The bike was from 2004, but it was a “like new bike”. Mechanically it
was very nice, apart from the normal oxidation and some rusty parts. we
unmount almost everything in this bike. First we recovered all elements
that needed our attention, we shortened the rear, like we did in almost
every bike, and next we installed a really nice top of range equipment.
On the front, we install a new brake set, with Braking front disc and new brake caliper from Pretech with 6 pistons.
The front suspension had an upgrade from Ohlins.
New handlebar, handlebar supports, brake and clutch levers from Magura,
and all switches incorporated on the handlebar for a more simple look.
To finished the front look we install a beautiful Motogadget
to give all the info needed to the driver. The front light is a Harley
sportster headlight, painted to match the color scheme with a protector
grid.
Lisbon based Maria Riding Company have been building some very nice Triumph Twins over the last few years and here is their latest, which is based on an 2004 Triumph Bonneville. Maria describe themselves as having the ‘The Essence of Fun‘ and riding this nicely put together Triumph Twin, which has been named ‘Julijana’, ‘fun’ is exactly what you would have, especially if you took it up the odd dusty dirt track. 
The Julijana was built for a client, who had seen one of Maria previous builds named the Juliette and
wanted something similar, but with more rugged off-road looks. Although
the Juliette is the inspiration for this build, the guys at Maria wanted to take a different approaches, since they didn’t want to build two bikes the same.
Luis Correia founder of Maria Riding Company continues…
Our major objective was to built a extreme bonnie, with great equipment
and with a out of the box approach for a bonnie. Something more inspired
in the races, or the endure and motocross bikes. It was a mixed feeling
because, for one side we had loose a little from the classic looks but
by the other side we did something very different from the usual.
About the exhaust, our option was to have a small one. We choose a Zard,
different from the upper exhausts usually used on Scramblers. The sound
is massive! We retune the carbs, installed new air admission, with air
filters from K&N, new custom battery box, lithium battery, with all the original cables maintained, hided as good as possible.
On the back we added new Ohlins suspensions, new transmission set from Renthal, aluminium rear fender, with a posh backlight. More items installed were the black footpegs from Joker, aluminium turnlights, aluminium gas tank cover, and the custom black seat.
The painting was very intensive job of this project. From the engine
covers, to the valve and carbs covers, rims, hubs, headlights, tank, was
all chosed from the beginning to have this unique, agressive and
radical look. We loved the final looks of the tank with Julijana name
written on the top of the tank. The tires are Continental TKC 80.
In the final, we thought that we made one of our best handling Bonnies
ever. The bike is powerful and rides great, thanks to the nice
suspensions and brakes. It´s much more lighter than the original, and
it´s roars like a beast! Although any doubts on the visuals on the
beginning the think that the looks became outstanding on the overall! We
became very happy with the final result!
Check out more on our website in:
www.maria-ridingcompany.com
Busch and Busch build beautiful bikes, there's no denying it. In fact I was so in love with their Bultaco Matador that
I almost bought it! Their most recent build however, is much more than
just a visual feast, despite being jaw droppingly sexy. The Busch and
Busch Harley Davidson XLCH is a purpose built land speed racer. It's
bodywork required epic design, fabricating and finishing hours and what
they have planned for its engine will turn it into one helluva mean
machine. Like many builds getting it to the stage you see here has been
full of trials and tribulations and there's still more tasks to complete
to achieve their original vision for the bike. For now though the bike
is ready for its first run down the salt...but even getting that done
has been a challenge. I caught up with Lance Busch to get the low down
on the bike he and brother Danny built over the past 2 years, here's the
story as he explained it...
"You wouldn't believe how the bike looked when we first got it, so I
won't even show a picture, I will leave that up to your imagination-
but it was definitely a diamond in the rough. A 1972 XLCH Ironhead
Sportster motor, in an early 70's XL frame, with lots of stuff zip tied
on it to make it look complete. The frame had already been converted to
an Arlen ness neck sometime back, and it was actually well done- it was
just the rest of the bike that had been cobbled together to make a sort
of board track/skinny tire/street fighter/80's Hot Bike? In any case,
the first thing we did when we got home was toss everything in the scrap
pile and swapped frames. The skinny cast wheels and engine went in
another project for several years, while the frame got the donation of
running gear and wheels from another Ironhead we had. We then mocked on
a Bultaco Sherpa plastic tank, some clip-ons, a cobra seat, and drag
pipes.
It actually looked pretty tough! And, with the 5" backbone stretch of
the Ness Hardhead, it felt pretty cool when you leaned way down on the
clip-ons. It definitely had a drag bike feel to it, so we knew we were
on to something. With the Bultaco tank as a "buck" of sorts, we made
the fuel cover (more on that later) out of aluminum, and it was at that
point we make a tail section as well. When that was done, we decided to
go all out, and whipped up some Photoshop concepts of a full fairing.
Within three days, the excitement had overwhelmed us and the side panels
were roughed out and mocked into place. Then came the front
windscreen, then another, then a THIRD, and by that time it had really
started to take on its final appearance."
"The oil bag came next, and it looked pretty good, but we had decided
the bike would be turbo powered. The only place to hang the turbo was
right where the original horseshoe bag sat on the right side, so we had
to remake that, but larger to keep some semblance of oil capacity. With
the tank remade, the tail section was woefully undersized in
proportion! So the tail section got remade, and then we were done with
the easy part....
For a full year we had been mocking and re-mocking the bodywork,
figuring out what looked best , where the pipes for the turbo would go,
etc. We honestly spent more time staring at it and thinking than
actually fabricating. And not to mention- the rough out on the
bodywork was a far cry from what you see in the pics- there was the
matter of welding all the seams, making sure the oil bag was sealed,
mounting tabs that would isolate vibration, filling in the underside of
the tail section to act as a fender, trimming here and there, making it
fit up with each other panel, and on and on. And that brings up the
fuel tank "cover"- the plan all along was to make the tank shaped like
the Bultaco. But the problem was, we needed to be able to access the
top of the engine easily, and not have to disconnect fuel lines to do
so. At that point we decided the shell you see would flip up to expose
the real tank, which holds about 1 gallon, all we will need for a single
run."
"One of the hardest parts of the build was cramming everything under the
bodywork- the side panels flare out to clear the ginormous Sportster
primary cover, and the exhaust had to be carefully fit to clear the
magneto and the carb. It's kick only, so getting the lever to clear the
exhaust, shifter, and foot peg, while still not hitting the side panel
was particularly tough!
With the time crunch to prepare for speed week, and finances in the
dumps, we decided to pass on the turbo this year and just finish the
bike up to SCTA standards, get it inspected, and make a run to get our
toes wet. Unfortunately Speed Week was cancelled due to rain but we are
hoping to make the World Finals make-up event in October. The turbo
will have to wait till next year when we have time to build the new
exhaust, oil supply, and intake/intercooler ducting to feed the Mikuni
HSR42 carb. As it sits now, the exhaust is running where the turbo
would have been to fill out the empty gap on the right side. The engine
that had originally come in the bike was then swapped back in, until we
can build a ground up engine capable of handling the increased
compression. Sportsters are not exactly bulletproof!"
"When all the bodywork was mounted, the Dzus fasteners were all tested,
everything was lined up, etc., then it came time to polish. I left
Danny with the hard job, because making the panels took about half the
time that it did to painstakingly metal finish, wet sand, and buff them
to the brilliance of chrome! Luckily we had budgeted 3 weeks for that
process, so we were not left unprepared.
Everything on the bike was fabbed in our two car garage- the panels
were formed on Harbor "Fright" tools, bashed on a homemade beater bag,
sanded by hand and gone over with dull files. We did all the cutting,
spacers, axle sliders/brake mount fab and all the tube forming on the 6"
extended rear subframe (it was originally to be a YZ490 swing arm and
mono shock, but there was no room for the linkage!). The controls and
linkages are hand made, we fit a Ducati Performance steering damper up
front, and the forks were turned down and grooved on the lathe. The
seat was made by us (leather work is the main focus for our business,
"Busch and Busch Hand Crafted). All the machining, all the welding,
painting, tire changing, etc. was done in our humble home workshop. I'm
sure I left out tons of details, but it was a 2 year on-and-off
project, that changed numerous times after it was underway. We fought
constantly about the details, but we are extremely proud that we built
this start to finish with our own four hands, and it's definitely our
favorite project to date!"
First read on http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com
Hajarbroxx Motorcycles out of Bandung, Indonesia are producing some of the most unique customs we’ve seen for a while.
The good cop, a Kawasaki, has turned outlaw....ready to roam the streets of Jakarta.
Complete crazy construction, with a distinctive design.
The engine is police stock, with K&N filters for the look and to milk the horsepower.
It’s an Indonesian Kawasaki KZ1000P Police Edition named ‘Kwakazilla’
and thanks to it, criminal getaways in Indonesia were about as
successful as a North Korean metal band.
A lot of nice details were made for this motorcycle.
The tail and fairing were handmade by Hajarbroxx using aluminium.
They were going to use aluminium for the tank as well but ended up
using galvanised steel sheets, so they could shape it exactly the way
they wanted to.
You check out some of the other Hajarbroxx projects on their Facebook page.
The concept was to build a cafe racer with a 4-cylinders Japanese built
engine that still runs smooth and has legal papers. This bike is one of
the big Kwaka’s that were imported and used in 1992 for escorting
Presidents and Prime Ministers limousines when there was a large
political conference that was held in Jakarta. After the event ended a
lot of these bikes were sold and auctioned to civilians.
Gifny Richata – Hajarbroxx Motorcycles
It’s great to see builders in countries like Indonesia turning out
bikes that are easily as good as the American, Australian and European
custom builds that we usually see. Hajarbroxx’s first custom that saw
the big time was the “Kill Hill” bike featured on Bike Exif, comparing that bike to this one shows a clear design language and I, for one, can’t wait to see more from them.
It was built by Hajarbroxx Motorcycles of Bandung in Indonesia, a small custom workshop started by illustrator Gifny Richata and his mechanic friend Nandang.
The seat was crafted by the infamous leathersmith Xian Leather in New York – who apparently doesn’t do motorcycle related work anymore.
Photography by Krishna Kastubi]
Here the original Motorcycles originally was produced and destination for Police in some Asian countries As Kawasaki was starting to gain competition in the form of larger capacity motorcycles, they had no option but
to increase the capacity of the Z900, and thus the Z1000 was born.
The engine design remained basically the same as the Z900, however the bore of the cylinders was increased from
66mm to 70mm bringing the new capacity to 1015cc.
UK and European models were designated Z1000 whereas the American model was known as the KZ1000.
The same machine was was featured in the television show CHiPs, wherein it was ridden by the protagonist characters Ponch and Jon, two California Highway Patrol officers. The bike was also used in various other TV shows and feature films such as Great Teacher Onizuka (a Japanese anime series) and Chain Reaction (Keanu Reeves' character's bike). The Kz1000 was also featured heavily in the 1979 movie Mad Max, in which a 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000 was ridden by the Main Force Patrol officer Jim Goose, played by Steve Bisley.[3]
Parts of the story appeared on http://www.pipeburn.com
In the cuisine game they call it a fusion. In music it’s known as a
mash-up. And in biology it’s a hybrid. Put simply, it’s when you take
two different things and make something new, unexpected and original.
Now take that thought and consider today’s builder, one Sasaki-san of
Brooklyn’s Keino Cycles. He’s bringing the Japanese obsession with craft
and dedication to America, the birthplace of cool. So let’s meet the
latest result of this grand cultural collision – it’s an unexpected take
on a Yamaha XJR1300 created for the company’s “Yard Built Specials”
project, entitled ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.
The bike is a concept born from the search for inspiration by Yamaha
themselves. The collaboration between themselves and Keino is one of
many the Japanese company has sought out. It, like many of the world’s
top manufacturers, has tweaked to the global bike community’s
ever-growing love for bespoke transport and has kicked off projects with
some of the world’s best custom builders, a list which also includes
the Wrenchmonkees, Deus Ex Machina, Marcus Walz and Roland Sands.
As you can see, Keino’s work on the XJR is more than a little
original. The first eye-catcher is probably the lower, slimmer fuel tank
with the matching scalloped tailpiece. It’s just about now you’ll
probably notice the inclusion of Keino’s signature springer front-end
designed suspension. Sure, it’s unexpected on a bike like this, but it’s
hard to argue that it doesn’t work well.
But the customising doesn’t stop there. There’s custom brake mounts, a
new headlight assembly and custom handlebars. The bike also gets a
Brembo brake upgrade, exposed air filters and a single seat on top of a
custom rear frame. The special rear shocks match the front springer
system and eagle-eyed classic car lovers will recognise the rear light
is an original piece from a vintage MG sports car.
The retro, Yamaha-inspired paint job and gold wheels set the bike off
well and a set of throaty side exhausts and mufflers completes the
look. Keino’s inspiration for the XJR build comes from Yamaha’s 90s
bikes along with a clear passion for the Japanese inline four air-cooled
engine.
Considering Keino’s first motorcycle influences as a child were all
Yamaha 650 ones, he somehow seems to have been destined to be working
with Yamaha on a custom bike at some point. And judging by what we see
here, we doubt this will be the last. Bring ‘em on, we say.
Venturing into the left field is risky business for any builder. Go too
far, and you could end up with a garish and impractical machine. But
ride the line between quirky and classy just right, and you’ll have a
hit on your hands.
Christian Schwarzenlander’s Yamaha SR500-based “ExesoR MACHINE” strikes that balance beautifully. Operating out of Germany as ExesoR Motorcycles, Christian’s aim was to build a café-racer-styled custom, “with a touch of Dieselpunk.”
Christian picked up the SR500 for a steal—but it was totally
disassembled. “Even the engine was taken apart,” he says, “but it was
90% complete and no important parts were missing.” Naturally, the engine
received a full overhaul—finished off with bespoke cooling fins. It now
inhales through a velocity stack, and exhales via a stainless steel
exhaust system from Two Hands Motorcycles.
For the bodywork, Christian turned to Bernhard Naumann, AKA Blechmann,
for assistance. Bernard is an accomplished builder in his own right,
known for building “Walton”—a wild Norton-powered chopper
that took 6th place at the Sturgis World Championships in 2010. “His
knowledge was essential for the final result,” says Christian. The two
are now good friends.
Bernard was responsible for the SR500’s seat (covered in tobacco brown leather), and he’s modified an Omega Racer
fairing to suit the bike. The tank is also from Omega Racer, now fitted
with a custom filler cap. All the bodywork is aluminum, finished in a
raw, semi-matte effect. Furthering the Dieselpunk agenda are various
brass components—including fastener covers.
The re-wired SR500 now sports a custom ignition system, complete with a
hand-built coil and cool little electron tube indicator light (below).
The bulk of the new harness is stashed away under the seat. Embedded in
the fairing are two LED headlights, and out back is a one-off tail
light.
Christian made extensive mods to the frame too. It’s been cleaned up
and reinforced in key areas, and shortened in the rear—with a pair of
LED turn signals embedded in the tubing. There’s a new swingarm, made
out of two SR500 units, and 7cm longer than stock. The frame and
swingarm are painted in a color taken from Porsche’s swatch book: Seal
Grey.
The front suspension has been lowered and upgraded with Wirth springs,
and a pair of custom Hagon shocks prop up the rear. The original Yamaha
SR500 wheels are now painted in an antique copper color and fitted with
Avon tires.
The final product is kitted with a Daytona speedo, LSL rear-sets and
Fehling clip-ons—adorned with a pair of hand-crafted aluminum and
leather grips. Christian has also fitted custom sleeved cables, a
CNC-machined brake fluid reservoir and a host of other fine details that
reward close inspection.
ExesoR’s SR500 is a great example of the interplay between creativity
and functionality. I’d even go as far as to call it art—and rideable art
at that.
Photos by David Matl. Keep in touch with ExesoR via Christian’s website or Facebook page.
The post Yamaha SR500 by ExesoR Motorcycles appeared first on Bike EXIF
Is there any remaining doubt that Rough Crafts is one of the world’s top custom Harley builders? On the evidence of this new Dyna, I don’t think so.
‘Urban Cavalry’ is not your typical Harley build. For starters, it’s
an official commission—a gift to the custom scene from the folks at
Harley-Davidson Taiwan. Even better, they gave Rough Crafts’ Winston Yeh
the freedom to pursue his own direction, and he chose performance.
‘Performance’ and ‘Harley-Davidson’ are words not usually found in the
same sentence. But this machine, based on a 2014-spec Dyna Street Bob,
shows what’s possible. “The Dyna platform has a good balance between
engine power and bike size,” says Yeh. “Out of all the current Harley
model families, it’s also got the best potential for good handling.”
To ramp up the dynamics, Yeh has fitted a complete new front end, with upside-down sportbike forks supplied by Satya Kraus.
“Satya has been a great friend for several years now,” says Yeh. “And
I’ve always loved his Dynamoto Front End kit with Öhlins forks. To match
it, we fitted blacked-out Öhlins shocks at the back.” Yeh also
installed an aluminum swingarm from Roaring Toyz and a BDL open belt
drive, both of which reduce weight even further.
The brake system is equally high end. The dark metal composite rotors
were custom-made by the US firm Lyndall Racing Brakes, and they’re
hooked up to six-piston calipers from exotic Swedish brand ISR. Brake
fade will never be an issue.
The stock Dyna has a surfeit of torque, so the powertrain upgrades are
restricted to the engine breathing. The 103 ci (1689 cc) motor gets a
boost from S&S ‘Super G’ carburetion—plus a quite extraordinary
exhaust system. It’s from Dog House Racing, Taiwan’s premium titanium
exhaust fabricator.
“I’ve known Dog House for years and always wanted to work with him,”
says Yeh. “It’s just that our blacked-out, vintage-style bikes haven’t
been a good fit for the ‘titanium rainbow’ effect he creates. But now,
for this performance-driven bike, it was the perfect time to make a full
titanium system. So we sat down together, and came up with a design
similar to Rough Crafts’ classic ‘Bomber’ 2-into-1 pipe.”
Despite the new-found focus on tearing up the asphalt, the Dyna is the best example yet of the stunning Rough Crafts ‘look’.
With a narrow custom tank and a superbike-inspired tail unit, there’s a
distinct air of vintage sci-fi. It’s the kind of machine you could
imagine racing through the streets in Blade Runner.
The finish is almost entirely monochrome, with black anodized hard
parts offset by semi-gloss grey paint from Air Runner. Even the Arlen
Ness Beveled Wheels, 18” at the front and 17” at the back, have been
completely blacked out. The only glimpses of color are the titanium
exhaust pipework, the fork tubes, and tiny brass highlights on the
pushrod collars made by 2 Abnormal Sides.
I wouldn’t call myself a Harley guy, but I’d be happy to have this bike
in my garage. Correction: I would gladly sell a close family member to
put this bike in my garage.
Top marks to Rough Crafts for another out-of-this-world build.
Visit the Rough Crafts website | Facebook | Instagram | Harley-Davidson Taiwan
The post Rough Crafts’ Harley Dyna “Urban Cavalry” appeared first on Bike EXIF.
