Special Thnks to Mike Soteros.
Month: November 2011
A command performance..
In the spirit of the liter sized ADV bikes here’s a re-post from a while back. Love it!
Holy S##t! I’m speachless… A radically altered FZ1 Adventure Bike.
A musical interlude with a motorcycle music video. I just love it..
Something of a rare sight these days… A Stock 1979 XS650 Special!
Now I don’t want to ruffle any feathers here when I say this (especially since I have a long history of taking somewhat rare bikes and making them “my own” so to speak) but I’ve noticed lately that it’s getting pretty hard to find a nice original XS650 these days. I commented on a thread somewhere recently that it seems like every kid with a Harbor Freight welder and a tractor seat is taking the really nice stock XS’ and chopping the hell out of them… often with less than impressive results. But hey who am I to judge. Anyway I tripped across this stunner of a late model stocker today and it hit me again how unusual it is to see one that hasn’t been hardtailed , streettracked or cafe’d! And lucky for me that SpeedFourJoe over on ADV rider was kind enough to hook me up with his flick page!
He wrote in that:
“It had the “tiller” bars and king and queen seat when I got it. I changed the seat and bars, and then just went through it mechanically, and painted some rusty parts, but mostly just a good cleaning. There are so many modded XS650s out there, it is nice to keep one stock.
Hell of a nice save there Joe! You know if it wasn’t for my 2 stroke addiction I’d probably be all over these bikes! I may have to hunt one down yet.
And here’s a few select shots from the flickr page. Hit the link above to see all the work that went into her. Great Job!

Brough Superior “Moby Dick” on the beach.
Sweet! A Laverda 750 based cafe racer.
The RYCA / LS650 cafe conversion. A very interesting concept.
Jonny Imperial (AKA Jon Rickham?) wrote in that he “Just took this for a little test ride. Fun little bike. She ‘s a thumper.”. Go to the company website http://www.rycamotors.com/ for all the info. I think it’s a hell of a good idea.
I believe I did a post on this company quite a while back. At the time I was hopeful for their success but feared that they might go the way of other companies like this. Which is to say good idea with too little funding and too many folks who talk a good game but never make a purchase. However I’m happy to report that I’m seeing more and more of these cool little scoots pop up on message boards and photo threads all over the motorcycle related web. It looks like they’ve got a good foothold started. It’s the type of build that you could use as a launching point and have a lot of fun personalizing. The cost are totally reasonable, especially when you’re looking at something like a Royal Enfield kit or an XS650 based build. The Suzuki LS650 “Savage” cruiser that it’s based on is a positively bullet proof engine and chassis that can be had on craigslist almost anywhere for very reasonable prices. My own (personal) problem might be the size. At my height and weight I might be a bit large for it. As a side thought, if you guys have any spare time I’d LOVE to see a similar kit for a DR650 (or even an XR650). I know the wheels would be pricy to overcome but there already a ton of 17″ supermoto shod examples out there. Like I said, just a thought.
Oh and if you’re curious, this is the bike they start with.
Hells Gate Enduro Highlights
I love how the fans are right in there egging them on. Ya ever Notice that none of these guys are fat or out of shape! LOL..
And at about 6:40 it gets dark and they soldier on through the night which quite frankly is f##king incredible! this looks like a blast for all involved.
Tricky Singletrack Video.
Living in florida I can only dream… there’s a tricky get-off at around 3:40
Here’s more from the same “Goat Trail”













