MAHMUT’S RS200

Pencils are pretty impressive tools and being able to master using them is one of life’s greatest gifts. It enables you to quickly and simply convey your ideas without the interference of bumbling diction. Mahmut is a car designer with a penchant for motorcycles and the associated handcrafted paraphernalia. Accompanied by his design capability he has set up Life in Paradigm in the hope of earning a living through expressing his passion and creating rolling artwork.

This first build is dedicated to a dear friend and artist Ayesha Bhangra Mendi who sadly passed away.

As prices for the typical custom donors rise out of reach, less obvious bikes are coming to the fore as canvases for folk to get creative. This 1981 Yamaha RS200 twin cylinder two stroke was bought for £360 a couple of years ago and awaited Mahmut’s design time.

The front end has been lowered with shorter springs and the rear is now supported by upgraded shocks.

Ayesha left her mark with floral drawings on the Yamaha’s engine cases which Mahmut followed, engraving the lines adding permanence and a fitting reminder to a much missed friend. A brass plaque replaces the need to ask questions about the artwork.

The drop bars are custom made using newly learnt welding skills, with vintage grips to match the handmade leather seat. A new speedo offers a new lease of life to the little old stroker. The coffee coloured paint is subtle and blends with the raw metal components, black painted wheels and brown accents, all Mahmut’s handiwork.

Out of sight is a 1950s Castrol oil can converted to supply the lubricant to the pump; no premix in 1981, how very advanced!

Underneath the exhaust wrap is a pair of handmade, stainless steel headers leading to a single sided muffler.

Next on the bench is customer’s Honda CB550 and a WW2 inspired Brit build, incorporating Spitfire aero parts; looking forward to seeing that one. Keep an eye on progress over on the Facebook page.

In the meantime if you have some surplus pocket money, head to www.lifeinparadigm.com for leather goods and accessories for dappering-up your riding attire.

via PIPEBURN

Ducati 250 Mark III 1971 by Simone Ceccarelli

TICKLE MANX T3

The Tickle Manx is a bit of a historical curiosity, it’s a result of the sale of the AMC race shop to the famous Colin Seeley in 1966 – As part of the deal Seeley acquired the rights to the Norton Manx as well as the Matchless G50 and AJS 7R, by 1969 he had seen the writing on the wall and decided to sell the rights to the Manx onto his friend and sidecar racing competitor John Tickle.

Tickle set to work making the now somewhat antiquated Manx competitive against more modern multi-cylinder motorcycles, the base technology used in the Manx engine was first introduced in 1947 so by 1969 they were already 22 years old and despite the long history of race wins enjoyed by the model – its glory days were long past.

As the new owner of the iconic single cylinder bike John Tickle did a remarkable job of bringing it back from obscurity and making it competitive – he managed to strip the weight of the Manx down to just 284lbs, (46lbs less than the original) and he designed an entirely new frame for the bike to improve rigidity and shave off pounds.

Sadly, this wasn’t enough to compete with the new 2-stroke racing motorcycles pouring out of Japan by their thousands and John eventually sold the rights to the now antique Manx to a large European parts supplier. Interestingly, the story doesn’t quite end there.

In 1994 Andy Molnar, an engineer based in England, bought the rights and began manufacturing parts for the Manx. As time progressed and demand increased he began building full engines and eventually he started producing full motorcycles that he dubbed the Molnar Manx. 20 years after he acquired the rights, Molnar has now produced dozens of motorcycles and hundreds of engines for vintage racing enthusiasts from all over the globe, and continues to painstakingly build them to order – keeping the Max alive for another generation.

The Tickle Manx you see here was rebuilt/restored recently using a frame from one original bike and an engine from another, true Tickle’s are exceedingly rare and we almost never see them come up for sale, so the fact that this one isdue to be auctioned by Bonhams on the 19th of October is welcome news to collectors of vintage British motorcycles.

The estimated value is £18,000 to £25,000 – which is actually pretty reasonable by my reckoning. Now I just need to find a way of telling my kids that their college fund was plundered because I needed to buy myself a Tickle.

via Silodrome

alors !!