KEVILS SPEEDSHOP QUICKSILVER

The latest custom BMW Boxer from Kevils Speedshop in Paignton, Devon, is this gorgeous hybrid build with a cafe racer seat and period handlebars, finished up in shades of silver and grey and given the moniker ‘Quicksilver’. (…our idea of “50 Shades” was rejected. But it is a sexy beast…)

Unusually, this bike wasn’t built on commission. Having recently built a personal bike for himself that pushed the boat out in fabrication and style, proprietor Kev Hill wanted to build another bike that would be a signature Kevil’s build that“catered for all tastes”, while representing all that is good about the Kevils workshop and the parts they produce for their R-series customs.

The donor is a 1983 R100RS and started with the usual Kevil’s ground-up rebuild, so you get a bike that is as good as new. The front end features fully adjustable period bars with slimline speedo, Raask rear-set foot controls, Brembo brakes all round and Hagon Shocks.

The upswept cocktail shaker style exhaust ensures the 1000cc sound track matches the bike’s agressive stance. The seat unit is also a peach, with its frenched-in rear lamp and slategrey upholstery It ooozes pure class.

When the pics and details were sent to us just yesterday Kev had planned to pop the bike into the Bike Shed Custom Classifieds, but just 24 hours later a deposit has been put down, so the bike has already found its new home, which is testament to the quality of the build.

So, yet again, Kevils smashes another one out of the park, and we’re very pleased to debut the bike here on the Bike Shed. Thanks to Ashley Kent for the apocalyptic photos, taken down at the local dockyards on the Devon coast.

See more from Kevils Speedshop here on The Bike Shed’s Kevils pages, their Facebook page and Website.

Motorbike enduro in Sicily's

For reaching tirrenic coast from jonic coast we had two ways: following the confortable coast motorway or cutting Peloritani mountains through a road made of stones and mud.

We started from Roccalumera and we went inland, reaching Fiumedinisi. From there we left tarmac and we started climbing towards Monte Scuderi, admiring is top during our way.

After a little break at the "casa degli alpini" abandoned refuge, we entered into the Peloritani ridge-road, on a very difficult stony ground, made harder by the autumn rains. It wasn't easy and despite the low temperatures we literally sweat our's guts on!

As we passed some critical points we run toward Niceto river, which have been brougth us to the tirrenic coast. During the descent we pass through astonishing landscapes, seeing both coasts at the same time.

Once reached Niceto river, we followed its bed for the last stage of our trip before the tarmac. The worst was over but the river bed has many traps; a quick trait can suddenly become a puddle of stones and sand, we have to stay really focused on the track. 

As we reached the tarmac we arrived in Torregrotta, right in time for the lunch!

This is roughly our trip: http://goo.gl/maps/8g4Rm

VW, Citroën, Hyundai et… Toyota en essais

Volkswagen Motorsport, Citroën Racing et Hyundai Motorsport sont en tests cette semaine au Portugal pour préparer la 4e manche du WRC 2014. De son côté, Toyota Motorsport est en essais en Italie pour préparer ?

C’est près de Tavira, dans les collines de l’Algarve, que Citroën Racing a planté campement cette semaine pour trois jours d’essais : un jour-et-demi pour Mads Ostberg, idem pour Kris Meeke jusqu’à ce soir. Trois bases différentes ont été utilisées pour affiner les réglages de la Citroën DS3 WRC en vue du Rallye du Portugal et tester de nouvelles évolutions proposées par Michelin. D’autres essais en Sardaigne sont programmés avant le Rallye d’Argentine.

  Les tests se sont bien passés et la Citroën DS3 WRC semble toujours performante sur les spéciales techniques portugaises, même si elle n’y a plus officiellement gagné depuis 2011 (Mikko Hirvonen a fini 1er de l’édition 2012 avant d’être déclassé).

  Mercredi, l’équipe Citroën a reçu une petite visite surprise : Sébastien Loeb est passé dire bonjour. Il était au guidon d’une moto d’enduro en compagnie de Cyril Despres et de Ruben Faria. Citroën Racing va débuter des tests avec la C-Elysée WTCC sur le circuit de Portimao. Seb portera le N°9 cette saison.

  Volkswagen Motorsport est aussi au Portugal, près d’Almodovar, depuis lundi. L’équipe a changé de base chaque jour pour définir les meilleurs set-up possibles amortisseurs/ressorts/différentiels/pneumatiques. Jari-Matti Latvala a roulé lundi et mardi, Sébastien Ogier lui a succédé mercredi et aujourd’hui. Andreas Mikkelsen roulera demain. « FX » Demaison sera l’ingénieur-voiture d’Ogier au Portugal car Gerard Jan de Jongh attend un heureux évènement.

  Hyundai Motorsport est également en Lusitanie, mais plus au Nord, à Fafe, où se déroulera samedi prochain la 3e édition du Rally Sprint. L’objectif de cette séance est de travailler surtout pour les Rallyes d’Argentine et de Sardaigne avec Juho Hanninen et Thierry Neuville aux manettes. D’autres tests sont programmés avant le Portugal où l’équipe engagera pour la 1ère fois trois i20 WRC/Michelin. Dani Sordo disputera le Fafe Rally Sprint.

2013 Triumph Thruxton – Mean Machines

Ironically, Wenley Andrews from Sydney based Mean Machines is one the nicest blokes you could come across. But give him a wrench and a Triumph and he turns meaner than a junkyard dog on a particularly bad day. This Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde split personality is probably why he keeps building these bikes; they just seem to have the right dosage of toughness, style and simplicity. The latest bike to roll out of the Mean Machines ward is this beastly 2013 Triumph Thruxton – not bad for someone with an identity disorder.

So when Wenley’s friend Luke asked him what bike he should get, Wenley immediately recommended his favourite donor – a Thruxton. Then he asked Luke what he wanted the bike to look like. “I want it to look mean” replied Luke. Instantly, Wenley knew he had asked the right person and had chosen the right company. “We looked at a few Thruxtons, but most were miss treated” says Wenley. “So Luke decided to purchase a brand spanking new one”. First, Wenley stripped the bike, leaving the engine and swing arm intact. “Then, starting from the front, we added fork gaiters, a custom one-off moulded fibreglass fender, and custom headlight brackets with 5″ headlight stuck as far in as possible to give it that tight look.”

They then had a custom CNC top tree made up, along with the clip-ons. They wanted to use the existing speedo for can-bus cabling reasons, but decided to custom make a smaller speedo to surround it. “Now it sits seamlessly with the top tree and to top it off we added some idiot lights.” Moving to the rear of the bike, it has a one-off fibreglass café style tail unit, with a beautiful hand made suede seat with diamond stitching.

Wenley had the vision to slightly make it shorter to accentuate the fat 180 rear wheels. “Hence we also had to modify the rear frame and make everything short. With such limited spacing we went for a super tiny Ballistic battery. We tried on a few exhaust and muffler ideas but Luke wanted something more mean. He sent me a few ideas of exactly what he was after; at first I was a little worried, but I managed to get it to the right proportion in the end – it’s also damn loud!”

They both wanted the bike to look as minimal as possible; even the rear sets received the Mean Machines treatment. “Wrapping it all up, it needed to be mean looking with something a little different” says Wenley. “On the way to work one day this matte grey Velostar cruised up next to me. That was it! Off to Smith Concepts to see Kyle the paint magician.”

To finish the bike off, the rims were painted matte black  and a new more modern Triumph logo was added to the freshly-painted tank. But no custom bike is truly complete until she has been christened with a new name. And the one given to this mean looking Thruxton is ‘Buster’. Why, you ask? Well, we’re guessing it’s because you’ll hear her bark from the other side of town.

Photography by Cam Elkins from Stories of Bike.