Jones Customs’ Green Genie

We love a good ebay find, but this one was a lot more interesting than most, and led it us to hooking up with Antony Jones of Jones Custom Cycles in the South of England. The bike is an unsusal hybrid, the donor being a 1981 Honda CB 750 wearing a 1971 old style tank, but the rest of the bike is made up of bits of Harley Davidson.

Ever since I was a kid I have loved customizing anything and everything. I had bikes when I was younger then got into building hot rods for myself, then marriage/mortage/kids kinda take over so just had to be content with stock sports bikes, then in 2007 I was watching an episode of biker build off which featured Russell Mitchell (Exile cycles) and it got my creative juices flowing again, so with that, I started building my first full, ground-up custom bike.

Once I’d finished that I wanted to do another and then another, so thats how Jones Customs was born in early 2009, although my taste in bikes has changed since then. I love building custom bikes no matter what make, although the majority I build are sportster bobbers – but I really dig what the Japanese shops are building, like Crazy Orange and Brat Style.

I thought I would do a mash-up of a 1981 Honda cb750 with a 1971 Honda CB tank and everything else pretty much Harley Davidson; the wheels/brakes/forks/yokes /handlebars & controls, seeing as I always have loads of Harley parts in the workshop.

I especially wanted to use wire spoked wheels as opposed to the horrible comstar wheels that the Honda comes with. There are a few nice trick custom parts used as well, like the Exile Cycles internal throttle and the tiny Anti Gravity lithium battery, as I like to keep my bikes as minimal as possible and hide as much of the electrics ass possible.

It’s really interesting to see the Harley Custom aesthetic applied to a modern-retro Brat Style build. It adds an unusual edge to this build the otherwise looks like a run of the mill CB750 custom. Nice work, Ant. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the sale on Ebay.
See more of Ant’s bikes at  Jones Customs.

from The Bike Shed

Pete’s Magneto

This is Pete Thompson’s third build so he’s clearly got the hang of it by now, as this lovely CB650 shows. The black and gold pinstripe paint is a classic look but it’s been done beautifully. The bike has also been put together with a very close attention to detail and with everything done properly, but it’s Pete’s back story that really brings all this oil and metal to life…

“I started riding in my mid 20′s but with the advent of my daughters birth and the need to buy a dryer for her diapers, I sold the bike. It was some 30 years later before I got back to riding but when I did it was love all over again. Garage builders have been my inspiration and I marvel at their creativity and design aptitude. I taught Industrial Arts (metal shop, graphics, and woodworking) for 10 years at a public high school so I appreciate good design and technical work.

This is now my 3rd build. It’s taken over 2 years but it has been a true labor of love. I don’t claim to have done all the work myself since my buddies have been invaluable in helping me complete my vision of Magneto. I’ll be 71 in a couple of months and this is what keeps me young.

Magneto started as a red 1980 Honda CB650. It was rusting out on a back street waiting for the junk yard. I know it’s not the popular 750 or 550 but that made the challenge even more fun.

The cruiser frame has been altered and reinforced to accommodate the café seat and racing function. Weight has been significantly reduced and CR 29 racing carbs with velocity stacks installed, as well as performance mufflers and ceramic coated headers. Aluminum rims with SS spokes replaced the original steel rims and spokes. Progressive front fork springs and piggy back rear shocks complete the handling package. Many other pieces were fabricated and a number of parts brass plated to add to the aesthetics.

I anticipated it would take 4 to 6 months to complete my vision of what a 1980 CB650 should have looked like in 80′s. Of course nothing is quite that simple and 2 plus years later I’m still tweaking it. Magneto is a blast to ride and the building process has provided a great way to meet new and interesting people. Thanks for taking the time to meet Magneto.

Thanks for what you do Dutch. I have met so many great people because of my love to ride and build so I hope others will find this journey as rewarding. Know that your work helps bring like minded people together to express themselves.”

Not sure we deserve any praise as it’s Pete who’s done all the hard work – he even wrote the story, so all we had to do was share. Thanks for sending this lovely bike in, and we hope you build many more and keep inspiring the rest of us. I hope we have half the talent and energy that you have as you enter your 8th decade of life!

via The Bike Shed

Is Sir Michael Caine the coolest man on the planet?

Whether playing a womaniser, a crook, a secret agent or Batman’s butler, he lent them the same British mix of irony and seriousness. In his 80th year, Michael Caine is – effortlessly – what so many aspire to be: simply, inimitably cool.

That he is called ‘Caine’ was down to pure chance

That he is called ‘Caine’ at all was actually down to pure chance. Maurice Micklewhite, the young man from south London, had an awkward name, and at first he used the stage name Michael Scott. But when he was told there was already an actor by that name, he happened to see a movie poster for ‘The Caine Mutiny’ – and Michael Caine was born. (Although it was only after he was knighted in 2000 that he officially changed his name.) 

In his large, horn-rimmed, urban-nerd glasses, Sir Michael has always been the perfect antidote to the equally British James Bond: a blond, lanky anti-hero with a wry, even gloomy attitude to life, whether it’s as the seducer ‘Alfie’ – a melancholy Don Juan in Swinging Sixties London – or his most famous role, as Charlie Croker in the original version of ‘The Italian Job’.

Appearing in well over 100 films, and nominated for an Oscar in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s, Caine has twice received the golden statuette. In recent years, he’s reached a wider-than-ever cinema audience in ‘Austin Powers’ and as Batman’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth. With such a cool, serene factotum at Batman’s side, the forces of evil stood no chance. This is the man who said he’d retire when he reached 80. Yet, in his 80th year, Sir Michael looks set to carry on working for at least another decade. 

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