HONDA CL450 BY SPIN CYCLE INDUSTRIES

The Honda CL450 was originally designed to be the “scrambler” version of the much more famous CB450, the CL used the same 444cc DOHC parallel twin but had higher pipes, braced handlebars and slightly more aggressive styling.

This take on the CL450 was built by the cleverly named Spin Cycle Industries based out of Oregon. The Honda is a customer bike and the scrambler DNA was retained and enhanced (thankfully), the seat is custom as is the rear cowling, they went for a “natural” finish leaving some imperfections in place, which I think is perfect for any scrambler-style bike.

I can’t help but sense some influence from both Garage Project Motorcycles and The Wrenchmonkees with the bike’s styling, that said there’s a hefty dose of originality throughout and the CL looks like it’d be a hell of a fun bike for both city streets and some light hammering along dusty trails and long beaches.

If you’d like to see more from Spin Cycle Industries hit the link here, they have 4 other bikes in their back catalogue and they’re all well worth a looksee.

from SILODROME

Moto Guzzi Le Mans III #2 by Ritmo Sereno

Foto: Ritmo Sereno
Via Racing Café

All-GT40 race at this year’s Goodwood Revival

That great icon of Le Mans, the GT40, will be 50 years old in 2013 – or at least it will be 50 years since the start of Ford’s GT40 programme. The first car wasn’t finished till early 1964.

In celebration of this landmark, “the world’s finest collection of significant and authentic racing Ford GT40s” will take part in a one-model Whitsun Trophy race at the Goodwood Revival (13-15 September 2013) – the first time there has ever been a dedicated competition for GT40s, anywhere in the world. 

The Ford project began in 1963, when Henry Ford II set out to beat ‘il Commendatore’ – Enzo Ferrari – at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The GT40 was a development of the 1963 Lola Mk6 GT, engineered by Eric Broadley’s team in England. The Ford GT40 went on to win Le Mans four years in a row, from 1966 to 1969. 

Tickets for the 2013 Goodwood Revival can be purchased via the Goodwood website (www.goodwood.com/motorsport), or the Ticket Hotline: +44 (0)1243 755055. 

Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photo: Classic Driver

Ducati 'Monster Tracker' by BCR

New Jersey’s Benjie’s Café Racers (BCR) presents a ‘tracker/urban scrambler’ reinterpretation of a ‘07 Ducati Monster S2R 800, aptly renamed ‘Monster Trucker’. The original bike was owned by the founder and main man of the company himself, Mr.Benjie Flipprboi, who used to ride it for his daily commuting until he simply grown tired of his appearance, which was just ‘too standard’. Once the ‘tracker’ approach was chosen for the new creature, one of BCR’s objectives was to streamline the bike, to increase the steering angle and make it more suitable for city riding. The main issue there was to get the new tank as desired, and this because the large airbox and the positioning of the battery over the engine of the Monster did not allow the designers to use a normal solution, cause the tank would have been too little.

So they’ve built a brand new one made of aluminum, long, narrow, specifically developed for this project and located right below the saddle, that goes all the way down to the end of the tail - in the same fashion a bit like some modern ‘adventure’ bike. This way they got themselves a 15-liter capacity tank, shaped to follow the lines of the original Monster’s frame. The fuel cap is in the usual position, right in front of the saddle, and is integrated in an aluminum cover shaped to look like a traditional tank hiding airbox, battery and wiring.

Always in strict observance of the canons of the ‘tracker’ style, the bike comes with an aluminum plate shaped like a dirt bike number plate, with a head lamp encrusted asymmetrically into it. As for the exhaust, BCR opted for a special stainless steel system ending with two high mufflers on the right side, wrapped in a thermal protection made of aluminum. Both fenders are carbon fiber, the original handlebar has been replaced (as it was deemed ‘too low’ to obtain the desired aesthetic effect) just like footpegs, now made of steel. All of that was made in-house, of course. Polishing of the covers aside, the 803 cc air-cooled twin of Monster S2R 800 has not been modified, thus it still produces 77 hp.

from TWOWHEELSBLOG