JERIKAN MC R90 MONO

JeriKan Motorcycles is another custom builder who has thier own take on the BMW Boxer custom. Based down in Nice in the South of France Jérémy & Mark got going after meeting John & Nico from 4h10 in Paris, and the rest is custom-building history.

“This bike started the day when one of my clients wanted to sold his BMW R80RT 87. Personally, I am not a follower of monolevers but certain occasions can not be missed , so I bought this machine without really knowing what to do. Unlike the BMs I’ve made before, it was impossible to conceive of a cosmetic monolever approaching what I used to do. So I used this base to try to do something different than anything I had done so far.”

Jérémy felt that the monoshock setup leaned the bike towards a cafe racer design, but with the emphasis more on ‘cafe’ than ‘racer’ and to offset the modern rear-end he wanted to add a vintage feel to the bodywork and paint. “I opted for keeping some parts “neo” (modern) changing the entire rear frame loop, using flexible LEDs for the taillight that perfectly follow the shape of the loop and rear turn signals that are integrated into the fairing near the rear shock in little cone. A design that was also adapted into the bar end.”

Fitting the Martin bikini fairing with twin headlights was such a pain that Jérémy almost abandoned the idea, but he persevered with a lot of modification and clever bracketry, which was well worthwhile as this feature really defines the bike and helps it stand out from a pretty large crowd.

“I also opted for the “retro” by choosing a simple cream with gray lines paint in matt finish, saddle in genuine leather recalling the tank, aluminium signal switches of an old Honda CB,  full polishing all aluminum parts of the machine which some have the patina of time, deliberately leaving the foot holds original rather than rearsets and customizing the speedometer with my logo and the number of the machine’ #9.”

Jérémy also wanted to avoid black in any elements of the bike, which meant lots of extra work. “…the frame has been repainted, the cables were all covered with braided stainless steel sheath, the damper has been polished and the spring has been painted, the speedo as well as the battery and the original air box (hideous!). I wanted to embellish the flux in the color of the engine so that the machine keeps its origins performance. Other parts were covered with aluminum tape and we even repainted the spark plug covers, and gas taps.”

“Chrome mufflers were polished to a matte finish, the cylinder heads were removed, the manifold lengthened then covered with a triple layer of cream coloured thermal tape to match the bodywork and to keep a maximum visual coherence.” The small fender is a reworked item from a Honda Goldwing.

Unusually Jérémy got rid of the side stand (keeping the centrestand) on the basis that starting up a Beemer that’s been leaned over for a while gives off a big black puff of smoke (true) which he found annoying. Fair enough.

So how do they feel the bike turned out? “The result is ultimately what I expected with a vintage rather typical machine a little sporty but vintage. A quality finish and a few innovations that I like to bring such as the sheath or blind fairing bolts for example while remaining in sobriety.”

On a website full of custom Boxers (with many more to come) it’s great to see how far they can be stretched into different looks and vibes. The monoshock seems to work really well without ruining any retro vibe, and with Jerikan’s attention to detail in the finish this bike is completely ageless as well as dripping with class. See more from Jérémy & Mark on Facebook or here on the Bike Shed.

The pictures are made by Pierre Turtaut

Our last-minute highlights from the Monaco auctions

As well as being one of the most stylish places on earth, Monaco is also something of an automotive mecca for enthusiasts – so where better to hold a high-end car auction? This weekend, Coys and RM will do just that, and we've selected our last-minute favourites from each sale...

Coys 'Legende et Passion', 9 May 2014

The Coys ‘Legende et Passion’ auction, taking place on Friday 9 May, offers a varied delicatessen of treats – from an Abarth recovery truck to a Monaco-built supercar. But our collective eye was caught by the 1950 Cisitalia Abarth 204 A Spider, which not only has Targa Florio and Mille Miglia provenance but can, we're told, also claim to be the last car driven in anger by Tazio Nuvolari before his retirement. 

Elsewhere, the auction sees some familiar mid-90s supercars in some less-than-common guises: a1994 Lamborghini Diablo SE 30th Anniversario, and a 1995 Porsche 911 (993) Turbo resplendent in ‘Indian Red’, a cousin of the iconic Guards Red colour.

RM Auctions, 10 May 2014

Among the slew of Italian machinery headlining RM’s 10 May auction is a 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 S Spider, being offered publicly for the first time. It’s one of only 18 of the high-revving, V6-engined sports cars – built primarily for gentleman drivers – and is thought to be the only one given a larger engine, 312 P-style bodywork and a 312 F1 gearbox by the factory at a later date. For those who prefer their racing machines a little younger (and a lot faster), there’s also a pair of Group C racersto choose from.

In terms of road machines, the 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America by Pinin Farina is not only the rarest, but also the prettiest roofless derivative of the Aurelia – just look at that wraparound windscreen, or the shallow doors uninterrupted by the presence of exterior handles. Meanwhile, our award for the most striking paintwork is only snatched from the Lime Green De Tomaso Mangusta by the Bugatti EB110 GT, which wears a sombre dark green that masks its ballistic character.

Our six favourites from the Coys and RM Monaco auctions

Auctions | Cars

1950 Cisitalia Abarth

N/A

Auctions | Cars

1995 Porsche 911 / 993 Turbo

N/A

Auctions | Cars

1994 Lamborghini Diablo

N/A

Auctions | Cars

1967 Ferrari 166/206 'Dino' - Dino 206 S Spider

N/A

Auctions | Cars

1955 Lancia Aurelia - B24S Spider America

N/A

Auctions | Cars

1993 Bugatti EB 110 - EB110 GT

N/A

The most spectacular Monaco Grand Prix moments

Ask any racing driver to name the world’s top motor race, and they will probably pick one of three: the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Indy 500 – or the Monaco Grand Prix. Here, we aimed to pick our top five Monaco moments; only we couldn’t agree on which five, so we sneaked in a sixth…

In some ways it’s odd that the Monaco Grand Prix is the most prestigious on the F1 calendar, when the road circuit’s narrow track and overtaking difficulties don’t always make for great racing. But there’s no doubt about it – this is the one that the drivers most want to win. We start with the most recent of our five (well, six) top moments: Ayrton Senna’s qualifying lap in 1988.

Senna, 1988: A different dimension

Between 1987 and 1993, Senna won six of the seven Monaco Grands Prix, but it’s the one that he didn’t win which sticks most in our minds. More to the point, his pole-setting lap in qualifying for the 1988 race, a lap in which he went 1.427 seconds faster than anyone else. “I was kind of driving by instinct,” he said of what is arguably the greatest lap in the history of the sport. “I was in a different dimension… well beyond my conscious understanding.”

In the race itself, Senna was so far in the lead that he was told to slow down… and that’s where it all went wrong. With the instinctive fluidity of his spectacular drive destroyed, he hit the barrier. The victory went to Alain Prost: the last person Senna would have wanted to see win.

Patrese, 1982: Pure farce

The last three laps of the 1982 race were almost farcical. The absurdity began when the comfortably leading Renault of Alain Prost slammed into the barrier, leaving Patrese in the lead. Until he spun, on the penultimate lap, and came to a stop across the track with a dead engine. Leaving Pironi’s Ferrari in the lead… until Pironi ran out of the fuel in the tunnel. Meanwhile, de Cesaris’s Alfa also ran out of fuel, and Daly’s Williams hit the barrier, removing his rear wing and half his gearbox. He too ground to a halt.

But wait…! Patrese is moving again! He manages to get across the finish line to take his first GP victory, with a (stationary) Pironi in second place and a (stationary) de Cesaris in third. You can watch the video of the final laps here.

Jochen Rindt, 1970: Brabham’s last-minute loss

The last lap of the 1970 race saw Rindt right up on the tail of Jack Brabham, having doggedly closed the nine-second gap he’d inherited some three-quarters of the way through the race. In the very last corner, under enormous pressure from the German-Austrian driver, Brabham lost it and slid into the barrier – leaving Rindt with victory. There’s a video for this one, too.

Graham Hill, 1969: Mr Monaco

This was the fifth Monaco win for the British driver who became known as ‘Mr Monaco’, thanks to his domination of the race in the 1960s.

Incidentally, when he died in a plane crash in 1975, Hill was the only driver ever to have won all three of the world’s top races: Monaco, Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500… and he still is.

Ascari, 1955: Swimming lesson

In the closing laps of the 1955 race, Stirling Moss was leading when his Mercedes’ engine blew, gifting the lead to Alberto Ascari; but the Italian crashed at the chicane, went straight through the straw bales and ended up in the harbour. Click here to see the footage.

Ascari swam to safety, suffering nothing worse than a broken nose, but was less lucky just four days later, on 26 May, when he died in a casual test-drive of a Ferrari at Monza.

William Grover-Williams, 1929: Secret agent

We haven’t included British driver Grover-Williams just because he won the first ever Monaco Grand Prix (in his Bugatti), although that is a good enough reason in itself. No, what made us unable to leave him out was his life off the circuit. He was a special agent who worked under cover in Paris during WW2, before being captured and killed by the Nazis. A hero in more ways than one.

Fancy becoming a Monaco superstar yourself? We've selected a stunning range of ex-Monaco racing cars for sale elsewhere in the Classic Driver Magazine.

jolies bottes