin Adams ©2014 Courtesy of RM Auctions

via SILODROME

KINGSTON CUSTOMS 900 IL SARDO

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then where does that leave emulation? Perhaps not as sincere an endeavour but when standards are as stratospherically high as they are in the custom bike world, wholesome gentlemanliness goes out the window. There’s no denying it, nearly every man on the planet would sell an organ to walk a day in Steve McQueens shoes. Pick a day, any day. You could be at 230 MPH down the Mulsanne Straight in a Porsche 917 or wheelying through the desert on a CR250 Elsinore with $1m dollars in your pocket just for turning up. And if you picked the straw that got you the Steve with no shoes, it’d be because there’s one of the world’s hottest girls next to you.

And her friend.

So Dirk of Kingston Custom in Germany wanted to build a Triumph that reminded him of the King of Cool, ripping it up on the International Six Day Trials of the mid-sixties. No pressure then Dirk! Buddy and Triumph nut, Uli Brée ofTriworx supplied a 900 Scramber last autumn and expected something special in return. True to form, Dirk hasn’t let him down.

Obviously these days you can’t get away with a paint job, knobblies and some fancy welding on the zorst so this bike was taken to the private room at the back, the one with a velour curtain and stripped down, right down. The subframe was modified to accept the Komp-Tech seat unit and the tight rear loop is pretty well executed. It needed to be, as nickel plating is very unflattering if you’re welding looks like a pigeon shit. The local electroplater got a workout with this build, the Athena Motocross foot pegs going into the bucket along with the Honda XLV sidestand. The frame was chemically dipped, then painstakingly ground, sanded and buffed before even joining the other parts for a fizzy chemical bath. The result is truly stunning. If this sounds like a waste of elbow grease, wait til you hear what he did with the wheels.

Triumph’s 900 twin is ample for most applications and there’s certainly enough grunt on tap for the Mitas E10s to flick up some decent roost. K&N offset oval filters keep the desert out and a rather lovely Arrow exhaust system does the barking through an in-house muffler. Is there anything more racy that zorsts held together with springs? Reminds me of my first ‘crosser.

As mentioned, Dirk likes a bit of nickel. So much so that he removed all the spokes and sat for hours rubbing the chrome from the rims to reveal the more handsome coating beneath. Proper! The brake rotors are by Galfer, the wavy ones. Bates lamp with a drilled visor is a nice touch.

With all that nickel to look at some contrast was required so an aluminium bash plate was fabricated with some jolly neat lightening holes, but this didn’t escape the buffing wheel either.

Nothing Kim Kardashian about this derrière, everything is in proportion with humps, bumps and knobs all in exactly the right place. 370mm YSS shocks ensuring nothing heads too far South.

Those who don’t know, the boffins at Moto Gadget make some top-of-the-line electrickery in the way of lights, speedos and wiring solutions. Modern Triumph twins and triples don’t like to have their clocks removed, as if in true 1970s style, the CAN-Bus system goes on strike and renders the bike unusable. The m-Tri unit solves this so one was fitted to Dirk’s scrambler, along with a set of indicators. Hiding from view slightly is the Daytona Velona speedo, they look smart, trust me.

There are some bikes that you just know will feel right, this is one of them. The seat looks comfy at the back but clear at the front for leg out berm-busting. The chunky LSL bars are inviting and Nissin RFX levers reassuring, or am I just getting carried away because I want a go! The tank colour is awesome, similar to the Rickman Matisse but bang up to date, especially cool with the polished knee panels. Although I’m sure he will insist on riders wearing silk trousers.

I’ve looked long and hard and can’t find anything to fault. Apart from the wall, Dirk, your tiling is appalling, the floor isn’t level and that log doesn’t look very well seasoned. Pah, and there we were thinking he was a perfectionist.

After all the polishing and fitment of top notch parts ‘il Sardo tips the scales at a positively heroin chic 189kgs, in comparison to the muffin-topped 230kg standard scrambler. Quite a result in both the engineering and the aesthetic.

If Steve is up there somewhere, I’m sure he’d swap a kidney for a day in Dirk’s shoes and a blast across the desert on this celebration. Surely the sincerest form of flattery.

via The Bike Shed

Aprilia termine ses trois jours de test avec Biaggi au Mugello / Aprilia, Biaggi conclude three-day Mugello test

Max Biaggi a soumis l'ART MotoGP à une série de tests intensifs cette semaine au Mugello.

L'ancien coureur italien a bouclé pas moins de 176 tours du circuit toscan sur l'ensemble de ses trois journées d'essais et a signé son meilleur tour en 1'50.940. 

Le chrono n'était cependant pas la priorité d'Aprilia, qui cherche avant tout à enregistrer un maximum de données pour développer sa moto actuellement utilisée en Championnat du Monde MotoGP™ mais aussi son futur prototype pour le retour officiel de la marque en MotoGP™ en 2016.

Romano Albesiano, directeur d'Aprilia Racing, a commenté : « Max a eu un très bon rythme et nous avons collecté d'importantes données. Il n'y a pas grand chose à ajouter à ce que j'ai déjà dit cette semaine. Nous avions décidé de travailler avec Biaggi parce que nous savions que son expérience nous apporterait des informations importantes et de ce point de vue, le test s'est passé comme prévu. »

Biaggi était satisfait de son feeling sur l'ART et a ajouté : « Le bilan de ces trois journées est clairement positif. De tous points de vue, l'adaptation à la moto, les pneus, les freins, et l'effort physique fourni pour faire autant de tours, qui était important, surtout quand on a passé autant de temps sans rouler. »

« Nous avons fait du bon travail, nous avons pu évaluer les différentes solutions proposées et je pense que nous avons donné au team de bonnes idées. »

Italian manufacturer Aprilia have wrapped up a three-day Mugello visit, in which Max Biaggi extensively tested the ART-Aprilia MotoGP bike.

Biaggi completed a marathon haul of 176 laps over the 72 hour workout, recording a best time of 1’50.940.

For Aprilia however the lap time is not crucial at this stage, as they are more focused on gathering key data for the continued development of their current bike - already being used in the MotoGP™ World Championship - and in preparation for a new Aprilia prototype they hope will race in the premier class in 2016.

The importance of the tests was clear to Romano Albesiano, Aprilia Racing manager, who commented: "Max’s pace was very good and we have gathered valuable data. There is little more to add than what has been said already this week. We decided to try Biaggi because we knew we would get important information from his experience, so from this point of view, the test went as planned."

Biaggi was happy with the feeling with the ART, saying, "The balance of these three days is definitely positive. From all points of view, adaptation to the bike, the tyres, brakes, not to mention the physical effort with so many laps, it becomes important especially if you have not been on the bike for a long time."

"We did a good job, we were able to evaluate the different solutions available and I think I've provided some good ideas to the team."