1977 Honda CB550 ‘Aldo’ by Lossa Engineering

When it comes to Honda CB café racers there’s not a lot of people that have built as many as Jay Lossa and his team at Lossa Engineering in Long Beach California. Jay has lost count of the number of CB’s he has brought back to life since starting his shop back in 2007. He usually starts his builds with “rusty hunks of junk” that cost no more than $500. It doesn’t usually matter what condition they are in because he replaces every nut and bolt anyway. This time around he started with a decent donor CB550 that he picked up for $1300 – which makes it the most expensive donor he has ever bought.

When you own a motorbike shop you tend to have a lot of spare parts lying around the garage, so Jay decided to build a bike with some of these spares. The Firestones were a cancelled order from a customer who changed his mind, so Jay incorporated them into the project. “I built this as an old school looking show bike, not a cornering carving machine” he jokes. “So I feel the tires are ok for that job”. The CB550 frame, wheel’s and all the parts were already powder coated black and the motor was rebuilt and blacked out.

All the tabs were removed, frame hooped, battery relocated under the cowl, bike has been wired with a modern regulator/rectifier, dry cell battery, electronic ignition, Dyna mini coils and NGK wires. Jay also added an Acewell digital gauge and a Lossa mini key set up and starter button.  It also has a H4 headlight and a Lossa LED tail light.

Tom McWeeney from Kustoms Inc had been wanting to paint one of Lossa’s bikes for a while, so Jay thought he would be perfect for this 70’s styled show bike. Tom did all the paintwork with House of Kolor paint. He started with a Orion Silver base and then did a candy apple red over with lines graphics and lace work. He finished it off with some silver leafing and hand pinstriping.  Tom even striped the part under the seat where the upholstery would have covered it up. “So not wanting to hide any of his artwork, I decided to expose the center of the seat,” said Jay. “I did all the bodywork myself and decided not to do knee dents and keep the tank straight and smooth as glass to show off all the artwork.”

The motor received a big bore kit and is now a 608cc, cases were split, all new gaskets, seals, Barnett clutch and a valve job with all new valves were used. “The bike also has a Mega-cycle cam and huge Keihin CR racing carburetors so we can burn off those Firestone tire’s I love so much!” he says.  One of Lossa Engineering’s Yoshi style replica 4 into 1 exhausts were used with one of their reverse cone mufflers and the whole set up was ceramic coated.

A chrome set of Lossa clubman styled bars were used to give it that classic café look, along with Biltwell grips, Tarrozzi fork brace and rearsets. Joker tappet cover, stem nut, axle adjusters and brake stay were used to dress up the standard stock pieces.  The brake caliper has been “polished to perfection” and the stock rotor CNC drilled. Every nut and bolt on the CB has been re-plated with chrome or zinc plating.  Jay finished off the build with some reservoir shocks, gold o-ring chain and Magura master cylinder.

This 1977 CB550 has been given the name ‘Aldo’ and has been completely rebuilt and is now better than new. Jay has fallen in love with this bike but knows he needs to let it go and move on to the next project. “I have too much stuff and can’t possibly ride all of my bikes, so if someone wants to arm wrestle me into selling this bike to them, I will” he says. So if you want a CB550 café racer in show bike condition, contact Jay for that arm wrestle – you’ll win because he does have nerve damage in his arms.

[Photos by Buckhorn studio]

via PIPEBURN

Monster Energy: Ballistic BJ Baldwin Recoil 2 - Unleashed in Ensenada, Mexico

What better place than the city streets of Ensenada Mexico, the home of the Baja 1000, to set the stage for the sequel to Ballistic BJ Baldwin's viral hit Recoil. This short film by Monster Energy follows BJ and his 800hp Trophy Truck as he tears through this seaside Mexican city, ripping over every drop and jump the town has to offer in an attempt to win a bet set by his friend, and international playboy Dan Bilzerian. Will he win? What will he lose? 

Our favourites from Artcurial's Automobiles sur les Champs sale

On 22 June 2015, Hervé Poulain and friends will bring the gavel down on some 70 collectors’ cars, at Artcurial’s eighth Automobiles sur les Champs sale in Paris. We’ve perused the catalogue to bring you the key lots…

Quintessentially French cars in a quintessentially French setting

Aptly, the French contingent has a strong showing. We particularly like the Le Mans Classic-eligibleAlpine A210 sports prototype (300-500k euros); one of fewer than 10 remaining Bugatti Type 13s, in beautifully original condition (150-250k euros); and a very regal Facel Vega Excellence(estimated at 160-200k euros). 

As usual, Porsche is well represented, with three cars among the lots with the highest pre-sale estimates. There's a highly eligible, ex-Walter Röhrl 911 ST, the sixth of just 43 cars genuine cars; a striking blue 2.7 Carrera RS Touring, complete with matching numbers; and a fabulously restored356 Carrera 2000GS. The estimates are 770-920k, 700-900k, and 550-650k euros respectively.

Temptation at every turn

Of the Ferraris, most significant is a circa-9000km F40 (900k-1.1m euros), though there are several other notable cars, including a brace of 512BBs (300-350k and 280-340k euros, respectively), a fabulous blue 308 GTB, estimated at a very healthy 140-180k euros (attesting to the 70s model’s burgeoning popularity in the market), and a silver 360 Challenge Stradale (185-235k euros), refreshingly different from ‘resale red’. Oh, and that 246 GT with the French yellow headlights (250-300k euros) – and you thought the Dino couldn't get any cooler?

Though a little untidy (it’s had just one owner from new), the BMW M1 in an elegant dark blue hue is an attractive proposition at just 100-150k euros. But if you’re feeling particularly brave, the flawed-yet-charming (and supposedly highly original) De Tomaso Vallelunga (220-280k euros) is crying out for some TLC. If we could raise our paddle on one car, though, it’d have to be the exquisiteFrua-bodied Maserati 3500 (400-600k euros). In the same family since 1967, we can’t imagine it’slacked any TLC since then. 

Photos: Artcurial

The Automobiles sur les Champs 8 sale takes place on 22 June 2015, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in Paris. You can find the full lot list in the Classic Driver Market.

Mauvais sens ........