BMW R100RS – Anvil Motociclette

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Goddamn Steve McQueen. There – I said it. Am I jealous? A little bit. But mostly I’m confused. Just how does one single, solitary guy amass so much coolness in one lifetime? The stunts, the flying, the racing – but mostly, the bikes. And especially the desert sleds. It’s almost as if he was bored one day and decided to invent his own genre. Talented bastard. Clearly Anvil Motociclette agree. Obviously this isn’t the first time that a build has been influenced by the Big Mac, but we’d wager that it’s never be done quite like this. Here’s the Milano duo’s latest – their sled-inspired BMW R100RS ‘Arsenica’.

“We got to thinking…” says Anvil’s Marco. In my experience, that’s never a good thing for a motorcycle-riding male… but I digress. “We wondered if the friendship between Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins in the mid ‘60s had happen in a BMW dealership instead of a Triumph one, what would have changed, bike-wise, in the desert heat all those years ago?”

If the story we know bears any resemblance to the truth, Steve encountered some off-roaders one Sunday off of Sepulveda Boulevard and got to talking with them. Somewhat bemused by their claims of off-road prowess, he was soon to admit that their skills, along with their strange-looking bikes, we capable of things he simply never considered. So the very next day, Steve dropped by Bud’s Triumph dealership and got to ordering some bikes with a few choice custom options.

“If McQueen had taken our ‘Arsenica’ for a ride, we hope he would have been even more excited. It’s a big claim, but we feel we just might have an edge. Basically, we took a BMW R100 RS from ‘82 and a whole bunch of inspiration from the ‘Desert Sleds’ used in the Mojave races. Then just add some super-modern details to this retro approach, like an irregular geometric design on the tank, the Accossato pump on the front brake and a modern floating rear disc. And hey presto…”

Could you ever get sick of that shape?

The boys took off the original central headlamp and replaced it with two tractor headlights – one on each crash bar. Then the rear part of the frame was reworked to make it shorter, linear and more sturdy, thanks to the modern power of stainless steel. The ‘bars were given a typical 70s form factor, which is more often than not used for flat trackers.

“The air box was replaced by two cone filters, giving a whole lot more air to the engine. The burnt gasses were then ejected via a wide open muffler.” At least that’s what we think they said – it was quite hard to hear them. “Getting down to the real soul of the bike, we also changed the original carburetors with two new Dell’Orto 36″ units, complete with an accelerator pump, which transformed the docile tourer into a kicking, screaming desert beast!”

Like all of Anvil’s bikes, the scars of time are well and truly present. In Arsenica’s case, it’s the rusty and beaten-up Kawasaki S3 tank that looks like it’s been nicked straight out of the dust of a Californian desert ride. Talk about gilding the lily.

Something wicked this way comes

I guess we can probably chalk up another one for the Milano pair’s track record, then. If you like what you see and you think you could handle some more matt black and Italian devil worship in your lives, then make sure you click on over to their site and take a look. I they ask, just tell ’em ‘Steve’ sent you…

via PIPEBURN

AD HOC XT600

A very lucky friend of mine has a beautiful fiancee to whom he refers affectionately as “Dishy” (bear with me there is a point to this tale). I assumed this odd moniker was bestowed due to her natural ease on the eye, but recently the origins of this pet name came to light. While it is definitely true that she has a larger than average round face, to compare it to a satellite dish is perhaps harsh. Never the less this was the flattering simile he had used to woo said lady in their early acquaintance. Charmer.

Perhaps it is due to the prevalent usage of the mini Bates headlight, but Dishy was the name that sprang to mind when I was first clapped eyes on this latest machine from Ad Hoc Cafe Racers – Attractive with a distinctively large face.

It has been getting on for nearly a year since we heard from David Gonzalez, the man behind Ad Hoc, but the beautifulDucati 750ss he displayed with us back then was enough to keep us hungry for more metal through that lean spell. This 1991 Yamaha XT600 is the latest machine to join the impressive Ad Hoc stable.

“I found this Yamaha 3 years ago on a classifieds page, at a very reasonable price. I used it in its original condition for a whole winter, until I decided to start cutting. I honestly thought the process would be much faster, but other customer builds, delayed the project.”

The idea had been to make a very low bike in the flat-track style, but when David chanced offering up a tank from a Bultaco Frontera 360 that plan deflected course. The stocky, almost hump backed receptacle hinted at a more scrambler path, a direction David ran with.

The next part offered to the stripped XT600 frame was that headlight from a familial XJ650, large enough to bathe in light whatever road or track the able XT600 is aimed down. At this point the character of the motorcycle was set, work began on the rest of the bike.

The subframe was extensively modified, the central triangle was cleared of all bodywork and electrics providing a window for the squeaky clean shock. The lithium battery was relocated beneath the swing arm. A classic frame loop supports the high rear mudguard which in turn sports a Gonelli trials tail light and numberplate support.

The Bultaco tank received the bikes only burst of colour while the engine, 17″ wheels, forks, headlight, frame mudguards and classic braced bars were all finished in satin black. The short, scrambler seat also went black via some thick cowhide upholstery. David was unable to find an exhaust to his liking so manufactured his own high pipe with a DB Killer incorporated, and a good wrapping of tape on the outside along with the original heat shield.

Ad Hoc’s machines always have character in spades and this charming XT is no different, it is the kind of bike you can easily imagine a doting owner bestowing with a pet name in private. We will leave it to said owner to decide whether or not Dishy is a keeper. Thanks go to Nacho Hernando for the photographs.

via The Bike Shed

Honda GL500 – Wrench Kings

Written by Martin Hodgson.

The Netherlands may not be the first country you think of when custom motorcycles come to mind but to say the Dutch are kicking arse and taking names in the bike building world in 2015 is an understatement. The city of Utrecht is home to one such builder and although 33% of all journeys in the city are taken on a bicycle,Wrench Kings like their bikes to have more than one human power. This particular 1982 Honda GL500 is one of their best builds to date with inspirations coming in the form of a B52 bomber and a couple of beers. Which is how Wrench Kings came about to begin with, three friends – Joost, Bram & Laurens – enjoying a few cold ones in a carpark while tinkering with a bike… in Dubai.

At first glance many mistake the GL for a CX500 – which has become a bit of a cult hit in the café racer renaissance – while the GL does use the CX engine, it’s a larger bike designed for those who love their touring, featuring Honda’s Pro-Link suspension and an all-new chassis. The GL500 came to Wrench Kings HQ in a fairly unloved state, some rust, a lot of oily grime and in need of a thorough overhaul. To do it justice the boys took the bike back to the bare frame and started by fabricating an entirely new rear end. The stock subframe was cut off and a new piece fabricated that mounts to the backbone leaving a huge amount of negative space between the swingarm and seat giving a drag bike like appearance. All of the excess body work is gone, the two up foot pegs, the radiator shroud off to the nearest bin and the frame completely smoothed and detabbed before being coated in black.

Just like the CX the GL500 has one hell of a big tank for a 500cc machine and it takes some clever work to give it the right look for a café racer application. Thankfully the Wrench Kings knew exactly what they were doing and utilised colour and some careful little tricks to bring the whole thing together. Like many Honda’s of the early ‘80’s the GL tank features rear edges designed to meet the factory side covers, ditching the body work can leave a strange look but by using the same black on this part of the tank as the frame the Kings have achieved a far more flowing look than most. The rest of the tank features white and silver in a combination of rounded and square shapes to break up the tanks side and like all Wrench King bikes their logo takes pride of place. Sitting on the new subframe is a custom café seat in black leather with white tubing and is generously padded for long days in the chair.

The Guzzi-esque 500cc developed by Honda for the CX500 was quite revolutionary for its time; No Kickstart, V-twin but 4 valves per cylinder, CV carbs tuned for improved emissions and by the time it was fitted to the GL series it had received transistorised ignition and longer intake runners for a cleaner look and more low down torque. The Kings gave their little twin a thorough make over and rebuild ensuring thousands of trouble free kilometres to come and it looks the business all in black. The exhaust utilises the factory headers which have been heat wrapped, while the standard collector is ditched along with the big factory cans. In their place are a pair of chrome hotdog style mufflers and the GL now sounds like a B52 swooping down on a low flying bombing raid! With the airbox ditched the tuned CV carbs now breathe through chrome pod filters that draw fresh air from the massive space below the seat.

A stripped down, lightweight and suitably grunty GL deserves to handle much better than the comfortable, but wallowing factory setup. With the more popular CX, many have simply lowered the front forks or worse, cut the standard springs which might look great but is downright dangerous. The Kings don’t make these sorts of mistakes and got it right the first time around with the fitment of a set of CBR conventional telescopic forks that come from the factory ready to handle and handle well. Not only do the CBR forks also offer tunability to preload, dampening and rebound as an added bonus they come equipped with dinner plate sized drilled rotors and big calipers for vastly improved stopping for the GL500 which was under braked from the factory. Out back the factory Pro-Link suspension remains in place and having gone on to be used on some of Honda’s greatest bikes, it’s a decision that makes perfect sense.

With all that factory fairing gone a single headlight is one of the few pieces to extend beyond the chassis lines and with an LED halo it lights the way in style. The new taillight is kept small and along with the bar mounted indicators are powdered by an all-new wiring system that is fired by a lithium battery. Tidying up the front end the ignition and choke cables have been cleverly hidden under the seat and all that remains is a small digital speedo. Mounted below the CBR top clamp are a new pair of clip-ons with all new levers, master cylinder and throttle assembly in black set off by the stark white grips with LED turn signals at their ends.

With that, the Wrench Kings were finished on perhaps the nicest GL500 you are ever likely to see. It looks great, it has modern suspension, stops on a dime and that torquey V-twin not only pulls hard but sounds like the end of the world doing it. The only question left, just what is going to come out of the Wrench Kings and the Netherlands next? Well, it looks like they’re working on a bratstyle CB900 Bol d’Or, a CB Nighthawk Tracker, and a Kawa Z500 café racer – more on those very soon.

via PIPEBURN

‘Surf’s up!’ - The history of surfing from 1778 to today

At nearly 600 pages and featuring over 900 images, this new tome from Taschen tells the complete history of surfing, and is bound to become the bible for surfers of all seas…

                     

From exotic leisure to a global movement

From a cult sport, to a lifestyle, to a philosophy – ever since Captain James Cook observed the first surfers off Hawaii in 1778, the sport has developed into a global movement, with over 20 million surfers around the world. Thanks to fashion, film, art and music, surfing is featuring in popular culture more prominently than ever before, and cultural anthropologist Jim Heimann’s new standard work on the sport – titled simply ‘Surfing’– documents its surge in popularity. 

Divided into five chronological chapters and enriched with comment from the most important surfing journalists, the book explains how the sport morphed into a global subculture, and became recognised as a philosophical movement. If you’re a keen surfer, there should definitely be a space on the bookshelf for this one. 

Bracelet...

Lorenzo signe le meilleur temps du vendredi à Sepang / Lorenzo strikes first in Sepang

Le Majorquin est parvenu à passer devant les pilotes Repsol Honda lors d’une chaude après-midi en Malaisie.

                

Suite à ce que Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) ait dominé la première séance d’essais du Grand Prix Shell de Malaisie vendredi matin à Sepang, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a été le pilote le plus rapide l’après-midi et a surtout réussi à battre le chrono de son compatriote de près de deux dixièmes de seconde pour finir la journée en tête. 

                    

Pedrosa était cependant lui aussi en progrès et finissait à seulement à 0.047s du Majorquin tandis que Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) se maintenait dans le Top 3, à 0.226s du leader. 

Andrea Iannone (Ducati) a profité de l’après-midi pour se rapprocher des premières places et finir quatrième, à un rien de Márquez et malgré une chute dans le virage 8. Son compatriote Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a de son côté été l’un des quelques pilotes qui n’ont pas amélioré leurs meilleurs temps personnels l’après-midi et a terminé la journée à plus de six dixièmes de son coéquipier, qu’il devance de onze points au classement général avant l’avant-dernière manche de la saison.

                     

Tombé le matin, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) a démontré une certaine compétitivité l’après-midi et a pris la sixième place sur le classement combiné, devant Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) et Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing).

                      

Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) a impressionné et a fini onzième, devant Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) ainsi que les pilotes du team Monster Yamaha Tech3, Pol Espargaró et Bradley Smith. L’Espagnol était de loin le premier pilote Open tandis que son coéquipier Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) et Loris Baz (Forward Racing) ont pris les 21e et 22 positions, respectivement, sur le classement combiné.

Cliquez ici pour accéder au classement.

Jorge Lorenzo ends Friday on top of the combined timesheets to lay down a marker to his title rival Rossi who finished in fifth.

               

In the hot and humid conditions (Track temp. 47˚C) at the Sepang International Circuit it was Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who ended the day on top to send out a message to his title rival Valentino Rossi. All of the talk before the riders took to the track was about Rossi’s comments revolving around Marc Marquez from the Press Conference, but it was Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha teammate Lorenzo that stole the show amongst the haze at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Lorenzo had played second fiddle to Dani Pedrosa in the morning’s FP1 session, but after spending most of FP2 working on race pace, the Spaniard stuck in some fresh rubber to set a 2’00.246. This time was less than half a second off Marc Marquez’s 2014 Pole Record (1’59.791) as the riders hit the ground running at Sepang due to the fact all of the teams get to test at the circuit during preseason. Lorenzo’s time was 0.669s faster than his title rival Rossi as he struck an important psychological blow in the epic 2015 MotoGP™ World Championship title fight.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had been quickest out of the blocks in FP1 but found himself 0.047s off the pace of Lorenzo at the end of the day in second overall. The Spaniard will be keen to be involved in the fight for the race win after having missed out on all the fun of the podium battle at Phillip Island.

                  

His teammate Marc Marquez (+0.226s) responded to Rossi’s criticism on Friday by ending the day third fastest overall. The reigning MotoGP™ champion took his 50th GP victory Phillip Island last time out and won last year’s race at Sepang from pole.

                  

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+0.240s) followed up his podium at Phillip Island by ending the day fourth fastest despite crashing at turn 8 in FP2. Following his crash the Italian immediately went out and set his quickest time of the day, just 0.014s further back from Marquez at the circuit where his GP15 made its debut during the preseason test.

Rossi found himself down in fifth overall after an issue with his first choice bike at the end of FP2 prevented him from setting a flying lap on fresh rubber. Rossi, who has won six times in the premier class at Sepang, failed to improve on his time from the morning session but has shown before that he can recover from a poor Friday to be competitive come the race. The ‘Doctor’ currently leads Lorenzo by 11 points in the standings and has his first chance to lift that elusive tenth title if results go his way on Sunday.

                  

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (+0.793s) carried on his run of good form that has seen him record three top ten finishes in a row to end the day in sixth as the leading Satellite rider. Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro had expected his GSX-RR to struggle at Sepang due to the two long straights and its lack of acceleration, but he finished the day in seventh overall.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) recovered from his worst finish of the season at the Australian GP to finish in 8th, with Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) completing the top ten.

                   

Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera was the leading Open class rider in 11th, while the man who finished in sixth at the Australian GP, Maverick Viñales, was over 1.5s off the pace in 12th. British rider Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 struggled on the opening day and finished down in 14th.

Irishman Eugene Laverty was 16th, 0.001s ahead of his American teammate Nicky Hayden in 17th, while Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) ended the session in 20th.

Check out the combined results from MotoGP™ FP1 & FP2; FP3 starts at 9:55am local time on Saturday.

WRC Rally de Espana , étape 1 : Ogier, leader avant l’asphalte / Ogier on top after gravel day

Six vainqueurs de spéciale et trois leaders différents : cette première étape (terre) du RallyRACC-Catalunya fut particulièrement disputée, et c’est le triple champion du monde Sébastien Ogier (VW/Michelin) qui a l’a conclue en tête devant Latvala (+4s) et Tanak (Ford, +11s3). Deux étapes sur asphalte attendent désormais les concurrents.

Sébastien Ogier (VW), Mads Ostberg (Citroën), Hayden Paddon (Hyundai), Robert Kubica (Ford), Ott Tanak (Ford) et Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) : six pilotes différents et quatre marques automobiles ont remporté au moins une spéciale sur la première étape du RallyRACC-Catalunya. Et jamais l’écart entre les trois premiers n’a excédé 6s5 avant l’ES9.

Jusqu’à la dernière spéciale du jour, Ogier, Kubica, puis Ogier et Latvala s’étaient succédé en tête du rallye. Vainqueur de l’ES5 (35,68 km), le Finlandais s’était ensuite retrouvé leader à l’issue de l’ES6 remportée par Tanak.

Mais dans l’ultime spéciale (ES9, 35,68 km), Sébastien Ogier a repris l’avantage sur son équipier (+7s2). « Oui, j’avais prévu d’attaquer très fort dans cette spéciale, mais mes pneus Michelin LTX Force H4 ne sont pas encore assez usés ! », a déclaré Seb Ogier à l’arrivée après avoir vérifié l’état de ses gommes. « Pour un tel résultat ce soir, j’aurais signé des deux mains. »

                                                

Ce soir, le triple champion du monde est de retour en tête du rallye devant Jari-Matti Latvala (+4s).Ott Tanak (Ford) a remporté trois spéciales et pointe à la 3^e place à 11s3. Avant les deux étapes asphalte à venir, l’Espagnol Dani Sordo (Hyundai) est bien placé au 4^e rang (+26s9). « Ce fut une journée difficile, mais on est en bonne position pour demain » a expliqué Sordo.

Brillant sur les pistes catalanes aujourd’hui malgré une crevaison lente (ES5), Mads Ostberg est 5^e à seulement 2s8 de Sordo. Son compatriote Andreas Mikkelsen (VW) est à 7s7, lui-même sous la menace de Paddon (7^e, Hyundai) à 9/10^e de seconde.

                                               

Kris Meeke (8^e, Citroën), Thierry Neuville (9^e, Hyundai) et Elfyn Evans (10^e, Ford) complètent le top-ten et sont séparés par moins de 10 secondes. Robert Kubica (Ford) était leader du rallye avant l’ES5 où il a perdu plus de cinq minutes.

Pontus Tidemand (Skoda/Michelin) a réalisé une étape parfaite en WRC-2. Il devance ses équipiers Jan Kopecky et Esapekka Lappi de 33s7 et 39s4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Skoda) est 4^e et toujours en course pour le titre 2015 malgré une crevaison lente et un choc sur jante dans l’ES9.

Champion 2015, Quentin Gilbert est leader du JWRC devant Simone Tempestini (+10s6). Marius Aasen (Ford) a bouclé la première étape en tête du Fiesta Trophy et empoche les 25 points de la victoire. Tom Cave est 2e à 20s6, Max Vatanen a perdu 15 minutes et sans doute ses espoirs de titre.

Ce soir, l’assistance est exceptionnellement rallongée de 30 minutes (1h15) pour permettre aux teams de configurer les voitures en mode asphalte.

With six different stage winners and three different leaders, the first day in Catalonia turned out to be particularly close. The three-time world champion Sébastien Ogier (VW/Michelin) completed the event’s gravel stages with a four-second cushion over team-mate Latvala and 11.3s clear of Ford’s Tanak ahead of the weekend’s all-asphalt stages.

Sébastien Ogier (VW), Mads Ostberg (Citroën), Hayden Paddon (Hyundai), Robert Kubica (Ford), Ott Tanak (Ford) and Jari-Matti Latvala (VW), who represent four different makes, won at least one stage today, while the top three was never split by more than 6.5s.

Meanwhile, the lead switched from the hands of Ogier to those of Kubica, then to Ogier’s again and to then those of Latvala who won SS5 (35.68km) to emerge in front after SS6 (won by Tanak).

However, the day’s final test (SS9, 35.68km) saw Ogier beat Latvala by 7.2s to recover top spot. “My intention had been to push on today’s last stage but my Michelin LTX Force H4s weren’t worn enough!” noted the Frenchman after getting out to check the state of his tyres. “This is a great position for me to be in this evening.”

                                     

His overnight cushion over his Finnish team-mate is four seconds, with Tanak – who was fastest on three stages in all – only 11.3s adrift in third place. With two full days of asphalt competition to come, Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai, +26.9s) is looking good in fourth place, too. “It was a tough day but we’re in a nice position for tomorrow,” he commented.

Ostberg was also strong on the Catalonian dirt before a puncture on SS5 relegated the Citroën driver to fifth, just 2.8s short of Sordo. Fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (VW) is fifth, a further 7.7s back, and Paddon is seventh, just nine-tenths behind VW’s third man.

Kris Meeke (8^th, Citroën), Thierry Neuville (9^th, Hyundai) and Elfyn Evans (10^th, Ford) are covered by less than 10 seconds and round off the top 10. Robert Kubica (Ford), who had led after SS4, lost more than five minutes on the following test.

                                        

It was a perfect day for Pontus Tidemand (Skoda/Michelin) who is 33.7s and 39.4s clear of his rivals Jan Kopecky and Esapekka Lappi respectively in the WRC2 standings. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Skoda) is fourth and still in contention for 2015 crown despite a slow puncture and a damaged rim on SS9.

This evening’s service park has been extended by half-an-hour compared with the usual 45 minutes to give the teams time to concert their cars to asphalt trim.