Wheels and Waves 2015 - trip day 1

EarthRoamer XV-LTS Exterior Tour

Join EarthRoamer Founder & CEO Bill Swails for an in-depth tour of the exterior features on an EarthRoamer XV-LTS. Discover what makes these hand-built, luxury Xpedition Vehicles so uniquely capable - and comfortable - in all types of weather and terrain.

EarthRoamer XV-LTS Exterior Tour from EarthRoamer on Vimeo.

TRÈS CHIC: CAFÉ RACER DREAMS’ BMW R100

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Despite the flood of BMW customs hitting the streets, certain workshops can be counted on to consistently produce good examples. Like Café Racer Dreams—who’ve shown their prowess yet again with this elegant Boxer.

CRD #58 is an 84-model BMW R100, and it was built for a regular of the Madrid-based shop who lives in Nice, France. (This is his third CRD bike, with a fourth on order.)

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The brief was to produce a Boxer custom that would buck current design trends—in stylish fashion. Luckily CRD’s Pedro García and Efraon Triana are a pretty versatile team, and masters of good aesthetic judgement.

A sketch on a napkin was all it took to get the client excited and the project rolling. But early in the process, ideas started changing.

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“The drawing on the napkin was based on the original R100 fuel tank,” says Pedro. “But we wanted to put a smaller tank on”.

The guys had a 1972 Puch Minicross tank lying around the workshop. So they tried it out and showed their client, who immediately fell in love with the shape.

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Next on the agenda was the rear end, with CRD ditching the subframe in favour of a solo seat configuration. This pushed the shock mounts significantly forward, so a pair of Hagon XL shocks were fitted to compensate for the gap.

The seat itself is custom-made, and has a LED tail light built into it. The rear fender is a re-purposed R100 front fender, mounted on a hand-made brace.

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Up front are the forks, front hub and brake disc from a 1994 BMW F650. The hub’s laced to a 19” rim, matched to an 18″ spoked setup at the rear. Both wheels are shod with Continental TKC80 tires.

Moving to the engine, CRD fitted a pair of K&N filters and ditched the air box. In its place is a custom aluminum battery box—which subtly completes the contour of the engine block. It also houses a Motogadget m-Unit control unit, around which the whole bike’s been rewired.

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Other Motogadget components include the speedo, switches and bar-end turn signals. The bars are set of inverted Renthal Ultra Lows, fitted with Biltwell Inc. Kung-Fu grips. They’re held in place by a new set of of handlebar risers, mounted on a custom triple clamp.

CRD finished off the build with a smattering of parts from their own online store—including the headlight, reverse-cone mufflers and Tarozzi rear-sets. The ignition’s been relocated to the side of the bike, just underneath the fuel tank.

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The paint job is a nod to BMW’s iconic motorsport liveries: white, with blue and red stripes and traditional roundels. The engine’s been cleaned up, and the rest of the components have been finished in black.

CRD #58 is as classy and tasteful as we’ve come to expect from Pedro and Efraon. And we’re more than a little jealous that we won’t be blasting around Nice on it.

Photos by Enrique Pacheco | Café Racer Dreams website | Facebook | Instagram

via BIKEexif

The Mini Monsta

Here’s a small bit of advice for you: never underestimate little cars. It’s something that I’ve come across countless times over the years, especially so in Japan where you really have no idea what people have done to their respective cars. When it comes to Minis, it was well over a decade ago that I saw a crazy van version of the familiar British city car blast past pretty much every single car on the Nordschleife. The ‘Ring Mini was the perfect example of what a lightweight car can be made to do when there’s something nuts under the bonnet and someone equally crazy behind the wheel.

So when I came across a car dubbed ‘Mini Monsta’ at Malaysia’s recent Art of Speed event, I had to take extra special notice. After a quick chat with the man behind the project, I was shown around what will no doubt be a very fun little beast once it’s fully completed.

Powering the tiny front wheels is a Japanese-sourced Daihatsu L700 1.0-liter block which has been mated to a heavily-reworked L200S head to get the best possible flow. The internals are all forged, because as you can see there’s some forced induction going on here too.

Mounted on the custom exhaust manifold is an HKS GT2510 turbocharger which will be supplying around 1.5bar (22psi) in the lowest setting and around 2.0bar (29psi) at full whack – which should equate to about 150hp and 200hp respectively. Even though it’s possible to go crazier, the owner is after reliability rather than an engine that will just keep grenading all the time. Apparently people have pushed similar setups to 300hp, which is not bad from a 1.0-liter lump!

The little intake manifold that’s on the engine now will be scrapped in favour of a custom fabricated item and then re-plumbed with all the necessary piping. A Haltech Sport 1000 engine management system will also be in the mix, so it’s easy to see that no corners are being cut.

The scoop on the bonnet is there for a reason – it’ll supply cool air to an RNN14 Nissan Pulsar GTiR intercooler that will be positioned on top of the engine.

That’s why the front grille almost looks like it’s been sealed up, but behind it there will still be a small radiator and oil cooler making full use of the air that gets through. The car will also be fitted with an A/C system, which is actually mandatory for street cars in Malaysia. Why? #becausedamnhot!

The JRD 5-spoke wheels are custom order items and have been shod in 175/50R13 Yokohama A539 rubber.

Once the engine’s running it will be onto the suspension with a long list of parts already waiting to be fitted. First though, the owner wants to see how the car feels and handles with all that power (for the compact FF chassis) so he can install and adjust the shiny new parts as he sees fit. The gearbox and LSD are also special order components, and there to make sure that the driveline is able to take all the abuse the engine can throw at it.

The car runs a full Zeemax body kit which includes tasty fender flares that help give the little classic Mini a menacing stance. The flat black color helps too!

The attention to detail continues inside with a very clean and properly-equipped cabin.

Seeing the owner runs parts import company JDM Auto Link, it’s not surprising that there are a lot of Japanese modules being used, like the A’PEXi meters and a GReddy boost controller. The main instrumentation however, is via Auto Meter Pro-Comp gauges as you can see above.

The nice touches continue to the smallest details. This will definitely be one car I’ve got to take a ride in next time I’m over in KL, and I’m sure it will end up embarrassing a few high horsepower cars in its various outings! To me, Mini Monsta proves that the only real thing you really need to build a seriously fast car is imagination.

Dino Dalle Carbonare