OC GARAGE MORTAIO

Lewis Hamilton has just ensured his place in the history books by winning a second Formula 1 world title in a modern era where the excessive cockpit adjustments have garnered opinion from some that currently drivers have too much to concentrate on. I beg to differ. The steering wheel goes left to right and the pedals are in the same layout as in a Hertz rental car.

Imagine being a motorcyclist and getting called up to fight in a World War, pretty bad news. Then you find out you’ll be a motorcycle dispatch rider, slight improvement. But you turn up and find throttle is on the left, the clutch lever is now the front brake and the actual clutch by your left foot and there’s a suicide shift for the gears. Oh, and a foreign man is shooting you, so you must shoot him back, reload and shoot his mate whilst riding fast across a deeply rutted field in the pouring rain. And it’s winter, your fingers don’t feel your own and they’ll be no champagne spraying when you deliver your important documents.

So, now we’ve set a gallant, macho and heroic tone hopefully some of it will blend into the picture at the bottom of this page. The man sporting bare feet and half a suit is Oscar Tasso, he is Italian, from Milano, and therefore fully accredited to suggest such sartorial juxtaposition. If it wasn’t for the fact that we know Oscar and OC Garage we’d possibly have a dig.

OC’s last build, Dark Lady, was the result of a truly life changing moment, one reason why Oscar is so very passionate about what he creates for a living. This BMW was to be the antithesis to the Dark Lady, a bike to exude testosterone. “Mortaio” started out life as an R80RT and is just about recognisable as one.

Obviously to achieve this degree of paint finish a complete strip down was required. Everything was cleaned and blasted before the various tones and textures could be added. The wrinkle finish on the engine and transmission is particularly resilient and hard wearing. The subframe and luggage racks are Oscar’s handiwork, the pillion pad a detail reminiscent of bikes from decades earlier. This and the main seat are of course handmade and covered with fine leather.

The engine and gearbox were also stripped and refreshed with new bearings and seals. Bing carbs enjoyed an ultrasonic bath and new jets to cope with the free-breathing cone filters. The usual truck sized battery has been recycled, probably now being used by some soap dodgers living off-grid in the Dolomites, a minuscule Lithium-Ion version is now hidden away in one of the ammo cases.

The fuel tank is from a Honda and modified to fit, with textured paint to match the engine. The forks have been firmed up with a thin but strong steel tubed brace. Trials tyres are a welcome break from the aggressive knobblies we often see in the Shed, offering a off-road potential and vintage looks.

The R50 style headlight is mounted in a bracket fabricated in the same way as the fork brace, with an Acewell all-in-one speedo making up the cockpit. The ignition key and switch have been located rearward, below the saddle. Wide, flat bars compliment the retro aesthetic whilst helping Oscar lever his way through Milano’s mean streets.

The stainless exhausts headers are tailored to fit and held in by a rather tasty machined aluminium rose nut. Which not only looks great but saves that knuckle-skinning, thread stripping episode if the heads need to ever come off.

Oscar has executed his own brief with crisp detail and built something a little different form the norm, hear hear for that.  Other examples of his “Moving Art” can be found on his website as well as videos of previous builds. With a few more commissions he might even be able to afford a pair of trousers and some nice shoes.

via The Bike Shed

DUTCH TREAT: JULES BRANS’ YAMAHA XS750

The Yamaha XS750 triple is one of the most underrated motorcycles of the 1970s. It never achieved the cachet of the Honda CB750, and these days, its smaller SR400 and SR500 brethren are more popular with custom shops.

That makes the XS750 affordable on the secondhand market, and this super-sanitary build from Holland shows what can be done. It’s the work of 33-year-old Jules Brans, who works for an Amsterdam record company.

“I’ve been making things with metal and wood for my whole life,” Jules says, “and since I was a teenager I’ve wanted to build my own motorcycle.” So Jules bought a 1977 XS750, and found himself a tiny spot in an old factory. He worked at night, “accompanied by the local rats and mice.”

His XS750 is lean and lithe, very much in the current ‘Brat Café’ style, with immaculate detailing. The look might be skeletal, but the workmanship is solid.

Jules overhauled and repainted the engine, and fitted compact cone filters and a custom exhaust system to improve the breathing. He’s cleaned up the frame and welded on a new rear loop before giving the whole lot a deep coat of black powder.

The overhauled forks are hiding stiffer springs and have been spruced up with gaiters and custom covers for the lower legs. The brake discs are drilled out and the calipers are hooked up to stainless lines.

The fenders are stock, but bobbed and powdered, and the standard wheels are now shod with grippy Avon Roadrider tires. The deceptively spindly rear shocks are Hagon and will improve the handling no end.

A slim leather seat has instantaneously transformed the usual heavyset looks of the Yamaha XS750, and Jules has fitted a super-compact Ballistic battery to open up the ‘triangle’ under the seat.

Adding to the minimal look are motocross-style bars, mini blinkers, a custom speedo bracket and new grips and levers. The compact headlight is powdercoated to match the rest of the bike.

The tank is one of the few items Jules left unchanged: a lick of dark paint was all it needed to match the rest of the bike.

Jules now plans to build more machines, and has called his brand ‘1130.’ It comes from an old Dutch saying Op z’n elfendertigst, which means great attention to detail—and also implies something that is cumbersome and slow.

“I want to build things with respect to detail,” says Jules, “rather than making things as quick as possible.”

An honorable approach—but hopefully it’s not too long before we see the second build from 1130.

For a completely different style of Yamaha XS750, check out this cafe racer from Spirit Of The Seventies.

via BIKEexif

Time for a quick trip to the 1980s?

Photographers Ben Bernschneider and Marie Schmidt are children of the Eighties. Using a DeLorean as the subject, and their favourite high school hangout as a setting, they recently travelled back in time using a set of analogue cameras…

“My heart lies in the 1980s,” says Bernschneider. “In 1986, I was 10 years old, living in Brazil, and I had nothing on my mind but girls and movies. Me and the others from our American school would run into the mall to watch The Goonies and Back To The Future, dreaming of some glorious days to come. Sadly I haven’t returned to this place for 24 years. But nothing in my whole life had a deeper impact than this popcultural decade.”

Life in the 1980s

Bernschneider’s nostalgia has now been realised in a visual form in his book ‘#Diamondtimes’, which contains both analogue and digital 1980s-inspired imagery taken using a Yashica T4, Leica Mini 3, Nikon EM, Nikon AE, Nikon DF, Nikon D800, Canon 5D Mark II and the first-generation iPhone. “The analogue images have colour casts like the old movies; the colours are never matched to each other,” says Bernschneider. “That’s just the way I like it.”

 

Further information about Ben Bernschneider's photography can be found at benbernschneider.com. 

Pirelli 2015