“HEADING OUT TO THE BRIBEWAY”

As you well know Bali is a lot like the old west, fairly lawless, lots of bars, hookers etc. So when Adrian rocked up to The Temple for a little R-n-R from the Euro JR. cup we figured a bit of the open road may do him some good. Bali is putting in a high-speed toll road and its not finished, but that didn’t stop us from sneaking in and firing off a video of young Adrian fanging the shit out of a custom Yamaha 225cc Deus café racer.

RUST & REDEMPTION

Had filming not already wrapped on next years “Mad Max: Fury Road” then the production team may well have rethought the titular character’s vehicle of choice had they seen stills of this fearsome looking Yamaha XS1100 from the team at Rust & Redemption. All bare metal, knobbly rubber, spiky bits and skulls this is a bike that looks poised to tear into a post apocalyptic world. But as the second part of the Rust & Redemption moniker suggests, this machine opts to tell a different story, a story not of destruction, but of rebirth; of rising from ashes, not leaving a trail of them in its wake.

The bike was built as a homage to the city of Detroit, Jason from R&R tells it best.

“Detroit – a city that is rusted out and broken down. A city that is slowly beginning to rebuild and re-invent itself into something new and different. After years of decline Detroit is working hard to redeem it’s troubled past.”

Once the hotbed of the American Automotive industry the city has in recent times been subjected to much decay, high crime rates and a dwindling population. But it is fighting back and that is the inspiration of this machine.

Jason came across a forgotten ’79 Yamaha XS1100 oddly named Evan, it was a poor imitation of its former self, perfect for the build concept.

“We wanted the bike to have a modest bare metal feel with an industrial cafe/city street fighter look. We wanted to show the mechanics of the bike. Stripped down. Exposed. Something with attitude. All characteristics of Detroit.”

They tore the bike back to its bare bones, reviewing each parts necessity and deeming whether it enhanced either the function or form of the bike before either binning or reworking it and putting it back in a better place. The aim was to utilise what they had instead of turning to new bolt on parts. Items such as the foot pegs and bars were massaged and modified into a superior form until they met Jason’s scrutiny.

“If I don’t like something, I hate it. I will redo it until I like it or someone tells me it is fine.”

The tank is the stock item with the badges removed and new panels welded and smoothed in, like most of the bike it was sanded back to bare metal, the fabric of the city. The lean tail piece was hand formed, the ubiquitous loop rejected in favour of a sharp apex jutting aggressively skyward, mirroring the triangular light upfront. We have seen this shape of headlight before in the ‘Shed, but never inverted like this. Never much liked it before, love it with this execution.

“The paint is as minimal as possible. We didn’t want to busy the bike with a bunch of cosmetic paint work. We wanted the metal to be displayed so as to get the true form of the machine showing through. It needed to not only show it’s war wounds but also have an appearance so that there didn’t need to be a concern over potential scuffs or scratches as it rides through the streets of Detroit.”

The Rust & Redemption Skull logo was painted onto the tank and then fatigued to match both the bike and the city. The same companies Speed and Strength emblem adorns the tail. The R&R team offer a full range of bike gear and casual clothing with the same themes and graphics, this machine now supports the range as an attention grabbing billboard for their design work.

Jason loves what he does, it allows him to travel, build and ride cool motorcycles and to fix them when they break, but it is clear no matter how far he roams, that his heart lies in the city of Detroit. If even a small portion of its inhabitants share his passion and drive then the city is in safe hands on its path to redemption. Caps off to you sir.

from The Bike Shed

cafe racer

The 59 Club Australia 'Cafe Racer' was filmed in the Yarra Valley Victoria using 3 Go-pro cameras. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions on the day.


The 59 Club Australia 'Cafe Racer' was filmed in the Yarra Valley Victoria using 3 Go-pro cameras. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions on the day.

MAIDSTONE H-D CAFE RACER

Maidstone Harley-Davidson is a proper, grown up dealership with the usual expansive showroom packed with Milwaukee muscle, a full-on clothing emporium and a parts department large enough to keep the average customer happy for years. But that’s just it, the average customer is now more discerning, wanting a bike not available in the 3 inch thick accessory catalogue.

As you can imagine, a main H-D dealer workshop is a rather well kitted out facility, perfect then for letting creativity loose. Inspiration for this project was varied, from early 20th century board track racers to flat trackers but the first spark of an idea was a picture of a chopped Sportster seat. Building a whole bike around an idea for a seat isn’t the craziest beginning we’ve heard of, by any stretch.

The guys chose a SuperLow as the foundation. A good beginners Harley, slightly lighter and more nimble than the rest of the family. Obviously this is to be taken with a pinch of salt, or a grain as the Yanks put it. Calling any Harley light is like saying Kim Kardashian’s butt is petite compared to the Epcot Centre, we’re splitting hairs. It’s also one of the cheapest bikes in the range and seeing as so many parts would be changed anyway this made sense. And not being a particularly racy model would mean improvements would be more obvious, and head technician Dave A.K.A. Junior #5 would make sure of this.

Where possible the less handsome but necessary inner workings have been hidden away, and the more mechanical and exciting parts emphasised to hint at the work that had gone on with the motor. A 1200cc conversion running ported and flowed blueprinted heads, a more aggressive cam sucking through a Roland Sands Design velocity stack air filter and shouting through a carbon tipped pipe. Lairy!

Rearsets and clipons morph the rider from couch potato to racer in one fell swoop, jumping from stock bike to this must feel like the difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle. Gilles levers and Biltwell grips finish off the bars and an RSD speedo bracket tidies up the cockpit.

The smaller, peanut tank from a Forty Eight is a common custom option but it was decided that the more rounded and classic lines of the original SuperLow unit suited the tail and kept closer to the original design brief. And passing petrol stations is now possible thanks to the tanks extra capacity.

To match the new purposeful riding position a cafe seat and tail was fabricated to sit on the existing frame rails. The green and silver paint with gold pinstripe came courtesy of Image Design Custom. If you’re into paint jobs have a look at some of their previous work, rather excellent. Progressive Suspension shocks out back and matching springs inside the braced forks are a huge improvement over stock whilst RSD preload adjusters offer further fine tuning.

To harness the extra shove the gearing has been altered which required an XR1200 type belt roller setup with an RSD belt guard. Velocity stacks, loud pipes and whirring belts; this thing must sound epic.

Ex-racer and now Head Technician Dave A.K.A. Junior #5 has certainly delivered on the brief and turned a lazy budget cruiser into this B road belter. If you find yourself in Kent why not check out Maidstone Harley-Davidson showroomand maybe ride this bike away

via The Bike Shed