Triumph Bonneville – Maria Motorcycles

Written by Martin Hodgson.

Portugal’s Maria Motorcycles has a glowing reputation for building quality custom motorcycles that leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of perfection. So it was no surprise when they got a call from a Triumph Bonneville aficionado who had a 2001 model he wanted built to scrambler spec. So confident was the owner, he gave Maria no design brief but having previously built a Spitfire-themed Bonnie the boys had the bright idea to again follow the World War II angle. Only this time with something from the other side of the Channel, a German-themed military spec vehicle that goes by the name of Luther.

The Triumph Bonneville is just a good-looking bike, very few enthusiasts would ever complain about its look and as history has shown its classic style lends itself perfectly to further aesthetic enhancement. Straight from the factory Triumph give you a beautiful tank and Maria saw no reason for a change, what they have done is laid down a two-tone utilitarian green paint job that instantly gives a war machine feel. The colour is perfectly broken up by white striping and Maria Motorcycles logos, while the green with white theme is carried over to the Harley Vintage headlight and cleverly adapted to the green side covers with white mesh vents.

If military green has a perfect bedfellow it’s the rich dark leather that covers the custom seat with heavy white stitching that is now the perch for the lucky Bonnie pilot. To tidy up the rear the frame has been shortened and the exposed pipe ends plugged with a bobbed aluminium rear fender keeping the whole show mud free. There is no front fender but an aluminium skid plate protects the engine from front end contact, although I’m not sure I could bring myself to take this beauty off-road. To finish the look the carb tops are painted in the darker shade of green that adorns much of the bike but the valve covers have been coated with an in your face yellow just to break it all up.

I could never get bored of the Triumph Twin, I’m sure by now you’ve heard me bang on about it but as Maria have proven time and again it really is the perfect Scrambler engine. You barely have to get it revving before 90% of the engine’s torque is available until it’s time to shift, it might be old school tech, but a torque curve that flat is engineering brilliance.

To increase the aural joys of the thumping twin Maria fitted up a beautifully crafted 2-into-1 Zard stainless system that restores much of the music of the older triumph motors. For a few extra ponies the carburettors were rebuilt and retuned and throttle response is now instantaneous at any rpm. One of the things that makes Maria Motorcycles such standout builders is their attention to detail, close enough is not good enough for them and so the engine was completely cleaned, fitted with all new bolts and clamps before being repainted above and beyond factory specs.

Tyre choice can be the make or break on a custom bike and even more so on a scrambler, sure you can throw some big tread on for aesthetic purposes but if the tyres are useless on anything but mud the bike becomes a bit of a statue. The Maria crew made no such mistake, the Metzeler Karoo 3’s give the look as well as brilliant off and on road performance. They’re fitted to relaced wheels with the rims coated in green and Luther comes to a screaming halt thanks to the addition of a wave style front rotor. If you are going to be playing off-road then the fitment of new aluminium Renthal sprockets and chain makes perfect sense least you be re-oiling daily and the front item is treated to a custom cover.

Wrestling the beast is left to a set of handlebars by LSL topped with grips from the ever popular Posh. To keep Luther road legal and free to roam Portugal’s back roads or motorways indicators have been fitted front and rear with clear lenses to minimise their visual impact. Tidying things up even further is the custom aluminium speedo bracket that holds just a single speedo and the ignition has been relocated with thanks to a kit–also from LSL. The finishing touch was a final nod to the World War II era with the chrome removed from the gas cap to reveal copper like raw metal tones as if it was an oversized button from an officer’s uniform.

With the customer being a true Bonnie man, the inclusion of USD forks would never have suited his taste but adjustable progressive shocks help that meaty rear rubber grab whatever surface they’re asked to take on. With a Triumph collection parked up at home you could forgive the owner for letting Luther sit in the corner gaining all the attention thanks to his German precision looks. But Maria Motorcycles aren’t putting Lisbon’s custom bike scene on the map by building static displays so you better believe this Brit in a German uniform gets just the sort of flogging he deserves.

via PIPEBURN

The Wrenchmonkees Moto Guzzi Falcone – from stallion to Viking warrior

The Moto Guzzi Falcone – usually painted in race-ready red – was one of the most desirable Italian motorbikes of the 1950s and 1960s. But, as this custom Guzzi by the Wrenchmonkees from Copenhagen shows, turning this Italian stallion into a Viking warrior works just as well…

Monkee #42, a product of Danish bike cutomisation workshop Wrenchmonkees, is based on a Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone, the early-1970s follow-up to the popular Falcone of the ’50s and ’60s. After extensive modification (mainly simplification) by the Danish dudes, the Falcone’s Italian heritage is now barely apparent: the bike instead oozes Nordic noir. While the frame was left unaltered, the Wrenchmonkees increased the capacity of the Guzzi’s original, rebuilt engine to 600cc. They replaced the seat, the lights, the mudguards and sundry parts with tailor-made items, to give a pared-down overall appearance. The original tank was swapped for a Suzuki GS unit. Unfortunately, this seductive Nuovo-Scandivian has been snapped up already, but browsing the Wrenchmonkees' current offers is always worth a few minutes of your time.

Photos: Wrenchmonkees

Many classic Moto Guzzis can be found for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

STRATON WATCHES ARE FOR DRIVERS

Cars and watches go together like PB&J, and enthusiasts are often collectors or admirers of both. But with well-established watch brands’ long history of supporting automobile competition, drivers, and technical improvements, it’s difficult for a new generation of car and watch enthusiasts to make their mark. Straton Watch Co.’s Vintage Driver Chronograph, however, seems to be off to a strong start. Even though it’s already been successfully funded on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding service allows potential customers to over-fund a project in order to secure a future order or help the company “make good” on promises for hitting larger funding goals. Supporting Straton before September 4 ensures you’re in the queue and part of the first delivery, scheduled for December–January of the upcoming new year. Behind Straton is Kyle Schut, a 30-year-old car enthusiast who took inspiration from his ’77 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT, specifically its Veglia Borletti tachometer. Just like the car, at night the watch glows green. With a stainless steel case designed wholly in-house, the look of the timepiece is both technical and rugged-looking, and perfectly fits the character of ’70s design. It’s also designed to be both usable and affordable, so its movement is by Seiko. For wearers who have a small but growing collection and use the Straton as an everyday accessory, its leather case will ensure the watch travels well. If you want to support Straton before funding is over, you have until September 4 to reserve your purchase, from a simple Martini-inspired watch band to limited-edition timepieces. After that, you’ll just have to wait and see where Schut will take his driver-focused watches next. More information about the Vintage Driver Chronograph and Straton Watch Co.: kickstarter.com stratonwc.com facebook.com instagram.com

The Raiden Files - Portland to Dakar - A Riding Movie

Icon sends it's best riders on an adventure that tests man and machine to the limit in every condition imaginable. There's action, there's adventure, there's romance, there's drama. It's more than a riding video, it's a movie. Sit back and enjoy the show.

Night Cruise // BMW R100 Cafe Racer

Ever seen one of those bikes on Bike Exif or Pipeburn that look great - until someone sits on them? That's not the case with this custom 1977 BMW R100!

Night Cruise // BMW R100 Cafe Racer: Short Film from Max Daines on Vimeo.

Django Django

Mercury music prize nominees Django Django became obsessed by the infamous Indian Well of Death riders in Allahabad. So, naturally, they asked Noisey if we'd be up for travelling over to India and standing right in the middle of large lumps of precariously speeding metal for a day, to film a video for their track "Wor". We happily obliged, getting our shoes stolen in the process, but it was worth it to meet a bunch of guys with the most rock solid testicles we've ever come across.

Django Django - WOR from Jim Demuth on Vimeo.

Bauhaus for sale – Marcel Breuer’s Stillman House to be auctioned

To acquire a real masterpiece of Bauhaus architecture – this is an opportunity that comes up only very rarely. But on 19 November 2015, the American auction house Wright will offer a bungalow in Connecticut, in which several masters of modern art were involved.

Marcel Breuer is one of the most important designers of the 1920s, working alongside Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Breuer emigrated to the USA in 1937, where he first taught as a professor of architecture at Harvard and then, in the early 1940s, opened his own office. One of Breuer’s houses was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where the Bauhaus architect came to the attention of Rufus and Leslie Stillman - and without further ado, the development of a residential building in Litchfield, Connecticut was commissioned from Breuer. Between 1950 and 1953, a house, a studio and a pool were created from Breuer’s plans.

Three masters of modern art

The main house used glass, colour and natural materials in the post-War style that Breuers had developed at Harvard together with Walter Gropius. But Breuer also had extensive help when it came to the house’s facilities: the outer wall at the end of the swimming pool was decorated with a huge mural by none other than the artist Alexander Calder, while Breuer’s former Bauhaus colleague Xanti Schawinsky created a mural inside the house. Given that three great masters of modern art have immortalised their work in the Stillman House, the Wright auction house's estimate of two to three million dollars seems relatively modest.

For more information about the sale at auction of the Stillman House on 19 November 2015 by Wright, see wright20.com. You can also find numerous attractive properties for sale in the Classic Driver Market. 

Yamaha XV750 – Hageman Motorcycles

Written by Martin Hodgson.

The artist and engineer usually come at their work from completely different ends of the creative continuum and often go together about as well as a bull in a china shop. But on the rare occasion they do mix well, the results are truly spectacular – and this Custom Yamaha Virago known as “GoGo” just happens to be one such example.

The artist and owner is photographer extraordinaire Erick Runyon and the engineer is the king of custom Yamaha’s, the one and only, Greg Hageman. Erick photographs Greg’s spectacular creations and it was at one of their get-togethers that they discussed seeing how nice a job they could do on a XV750 with a limited budget.

The bike was built and that might have been the end of the story until as Erick explains “I was shooting another build for Greg that fell on me in the studio and broke my knee in two places”. Out of action for six months the budget XV750 would look at the crippled Erick and whisper ideas into his creative brain, ideas that Erick would suggest to Greg over the phone. Given that they live in the same Neighbourhood Greg had the bike brought over to his place and with the budget now “extended” GoGo was about to go from budget build to one of Hageman’s XV masterpieces!

What makes GoGo so special is not just that it was built by Hageman but that there were also contributions from some of the best in the business. The front end is the work of Alain Bernard of Santiago Choppers who put the GSXR 1000 forks on the Yamaha frame. The wheel and tyre combination take chunky to a whole new level, wheels are 16 inches front and rear with incredible custom inserts from Sean Skinner of MotoRelic. While the tyres themselves are one-off Dunlop American Elites normally reserved for Harley’s fleet of touring bikes, measuring a giant 130 in the front and 150 in the rear with raised yellow Dunlop lettering.

Power for the XV750 now comes from its big brother the XV1100 a conversion Greg did himself and one that makes great sense given the 1063cc donk punches out a considerable improvement in torque over the stock 750 and does it much lower in the rev range. Fuelling the V-twin is now a single carburettor from the kings of V muscle, Harley Davidson, this particular item being from a Sportster model complete with a grilled cone filter. As mentioned earlier there were contributions to this build from some big names and the shorty stainless steel muffler finishing off the growling exhaust comes from Florida’s kings of café racer cool, Dime City Cycles who also provided many of the other bolt on mods.

Greg Hageman has pioneered one of the most enduring looks of the café racer Renaissance, the fitting of Benelli’s Mojave tank to the Virago series of bikes and it is simply a match made in heaven. With artistic input from Erick and guns swung by two of his friends Moe from Moe Colors and Craig Skiver of Craig Paints Bikes the mix of raw metal and deep red find their homes in all the right places creating an industrial feel that works perfectly with the aggressive stance of the rest of the build. While many would paint the swingarm black or the same colour as the frame Erick had Joe from ProFab Powder coating finish the metal in a clear powder that not only further enhances the size of the rear tyre it further accentuates the negative space offered up by the new seat arrangement. Which comes the way of a totally redesigned and custom fabricated subframe that supports a beautifully stitched single seat.

Everywhere you look on GoGo, whether it be form or function, it is clear that Greg and Erick were speaking the same language, even if Erick admits his constant changes of mind may have gone close to driving Greg up the wall. It can often be that a great build falls down in the final details, but not here, the purposeful custom rearsets aren’t just added for cool factor they are exactly what is needed when converting a cruiser to a café racer. The headlight also plays its role with a raw metal finish and aggressive grill expanding on the tough industrial look.

While just below the Yamaha logo on the seat sits a neat LED strip that takes care of taillight and turn signal duties. More of the meshing between artist and engineer comes in the little touches you could easily over look. Hiding parts behind rattle can black paint is an easy way out but Erick and Greg have left items like the forward engine mount and shaft drive in their raw state and it’s these little touches that are as equally as important as the major changes in creating a machine that is truly world-class.

With such an incredible team assembled and Erick’s artistic vision recreated into an automotive masterpiece there is just one part of the story left to tell. The nickname “GoGo” comes from a sexy little assassin GoGo Yubari – a character from the Kill Bill movie. And if a severely disturbed 17-year-old schoolgirl is on her way to disembowel you in a horrific style only Quentin Tarantino could dream up she may as well be aboard her namesake, a Greg Hageman special shot to fame by the Superfoto himself, Erick Runyon!

[Photos by–you guessed it—Erick Runyon]

via PIPEBURN

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR)

Photo by Amy Shore

Written by Mark Hawwa – Founder of the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride had very basic beginnings when I created the event three years ago. I wanted to unite the classic and custom classic motorcycle scene. This idea turned into 2,500 dapper ladies and gents riding on the same day throughout 64 cities all across the globe back in 2012.

This year again, ladies and gents will be dressing in their finest for this ride on the same day, only now with over 30,000 riders across over 80 countries. This has turned into what would have to be the largest global rides held. The 400 cities involved in this years ride has formed a beautiful community for riders of café racers, bobbers, classics, brats, trackers, choppers and everything niche bike in-between.

Photo by Amy Shore

This common passion for machines and riding has evolved into something even bigger, and in 2013 we made the decision to support a cause that was affecting countless people. We teamed up with multiple prostate cancer foundations across the globe, and our goal this year is to raise $3 million to aid in prostate cancer research.

Photo by Baptiste David

It has been an amazing journey for me and everyone involved. Very testing at times and the logistics of such a large event will never be easy. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the help of literally thousands of people dedicating their time and effort to the cause. One of my favourite parts of DGR is checking out the amazing photography from the 4 corners of the globe. Here’s a selection of my favourite images from 2014.

If you haven’t already signed up for the DGR ride, make sure you register at gentlemansride.com and raise some money for a great cause. 

Photo by Aymeric Michaud

Main street of Sydney. Photo by Baptiste David

Zurich ride. Photo by Christain Jung

Porto, Portugal. Photo by Delfina Brochado

London. Photo by Amy Shore.

Sydney gentleman. Photo by My Media Sydney.

London ride. Photo by Amy Shore.

Dutch from the Bike Shed. Photo by Amy Shore.

A dapper Ducati hitting the streets of London. Photo by Amy Shore.

Andrew from Pipeburn smoking a pipe. Photo by Baptiste David.

The French ladies looking the part at the Paris ride. Photo by Laurent Nivalle

Yard Built Goes Racing at Dirt Quake IV

This year’s annual Dirt Quake event in the UK, Dirt Quake IV proved a great opportunity to prove this theory and give one of Yamaha’s latest Yard Built creations a proper work out. Yamaha teamed up with recent collaborators Deus Ex Machina to bring the Yard Built ‘D-Side’ trackside for some dirt track action.