CAFÉ RACER 76

Kevils R80 Gunfighter

When it comes to BMW R-Series customs, right now Kevils Speedshop is nailing it. Every single time. While Kev Hill and his crew initially got some criticism for specialising almost exclusively in flat-twin Beemer customs it’s now clear that Kev’s masterplan of refining the art of the boxer twin cafe/brat/scrambler has paid off, with bike after bike rolling out of his workshop doors, each built to order and no two identical.

This latest brat-style build is 1978 R80/7, and like a few recent Kevils builds it uses a Honda tank, much like the recent Blitz BMW which was seen at the BMW museum. It’s a great look that many of Kev’s customers have wanted to emulate, and it really changes the overall balance of the bike’s design, giving more visual clout to the engine and slimming down the view from the seat.

The bike was Commissioned by Mads of Bergen, Norway who flies helicopters for the Norwegian Armed Forces. He popped into the workshop on his way home from RAF Culdrose where he is training in Search & Rescue.

As usual, Kevils have stripped and rebuilt the donor bike, and worked the bike up to a Brat-Style spec with a dark brown leather seat, Kevils tail light, wide bars wearing clear grips, fronted by a Motogadget multifunction mini speedo. The header pipes have been wrapped leading to twin black megaphone silencers. The wheels have been rebuilt with wire spokes and the rims wear Avon tyres.

The bike was airbrushed in a design inspired by the WWII Mustang P51, also called the Gunfighter, and the photos were taken at Reims Airfield in France on the way back from Glemseck 101.

It’s a great looking bike and a lovely evolution in Kevils’ line of boxer twin customs. See more from Kevils on the Bike Shed, or on their own pages, here.

CUSTOM BSA ‘LAZER DEATH’

You probably don’t know the name Maxwell Paternoster. But you might recognize his alter ego Corpses From Hell, one of the foremost motorcycle-influenced artists working in Europe today.

Paternoster’s style is edgy and unconventional, and it’s spilt over into his own personal ride—a unique custom BSA built up from spare parts and junkyards finds over the years.

“Being born in 1976 means I grew up with Japanese bikes,” he says. “Bikes that were ragged around the fields on their last legs by kids back in the day. Brit bikes were something the ‘old boys’ would poodle along on. I had no access to anything British back then, but would always gaze at the pictures in books and read all about them.”

Then Paternoster had a brief fling with a B-series BSA that was rescued from a yard. Bitten by the bug, he decided to build one for himself. “Lack of funds meant I’d have to use the ‘one piece at a time’ method … I know it’s been said many a time that you’re better off buying a complete-ish project, but I was convinced otherwise.” For the next year, the back of his car doubled as a shed and storage area for tools and bike bits.

It took Paternoster a year to build this bike, starting with the B33 engine and then the M20 rigid frame. The engine turned out to have a Gold Star-type magneto pinion, implying other good bits inside. Paternoster gradually uncovered a host of tuning mods, including a 500cc high compression piston, a polished conrod, lightened flywheels and an early Gold Star inlet valve.

On the timing side were a couple of covetable Gold Star cams, a 65-2442 inlet and a 65-1891 exhaust. “Seems like the engine was an iron lump done to an early ZB Gold Star spec.” Paternoster promptly ordered a new carb from Lowbrow Customs to unleash the performance.

To get rid of years of rust and grime, he dismantled the transmission and cases and bought 12 bottles of the cheapest vinegar he could find. (“I soaked the gearbox internals in my bedroom for about three days. It was pretty messy. I had to be extremely careful not to kick over a container in the night.”)

The tank is an early Wassell copy, the seat is home-made with gold leaf detailing, and the headlight is a vintage foglamp donated by David Borras of El Solitario MC.

The hardest part was fixing the recalcitrant clutch, an issue finally solved via a helpful tip online. “I changed the clutch lever for one offering greater leverage, pushing the clutch plates much further apart. So it’s now a fully working, road legal bike.

“It took a while and there is still a lot more to do, but at least it’s rolling!”

Images by Sam Christmas. Follow Maxwell Paternoster’s adventures via the Corpses From Hell blog or check out his art here.

via BIKEEXIF

A Day At Home, motorcycle video

A Motorcycle video showcasing Chris Hollis enjoying some downtime and a free-ride through the outskirts of his hometown, Port Macquarie NSW Australia.

The e-bike phenomenon: Cycling in style

As with the automotive industry, electrification is becoming more common in the world of cycling. London-based Classic Driver dealer Romans International has formed a dedicated branch of its business that specialises in e-bikes which have a particular focus on style and ground-breaking technology…

Dealing with supercars on a daily basis, Ben Jaconelli – son of Romans International founder Paul – was finding it difficult to hold onto his licence. “I wanted a mode of transport which kept me on the right side of the law, yet possessed the same style as the cars I drive as part of my job,” he told Classic Driver. “I began researching simply to find a personal solution, but once I saw the standards of the e-bikes being offered by certain manufacturers, it made sense to start selling them alongside the high-end cars in our showroom.”

Romans International currently deals with the offerings of two companies: M55 and the quirky French outfit Moustache Bikes. At the moment, M55 produces a classically styled ‘Riviera’ – with a rustproof titanium frame, hand-made leather details, and a Swiss-made belt drive system in place of a chain – as well as the ‘Terminus’. The latter is essentially what an eco-aware Tony Stark would ride, with titanium, carbonfibre and aluminium aplenty. Derestricted, it will reach speeds of over 50mph.

Moustache Bikes offers a range of stylish formats, including not only city and mountain bikes, but also ‘Walkbikes’ for children. Available at a more affordable price point, ‘Moustaches’ exhibit classic style with pleasant detailing (notice the whitewall tyres, for example) and are backed by electronic technology from Bosch.