Nuno’s Dented Brat

Nuno Capêlo was born 35 years ago on Madeira Island in Portugal and now lives in Oporto, where he graduated in architecture. When Nuno finished his studies he realised he was in love with the city and ended up staying there to live and work. Capêlos Garage is Nuno’s hobby, a mixture of a garage, illustration and a design studio, and this “Dented Brat” is his first build.

“In 2013 I completed the construction of my first bike. I used a Suzuki GSX400 from 1987. It was a low-cost project conducted for my pure fun. That started one year and a half ago. I found the bike over the internet. After a month looking at the photos of the bike full of dust I decided to see it live. I talked to the owner and finally I went to a small village in the district of Leiria, Portugal. When I got there I found myself with a new bike. The owner had it washed. The engine started on the first attempt. I knew I couldn’t leave the village without purchasing that bike.”

Nuno had originally planned to turn the bike into a Cafe Racer, but as the construction process went on his tastes evolved and the bike changed direction towards a Brat-Style build.

“Before starting the construction of the bike, I developed and published the drawings on the Forum Café Racer 351. The project and my drawings had a huge acceptance with other Forum members. This acceptance led me to create a page on Facebook dedicated to the dissemination of my work.”

“Firstly I removed everything that was plastic. This was followed by the blinkers, the original Seat and manometers. Everything considered to be ‘out of place’ has been removed.”

The frame was shortened at the back and looped, while the airbox was taken out and cone style filters attached to the carbs, requiring some re-jetting to adapt the fueling for more airflow. The original front light gave way to a smaller unit produced by a Portuguese brand, very common in older Portuguese 50cc models.  The bars and mirrors are now LSL and the rear light is LED. Smaller indies complete a discrete and simple lighting setup.

The original front brakes were retained by using braided hoses and better pads, giving much more sensitivity. The original end cans were replaced by smaller ones without baffles, improving the bike’s soundtrack, while the header pipes were wrapped. “The rear mudguard was purchased at a fair of used parts. I cut it and, in my view, it was perfect. It’s a shame that the license plate hides the mudguard.”

“As for the fuel tank. Since the start of the project what I had in mind was to give it a raw look. For this I decided to strip it. Then I realized that the fuel tank featured several dents. These dents made me question the original idea. Should I go for the raw aspect or should I paint it? Several people advised me to paint and remove the dents. However, my instinct forced me to keep the initial idea: a gas tank with raw and naked aspect. The only painting that I made in the fuel tank was a black belt at the bottom to dissimulate the curved lines, merging it with the black of the motorcycle. For me the gas cap in brass is the crown jewel of the fuel tank. Is one of the details that I like more in the fuel tank.”

As the bike was initially designed to be a cafe racer the seat was originally designed and planned with single seat and hump, this evolved into a tracker style seat which was finally bobbed into the short seat you can see in the pics. The upholstery was stitched longitudinally for aesthetic reasons, helping the curvature of the seat match the rear of the frame.

“My aim for the painting was also to check a very crude aspect, without much ‘bling bling’. This decision reflects my personal taste. So, I sent the motorcycle frame, the rims and some smaller parts for a painting job, leaving the other components with the existing patina and aspect when I bought it.”

“For me, as the motorcycle user it translates the final design. I am very pleased with the result. There’s only one thing that should have been changed. I have plans to change the front section of the bike by a front of a bandit 400. It is a question of reliability and performance. Based on the design the front will be more robust without altering the general line of the motorcycle. The bike is fantastic in terms of driving. Is fairly light and easy to drive. This is not a bike with a lot of speed. That was not the objective. I proposed to build me a bike to ride and have fun. And that’s what I have.”

Thanks to Nuno for sharing his hard work with all of us. We look forward to seeing more from Capêlos Garage on the Bike Shed, and you can also check out Nuno’s Facebook Page, and finally, thanks to Cesar Augusto for the photos.

via Yhe Bike Shed

Enduro : Renet triumphs in Sweden / Renet triomphe en Suède

Already double winner of the Gotland Grand National in Sweden, Pierre Alexandre Renet claimed a third consecutive win and offered to the new Husqvarna Michelin squad a great win for their first race.

Déjà vainqueur de la Gotland Grand National à deux reprises, Pierre Alexandre Renet a signé un troisième succès de rang et offre à la nouvelle équipe Husqvarna Michelin une belle victoire dès la première sortie.

Organised on the Swedish island of Gotland, the GGN is one of the most important off-road race in the world and more than 2700 riders were involved in this 30^th edition.

The weather was better than usual for this birthday, so the race was faster and not as difficult as the previous years; Renet took the lead early in this three hours race, and got a strong lead when his main rival Mats Nilsson had a technical problem. “It was a perfect race for me, and physically it was not as demanding as the previous years. I had a great start and took the lead early, then I made a strong gap and could manage the race until the finish flag”said Pierre Alexandre, the single foreigner to ever win this race. Another French rider shine in Sweden, as Jeremy Tarroux (Sherco Michelin) finished third aboard its 250 Sherco and confirmed his good season.

This event was the first opportunity to see the new factory Husqvarna Enduro team, built by the new owner of the brand. Always involved with Michelin, a long-time partner, Husqvarna couldn’t expect a better result on the historical soil of the brand

Disputée sur l’île Suédoise de Gotland, la GGN est l’une des plus grandes courses moto tout terrain au monde et réunissait plus de 2700 participants pour son 30^ème anniversaire.

L’épreuve s’est, cette fois, disputée dans des conditions météo clémentes, ce qui a rendu la course très rapide ; rapidement pointé au commandement de cette course de 3 heures, Renet s’est imposé assez aisément après que Mats Nilsson qui occupait la seconde position ait connu un problème mécanique.

« Ce fut une course parfaite pour moi, physiquement c’était moins dur que les deux années précédentes car la météo était plus clémente. Je suis bien parti et j’ai pu me forger une bonne avance, ce qui m’a permis de gérer la fin de course à ma guise » confiait à l’arrivée Pierre Alexandre, seul étranger à s’être jamais imposé dans cette épreuve. Autre français engagé, Jeremy Tarroux (Sherco Michelin) confirme sa belle saison en décrochant une excellente troisième place au guidon d’une 250 Sherco.

Cette épreuve constituait la première sortie officielle du nouveau team enduro Husqvarna, formé par l’usine KTM nouveau propriétaire de la marque. Faisant toujours confiance à son partenaire de longue date qu’est Michelin, Husqvarna ne pouvait rêver meilleur début sur les terres historiques de la marque.

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34 Razor Edge.

The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia proved to the world when first launched in 1955 that the company could produce ‘sporty’ models.

When you throw Italian design, German manufacturing, American influence, and 1960/1970s panache together, chances are you’ll end up with the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (or the Diesel fashion label). The Karmann Ghia remains one of the finer – and first – examples of ‘sporty Volkswagen’, bookmarking its place in the history books as a result. All the more ironic therefore that it shares the same platform, and indeed most of its ‘performance’ with the iconic Type 1 Beetle.

With the Volkswagen Beetle having already established itself as the company’s flagship saloon (the 10,000th unit was produced in 1946, less than a year after mass production began), a convertible model was commissioned in 1949, the production of which went to West German coachbuilders Karmann. Now hold on, because the next bit gets a little complicated.

Having recently made the jump from the Studebaker Corporation to Chrysler in 1949, American designer Virgil Exner contacted Italian entrepreneurs Carrozzeria Ghia to get his idea for ‘spicier’ Chryslers off the ground. Exner liked what he saw when the first design rolled his way in 1952 – the Chrysler K-310 Concept – and it wasn’t long before the American giant commissioned a 40-strong production. Production of the newly christened D’Elegance however hit a few snags, a lack of finances among the most crucial. The initial run of 40 was hacked down to 25, bigwigs at Ghia suitably irritated that they had been left with unused capacity and time to twiddle their thumbs.

Or so they thought. Having already considered the prospect of a ‘sexier’ Volkswagen Beetle convertible, Ghia designers – with the help of Karmann engineers – took ‘inspiration’ from Chrysler’s K-310 concept design to create a rolling coupe prototype on a Beetle platform, which would later be scrutinised by VW executives in November 1953. Having been convinced that the new model would not only prove popular in the niche automotive market but cost-effective to produce and maintain, VW CEO Heinrich Nordhoff finally gave the thumbs up for a limited production run after scriutineering the model in September 1953 Having adopted the names of its creators, the new Volkswagen Karmann Ghia made its European debut in 1955.

While many over the year’s have dubbed the Karmann Ghia the ‘People’s Porsche’ – a reference to the VW Beetle’s ‘Käfer’ moniker – don’t think VW’s latest convertible was a track weapon. The Beetle’s platform on which the Karmann sat had been widened by six inches to carry the new bodyshell, but the 1192cc air-cooled engine remained the same, as did its 36hp and questionable acceleration (this despite the coupe weighing just 794kg). Plant the right foot hard enough and you could just about hit 115kph, providing the 36-second 0-100kph time didn’t put you off.

What the Karmann Ghia did boast however was style, and lashings of it. As well as a low stance, the coupe boasted curved glass, frameless windows, rounded head and taillights, grooved bonnet and sleek front grille, or ‘whiskers’ as they’d later be known. Critical acclaim slid back and forth between reverence and revulsion, but VW’s new boy quickly made a name for itself. Whereas the Karmann Ghia enjoyed a 4500-strong production run during its eight year lifecycle, nearly three times that many Beetles would soon be hitting the factory floor every year. Hardly surprising then that in 1956, at just under $2400 the Karman Ghia was nearly $1000 more than the Beetle (around $21,500 and $8500 respectively in today’s money).

After many years pootling along the daily commute though, VW customers were clammering for more acceleration and better-equipped cabins. The answer arrived in 1961, when VW unveiled the Type 34 – Razor Edge, at the Frankfurt Motor Show. As well as a more pointed, aggressively designed nose, wider front grilles and a more stocked optional extras list (amongst which was fog lights, a cigarette lighter and an electric sunroof), under the bonnet lay the new VW 1500, a 1.5-litre air-cooled four-cylinder that pushed power up to 40hp (so keen were VW to showcase the new engine that the Type 34 – like the example above – was originally called the Volkswagen 1500 Karmann Ghia Coupe). Hardly earth shattering, but come the end of its production cycle in 1971, power for both the Karmann and the new Type 34 had nearly doubled thanks to a new 57hp 1.6-litre unit. Outright grunt may well have been the domain of the Karmann’s principal rivals – the MGB and the Triumph Spitfire – but the looks of the coupe continued to steal the show (a convertible had been unveiled in 1957).

Entering the early 1970s though, difficulties in production meant the Karmann Ghia had soon met its match, and the launch of the new VW Scirocco didn’t help the old dog either. The precedence had been set though: no longer would the world see Volkswagen as ‘just’ a producer of mainstream family cars. Decades later, the Golf GTI, the Scirocco R and theBugatti Veyron among others still show just what a ‘sporty Volkswagen’ can do.

- Shots courtesy of Hasam Al Ghamdi

Volkswagen	Karmann Ghia Type 34 (as of 1961)
Engine:	Inline 4-cyl / 1493cc
Power:	40hp @ 3800rpm
Torque:	83lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission:	Four-speed manual / synchro
Front suspension:	Independent transverse torsion bars
Rear suspension:	Independent transverse torsion bars
Brakes:	Single circuit / four-wheel drum
Wheels:	N/A
Tyres:	N/A
Weight (kerb)	900kg
0-100kph:	24sec
Top speed:	132kph via http://www.crankandpiston.com

assistance