ElGato Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

"Necessity is the mother of invention"- In the world of custom motorcycle building that age old saying often rings true. It's one thing to have an idea of how you'd like your bike to look, but when it comes to finding the right parts or people with the skills to help you, it's a different story altogether. This was exactly the case when Alexandros Hadjicostas, a filmmaker/photographer living on the small island of Cyprus, decided to build his own Cafe Racer. It all began with the purchase of a '69 Honda CB750 and ended with a Cafe Racer that was pieced together with parts sourced from 10 different countries around the world.

"I live in the small but beautiful island of Cyprus (population 700,000) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. I've always been interested in motorcycles and one of my earliest memories is learning to ride a Yamaha DT-175 at the age 7, under the guidance of my oldest brother George. At age 14 working on my Honda Chaly introduced me to the custom motorcycle world and now, along with my CB750 Cafe Racer I  own a Harley Davidson Road King and a Vespa GTS 250."



"Two years ago I came across a video about Shinya Kimura, that's when I caught the Cafe Racer bug. It took me a year to find the right bike, a 1969 Honda CB750 and six months to finalise my design ideas. I bought the bike for 500 euro and had a budget of 2.000 euro to work with. When I found the bike it was in a terrible condition after being unused for more than 10 years and missing most of its parts. I had the chassis, engine, carburettors, exhaust and wheels.. and that's all I needed. I couldn't find parts easily in Cyprus so I sourced most of them online from about 10 different countries! The parts I added to the bike came from Dime City Cycles in the US as well as Firestone Champion Deluxe tires, Brooks grips, Motolana headlight brackets & engine covers and a headlight with speedometer from Nostalgia Speed & Cycles; The only parts I managed to source in Cyprus were the indicators."



"One thing i had to deal with was that when ever I said the name 'Cafe Racer' in Cyprus nobody had the slightest idea what i was talking about. Eventually I met a mechanic called Adonis Syrimis and I couldn't have found a better person to translate my ideas. He was just starting out and wanted to show off his skills using this project. The build itself took six months to complete due to the laid back attitude here in Cyprus. Patience was a virtue I had to master. "



"The color for the tank and the rear end was clear from the start, I wanted a silver matte paint that would match with the light brown, used leather of the seat and the Brooks handles. The final design has changed a lot from my initial ideas, but with my design and Adonis' mechanical skills we manage to create this gorgeous Honda CB750 Café Racer that we named ElGato!"



And to top it all off, these stunning shots of the ElGato were done by Alexandros Hadjicostas himself.

Want to grab some cool custom motorcycle gear and accessories?
Head over to 100mph.com.au

via Return of the Café Racer

zut ...filé !

PopBang Classics - 1982 Suzuki GS450

Hailing from the Gold Coast, this 1982 Suzuki GS450 has been a huge labour of love for the custom outfit PopBang Classics. I tried to think of a witty anecdote to sum up the amount of time and effort that has been put into this bike but basically you’d just say ‘a shitload, at it’s not even their bike!’

Justin is the man of the hour and explains the process of turning this ugly duckling into the ball room beauty the best. “ When this little bike got dropped off at PopBang, the first thought was ‘what the hell am I going to do with this?’ The owner had just bought it for $300 and it was a mess. It had the oddly mounted GS square fuel tank with added swastika’s! The very 80’s star shaped rims, A pair of homemade Z-Bars that looked like they had been run over by an 18 wheeler and then mounted. A set of rear shocks with no springs and a bird’s nest of wiring. So as you can imagine, a lot of it got put in the bin.

The direction from the owner was to make an all-black brat\bobber…  and that was it. But I hate completely black bikes as it hides the details and they look like every other garage bike that’s been attacked with a rattle can. So I took creative control and that’s where the brass idea can from, leading to endless hours polishing nuts and cutting threads! Every part of this bike was either made, modified, polished or painted in house at PopBang Classics except for the custom seat pan that got covered by Gold Coast Truck & Auto Upholstery and the wheels were laced up by Ash’s Spoked Wheels.

The bike took 7 months to complete. Most of that time was dedicated to finding the materials and parts to make it just right. The whole bike snowballed pretty quickly once the ideas started flowing. I wanted it to be something different, something you look at and don’t just say ‘that’s a bobber’ or that’s a ‘café racer’ you sit back, stare and say ‘that’s cool…what is it?’ The point of the bike and PopBang in general is to not follow the general trends or fall into a category, but create something that will stand out and not look out of place in years to come.”

Modifications:

• Shortened and smoothed frame with chromoly tail hoop, all welds re-tigged.
• 96 ZX6R monoshock conversion. 
• Handmade tank.
• PopBang Fiberglass guards.  
• Custom leather seat.
• Hidden electrical box and wiring.
• Handmade exhaust with titanium wrap. 
• Polished velocity stacks.
• 21” alloy rim drilled and laced to Suzuki VMX hub, brass nipples.
• 18” spoked rear from a GSX250 re-laced with brass nipples.
• Handmade rear sets.
• Handmade Handlebars with custom internal throttle.
• Modified rear LED Indicators to include brake and taillights.
• Brass cigar box vents in the drums.

from australian caferacers

Illustrations: 1970s Formula 1 Helmets

Illustrations by Paul Laguette

I have a soft spot in my heart for the motorsport aesthetics of the ’70s. The cars were getting bigger, faster and more bombastic, while the liveries, promotion and branding maintained an understated cool.

And F1 drivers wore their helmets with pride, refining and evolving a design over the course of their career rather than swapping it up seemingly between practice, qualifying and the race.

These helmets, by illustrator Paul Laguette, focus on the Formula 1 helmets of the ’70s, illustrating the artwork in Mario Andretti, François Cevert, Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Jody Scheckter, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Jo Siffert’s Formula 1 helmets.

Illustrations by Paul Laguette

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