BMW R69S by Ritmo Sereno,

Shiro Nakajima strikes again with this beautiful 1960 R69S...

Ritmo Sereno, Tokyo - Japan

Via Inazuma café racer

Vespalogy: A tribute to the Vespa

The Vespa is a style icon in the truest sense of the term. This groovy animated retrospective, aptly titled ‘Vespalogy’, tracks the famous Italian scooter’s timeless design from 1943 to 2013…

Everyone can relate to the Vespa scooter. Some even knit their own (yes, seriously).  The folks over at Parisian creative agency, Nomoon, have created their own wonderful tribute showcasing the countless variants of the lovable scooter we've seen over the last 70 years. Among the many instantly recognisable shapes are a few obscurities, such as the 1956 Vespa Tap military scooter, complete with 70mm machine gun, and the 1957 Vespa micro-car – the perfect machine for nipping along the Adriatic coast. 

Dave Taylor’s XS750 Cafe Racer

David Taylor and his family have built so many bikes on the Bike Shed we might need to give him his own category. This latest brat/cafe/tracker custom was built as another family collaboration by David and his youngest son, Tom, and all the work was done with their own hands, apart from the tank paintwork and the seat upholstery.

The bike is a 1980 Yamaha XS750 Triple, a popular custom platform with a very pretty engine and frame. Their brief was to create a cafe/tracker hybrid that would be a proper head turner, ditching the nasty 80′s elements to streamline the bike into something more timeless. Tick.

The bike was stripped and everything checked and dismantled as per our plan. New drag bars were fitted with bar end mirrors, and mini Antique bullet blinkers. We retained the original instrument cluster, but lowered the mounting bracket to nestle the clocks closer to the small headlight we fitted.

They fabricated a plate out of aluminium to cover the oil warning lights and turn signals. Holes were drilled to allow for illumination. As with many bikes the seat is often a difficult thing to get right. The original bucket has been extensively chopped and fabricated to give a trim clean line, and the seat now sits above the frame, upholstered in high quality NZ black and brown leather.

The side covers were drilled to help give the old girl a lighter look and painted satin black, matching the finish on the wheels. The tank paint is high quality pearl in a beige/gold reminiscent of late 80s Mercedes SLs with graphics under the clearcoat.

The airbox has been retained but the exhaust has been modified to allow the engine to run more freely, and the sound is deep and definite, and should help make sure other vehicles know to make some space.

As DT says. “Mission accomplished, the bike sure is turning heads and has had a new lease on life. We are extremely happy with the look of this one-off bike and are very keen to have a crack at another build.”

Carry on the good work DT. We’ll be watching.

via The Bike Shed

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