Triumph Bonneville ‘Moose’ by Mean Machines

When it comes to building a custom motorcycle, so many factors can influence the way the bike turns out. But when Wenley Andrews from Mean Machines in Australia started dating a new girlfriend, he didn’t realize at the time how this new romance would affect the outcome of his latest project. You see, Wenley had just picked up a 2008 Triumph Bonneville that he was planning on turning into something special. Around the same time he picked up a girl called Hayley who turned out to be something special as well. “Hayley had been very close to her dad who had tragically passed away just before I’d met her.” says Wenley. “I’m not sure if that’s why she took an interest in my hobby of bike building but I was grateful for the company.” Needless to say, Hayley influenced many of the decisions when it came to this build, including the name – but more on that later.

The plan for the bike was to create a true vintage looking bike using a modern Bonnie. Wenley believes that this “requires a subtle yet sophisticated approach. Less is more I believe.” Wenley started this build with the exhaust. He had the brand new cocktail shaker pipes lying around his garage for a few months and was itching to use them on a bike. “I brushed them to tone down the overall chrome on the bike” he says.

Wesley chose classic Amal style ribbed rubber grips, blackened forks with custom black fork sleeves and guitars added something old school to the front end. “When I’m building bikes, many of the modified parts don’t necessarily fit the way I see them in my head. So extra hours are always needed in order to achieve my vision. The Speed Merchant sprocket cover for example was blessed with the Mean Machines magic so it sits flush with the engine casing.”

Wenley also removed the stock reservoir position to give the bike a leaner look on the frame. When it came to the electrics, he used a standard mini lithium battery and hid everything else under the seat. The rear frame was shortened by 3 inches and a new custom fiberglass seat pan was designed which was then covered with a suede diamond stitch seat.

This mean machine is sitting nice and low on short vintage style rear shocks – the frame sits a mere six centimeters from the rear tire. The rear tail light now takes a more aggressive position all the way behind the 180 rear tire. Hayley was responsible for the colour scheme. “She chose a very retro, very sexy, baby blue and cream GT stripes with gold accents. My signature “Mean” adorns both sides of the tank” he says.

While the bike was being painted by Smith Concepts, Wenley took a trip with Hayley’s family to North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef to scatter her fathers ashes on the Great Barrier Reef – a place that he loved so much. It was there that Hayley told him that her dad used to call her Moose as an affectionate nickname. On the way back from the trip, Wenley had an epiphany and straight away knew the name he was going to call his latest build… and Moose was born. 

[Photographs by Manny Tamayo] via PIPEBURN

A NEW FILM ON THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS RACE

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The Isle of Man TT has claimed the lives of 246 competitors since 1911. It’s the most dangerous sporting event in the world—but year after year, the racers return.

We’ve all seen the GoPro footage on YouTube and the heart-stopping crashes. But no one has examined the fatal attraction of the IOM TT: just why do the riders risk their lives?

Now Studio Kippenberger has answered that question with a stunning short film, titled simply IOM TT. The Berlin-based production company is legendary in automotive circles, creating otherworldly atmospheres with drones and floating ‘gimbal’ camera rigs.

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Kippenberger has pulled together the world’s best crew for this film, and the result is simply amazing.

Motorcyclist magazine agrees: “…truly stunning photography and painstakingly arranged slow-mo sequences that perfectly capture the drama and danger of threading hedgerows at 180 mph.” And motojournalist Wes Siler hailed IOM TT as “… probably the most compelling 15 minutes of motorcycling I’ve ever watched.”

The IOM TT film is now available for download or streaming on Vimeo for just $4.99. Highly recommended.

via BIKEexif

MILITARY MONTH 2015

Its official! Military Month is here on UTVUnderground.com. Our goal is to use the month to not only show appreciation to the men and women of our armed forces, both past and present, but to also raise awareness for the Warfighter Made organization. We hope in the future that the month of July will be embraced as Military Month across the world of off-road and that this idea will spread across our industry.

Did you know that 22 veterans commit suicide each day? Its true, and its disturbing. Citizens across our nation are working hard to bring awareness to this terrible reality. Visible scars, while also very serious, are more easily addressed and treated. But its the invisible wounds that are so hard to see, and much harder in many cases to treat and cure. Most of us will never understand just how deep the wounds of combat go. I hope hearing this statistic makes you as motivated to help veterans and those still enlisted as it does us. That is why we want to encourage all of you to reach out, thank a veteran and our enlisted soldiers, tell them you are grateful and let them know we do care.

Why is UTVUnderground.com supporting Warfighter Made (WFM) ? We aren’t picking WFM out over anyone else, we are behind anyone who is playing a role in supporting our nations military. We are also not saying you only have to support WFM, there a host of amazing organizations like them who are doing great things and we would encourage anyone to support any organization who does this great work. But we have built a special relationship with WFM over the past year thanks to the introduction from our friends Jeremy & Jason Merrell of the UTV Wolfpack. We have been lucky enough to work with WFM and have chosen to adopt WFM as our charity of choice because we have seen first hand how WFM helps both veterans and enlisted members of the military. Polaris RZR has also gotten behind WFM, donating multiple machines so that they can further expand their recreational therapy program. Many in the off-road community have embraced WFM, we want to see that support increase!

What is Warfighter Made and what do they do? WFM is an organization founded by veterans Robert Blanton, Brian T. Meyer & friend Butch Lynch. This trio of friends wanted to create a non-profit organization that would allow them to help and rehabilitate their injured brothers and sisters. Robert and Brian suffer from their own physical and invisible scars due to their years in combat. WFM has 3 main goals in helping veterans:

“We adapt, and customize a combat wounded Veteran’s vehicle, so they can continue doing the things they enjoy, while their vehicle reflects their individual personality.
We invite ill, injured and combat wounded Veterans to participate in our recreational therapy trips. These adventures include shooting at ranges, participating in Lucas Oil Off Road events, our out door adventures with our Polaris RZRs.
We work with other like minded nonprofits, businesses and individuals to ensure the Veteran gets the best experience possible.”

Learn more at www.WarfighterMade.org

We are working with Polaris RZR and other companies in our sport to raise money for Warfighter Made so that they can reach a goal of purchasing a permanent headquarters so that they can further expand their services of helping ill and injured combat veterans. We are asking everyone to make a donation to WARFIGHTER MADE!

We live in the worlds greatest country, no doubt about it. We go about life with a freedom that few around the world truly understand. But as the cliche goes, freedom isn’t free. Its because of this sacrifice that we want to say thank you and honor these courageous heroes who continue to work every day to ensure our freedom. Join us by saying thank you, tagging #MilitaryMonth on social media and help us show our nations military that the UTV & off-road community stands behind them! Help us make the month of July Military Month every year!!

Stay tuned, we have a host of awesome content coming starting this week, you won’t want to miss it!

With Respect,

Joey D.

If you or your company want to join UTVUnderground.com, Mad Media, and Polaris RZR in supporting Military Month in off-road please send us an email to joeyd@utvunderground.com. We are offering advertising incentives for the month of July with all proceeds going toWarfighter Made. 

LIONS DEN CUSTOMS CUB 002

Everyone remembers their first time, especially a young man. That slightly stale yet sweet smell of leather, the wood, the noise and that sense of being pinned back in your seat. Classic cars, they really get under your skin and once you’ve experienced the raw thrill from a purer time it’s hard to be anything other than obsessed, or at the very least transfixed by their beauty.

Jack’s dad had an Austin Healey 3000S, painted in American racing colours and he remembers it fondly so when it came time for him to experience classic machinery for himself, inspiration was simple. Dan from Lion’s Den Customs was only too happy to sit down and go through the spec and design options over a coffee, as he too had HVD, Historic Vehicle Disease. Together Jack and Dan hatched a plan for a nostalgic looking Yamaha XS650, a donor they agreed could offer aesthetic similarity with one of the most iconic British sports cars from the late 1950s and early sixties.

With a brief signed off, this 1974 model was stripped right back to the frame. In order to bear resemblance to a Healey, there would be a stack of polishing and plating to be done so the guys from I Cleenz Macheenz in South London were given the heads up to expect a full load. In addition to the chroming Dan wanted to ensure a mirror finish on the aluminium parts, including the engine cases and fork legs. We hope he had some good tunes on the iPod as this lot looks like it took a fair while.

Those of you familiar with the Healey will no doubt recognise the fuel tank bulge on the Cub 002, reminiscent of the bonnet duct that helped direct cool air to the triple SU carbs. Dan spent ages trialling different shapes with card and went through five metal prototypes before committing and welding the hand-rolled scoop, the filler cap was then repositioned forward and to the right. The paint scheme is just as Jack remembers from his father’s car and looks resplendent against all that polished metal. Accents of are picked up in the fenders and even the handlebar mounts. Black Shuck Kustom took care of the paint, the blue being from the Peugeot colour chart and the cream is a freestyle mix.

Wire wheels were a must so the polished hubs were sent off to Essex Wheels & Engineering for lacing to stainless rims and classic patterned Dunlop T100s complete the job. The side panels are a combination of an aluminium frame with stainless steel mesh, inspired by the Healey’s radiator grille, just showing off the new battery box behind, highly polished of course.

Motogaget speedos might be fitted to nearly every build these days and one wouldn’t have looked out of place here, but the Smiths Digital Chronometric gauge adds that final 1% and is spot-on. Even the movement is similar to those jerky needles from half a century ago, but now with a digital tacho and idiot lights. Triumph T140 bars are wide with a decent sweep, again, perfect for the overall stance and left clean of cumbersome switchgear thanks to mini-toggle switches.

To achieve a neater, flatter line the subframe was removed and a new one fabricated, complete with repositioned shock mounts to take a pair of period looking Hagons. There had been talk of nickel plating the frame but Greg from Black Shuck insisted that the latest chrome powdercoat would provide a durable finish and look just as good. From here you can’t tell the difference and both Dan and Jack are delighted with the effect.

With all that shiny stuff going on, the engine could have ended up being somewhat lost so Dan squared-off the fins on the barrel before spraying black, he then spent what felt like an eternity polishing each fin edge by hand to match the sheen of the side cases. Whilst at it the rocker adjustment caps were buffed, the overall effect demonstrating that the big-bore XS engines really are one of the most handsome power plants ever made.

Proper black cow hide was used to upholster the seat, piped in cream, just like the figure-hugging bucket seats of old. Brit-style silencers add a bit of visual weight to the rear-end along with a sonorous soundtrack.

Dan is thoroughly pleased with how the Cub 002 rides and will now be fitting T140 bars to more builds in the future. Perhaps more important though is that newly qualified rider Jack is thrilled with his bike and needs to be prized off the thing, testament to the hard graft, long hours and weapons grade caffeine that went into this build. No rest for Dan though, Cub 003 is already well underway.

If you like what you see here, Cub 001 is for sale in the Bike Shed Custom Classifieds here and currently on display atBolt London, and you can keep an eye on progress of future projects on Facebook and Instagram.

via PIPEBURN