CAFÉ RACER 76

Django Django

Mercury music prize nominees Django Django became obsessed by the infamous Indian Well of Death riders in Allahabad. So, naturally, they asked Noisey if we'd be up for travelling over to India and standing right in the middle of large lumps of precariously speeding metal for a day, to film a video for their track "Wor". We happily obliged, getting our shoes stolen in the process, but it was worth it to meet a bunch of guys with the most rock solid testicles we've ever come across.

Django Django - WOR from Jim Demuth on Vimeo.

Bauhaus for sale – Marcel Breuer’s Stillman House to be auctioned

To acquire a real masterpiece of Bauhaus architecture – this is an opportunity that comes up only very rarely. But on 19 November 2015, the American auction house Wright will offer a bungalow in Connecticut, in which several masters of modern art were involved.

Marcel Breuer is one of the most important designers of the 1920s, working alongside Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Breuer emigrated to the USA in 1937, where he first taught as a professor of architecture at Harvard and then, in the early 1940s, opened his own office. One of Breuer’s houses was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where the Bauhaus architect came to the attention of Rufus and Leslie Stillman - and without further ado, the development of a residential building in Litchfield, Connecticut was commissioned from Breuer. Between 1950 and 1953, a house, a studio and a pool were created from Breuer’s plans.

Three masters of modern art

The main house used glass, colour and natural materials in the post-War style that Breuers had developed at Harvard together with Walter Gropius. But Breuer also had extensive help when it came to the house’s facilities: the outer wall at the end of the swimming pool was decorated with a huge mural by none other than the artist Alexander Calder, while Breuer’s former Bauhaus colleague Xanti Schawinsky created a mural inside the house. Given that three great masters of modern art have immortalised their work in the Stillman House, the Wright auction house's estimate of two to three million dollars seems relatively modest.

Yamaha XV750 – Hageman Motorcycles

Written by Martin Hodgson.

The artist and engineer usually come at their work from completely different ends of the creative continuum and often go together about as well as a bull in a china shop. But on the rare occasion they do mix well, the results are truly spectacular – and this Custom Yamaha Virago known as “GoGo” just happens to be one such example.

The artist and owner is photographer extraordinaire Erick Runyon and the engineer is the king of custom Yamaha’s, the one and only, Greg Hageman. Erick photographs Greg’s spectacular creations and it was at one of their get-togethers that they discussed seeing how nice a job they could do on a XV750 with a limited budget.

The bike was built and that might have been the end of the story until as Erick explains “I was shooting another build for Greg that fell on me in the studio and broke my knee in two places”. Out of action for six months the budget XV750 would look at the crippled Erick and whisper ideas into his creative brain, ideas that Erick would suggest to Greg over the phone. Given that they live in the same Neighbourhood Greg had the bike brought over to his place and with the budget now “extended” GoGo was about to go from budget build to one of Hageman’s XV masterpieces!

What makes GoGo so special is not just that it was built by Hageman but that there were also contributions from some of the best in the business. The front end is the work of Alain Bernard of Santiago Choppers who put the GSXR 1000 forks on the Yamaha frame. The wheel and tyre combination take chunky to a whole new level, wheels are 16 inches front and rear with incredible custom inserts from Sean Skinner of MotoRelic. While the tyres themselves are one-off Dunlop American Elites normally reserved for Harley’s fleet of touring bikes, measuring a giant 130 in the front and 150 in the rear with raised yellow Dunlop lettering.

Power for the XV750 now comes from its big brother the XV1100 a conversion Greg did himself and one that makes great sense given the 1063cc donk punches out a considerable improvement in torque over the stock 750 and does it much lower in the rev range. Fuelling the V-twin is now a single carburettor from the kings of V muscle, Harley Davidson, this particular item being from a Sportster model complete with a grilled cone filter. As mentioned earlier there were contributions to this build from some big names and the shorty stainless steel muffler finishing off the growling exhaust comes from Florida’s kings of café racer cool, Dime City Cycles who also provided many of the other bolt on mods.

Greg Hageman has pioneered one of the most enduring looks of the café racer Renaissance, the fitting of Benelli’s Mojave tank to the Virago series of bikes and it is simply a match made in heaven. With artistic input from Erick and guns swung by two of his friends Moe from Moe Colors and Craig Skiver of Craig Paints Bikes the mix of raw metal and deep red find their homes in all the right places creating an industrial feel that works perfectly with the aggressive stance of the rest of the build. While many would paint the swingarm black or the same colour as the frame Erick had Joe from ProFab Powder coating finish the metal in a clear powder that not only further enhances the size of the rear tyre it further accentuates the negative space offered up by the new seat arrangement. Which comes the way of a totally redesigned and custom fabricated subframe that supports a beautifully stitched single seat.

Everywhere you look on GoGo, whether it be form or function, it is clear that Greg and Erick were speaking the same language, even if Erick admits his constant changes of mind may have gone close to driving Greg up the wall. It can often be that a great build falls down in the final details, but not here, the purposeful custom rearsets aren’t just added for cool factor they are exactly what is needed when converting a cruiser to a café racer. The headlight also plays its role with a raw metal finish and aggressive grill expanding on the tough industrial look.

While just below the Yamaha logo on the seat sits a neat LED strip that takes care of taillight and turn signal duties. More of the meshing between artist and engineer comes in the little touches you could easily over look. Hiding parts behind rattle can black paint is an easy way out but Erick and Greg have left items like the forward engine mount and shaft drive in their raw state and it’s these little touches that are as equally as important as the major changes in creating a machine that is truly world-class.

With such an incredible team assembled and Erick’s artistic vision recreated into an automotive masterpiece there is just one part of the story left to tell. The nickname “GoGo” comes from a sexy little assassin GoGo Yubari – a character from the Kill Bill movie. And if a severely disturbed 17-year-old schoolgirl is on her way to disembowel you in a horrific style only Quentin Tarantino could dream up she may as well be aboard her namesake, a Greg Hageman special shot to fame by the Superfoto himself, Erick Runyon!

[Photos by–you guessed it—Erick Runyon]

via PIPEBURN

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR)

Photo by Amy Shore

Written by Mark Hawwa – Founder of the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride had very basic beginnings when I created the event three years ago. I wanted to unite the classic and custom classic motorcycle scene. This idea turned into 2,500 dapper ladies and gents riding on the same day throughout 64 cities all across the globe back in 2012.

This year again, ladies and gents will be dressing in their finest for this ride on the same day, only now with over 30,000 riders across over 80 countries. This has turned into what would have to be the largest global rides held. The 400 cities involved in this years ride has formed a beautiful community for riders of café racers, bobbers, classics, brats, trackers, choppers and everything niche bike in-between.

Photo by Amy Shore

This common passion for machines and riding has evolved into something even bigger, and in 2013 we made the decision to support a cause that was affecting countless people. We teamed up with multiple prostate cancer foundations across the globe, and our goal this year is to raise $3 million to aid in prostate cancer research.

Baptiste_David_Sydney_Australia_BAPT-226

Photo by Baptiste David

It has been an amazing journey for me and everyone involved. Very testing at times and the logistics of such a large event will never be easy. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the help of literally thousands of people dedicating their time and effort to the cause. One of my favourite parts of DGR is checking out the amazing photography from the 4 corners of the globe. Here’s a selection of my favourite images from 2014.

If you haven’t already signed up for the DGR ride, make sure you register at gentlemansride.com and raise some money for a great cause.