Month: November 2008

Really off the wall customs!

Brian (who built the featherweight Honda powered Cafe in an earlier post) has sent me some pictures of his other custom featherweight projects. And by featherweight I mean that they are baaaarely even motorcycles. WOW! This is one of those bikes that you look at and wonder why nobody actually manufacturers anything like this. It’d be handy as hell and tons of fun to a LOT of people I would think. Me included! Thanks much Brian for sharing these!!

He writes:
I haven’t had a chance yet to shoot new pictures of my 203lb cafe, but I have built 2 other bikes. Maybe worthy of your 50cc section, but its up to you.
Anyway if nothing else you will get good laugh out of them. The “99bike” is my answer to a powered mountain bike. I tried for under 100lbs but came out 103lbs. It is the size dimensionally as a full size dirt bike but much narrower. It is 125cc with 8″ front and rear suspension travel. I built this one from scratch, inlcluding the rear hub so i could spoke a 24″ mountain bike rim to it. Front is a 26″ DH bike wheel. I have taken this on our local mountain bike trails for almost a year and beat the hell out of it and have not broken it yet. The appealing part of the crf50 type engine is the auto-clutch. I can climb a steep hill and stop at any point without clutching or stalling. It is geared very low and you can pull a wheelie at almost a stand still. Top speed is about 40. I get really strange looks on the trails but its a blast to ride, quiet to not disturb anyone and gets killer gas mileage.
The second one I built as my urban moped. This is 49cc so no licence, title or registration is required for street use. I even asked the sheriffs down the street about this to make sure about this and their comment to me was “make sure you have eye protection or we will stop you”. This is a 4 speed or leave it in 4th gear an use the auto-clutch for totally automatic driving. Top speed is 30mph to stay within the legal definition of a “moped” . The gas tank is the center large tube and hold about 1/2 gallon. The biggest bitch in building this was to get this to seal. The wheels are 18″ and the seat height is 34″ to give you an idea of size. Gas mileage is about 140. Front forks are Marzocchi Shiver. Suspension travel is about 7″ on both ends.
I know your page is for motorcycles but I thought you might get a kick out of my insanity. Thanks again for indulging me and thanks for posting my cafe racer. Thanks again,Brian


Honda CB-1 from Sam Simons.

Hi Steve,Since you have a very good appreciation for atypical bikes(some of them 4 strokers),I’ve sent youa picture of my 1990 CB1.

This bike was found in great mechanical, but _terrible_ _cosmetic_ condition (unusual combination,IMO).There was a very lengthy laundry list of parts and work performed to finish this bike. You may recallthat the little CB1 was available here only 2 years, and not well received. One major negative(IMO) was it’s very drab color scheme-blue and pewter silver. Comparing a pic of a stocker againstthe bike will tell you how/where the time was spent…..this bike is a piece of jewelry,heavy on the ‘glitz’.I’ll confess that _I didn’t do any of the work_,a very talented friend built/rebuilt it,and I was so impressedby it,that I bought it. (I did fab the handlebar risers later to accept a set of K&N bars).What a great little machine,but that constant sustained high road rpm wail did take me a while toget used to…… I later passed it on to another chum similarly impressed by it’s appearance.

More Sam Simons Specials! Ural "Military" Sidecar with driven wheel!

I’m in a military Sidecar mood all of a sudden!! A great errr.. modern interpretation. If a new Ural is “modern”. I love this build. All you’d need is an old Russian or German military uniform and yo could star in your own movie!


Zundapp KS750 Sidecar Military Sidehack with Machine Gun!!.

Honda GB500

I’ve always liked these bikes. Jus a little too ahead of it’s time. It’d probably sell well today.

Nice take on a Honda 750 Bobber.

Stumbled across this bike on a new and interesting blog. Check him out at..
http://jpenziolmoto.blogspot.com/

I really like his “Adventure Riding Tips” good stuff there.