Royal Enfield Bullet

Harley Davidson celebrates 110 years of uninterrupted existence in 2013. Triumph turned 110 in 2012 but did close down for a few years in between. For a brand name to survive this long is an amazing achievement, especially in the extremely volatile motorcycle market. Yet why do we not see T shirts, especially from the Harley marketing machine, with “The oldest surviving motorcycle manufacturer” printed all over them? The answer is simple, or should that read basic and it wears the badge Royal Enfield.

In 1893 the Royal Enfield name was registered, ten years ahead of Harley and Triumph. The company it evolved from was a bicycle manufacturer which gained a large contract to supply weapon parts to “Royal” Arms from “Enfield” in England. Their famous slogan “Built like a Gun” bears testimony to their history in arms manufacture. In 1898 Royal Enfield produced their first motorised quadricycle and in 1901 their first motorised bicycle. Until their official demise in 1970 Royal Enfield produced a wonderful range of motorcycles which included both two stroke and four stroke, single and twin cylinder models.

Although not Royal Enfield’s most sophisticated or most powerful model the Bullet model has become the best known Royal Enfield of all because they are still available off the showroom floor today. The Bullet name was first used in 1932 but the fully sprung model, which has the looks and single cylinder engine we all recognise in the latest model, appeared as a 350cc in 1949 and a 500cc in 1953.

The Bullet’s existence today was determined by the Indian government in 1955 which ordered eight hundred 350cc Bullets for the army and police. The motorcycles were assembled in an Indian assembly plant. In 1957 tooling to manufacture the parts was sold to the Indians who were producing complete motorcycles by 1962. The motorcycles have been improved over the years, mainly to meet legislation requirements but remain close to the 1949 originals. With the Bullets increasing popularity, its record as being the motorcycle model with longest production run looks unthreatened.

Onto our featured motorcycle…a Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc based classic racer. South Africa and Rhodesia produced some great international motorcycle racers in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. The South African Motorcycle Group preserves and continues racing historic racers pre 1975. Dion, a member of this group, decided to build this machine as there were no Royal Enfields being raced locally. Just about all the components including top triple tree clamp, tank, seat, rearsets and fairing were fabricated by Dion from scratch. He has built an unusual machine worthy of the slogan which was added to the original: Goes like a Bullet.

via http://www.retrowriteup.com

‘78 Moto Guzzi Le Mans I - Revival Cycles

It's hard to deny that Moto Guzzi hold a rather special place in the pantheon of motorcycles. They're a whole lot cooler and unusual than your average Ducati. They're definitely more passionate than most BMWs. And there's little doubt that they can out-sport most Triumphs, even if it is by their looks alone. In what you could call a Lamborghini-esque niche, they seem to occupy that perfect world where collectable, beautiful and unusual intersect. Which makes a custom Guzzi even more of an impressive proposition. And when they're done as well as the bikes that have been rolling out Austin's Revival Cycles in recent years, it's a wonder that the other shops haven't given up and gone home. Meet their latest and quite probably their greatest, the ‘78 Le Mans Special.

“I bought this bike as someone's unfinished factory restoration project,” says Revival Cycle's main resuscitator, Alan Stulberg. “He literally kissed it and bid it farewell when I handed him the cash. It was sort of emotional, but in reality it came to me with everything zip-tied on it to make it look as if it were a functioning bike. It was simply a rolling parts rack with everything finger-tight and I seriously had it back apart in less than an hour.”

“Not many Guzzi lovers come across a factory-clean Le Mans I for a decent price and the purists would be screaming, but I simply couldn't resist the urge to rip it down and turn it into the custom Le Mans I'd always wanted.After coming up with some basic design parameters, I started de-tabbing and cutting the frame down. We then built a custom aluminum tail and seat pan, a black suede seat with red stitching on the outside edge with a chevron pattern and a hidden RFID sensor under a Revival "R" logo to act as a keyless ignition switch.”

“We cut down and custom-fitted a set of Tarozzi rearsets and relocated the rear master to further clean up the rear 'triangle' section. We deleted the center stand, built a custom stainless 2-1 exhaust with a CONE Engineering silencer (the sound is the most amazing Italian goodness I've ever heard). We serviced the engine, verified fantastic compression and installed a new DYNA electronic ignition. It all started up on the first try. The Lithium Iron battery buried under the seat is tiny but cranks things up beautifully.”

“The vintage Marzocchi rear shocks were a cool find that simply had to go on this bike. They are upside down because they wouldn't fit with the factory rear brake caliper, but I strangely prefer them this way. They were revalved and work surprisingly well.

I picked the flat-toned grey color because it resembled the Porsche 356 color that I've loved for years. I don't think most people would paint aluminum. The tail was smooth and ready for polishing, but I decided this color was more what I was after. After that, it was all about the subtle details - the POSH grips, the leather inlay on the tank filler inset, the one-off hand cut leather 'zip-ties', the choice to keep the otherwise not-so-subtle Guzzi badge that is made subtle with black paint and maintained to show its heritage.”

“The bike is an excellent runner and infinitely faster and better handling than my old T3. It's a veritable rocket by comparison; she's a total blast to ride. But not being ones who can leave well-enough alone, we decided to race it in the Barber Vintage Festival this year. We started bu building a full set of alloy bodywork, as you can see. We also put in a stronger clutch, a modern Brembo radial master cylinder, stiffer race-tech fork springs, adjustable air cartridges for fork damping, Icon rear shocks and of course Avon track tires.

On race day Chris managed to start in 14th and got a great hole-shot that helped him finish in 5th place. We were all stunned as he passed modern Japanese sport bikes mixed in with the vintage racers to finish with a winner's fist pump.”

“The future of this bike is likely to include us slapping some tiny headlights down low on the forks and simply riding the hell out of it on the street until we can get it back on the track. We have decided that we'll also be building a more fitting race engine to make sure Chris doesn't have to settle for 5th place next time.”

via PIPEBURN

RB Kustoms Jamie’s xs650

Jamie Ireson works for RB Kustoms in Coolham, Sussex, in the UK, where he and owner, Russell Brown, do all the fabrication work for Warr’s Harley Davidson, plus they build bikes for private clients… So, you’d expect Jamie’s own bike, a 1979 Yamaha xs650, to be a bit special – and it is.

Jamie wanted the bike to have a lot of detail and clean lines, where the hard work and components stood out rather than just a ‘flashy paint job‘, and with D-Luck producing a simple flat primer-grey across the tank and frame your eyes are drawn to details like the leather tank logo and matching upholstery, the dayglo green pedal-cycle kickstarter and the anodised gold details on the suspension and front brake caliper.

Close-up, the bike is also about textures and materials. “I  love leather on bikes, as was found on old English bikes. Hence the use of Brooks parts. I’m also a lover of push bikes, BMX’s from my youth and mountain biking.” But all these interesting touches do have their downsides:  “The bike is very tactile, which was very evident at The Bike Shed event, as everyone kept touching the bike – which to begin with I wasn’t really happy with. Never touch another man’s bike. One of those unwritten rules, but the bike is so tactile with the paint and leather, I got over it ha ha.”

The fuel tank is from a BSA and was modified in-house. The front-end was donated by a Yamaha R6 while the rear is held up with a pair of Ohlins shocks. The lovely black spoked wheels were built by Talon with Excel rims, who also supplied the front and rear discs, and front sprocket.

The swingarm was custom built in-house, as were the bars, the yokes and the stainless steel downpipes. The guys also built their own linkages, bar ends and the centre stand. The Brembo levers were kindly donated by a Ducati Hypermotard and the rear brake caliper is also a Brembo item. As mentioned the leather grips are Brooks, and that pedal kickstart is from DMR, made for a mountain bike.

The hand-stitched leatherwork on this bike really stands out too as not only is the seat upholstered in brown leather, with that broad tank-strap, but the Yamaha triple tuning-fork logo is also matched in leather, with the work being done by Leather Mark 69.

Jamie’s bike was one of the most popular builds at the Bike Shed Event II and the attention was well deserved. It was also interesting that it was one of those machines that seemed to appeal to everyone, from the down and dirty brat-style lovers to the shiny-chrome custom crew. What everyone really appreciated was all that detail Jamie was so keen to show off. So, job done.

And the ride? “The bike really is great fun to ride. Has the usual XS vibrations, but that’s part of the appeal.”Thanks for sharing, Jamie, and we look forward to seeing more from you and RB Kustoms. Also, big thanks to Bike Shed regular Merry Michau for the moody photos.

Sibirsky Extreme Trail

The goal: To map an offroad trail route all the way from the edge of the European Union, across Eurasia to the Pacific Ocean at Magadan. The planned route took in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia and involved riders from the UK, Holland, US and Norway as they took on challenges as diverse as the steppes of Russia, the mountains of the Altai, the grasslands of Mongolia and the pinnacles of Siberian adventure challenges, the BAM Road and the Road of Bones - Old Summer Road. 

This video is a trailer for the DVD that resulted from the trip, currently being put together, with an anticipated release of early 2014. The DVD will be available exclusively at www.adventure-spec.com.