Bike EXIF

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Rocketeer Style: A custom Vectrix EV from Shiny Hammer

To die-hard petrolheads, electric scooters are harbingers of a dark future. They’re seen as soulless machines that place economy and practicality far above style and emotion.Luckily for us, there are those that see potential for more. Last month we featured a gob-smacking BMW C-based sprint racer. …

Porsche

Hot Seat: A Yamaha inspired by the Eames Lounge Chair

Custom bike builders often find inspiration from unlikely places. And furniture designers seem to have a particular affinity for motorcycles—Stefano Venier being the most high profile.But this elegant Yamaha is the first build we’ve seen that’s directly inspired by an iconic furniture design. It’s …

Motorcycles

Custom Bikes Of The Week: 17 September, 2017

Bare metal cafe racers from Spain and Italy are spinning our wheels this week, plus a Honda XR600R tracker conversion and a fluoro orange Yamaha FZ-09 from Australia.Honda XR600R by Vintage Addiction Crew The Crew are no strangers to these parts. They’ve impressed us couple of times before with …

Motorcycles

Watchlist: The Best Motorcycle Photographers, Part II

We’re often asked what the ‘EXIF’ in Bike EXIF means. If you don’t know, it stands for ‘Exchangeable Image File format,’ referring to the data a digital camera saves when it takes a snap.Basically we care as much about photos as we do about motorcycles. Without good photos, Bike EXIF wouldn’t be …

Photography

Cloud Chaser: The BOTT XR1R Pikes Peak Racer

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is madness of the highest order. Racers blast through the 12-mile course at breakneck speed—climbing 4,720 feet and navigating 156 turns, right on the edge of disaster.Tackling it on two wheels takes tons of skill, massive cojones and a few loose screws. And a …

Carbon Fiber

Sketches of Spain: A TW125 from the Basque Country

Dumbador is a small workshop based in San Sebastián, the Spanish city that sits on the Atlantic coastline of the Basque Country. And like a lot of the most interesting work these days, it’s from a part-time shop run by hobbyists who work full-time elsewhere during the day.‘Boo’ is a Yamaha TW, and …

Spain

Sports Tourer to Street Tracker: Deep Creek’s Ducati ST2

Kris Reniers clearly has a way with Ducatis. The last bike we featured from his Deep Creek Cycleworks shop was a Ducati 750SS bitsa of the highest order, and now he’s turned his attention to the Ducati ST2.Except he hasn’t transformed the 944cc L-twin sport bike into a classy cafe or endurance …

Motorcycles

Ducati Hypermotard custom: ‘Hector’ by Be Unique 2.22

There’s a definite trend towards the sleek and contemporary in the custom scene right now. We see it in the smooth metallurgy of builders such as Auto Fabrica, JvB-Moto and Vagabund, and the CAD magic of guys like Paolo Tex.But this Swiss-built Ducati is a reassuring reminder that old school craft …

Classic Cars

Custom Bikes Of The Week: 10 September, 2017

A slinky Honda CBR250RR from a builder called Lunatic, a BMW R nineT tribute to the Dakar crushing R/80 GS, a 280-pound fun machine from JSK Moto and a gorgeous Moto Guzzi Le Mans from Officine Rossopuro. Scroll down for eye candy of the highest order.BMW R nineT by XTR Pepo We’re big fans of BMW’s …

Motorcycles

Smooth Operator: Vagabund’s sleek BMW R100R

For some people, building a minimalist motorcycle simply means stripping off as much stuff as possible. And practicality be damned. But there’s a higher path: one that uses complex solutions to achieve maximum simplicity, without sacrificing an iota of functionality.That’s the philosophy behind …

Motorcycles

This Buell is a Glimpse into the Future of Customization

Call us romantic, but we love the idea of old-school craftsmanship. The process of starting a project on a piece of paper, and bringing it to life with English wheels and planing hammers. It’s how this beloved scene of ours was built: by hand.But although we’re enamored by the tools of the past, …

3D Printing

Mild To Wild: A Brutal BMW R 1200 GS from Cherry’s

It’s not surprising that we don’t see many customs based on the BMW R 1200 GS. It might be the world’s most popular ADV bike, but it’s also crammed with tech and bigger than Ben Hur. Firestones and pipewrap simply won’t cut it here.That didn’t deter Kaichiro Kurosu of Cherry’s Company from having a …

Motorcycles

Space Hopper: A Yamaha SR250 for bouncing around town

John Eldridge has the kind of life most of us would envy. He’s an accomplished surfer, he runs a board shaping business and an award-winning café, and he lives in one of the most beautiful parts of England—Cornwall, in the south west.He also likes to build the occasional motorcycle under the name …

Runway Success: An aviation-styled Guzzi from Costa Rica

Not every builder we feature works on motorcycles for a living—for many, it’s a hobby or a sideline business. But we’ve never come across someone with as many hobbies as Gian Maria Traversone.Gian works as a building contractor, but also runs GMT Atelier—a workshop on the beach in the tropical …

Motorcycles

Custom Bikes Of The Week: 3 September, 2017

An incredible Ducati 750 Imola replica from Indonesia, a hot-rodded Honda CT70 from the USA, a Bonnie from Spain and a Yamaha XV950R from Germany. We’ve earned a lot of air miles this week.Honda CT70 by DavmoMoto We’ve always got time for a mini bike, whether it’s a new Honda Grom or an older …

Motorcycles

King of Kool: A custom Husqvarna FE 501 from Deus Milano

Nearly forty years after his death, Steve McQueen’s image is still being used to sell everything from motorcycles to T-shirts. But here’s the irony: the classic bikes that we associate with his name today were cutting-edge contemporary at the time.In the 60s he favored a Metisse Desert Racer, and …

Motorcycles

Cool As: Customizing a 63-year-old Ural in Siberia

You find custom builders in the most unlikely of places. A month ago, we featured a bike from Hong Kong for the first time; today, we’re showing our first custom from Siberia. It’s a little different to our usual fare, but bear with us.This rather stylish little bobber-flavored Ural chop comes from …

Siberia

Federal Moto Spice up the Royal Enfield Continental GT

The holy grail of most custom builders is to develop a signature style. But there’s no exact science to this. It can be deliberate—like sticking to one genre of build or a single marque, or repeating specific details or colors. But it can just as easily be coincidental; a byproduct of the …

Motorcycles

Road tested: Gear from Aether, Pagnol and Vaktare

We’re always trying to unearth motorcycling’s latest and greatest apparel around here. So we cast a pretty wide net, and whittle our catch down to the finest of gear. But every now and then, kit from lesser-known, independent makers gets dragged in with the haul.These indie gear gurus don’t have …

Clothing

BMW Motorrad x Krautmotors C evolution

In Europe, maxi scooters are everywhere, and electric power is heading for the mainstream. So it was only a matter of time before we saw an OEM-sanctioned custom, and here it is: a radical BMW C evolution drag bike from Rolf Reick of Krautmotors.With its stealth bomber looks and low-riding stance, …

BMW

Gird Thyself: A Buell Blast Built in a Chicago Apartment

Remember the Buell Blast? The 492cc single-cylinder starter bike was a far cry from the American company’s usual off-the-wall offerings. It was most at home in Harley’s rider training program—until Erik Buell announced the end of the range by dropping one into a vehicle crusher.So it might surprise …

Alexa

The Orbiter: A scrambled XSR700 from Maria Motorcycles

In two weeks, Yamaha will go public with a new adventure bike—a production version of the T7 concept that a small group of European journalists tested back in June. Why’s that relevant? Because it’ll be powered by the same 689cc, parallel-twin motor as the XSR700.We can argue about the looks of the …

Motorcycles

C-Seven: Deus nails the vintage Triumph bobber

We owe the Australian company Deus a lot of credit for kick starting the current custom boom. When Dare Jennings and his partners opened the doors of their converted Sydney warehouse, it was all about Yamaha SR conversions and Kawasaki W650s.These days, you’re just as likely to see a Harley …

Vintage

As New: Reviving a Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica

There are purists who baulk at the thought of changing even one bolt on a classic motorcycle—and then there’s folks like us. When you spend your days curating the world’s finest custom motos, you can appreciate a tasteful set of mods on even the most sacred of machines.But there are some …

Motorcycles

Iron Riot: Harley Softail custom by One Way Machine

Julian von Oheimb is the German master of Milwaukee metal. He’s been on the podium at the AMD World Championship an incredible three times—with one win and two runner-up places. And that’s in the ferociously competitive Modified Harley-Davidson class.Last year, Julian decided he needed a showpiece …

Custom Bikes Of The Week: 20 August, 2017

Dustin Kott returns with the bike he said he’d never build. Plus a sleek Harley Super Hooligan racer, and a Benelli restomod from a pair of Barcelona dental surgeons. It’s a toothsome selection this week.Benelli Tornado by Elegant Apparatus When the topics of dentists and motorcycles intertwine, it …

Red Alert: Ducati 900 SS i.e. by Moscow’s Birdie Customs

Customizing a motorcycle is often a game of knowing what to change, and what to leave alone. Some bikes have attributes that you’d want to highlight rather than hide—like the Ducati 900 SuperSport, and its iconic trellis frame.On the stock machine it’s barely peeking out from behind a fairing. …

Motorcycles

A superlight Scrambler Ducati from Rough Crafts

The Scrambler has been a huge sales hit for Ducati, accounting for about a quarter of all Ducatis registered worldwide. It’s also attracted the attention of the world’s top customizers, with tantalizing builds from Krugger, Holographic Hammer, Untitled and Marcus Walz.Now it’s the turn of Rough …

Subtle Deception: A Harley Sportster bobber from 2LOUD

Old bikes are unquestionably cool. But if you buy one, you’re on the fast track to becoming a self-made mechanic, specializing in that specific brand and model.So how do you produce all the steeze of the good ol’ days, without any of the headaches? 2LOUD Custom has the answer—and it’s a clever form …

Vintage

Blast From the Past: Storik’s Triumph cafe racer ‘Rafale’

New builders tend to slide discreetly into the scene rather than explode. But occasionally someone arrives with a bang—and so it is with Laurent Amann of Storik, who built this extraordinary vintage Triumph called ‘Rafale.’Rafale means ‘gust of wind’ in French, and this Meriden-era triple is all …

Motorcycles