Very tasty CB500 Cafe Racer.

Really nicely done. It maintains a "real world" riding position. And I love the blacked out rims.

Hell of a sweet Scrambler!

Ho hum... just another fantastic BMW aircooled cafe racer. What a great build!!

A pair of Royal Enfield 250cc GP5 racers.

Thanks again Dave.

BSA 350cc Fury. Unusual "last gasp" bike..

I didn't know about this bike. Interesting attempt at a double overhead cam engine. More info HERE

Thanks again Dave!

UPDATE: Reader ride. KZ1000 shaft drive streetfighter.

Reader John Cripe sends in some pics of his KZ1000 shaft drive streetfighter. I'm labeling it a streetfighter but it really more than that. I love bikes like this. It's the kind of build that you might think about but only one in a billion might try. And what a great result. That rear end is inspired.

Thanks Much for the pics!


John Writes:

Steve,

Thanks for the thumbs up comments.

I'll give you some history on the BIMON. The acronym stands for "built in memory of Nigel" My son we lost in 2004. I needed something to get my head into and we rode motocross together so a tribute bike seemed appropriate. The 65 is his AMA number.

The build; I purchased the KZ,my second 1000 shaft, at a yard sale for $125.00. I had no intention of doing the build then but the bike was in sad shape and I thought it would be a parts bike if needed. I stripped it down and put it in boxes. It sat for months.. I honestly didn't have a clue on the direction it would go but I new it had to be special. I originally thought a mono-shock would be cool. So I got out the sawsall and cut the sub frame off. At that point I was committed so I purchased a used R1 shock off ebay and began the drawings to design the shock mount to the swingarm. I was never good in geometry so I guessed at a good trajectory for the shock and gusseted the frame and swingarm to handle the weight. After the shock was mounted I designed a new shorter and lower sub frame, put the engine back in the frame and checked the sag. The sub frame almost touched the rear tire so I knew I had to do something different. I got another R1 shock and cut away and redesigned the mounts for 2 shocks and it worked great. I cut the original seat pan for the seat and used the orig tail but cut it in more of a Z1 shape. Ebay was my best friend and I purchased the following for the build; a set of Vortex clip-ons, a used set of orig gauges, a set of rearsets with rear master from a Ninja (I think) a front brake perch and master from a GSXR,some carbon fiber mini signals, an R1 tail light and a set of coils and wires. I painted the frame silver to cover up my less than perfect welds. The frame is gusseted in several places to eliminate that flex we took for granted in the 70's. The seat cover was a replacement cover that I had for my son's race bike and I hand cut the foam for the seat. The paint job was donated ( cost me a steak dinner) by a very good friend and fellow KZ lover. I wanted to pay him but he would only accept a steak dinner. The paint is symbolic as well. The 99 Ford blue and silver is the color of the truck my son had his accident in, the yellow is Suzuki yellow, his race bike. The upper triple clamp was machined by another very close friend from billet aluminum.

I have put over 3000 trouble free miles on it and it rides better than my 1980 shaftie, which has all new suspension. I had it at Mid Ohio for "Vintage Motorcycle Days" and got a lot of smiles out of it.

I have a photo collection of the build and still can't believe I managed to make it what it is.

I hope I wasn't too long winded on my story. I know it was theraputic to do the project and I get to ride with Nigel every time I ride it so it continues to get excellent smiles per gallon. Even those who have ridden KZ's all their lives scratch there heads in amazement when they see it.
Thanks for letting me share my story Steve. Thanks for putting it on your site as well.

John

My Pleaure John. Beautiful Bike and a Beautiful Tribute.

The 2010 Nortons... VERY droolworthy.

Thanks a always to Dave Innola for the pics!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. but I hope fortune is smiling on you wherever you are in the world!

An Egli Vincent Wednesday Extravaganza!!

Damm that's nice..

Radical carbon fiber "Drixton" Honda.

Classic BSA Scrambler

Outstanding!

Outstanding Norvin Cafe Racer.

Vincent Engine + Norton Featherbed frame = Norvin

Ice Bikes! Tis the season...

This sort of thin aaaalmost makes me miss living in Canada. Cool stuff.

MV Augusta perfection.

Fire and Ice! Adventure Norton!

This is one hell of a sweet "adventure" bike!

Garry McCoy's Honda NSR500V form Mike "Stu" Stuhler.

We're going for a double on this beauty! Another 2-stroke from the other board that's to good to let slip.

Mike "Stu" Stuhler of the always excellent StuShots just dropped these awesome pics of Garry McCoy's Honda NSR500V on me.

Mike Writes:

Hey Steve!

Here are some shots I took again over at Mid Ohio in '07 of
Garry McCoy's Honda NSR500V Big Twin as it was on display,
and on sale, in the paddock area.
As the links attached show, this was as it was in the trim
as he raced it in the Australian GP in late '98 and 8 other
rounds that year per the 3rd link on his bio. From the
sign on the bike you can see they did spell his name wrong,
but I still would suspect that this is the real deal.
I have been wrong before, though! HA! I did find
a shot of the orig on Google search and it sure looks the
real deal! Nonetheless it is a sweet looking ride and I hope
you enjoy it!
This guy was such a pleasure to watch, and he always did
the best rolling spins in the corner and in the 500 era he
would just hammer them. It probably isn't too hard to
find vids of him on YouTube with a little work!
Enjoy!

Mike

KTM RC8... Sex on wheels.

Yeah yeah... I know it's not for everybody but this thing gives me wood. If I had a 25 year old spine (and gonads) I'd buy one. Writeup and more pics HERE

Last days at Buell...

Saw this over on the always excellent Blood Falcons... Sad really.

My kind of parking lot... Kawasaki Z Heaven!

Found this over on the excellent Streetfighters Magazine Blog. Check em out!

Up close to an Aermacchi Harley.

Really well engineered ride for the era. Robust yet stylish... like a good wine LOL.

Nice Ducati Monster!

I haven't posted many Monsters. They never really grabbed me but this one has a nice line to it.

Triumph custom porn EVERYWHERE!!

Go to RocketGarage and scroll.... Fantastic stuff!

Custom Classic Z1 Kawasaki Streetfighter Porn

Great Moto Guzzi!

Alan Millyard Viper V-10 powered Motorcycle

More Here. Or just google it.

Radical CX500 Cafe Racer.

Fantastic Kawasaki Rickman 900

Old school suzuki GSXR 1100R

Excellent Triumph Custom Bonneville

Karley Davidson KR750 Flattracker

I love the look of these. Just something about those flathead engines.

Moto Guzzi V7 "Clubman Racer".

From the fine folks at Asphalt & Rubber (click for more pics).

BSA Gold Star.

About 10 years ago (or so) there was a BSA owners gathering at the Daytona infield during the vintage races at bike week. This was back when they did it on a weekend instead of squeezing it in on a Mon/Tue so the turnout was fantastic. Anyway I remember being stopped in my track when I saw them gathered. All those chrome tanks and polished cases made for quite an impressive sight. Plenty of proud owners to go with the. If I ever get the urge to "go British" BSA would definitely make my short list. Maybe a Gold Star or maybe a Victor. But it'd definitely be a single.

The new Multistrada... I didn't want to like it but I do.

They removed the ugly...

Oldschool Triumph Scrambler.

With a reeely nice Kawasaki H1 in the background.

SIX CYLINDER BMW.... WOW!

The stodgy old propeller badged car company (mostly) is really feeling it's oats these days.

DETAILS HERE