victoire

4x4 rallye KOH

Venier Customs’ Corsaiola

For a shop that’s only been going for 15 months, Venier Customs are punching well above their weight with two well-publicised builds, a further eight under their belt and three in the pipeline. Started in 2012 by Italian Stefano Venier with investment from his grandma Livia’s pension “without her Venier Customs wouldn’t exist”, the shop employs six split equally between Treviso, just north of Venice, and Brooklyn, New York.

Stefano, 34, has been riding bikes since he was 10 and modifying bikes since he was a kid “I just figured out what the purpose of all those days spent disassembling things that I thought weren’t perfect”. He stopped riding in his 20s until a few years ago he bought an ’08 Bonneville and was re-bitten by the bug “an avalanche hit me and now I’m sick more than ever!”

Corsaiola (‘racy’ in Italian) is based on a stock 1989 Moto Guzzi V75 which the Venier team stripped of the ugly 80s fuel tank and plastic panels and replaced with handmade items “we use no plastic, everything is made out of steel or aluminum”. The rear frame was shortened and reshaped to supporting a narrower handmade leather seat.

The 4-valve small block 750cc engine, which ironically produces 10hp more than its modern 2-valve counterpart, was restored and fitted with vintage Mistral pipes. The v-twin’s 58hp is driven through the original 16″F/18″R cast wheels, recoated in black, and with modern Avon Roadrider tyres to improving handling.

The bespoke aluminium tank took Stefano’s team a while to get just right “designing a tank you have so many choices but keeping it simple is the hardest part” and features Venier’s signature backward stripe, which also appears on their ‘Tractor V75′ scrambler. Referencing mid-seventies Guzzi 750 Sports livery, the stripe is purposely mis-aligned because Stefano believes that “something off gives more reality and charm to the build”

The headlight has been replaced by a slim 6″ number that sits as close as possible to the reconditioned Marzocchi forks which have been lowered by 60mm nicely framing the mini speedo from Dime City Cycles, as are the clear indicators and LED rear light. Tarozzi bars and pedals finish the cafe look.

Corsaiola is one of a limited edition of seven bikes, a number chosen as “reasonable to still have unique motorcycles”, although in reality it’s an edition of six since “all builds are bikes I would have in my collection and to tell you the truth the number one never leaves my garage!”

via the bike shed

Custom Honda CB500 Cafe Brat by Steel Bent Customs

 

The economy has been pretty tough around the world but that doesn’t stop a custom craving, people will always try to find a way to fill that custom desire.

If you have the money you can go and get a stock bike or you could choose an old school custom bike from the likes of Steel Bent Customs. Dan Rodriguez and Michael Mundy the co-founders of Steel Bent Customs consider themselves garage builders, taking old bikes and giving them a new lease of life is what they love doing.

According to Steel Bent “We travel quite a distance to find the right bike in the right condition for the build. On a few rare occasions, the bikes find us. By the time our bikes are out of the photography studio, they are typically sold. However, we can build another or anything you can dream up. Our commission builds are between $5000 and $6000. We take 1/2 upfront and we start searching for the donor bike. We favor Honda’s, but we love all things fossil fueled”.

For today’s feature we are taking a look at their latest creation a custom Honda CB500 Cafe Brat. The build of this custom Honda CB500 Cafe Brat started out as a stock Honda CB500 that was found at Dime City Cycles. “She was there for an engine rebuild & Herm contacted us to say the owner was thinking of selling. We grabbed her up quickly -thank you to Jason & Herm at DCC!”

To being with the build the stock bike was stripped down to the frame, next the frame under went many man-hours of cutting and grinding to get the right style for the build. The stock CB500 engine was polished, overhauled and was fitted with a custom 4 into 1 exhaust.

According to Steel Bent “The mid 60′s-70′s Japanese engines are a testament to the craftsmanship and reliability, but often need refreshing after years of neglect. We rebuild the carburetors and re-jet for the pods/velocity stacks and typically re-wire the ignition coils. Cables, fork seals, bearings and whatever she needs, she gets.”

At the front this custom Honda CB500 Cafe Brat features a Clubman bars vintage looking headlight. At the rear the bike includes Loaded Gun rear-sets. The finished bike rolls on Shinko tires and the seat was wrapped by Lance’s. The orange color for the tank was the client’s selection, which looks fantastic with the black on the rest of bike.

“We weld, we grind, we sweat and we bleed until she is ready to ride. Then, she gets fresh fluids & she is ready to fire. We ride her, and we ride her hard. We want her to fail in our hands before we ship a bike to a buyer 1000+ miles away” says Michael

Interested in a custom build from Steel Bent Customs, then check out their website or facebook page.

Visit - Steel Bent Customs | Steel Bent Customs – Facebook | Photos by Choppershotz

via http://motorivista.com