Lito 500: When Swedes get cross

Motorcycles from Osso and Rickman are often seen as the ‘cool kids’ of classic motocross, but anyone familiar with the bikes made by Lito will surely agree they are serious rivals when it comes to kudos - not to mention competition prowess.

In 1958, young Swedish motocross rider Kaj Bornebusch founded his own small motorcycle company, with the intention of building “the perfect dirt bike”. He chose the name ‘Litoverken’ and what began as a two-man operation soon became a Mecca for the European motocross community.

Just a year after it was established, the company produced its first motorcycle; of a similar design to the famous Monark bikes, it had a 500cc engine developing almost 45bhp. Soon afterwards, Bornebusch struck a deal with fellow Swede Sten ‘The Viking’ Lundin – who had recently won the 1959 World Championship on a Monark – for him to race in the Championship astride a Lito. This resulted in a 1961 title win, and the subsequent interest saw around 30 similar works machines built before the company closed in 1963. 

Due to their rarity and championship-winning DNA, the factory racers are held in high regard by in-the-know collectors. The bike shown above is one of these coveted machines.

Related Links The Lito 500 factory racer seen here can be found in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: J. Philip Rathgen Classic Driver
Photos: Premiummotorrad

1988 Suzuki S40 Boulevard - Studio Motor

It's amazing what you can do with limited resources and a whole bunch of commitment; that's got to be the mantra of Studio Motor's Donny Ariyanto. He's a builder that's based in South Jakarta, and if there's anyone in the world that will be able to make a mountain out of any anonymous, out-of-favour, ill-advised motorcycling mole hill, it's this man. In the past he's worked miracles on Yamaha Scorpios and Suzuki Thunders, but we're thinking that he's really outdone himself this time. Feast your eyes on Studio Motor's latest single cylinder miracle, the “Naughty Red.”

The bike was built for a customer who works as a film director in Jakarta. His brief was decided upon after much surfing and some close study of the city's custom bikes. It was as clear as it was tricky. “I want to have a custom bobber that is simple and practical, but it should also have a bad ass, naughty streak.”

The Studio Motor lads began by stripping, overhauling, and re-assembling the bike, with a follow-up of powder coating and polishing for the core elements. They then fabricated the bike's tank, seat, rear fender, and battery box themselves. As we've learnt in the past, the Studio boys like nothing more than pummelling metal, and will do so at a moment's notice. They finished it off with a Sikkens matt candy apple red.

Next came a new set of forks, custom triple trees, and custom rims paired with a set of inimitable Firestone Duluxes. A bespoke swing arm was added to give the bike a more muscular stance, and a Keihin PWK 41 carby was used to replace the stock fuel atomisation set-up which, when combined with the Flash custom muffler exhaust, apparently makes quite a pleasant roar when so provoked. And, yes, it has pipewrap.

Donny says that there was a lot of lessons learnt from the engine rebuild on the bike, but obviously the end result was well worth all the bother. Apparently the client couldn't wait to ride it to his next shoot. And could you blame him? Lucky bugger.

from Pipeburn

Carlos Checa heads to Monza with questions on shoulder fitness

from Twowheelsblog

The historic Monza circuit will be hosting the fourth round of the World Superbike championship this upcoming weekend, however Ducati Alstare rider Carlos Checa will be heading to the temple of speed with some doubts regarding his fitness and with the knowledge that it will be another tough round, because the Panigale will be struggling against the four cylinders again, even if Ducati will now be allowed to use a 52mm air restrictor.

The former World Champion was banged up pretty badly at Phillip Island first in practice and then in race 1 where he suffered a concussion, and later discovered he discovered he had a pair of cracked bones in his right foot.

Crashing a go-kart during a pre-race event at Assen left him bruised again and to add insult to injury he was also stung by a bee during the race and started to have shoulder problems.

Checa had a medical check-up following the Assen round which revealed that he had an osseous edema on the head of the humerus of the left shoulder, an injury that were probably a result from a previous trauma and which has worsened and become inflamed as a result of effort made during the races.

The Spanish rider has undergone an intense course of physiotherapy treatment to reduce the inflammation and the trauma, in order to be physically fit for this weekend’s races at Monza.

During the last couple of events, especially in the races themselves, I’ve been having some problems with my left shoulder but the evening after the second race in Assen the pain got a lot worse. I went to see a specialist once I got back to Spain after that round and unfortunately he’s told me that I have an osseous edema on the humerus. I will continue to receive treatment in Spain up until Thursday and I hope that that will help me to get through this coming weekend without any problems,’ said Checa.

While team mate Ayrton Badovini seems to have recovered from his previous injuries and can’t wait to race in the first of his ‘home’ rounds:

I’ve always enjoyed the Monza round, it’s always fun to race at home. It will be challenging because of the long straights but we’ll do our best to bring home the best possible result. Being one of two Italian events, I hope that there’ll be a good crowd, fans, sponsors… The support of the people, at an event like Monza, really helps and spurs me on.’

come on ,,,,,,,,,,,,,