I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night

'I HAD TO MUCH TOO DREAM LAST NIGHT' follows the simplistic travels of two surfers, meeting friends along the way, on an open ended journey across an archipelago littered with islands and breaks. Connected by ribbons of tarmac and separated by deep ocean valleys these islands have been here for millennia and will continue to do so for millennia to come. An veritable eden for waves of every nature, from long reeling glassy points breaks to sketchy urchin infested waves in the middle of nowhere

Brother of the weird - Iron & Resin

Brother of the weird - Iron & Resin from Desillusion Magazine on Vimeo.

Based in the heart of Ventura, a town literally fuelled by waves and gasoline. Iron & Resin is the product of several friends, immersed in a culture of motorcycles and point breaks. A culture where man builds with his own hands and the only thing that counts is living in the moment. ’Brother of the Weird’ presents an insight into the brand with co-founder Thom Hill.

This short film is based on the article “Behind The Desk - Iron & Resin” published in Desillusion Magazine 45 , Tome 1.
Available on tiny.cc/sj8ofx

Desillusion is a 260 page coffee table book, ad free, accompanied by a series of short-films exclusively showcasing every week on DSLmag.com. At the crossroads of two opposite worlds, the street & the beach, Desillusion pays a tribute to youth & a subculture raised on a surf and/or skateboard.

‘78 Honda CX500 – Utopian Customs

When it comes to designing a custom bike, everyone has their own way of working. Some like to sketch, others like to use Photoshop, and a brave few will just build from a picture in their head. When Pablo Luzzi from Buenos Aires recently started Utopian Customs he wanted to approach each build in a similar fashion as he does in his day job as an advertising art director. “I prepare a creative brief to serve as a guideline and start developing a concept in accordance to that.” says Pablo. “That’s how I initiated this first project, spending hours making thumbnails and messing with Photoshop until I came up with a comp of the final bike.” Once Pablo had created his perfect ‘comp’ of the finished design, he then had to find the right donor bike to suit the concept – which was made harder by living in Argentina.

Pablo wanted an older bike but finding a decent donor in Argentina can be tricky because for many years spare parts were almost impossible to get due to import restrictions. So most of the older bikes are in bad condition or made using dodgy parts because when things went wrong with them it was hard to replace the parts. He eventually discovered a 1978 CX500, which he decided would be perfect for his first build. “It was a running bike with 50k miles and in good mechanical condition” he says. CX’s aren’t very common in Argentina so it was even rarer to find one in decent condition.

Pablo’s original idea was to create something reminiscence of early salt racer bikes. “I’ve always liked the shape of the CX’s engine and we thought that replacing the huge original gas tank with these small stainless steels custom tanks would make the 500cc motor look more prominent and would also give us some of that racy look that we were after.”

To help with the fabricating Pablo enlisted the help of Marcelo Giuliodori who is a stainless steel guru. “He started helping me with the exhaust pipes and ended up fabricating many other parts including the gas tanks. His ability and dedication to the project ended up making a huge difference.” Marcelo also made the foot pegs, the brake lever, the shifter and the housing for the temperature gauge.

Another aspect that Pablo really focused on was the symmetry between the engine cylinders and the gas tanks, and he then extended that to the gauges and the exhaust. The beautiful old brass headlight was salvaged from a vintage car. “Old motorcycles and cars inspire us and we share a deep appreciation of early industrial design, where the results were as functional as they were aesthetic.”

The beautiful seat unit was actually made out of sheet metal and painted in a bronze color with a satin finish by a local painter called Tanaka. The seat was then upholstered in black leather and matching bronze stitching by a car interior shop called Los Mellizos.

With so many CX’s being built recently from all over the world, it’s great to see Pablo and his team have created a unique take on this model. The build has so many lovely details but the standout has to be those twin gas tanks. If this is Utopian Customs first build, then we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

You can also check out the ‘making of gallery’ here.

[Photos by Alejo Pichot] via PIPEBURN

ACKRILL CFM GT550 REBUILD

Remember the kid in school whose tie was always neat, with the same knot everyday, pencils correctly sharpened and unchewed ends, sports kit folded and stacked in a holdall carried using the shoulder strap and rather than both handles, slung nonchalantly over to one side?  I think Simon from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire was one such kid. The planning, parts sourcing and rebuild of this 1986 Kawasaki GT550 is the work of a methodical man. Well, 2 methodical men and a young person learning about methodicalness.

Simon’s dad has had this GT from new and it was well used by him in the UK and on European trips before passing down the baton. After further trips, both solo and two-up the poor old girl was in need of a refresh.  The miles and 28 years had taken their toll so a full on restoration was on the cards. But as so often the case, returning something to its former glory leaves the present and future devoid of something new and interesting. Plus, having your bike featured in the ‘Shed is way better than on Polished Chrome Monthly, right?

One thing that the Ackrill Trio (Simon, his son and his dad) wanted to maintain was the heritage of this particular bike so sourced a donor frame that would allow hacking, chopping and welding. Unfortunately the history and integrity of this frame were questionable so the original was used, with the caveat that all mods must be removable should the need arise to return the bike to original, to honour the near three decades of service the GT had given. So, the flavour was to be Kawasakis from the ’70s & ’80s with a bit of Flat Track for piquancy.

CFM Customs instigated a complete strip down, strip to bare metal before the replate, repaint and re-powder exercise could begin. Devils Ride took care of the candy-pearl Kawasaki green on the tank and side panels to give a more modern twist to the traditional colour.

To be able to use modern Renthal bars a new Z Power top yoke was fitted, giving a comfortable riding position and the way-out-wide grips provide plenty of leverage to force the GT into bends.  Petit, low mileage, single and optimistic could be the header for a lonely hearts ad, but works for the Kawasaki’s speedo too, which sits in a custom bracket.

Wrenchmonkies shipped over a pair of scrambles foot pegs, and front mudguard which of course bolted straight on with no fettling required. The rear mudguard is new, Hitchcocks’ Royal Enfield Cafe Racer kit, in nice, lightweight aluminium.  Tidying the rear and removing factory parts has shed around 10kgs which will give the old motor a new lease of life.

Rear shocks are Hagon and the original forks have been rebuilt so handling is a slight improvement over standard, with modern spec but classically patterned Continentals ensuring all this hard work stays shiny side up. The seat has been reshaped and covered by Smart RRRs with plenty of space for a pillion and plenty of foam for long distance comfort.

Simon had been told that K&Ns would turn the 550cc four-pot into a lumpy beast but Carl at CFM had no trouble in dialling in the carbs for smooth, rev-happy running. Wrapped headers subtly take the edge off the bright paint and perfect level of finish and the shortened muffler adds a slight hint of Tracker and helps with the visual balance.  Lights and indicators are miscellaneous bargains from bike shows and eBay and look about right.

OK this might not be a full-on build with stacked-dime Tig welding, Inconel exhaust and machined unobtanium swingarm but with the planning stage being so meticulous, Simon and family have put something together that wouldn’t look out of place in Kawasaki’s 2015 retro range of new bikes.

In case you’re wondering, Simon isn’t a fighter pilot, these pics were taken by Neil Sterry  at the Jet Age Museum, nice touch.

via the bike shed