‘82 Honda CB450T Hawk - Classified Moto

Many people, us included, will strenuously argue about the artistic merits of custom motorcycles. From the raw materials to the choice of metal finishes right down to the minutiae of headlight placement and visual flow, in the eyes of the faithful anything can be considered a work of art. Be here's a crazy idea - what if a bike was not only a work of art in itself, but actually included a work of art as part of it's asthetic. What if you commissioned an artist to create art for your bike? What if the bike you created was actually a kind of rolling art gallery? Sound crazy? Then welcome to the mind of John Ryland and his Classified Moto Team with their latest creation, an artsy Honda CB450T that goes by the nickname of “The Fox”.

“This one is a 1982 Honda CB450T Hawk, which we nicknamed "Le Renard" - French for ‘The Fox’. It was commissioned by Justin Renard of Brooklyn, New York. He had some specific design elements he wanted to see incorporated — atypical materials like wood and waxed canvas, a splash of red and some subtle graphic element to give a nod to his last name. But mostly he wanted a lightweight curb hopper to conquer the battered pavement in style.”

“The bike was sold as a Level 2 build (indicates a modern front end swap) but for aesthetics we ended up re-working the entire back end of the bike as well. We were building a Level 1 CB400T at the same time and modified the frame in a similar way. To me, it just looks a lot cooler than the swoopy, bendy stock frame. The mounts for the Progressive Series 12 shocks were relocated as well for a rock solid feel.”

“I suppose the focal point of the bike is the seat. The pan is made from a skateboard deck painted by Richmond, Virginia artist Kristy Heilenday. We looked high and low for a vintage deck with some kind of fox graphic on it. No luck. So we commissioned Kristy to do something that fit the bill. The final art is of a fox lying on his back in a bed of red flowers with a wrench in his mouth. I think it's a 14mm. Ha. We were under a time crunch when we were shooting the bike so we didn't get detail shots of the underside, but Kristy has a few on her website. The seat was shaped in house and upholstered by Richmond's Roy Baird.

Justin provided some military style waxed canvas which worked out great and will only look better with age. To help showcase the deck artwork, we elevated the seat an inch or so off the frame rails. Makes it easier to see 'Le Renard' underneath.

The front forks, brakes and wheel are all from a 2005 Kawasaki ZX6R attached via a Classified Triple Tree Conversion with a custom billet aluminum upper clamp. Justin liked the idea of clip-ons, which we finished off with vintage brown grips. The speedo is a Danmoto digital unit with a traditional sweeping needle. It's mounted in a custom nickel plated housing designed by my buddy and author Matt Crawford.”

“Greg Ownby, our mechanic, rebuilt the 30 year old motor and simplified the wiring harness which now resides mostly under the fuel tank. A tiny Shorai Lithium Ion battery powers everything and provides 240 cold cranking amps to the starter. The tank is a Honda CB350 model, nickel plated with a two-tone candy black stripe and copper CM badging. The carbs were jetted to match the Uni filters and the 2-into-1 exhaust.

This bike is definitely a unique look for us. It's kind of all over the place with genres which made it a lot of fun to build. We had great unveiling evening at E3 Motorcycles in Brooklyn last month. It was the perfect way to cap off the project with a bunch of great people. There hasn't been a lot of time to kick back and drink a beer lately, so it was awesome.”

from PIPEBURN

Marquez eyes fifth consecutive win in Silverstone

Repsol Honda’s Spanish duo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, will arrive in Silverstone at the top of the MotoGP standings, with the former leading by 26 points over the latter and coming from a series of four consecutive wins (the last of which in Brno just a few days ago). Marquez is definitely the ‘man of the hour’ in MotoGP - and possibly for the next decade or so - and he seems determined to stretch his winnning streak even further, breaking all sorts of records in the process.

With reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) now 44 points behind the championship leader and struggling with an alarming technical gap, it looks like there might be an all-HRC duel for title looming on the horizon, provided that the seemingly unstoppable progression of the Spanish ‘Wonder Boy’ will not ‘kill’ the championship too early. Marc Marquez knows only too well that winning again in Silverstone would boost his world title chances to a level that might simply become out of reach for the others, but in view of the British GP he prefers to maintain that sort of ‘rookie approach’ that nowadays can just put a smile on our faces:

“We will see how Silverstone is with MotoGP, in 125cc I enjoyed it a lot but in Moto2 I struggled a little. I think a key factor will be the weather there as it can change quite a lot! Last year Lorenzo had a very good race so I am sure he will be strong. But we are coming off four victories in a row, we have good momentum and I feel really comfortable and confident on the bike. Let’s see how the situation is when we get there and as always work hard from Friday morning!”

If he is to keep his world title hopes alive, Dani Pedrosa will have to avoid any mistake and begin putting the wheels of his RC213V in front of those of his teammate, possibly starting in Silverstone. On the eve of the British Grand Prix, the Spaniard said his injured shoulder is getting better and better, meaning he is now up for the task:

“After Brno I’m feeling pretty good and my physical condition is improving all the time, so I hope we can take another step this weekend in Silverstone. It is a tough and fast track with many changes of direction and we need a good set to suit both the fast and slow corners. Last year was a hard race so I hope to be strong again this year! In the UK you never know what the weather will do so let’s hope for good conditions from the start.”

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

petite lecture

Porsche 911 GT3 stars in new official video

Here is a brand new video starring the Porsche 911 GT3, the exciting new sportscar of the Zuffenhausen-based manufacturer that was unveiled last March at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The clip features the commentary of Herr Andreas Preuninger, responsible for theGT3 Cup project, and allows us to appreciate the oustanding looks of the model as well as its remarkable sound, which really gets the blood running through the veins of every motorsport enthusiast.

The 911 GT3 is powered by a 3.8-liter 6-cylinder boxer engine yielding 475 horsepower with 438 Nm of peak torque redlining at 9,000 rpm. This unit is coupled to a dual-clutch transmission (PDK) driving the rear wheels via a locking differential that is enough to have it sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.5 seconds, from 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in less than 12 seconds, and reach a top speed of 315 km/h (195 mph). The engine is actually based on the same engine as the 911 Carrera S, although they share only a few common parts.

One of the highlights of the model is definitely its active rear wheel steering: depending on the speed, the rear wheels steer in the same or opposite direction of the front wheels, improving stability and agility. Contact with the road is made by new set of 20-inch forged alloy wheels, with center-locking hubs in place of conventional wheel bolts. The car is priced at €137,303 in Germany and at $130,400 in the United States.

via EUROCARBLOG

'Sexy Bike Wash' gone wrong

‘Sexy Bike Washes’ have become a sort of ‘classic act’ in motorcycle culture, and nowadays it is not uncommon to find one at the most diverse rallies and venues (as well as plenty of videos on youtube and the likes). Delicious and provocative ladies giving their all to make our beloved two-wheelers shine under the sun… we all love it, don’t we? And there’s no doubt the we always find them pretty ‘intriguing’, to say the least.

Unfortunately, things do not always go the right way, as demonstrated by the curvaceous girl starring in this quite entertaining videoclip. She was absolutely into it, body - especially - and soul, but while carrying out her laudable and sensual mission with the motorcycle entrusted to her loving care, she made ​​a small mistake, whose tragic outcome got caught on film and is here for us to behold.

We do not have much more information about this lovely young lady, nor do we know where the whole thing was filmed, and it’s a pity because the footage doesn’t allow us to verify the actual consequences of that mistake, but we do hope that everything eneded up in just a few scratches and, maybe, with a good laugh. As far as we are concerned, it just cracked us up! Just check it out for yourself..

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

MotoGP, Honda: Livio Suppo rules out Casey Stoner's comeback to MotoGP racing

Repsol Honda’s Team Principal Livio Suppo has strongly denied any chance of Casey Stoner making a shock return to GP racing, not even as a wild card. The two-time World Champion, who retired from racing at the end of the 2012 season, has recently tested the 2014 RC213V machine in Motegi, and that was obviously enough to spark speculation that the Australian might have had second thoughts about his retirement, something that was strongly denied by Stoner himself right after the test in Japan and is confirmed once again by the Italian boss.

Suppo and Stoner have a long history together: the former was the boss in Ducati when the latter clinched his unforgettable first world title in 2007, and then he was pretty instrumental to bring him to Repsol Honda in 2011, a season that eventually saw the Australian being crowned World Champ for the second time. Speaking to AGP Podcats, Suppo basically said there’s simply no chance of Stoner coming back to MotoGP racing, not even for a wild-card entry in his home round in Phillip Island (as strongly rumored in recent weeks). He’s just the best test rider there is, and the whole thing is not going to get any further than that. According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, here’s what Suppo said:

“For every manufacturer, to have a fast test rider is something like a dream. It’s almost impossible to find a super-fast rider to do tests. With Casey, it was a perfect situation. Since he retired, we spoke about his dream to still ride the bike sometimes. Everybody expects this means he will come back racing, but that’s not the case. “We are more than happy to have such a strong and fast rider in testing available, (and) Casey is very good at understanding the bike and giving suggestions to the engineers. Even if he enjoyed the test, that doesn’t mean he’s thinking to do a wildcard.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

BMW R75/6 BY MARIA MOTORCYCLES

You don’t see many vintage BMWs with red frames. But to my eyes, this R75/6 strangely works. The project comes from Portugal’s Maria Riding Company, and started with an order for a seat.

“Our client also had a rebuilt engine and a few other parts,” reports Luis Correia of Maria. “But there was no overall concept for the bike. So we decided to re-think it all over.”

It was Maria’s first BMW R-series build, and Correia had reservations. “In the beginning we were a little bit skeptical—a R75/6 from 1976 has a few technical limitations.”

Maria decided to build a bike that felt smaller and sat lower than the original, with the wheels dominating the overall look more. “Not the thin and shy wheels that came with it originally!”

New aluminum rims and Firestone AMS tires were fitted, with the wider back wheel adjusted to the left to clear the shaft drive. Correia and his crew then welded on a new subframe with a large tube diameter—to increase strength and create a more uniform and robust look. “It was interesting to mix the classic look with something more aggressive,” he says.

The front suspension was rebuilt and shortened a little, with stubby Bitubo shocks dropping the rear end to match. The tank was reprofiled to suit the lower stance, the battery was hidden, and the airbox was modified to clean up the gap behind the engine. Simple controls and instruments add to the clean look.

And that frame ..? “The red was risky,” Correia admits. “But the final result turned out great with the black and steel finishes. People who know our work know that we love to take risks with color.”

Head over to the new Maria Riding Company website for more stylish builds, including the ‘Italian Sniper’ Ducati 750SS we reported on a few months ago.

via BIKEEXIF