1982 Honda CB750 ‘Convertible’ - Steel Bent Customs

Yes, you are on the right site. And no, we haven't suddenly decided to add four wheeled vehicles to our stock-in-trade. That's because the convertible we happen to be talking about here isn't a little red Corvette or your daddy's Thunderbird, but instead it's the latest build by Florida's Steel Bent Customs. This Nighthawk not only ticks all the right boxes in terms of clean lines, cool pipes, and sweet paint - it also manages to be both a café and a brat at the same time. Cool trick, huh?

Mike Mundy, owner of Steel Bent Customs, has a simple plan. “I will build 15 to 17 bikes this year. 12 or so will be commissioned, built to order bikes - the others will be personal shop builds to allow us to express some creativity.” This is the first of these builds, and by the looks of what he's created, it won't be the last.

Mike wanted to create a center, or ‘cat's butt’ (as he put it) exhaust bike. “We didn't know how to expect the exhaust to sound or if we even had ample rear tire clearance.” Turns out that the set-up is good on space and the exhaust tone is very similar to your average 4-in-to-1 set-up. He also wanted to do a mono shock out back without switching out the rear swing arm. Tick and tick again, we'd say.

“Once we were moving along with the build we decided that we liked the look of the seat cowl, but wanted the option of a space for a passenger. Hence the ‘Convertible’ name,” Mike says. The guys then had their upholster give them a diamond stitch pattern on the two seats, and their painter finished off the tins in a wet-look gloss black and silver design with a red go-faster stripe.

Then, when most of us would be happy with creating a bike that simply crossed two genres, Mike still wanted more. “We went with a motocross bar set up and added a screen protected headlight for a look we are coining ‘urban cafe’ - ready to assault the city streets.” Assault the streets and then sip a nice latté, we're guessing.

For the final touches, red pod filters and mono shock springs give the bike a little attitude. Mike notes that although the bike was inherently an ‘inside job,’ the new features and unique details will allow new customers to see more options when detailing their own builds.

Mike ends by pointing out that she was purchased by a guy overseas before she was finished and that they will be shipping her out soon. How's that for an endorsement? We're guessing that if Mike and the lads can keep this up, it won't be just one ‘guy overseas’ who wants a part of the action. I wonder if they ship to Sydney?

from Pipeburn

Aston Martin 'Spa Replica': The first post-War Aston

We took a quick spin in this remarkable car, a quirky, high-performance one-off with impeccable pedigree (but styling that wasn’t to everyone’s taste) – and came away impressed by the power, the noise and the sheer presence of the formidable black car, roaring and snorting its way through the corners... not to mention the hefty torque at low revs. Simon de Burton tells the story of the unique Spa Replica.

When the the last chequered flag dropped at Brooklands following the outbreak of WWII, few could have anticipated that the occasion would mark the end of serious motorsport in Britain for almost a decade. Even with the conflict over, fuel rationing, lack of cash, lack of cars – and rather more pressing matters such as the rebuilding of a nation – kept racing on the back burner until 1948 when the first post-War meeting was staged at Goodwood, Silverstone was inaugurated as a circuit and things suddenly began to grind back into life.


In February of the previous year, a wealthy Yorkshire entrepreneur named David Brown had responded to an advertisement in The Times for a 'high class motor business'. He soon acquired Aston Martin for the not inconsiderable sum of £20,500. It was not long before the first post-War product was being rolled through the doors of the Feltham works (recently rebuilt following bomb damage) in the form of a car based on an updated version of the wartime Atom prototype and featuring a chassis and two-litre, four-cylinder engine designed by Claude Hill.
Aston's official test driver at the time was the colourful St John 'Jock' Horsfall who, having raced the Aston 'Speed' model known as 'the Black Car' during the 1930s, spent his war as a driver for the British Secret Service and famously took part in Operation Mincemeat, the Allied disinformation plot which successfully diverted Nazi attention away from the invasion of Italy from North Africa.


Brown took the view that the best way to evaluate the new car would be to test its mettle in competition, so it duly took its place on the grid at the 1948 24 Hours of Spa, with Horsfall and Leslie Johnson as works drivers. Sporting a body hastily designed by Frank Feeley, the car was far from being the most beautiful Aston Martin ever to turn a wheel – but under the skin it was clearly something special since, almost unbelievably, it won the race outright.
Having been driven home from the event in the best 'golden era' tradition, the car was rebuilt with a fresh body and production engine before being displayed at the London Motor show on the Aston Martin / Lagonda stand (by now Brown had bought the latter, too) in a bid to encourage buyers to part with £3,100 for one of a proposed series of 'Spa Replicas'.


Not everyone in Britain, however, had bounced back from wartime austerity in quite the way that Brown had – and there were no takers for his high-performance ugly duckling. Hence the Spa Replica (which was used by David Brown Jr. after the London Motor Show) remained a quirky one-off which still exists today. Fully restored and running perfectly, it stands as both a testament to Britain's post-War return to racing glory and to the competition heritage on which Aston Martin is built.

Related Links You can find Aston Martins from pre-War days right up to the new Vanquish in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: Simon de Burton Classic Driver
Photos: Jan Baedeker

ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET BY OEM

Old Empire Motorcycles, despite the magnificent name, is one of England’s newer custom builders. The Norfolk-based company, led by Alec Sharp, creates hand-made bikes with a strong bobber influence and a proudly Made In Britain ethos.

This is OEM’s first commission-built motorcycle, the EFI. It’s based on a 2009 Royal Enfield Bullet Electra, a machine which can trace its roots back to the days when England had a thriving motorcycle industry. “We were approached by a customer in late 2012 with an idea inspired by a bike from the very talented Rajputana Customs in India,” says Alec. “It was a fine looking motorcycle but there were a few details which we thought we could improve on.”

The stance and look had to be out-and-out bobber, and the customer wanted a ‘chunky’ looking bike. The stock Bullet Electra has rather large 19” wheels, so OEM fitted British-made chrome 16” rims with stainless spokes, shod with Avon Safety Mileage Mk II rubber in a classic block pattern.

“We decided on a USD front end to keep the squat chunky look,” says Alec, “and lowered the rear end with a new set of Hagon shocks. A new double-tubed swing arm was fabricated, wider than stock but the same length. It was important to keep things compact and not ‘stretch’ the bike out.”

The motor has been boosted with a carb conversion kit from Hitchcocks Motorcycles: it includes a 32mm Amal MK1 Concentric carburettor and filter, ignition box, magneto flywheel and extractor. OEM has also fitted a custom-made chromed ‘shorty’ pipe with internal baffles.

New tinware was then fabricated; a Harley Sportster tank was modified to fit and scalloped for looks, with twin pop-up fillers added. The fenders are Wassel-ribbed with hand made struts. The rear portion of the frame was modified to fit the custom seat pan and mountings, and up front, the new clip-ons units were fitted with custom microswitch housings and controls wrapped in Brooks’ finest leather.

The customer wanted a foot-forward riding position, so OEM designed a detachable unit that enables the Royal Enfield frame to accommodate foot controls with custom stainless linkages. The electrics have been revised too, with the mass of wires from the essentials (as well as a clever box of tricks that works the microswitches) now housed in the dummy oil tank.

“We’re very pleased with the build,” says Alec. “It showcases the adaptability of the Royal Enfield EFI motorcycle. And it’s the first opportunity we’ve had to make patterns for specific components.” If you own a Royal Enfield, keep an eye out for those parts (and new builds) on the Old Empire Motorcycles website and Facebook page.

To examine the Royal Enfield in detail, head over to our Google+ page for a gallery of 25 images.

from BIKEEXIF

entrainement !