SRG Drift Team

SRG Drift Team from Licorne prod on Vimeo.

What’s a 125 for? learning to ride, and in Pete Johannsen’s case, learning to build at the same time. If his learning curve is as quick in his riding as it is in his building, then Pete’s going to be an AMA wild card pretty soon. His CL125 is one of the loveliest 125s the Shed has seen.

Pete is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and has a custom metal furniture business, VanAiken Design and Fabrication. He wanted to build a bike for some time, but he didn’t know how to ride, and he’d never even spun a spanner on one.

He found a 1974 Honda CL125s in good shape on Craigslist. He loved the vintage, wanted a small bike to learn on, and as he’s doing almost exclusively city riding, it was fully functional. He wanted to learn how to ride the thing first, and “… I figured that if it ran before I took it apart, it should run again when I put the thing back together as long as I didn’t screw anything up.”

Like all of us he spent too many hours on the net looking for inspiration, and was particularly inspired by Heiwa Motorcycles’ bikes. IHe wanted to eliminate anything that wasn’t vital, slim down and lower the bike, give it a brat-style look and end up with something that was fun, and manageable, to ride.

Pete lowered the bike by around an inch, built a new seat and a new set of handlebars with custom grips, chopped the fenders down, swapped out the directionals and stoplight, cleaned the whole thing up, wrapped the rusty exhaust, and gave it a new paint scheme.

What really works is how the seat and the paint pull the whole bike together. One of the things Pete loves about Heiwa is the really interesting leatherwork on their seats, and he actually started the design process with the seat. Having researched hundreds of different types and colors of leather, Pete finally went with cream and brown offcuts Dom at Custom Interiors had lying around his shop. He decided to brand the seat with his VanAiken logo, and ended up making the brand himself; why not? Chris at S&L Autobody, just down the street from him, painted the bike. He matched the cream stripe of the seat and carried it over the tank and the fenders.

Pete sites the biggest challenges as having to figure everything for the first time and trying to find parts. “I just took my time, shot hundreds of photos as I took the thing apart so that I could remember how the parts fit together, and spent a lot of time on Ebay, as well as Dime City Cycles, Dennis Kirk, and a few dozen other bike supply sites.”

It’s a terrific build by any standards, and is even more stunning as a debut build. Pete has a refreshing honesty. “As it’s my first motorcycle, it’s really hard to say how it rides, as I have nothing to compare it to. I’m not trying to do the ton (as the speedo maxes out at 80, it would be tough to tell if I was anyway), but for in the city and those occasions when I get out on it, it’s been really fun to ride.” If it rides half as good as it looks, it’s going be running sweet.

Pete’s next project is a 1972 Honda CL350 for a friend who is a designer. “I’m excited to work with him on the project and we’re currently discussing an overall concept for the look and feel of it. I have a feeling, though, since we both love Heiwa, that they will continue to be a significant influence, and because he has a really amazing aesthetic sense, the end product will look good.”

On the evidence of this lovely little CL, it’s going look alot more than good. We look forward to seeing it at the Shed!

via The Bike Shed

TAMARIT PEGASO

There have been a few scene-haters out there lately; criticising bikes, builders, websites and the people involved. Nothing new or different there, and to a degree there might be an overload of particular types of donor motorcycle but I do think some folk are missing the point. If you could quit your mundane 9-5 job to do something that made your heart sing and your soul come alive, whilst paying the mortgage and putting food on the table; you’d do it, right? Of course you would, or you wouldn’t be at your desk 30 minutes before lunchtime sneaking a look at the latest Bike Shed offering and letting your mind drift off into a mini daydream. Obviously not everyone reading this has a crap job or hates what they do but you get the point.

The guys from Tamarit Spanish Motorcycles had dream jobs, making go-faster and look-cooler parts for Triumph Bonnevilles and Thruxtons. But they kept on dreaming, drinking cervezas, spent hours chatting about designs and ideas before setting up their own workshop. Living the dream, paying the rent and having a good time; anyone out there still not want to swap? Oh, did I mention that their workshop is right on the beach, under a Mediterranean sun, with mountain roads a morning’s ride away? How about now?

This is their take on the Bonneville, a scrambler they call Pegaso, a 2006 carb’d model. The usual strip, clean and powder coat gives a foundation for mounting the in-house fabricated components. The seat and tail unit is the most visually grabbing and steers away from the stumpy Brat-style that has become commonplace. The unit is plug and play, mounting to the standard fixings and requires only basic tools.

In fact the rear mudguard is considerably longer than the non-existent custom rules seem to allow, but visually this works, balanced by the full on braced motocross one mounted up front, branded as “The Grand Bastard”. Certainly enough to keep the pesky sand out of your eyes when riding down the beach to meet your buddies for a BBQ and sea-cooled beers.

Proportions, lines, balance and execution; tick. Bars are Renthal with the necessary mini speedo unit. Pegs fore and aft are milled from billet aluminium in a BMX stunt peg style.

The “Papillion” headers and mufflers incorporate small internal baffles for crisp sound and desert sled look, again, they bolt straight on without needing a degree in MechanicalAstroMegaEngineering.

The sump guard is made from thick aluminium with large speed/cooling holes, to keep out the largest roost and protect from gnarly tree roots. It looks purposeful too, if that’s what matters to you most.

Damn it, I could have saved myself the time and just put a link to their shop along with this handy diagram.

For those of you not enjoying the chilly, rainy day in London, here’s a video for a few minutes escapism.

So, there’s another Triumph in The Shed but remember that dreams make the world a better place and the more people that follow them can only be a positive. Well, that’s my view anyway.

In the words of the man on the street in the opening sequence of Beverly Hills Cop; “Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin’.”

Via The Bike Shed

REDMAX SPEEDSHOP CB750

Steve Hilary and the Redmax Speedshop hardly need an introduction, essentially, if you want a Street Tracker and don’t want to wait for Mule to send you one from the ‘States, Steve will build you something pretty special. Not just Trackers though, have a look at their website for a  selection of Cafe Racers for sale and mid build projects. Once you’re done with reading this and check out the Ducafe that featured at the Bike Shed events and is one of my favourite customs of the last few years.

Steve had been waiting for a Kawasaki to cross his bows in order to build a Mad Max style ’70s Cafe Racer, instead, this CB750 SOHC turned up. While other projects were being fettled and finished the tatty and unloved Honda sat in the corner awaiting attention. Eventually bench space freed up and she was stripped down, undies and all.

The frame and ancillaries received a good ol’ coat of black powder whilst the engine had a makeover. It seemed a shame not to squeeze a few more ponies out so an 850cc big bore kit was fitted. The original pipes were binned and replaced with a 4-into-1 and GP style ‘silencer’, it really burbles now!

Clip ons and alloy rear sets sort out the riding position and cafe look and to cope with the extra welly, Yamaha forks with Tarrozzi brace sharpen up the front and a pair of Hagon shocks balance the rear. An own brand Redmax ally mudguard keeps some crud off the lovely fresh motor. Wheels are satin black rather than gloss, with original Honda discs and polished Art Deco looking rear calliper. Pirelli make lovely calendars, and tyres, so here is a nice pair.

The Redmax parts store was raided for a Cafe tank and Norvil seat, but the front fairing was liberated from Steve’s own Norton Commando. A custom oil tank and battery box tidy up the rear triangle but maintain a period look and stop the profile from looking to front heavy. A Koso speedo in chrome tells you when you’re having too much fun, if you’re even looking.

Kind of timely with the new Mad Max film trailer hitting the net, but unintentionally, this CB has turned out to mix a bit of 1970s bridge to bridge racer with a Toecutter special. I for one would love to give chase to a Ford Falcon while riding this.

Fibreglass Tracker and Cafe Racer parts-a-plenty in the Redmax shop, take a look. Pics by Greg Moss.

via The Bike Shed