BMW unscripted. Tiffany Coates.

REBORN CUSTOMS BLACK BELT

The Black Belt. An achievement only acquired through intense training, practice and passion. A sign of ones dedication and fortitude and yet a thinly veiled warning, do not mess, you will lose. It is a title that this bike bares with pride, for its owner is an instructor in Krav Maga, a self defence system developed for the Israeli Military that combines various martial artforms for real world situations. This bike is a two wheeled manifestation and tribute to its pilot’s craft.

Black Belt was built by André Pinheiro out of his newly established Reborn Custom Motorcycle workshop. Hailing from Porto, André came to London at 18 to study Automotive Engineering at Kingston University before returning to Portugal to work for Audi. Changing his life to start Reborn motorcycles has been a project firmly routed in his mind for many a year and in 2013 André took the plunge and embarked on his new mission, to build exclusive and unique motorcycles.

Black Belt is based on a 96′ Honda CB750, these later CB’s are proving solid donors and are yielding some mighty compelling results. André’s starter bike was in good shape and the engine was fine, but in the pursuit of perfection it was rebuilt and painted anyway. The carbs were rejetted, a new exhaust was specifically fabricated and the rear shocks dropped a few inches.

André chopped and rebuilt the rear frame to accommodate two different tail sections that he describes as Sport and Classic. Sport is single pilot mode and Classic allows for a plus one. The rear lights are a Tron esque row of LEDs that work with either set up. The central box, dashboard and seat units were all hand fabricated out of aluminium by André.

The front visage of the bike is where André got creative. Can you guess the origin of the super snazzy front cowling? It houses the Motogadget instrumentation and sits above the LED halo ringed headlight. Figured it out yet? It came from the helmet of choice of the owner, Shark’s curious take on an urban warrior come computer game character’s head protection, the Shark Raw. The chin guard and goggles have been inverted and reimagined to form the screen and instrument housing. Brilliant. We would love to see a head-on shot with the rider, chin on tank, in a matching (correct way up) helmet.

The brake and clutch lines are shrouded by a black webbing that would be befitting of the equipment within the gym in which the bike was photographed. André’s creativity and originality for the face of the bike can only be applauded.

Heidenau k73 super rain tyres stick the beast to the road and complete its hardcore yet practical personality. The all black finish, flavoured by flashes of red, gives the CB an almost Knight-Rider “Kit” style, and considering the vigilante appropriate skills of its rider, suit the bike perfectly.

André would like to thank Tzi Design’s Tó Zé and Alfredo Zuzarte for the paint, Motoluar for electrics and Diogo Losa for the photographs.

We hope to see more from Reborn Customs here on the Bike Shed. Meanwhile see more of André’s work onFacebook

August Porsche Addiction: A Porsche for every season

Pierre Breda, owner of August Porsche Addiction in Belgium, had the well-timed idea for his company around seven years ago. Today, his single-marque dealership – which he runs together with Pierre Jambers – is considered a mecca for Belgian Porsche enthusiasts…

Belgium’s Porsche institution

Dealers that predict a niche increasing in popularity while offering first-class service will never struggle to sell cars. Pierre Breda opened his 911-focused dealership in the quaint Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, pre-empting the rising fortunes of the model that weren’t as apparent in the Benelux countries in the mid-2000s.

RS 2.7s in abundance

Seven years later, the two Pierres are riding on the wave of their well-judged prediction. Since December 2013, they have sold no fewer than seven authentic 2.7 RSs – a fact we might have struggled to believe, had we not encountered two examples of the 70s legend at rest within the workshop during our visit. “The difficulty isn’t in selling an original RS – we have customers queuing up,” explains Pierre Jambers. “The challenge is in sourcing good, original cars.”

Racing in the blood

The 2.7s aren’t the only traces of Porsche motorsport to be found within the impressive building. Between 2002 and 2008, Pierre Breda himself raced Porsches – and August Porsche Addiction considers itself a 911 GT3 authority as a result. But it’s a 993-gen Works racing machine currently in stock that Breda takes the most pride in.

“All the cars we offer have been bought by us – we don’t deal with consignments, and this means we can avoid selling bad cars,” Breda assures us. “We do, however, stock the occasional non-Zuffenhausen car if it is in top condition.” Examples include a Ferrari Testarossa with a mere 6,000km, a BMW Baur Convertible with 50,000km, and a fully restored MK1 Golf GTi, attractively priced at €18,000. “We  undertake minor repairs and prepare our cars within our own workshop,” adds Breda. “If a car needs attention to the engine or body panels, we’ll call on one of our trusted external partners.”

Welcome to the club

The business operation seems rather well-rounded: as well as the obvious marque expertise, personal passion and on-site shop for literature, detailing products and other accessories, the company will soon also boast an official Swizöl franchise. Furthermore, a private members' club sees the two Pierres hold a track day at Spa-Francorchamps for their clients six times a year. Or you could always drop into August Porsche’s house bar, with plenty of enthusiastic conversation no doubt turning that single beer into a grand toast... not only to the great marque, but also to the blessing of foresight.

Photos: Jan Richter

Cars currently being offered for sale via August Porsche Addiction can be found in the Classic Driver Market.

KUSTOM RESEARCH CX500

Honda’s CX500 has seen a huge renaissance in the last few years thanks to buidlers and customisers using them as donor bikes.  The quirky liquid cooled V-twin provides a cheaper alternative to BMW’s Boxer engine with similar levels of bullet-proof reliability.  As a result it’s becoming harder to snap up cheap ones in good condition as the old courier hacks, winter commuters and abandoned projects come out of the woodwork seeking a premium price.  Luckily there still a few bargains to be had out there and Thomas Parrish of Kustom Research sourced this ’78 bike from a chap who’d hit the creative, financial or talent wall with his attempt to build a Cafe Racer.

Everything that could be unbolted had been, except for the tank, and the wiring loom had been spliced, diced and sliced ensuring many hours of work before the engine would run. Thomas had his work cut out as not only would he have to build something from the remains but the scrutineer would be his girlfriend Cristin, as she was training for her bike test and needed a cool ride for when she passed. No pressure then!

Thomas set to with the buzz saw and chopped the rear subframe and made a new loop to support the hand fabricated steel tail and seat pan, before adding foam and upholstering it, teaching himself to sew in the process. The messy wiring loom was binned and replaced with a modified version hiding under the seat alongside a custom battery box. The indicators are machined aluminium with the fronts incorporated into the modified Harley headlight unit.  The Koso digi-dash lives on a custom bracket surrounded by a mix of more modern Kawasaki ZX10 levers and switchgear, mounted to in-house-fabricated clipons and billet bar ends.

The forks have been upgraded with Progressive Suspension springs and the rear shocks are new Emgo units.  Avon Roadriders look crisp on the freshly refurbed 5 spoke mags.  Front braking has been beefed up by using a ZX10R master cylinder and a new calliper.

The exhaust is, you guessed it, fabbed by Thomas. Neat bends meet at a shorted ZX10 silencer under the engine.  Either there’s a crashed Kawasaki in the corner of Thomas’ workshop or he has a penchant for marque inbreeding when choosing upgraded parts.  Failing that the lathe, mill and knurling machine get a workout. Foot pegs, shifter and rear brake are hewn from billet ally rather than lifted from a catalogue.

The fuel tank has had the badge recesses filled and a Yamaha R1 cap grafted on.  The finish was raw, take a look at the Kustom Research website and you’ll see it in pre-paint stage.  At this point girlfriend Cristin had passed her test and was presented with the ‘finished’ bike and sent up the road for a shakedown ride, Thomas proudly standing back to admire 5 months of hard work. She returned with a beaming smile and a question, “So, when can we paint it?”  Back to the garage it was for a long session of powder coating and painting, again, nothing was sent off, all work was carried out at Kustom Research HQ.  With the CX’s engine being so prominent Thomas wanted it to blend with the rest of the components so tied the colours of the tank and wheels with the crank case, transmission, cylinders and even the carbs.

With paint still tacky a temporary photo studio was set up in the back of the worksop to provide the images you see here. And yup, you guessed it again, Thomas employed himself to learn photography and Photoshop 101.  As a reward for all this endeavour, Cristin has decided she’d like to go faster and bought another bike!  So if you’d like to buy the CX, drop Kustom Research a line.

See more from Kustom Research on the Bike Shed KR page, their Website or Thomas’s Blog, or you can email him HERE.