Month: January 2012

Lets play “Name What That Bike Started Out As”!

I know I don’t post many Streetfighters but that’s not because I don’t love them. I do actually. Style performance and WOW factor suit me just fine. A well built fighter “can” be THE best way for a skilled builder to show off his talents. There are literally no boundaries. And when properly done you have a bike that you can actually use everyday if you like that really IS one of a kind.

My general problem is that the “Streetfighter universe” is so freaking huge. Even on the better dedicated sites and message boards there are way too many folks who just pull the fairing off stick on some dualsport headlights, add a few decals and call it a fighter. And that’s fine. You’ve got to start somewhere. But when it comes to finding good material for the blog it’s a little hard to sift through the haystack and find that shiny needle. Anyway, what caught my eye about these top two bikes isn’t JUST the build quality and styling (which are excellent) it’s what they started out as. I actually tripped across them in separate places before I made the connection that they all came from the same builder. A shop called “Full of Hate” Customs. If you like the genre head ove there and check out some of their work. Nice stuff.

Anyway, here’s our 2 mystery bikes. Can you guess what they started out as?
#1 For the Answer Click HERE
By the way Hat Tip to The Fuzzy Galor Blog on this. Cool site.

#2 This one floors me. See Here.

And here’s some of heir more straight up work. Sweet stuff.

A Sweet (and street legal) Aprilia RS250 2 stroke.

A carry over from the 2 stroke board. I’ve seen a few of these titled and street ridden in the US and it always makes me drool. As realistically close as you can get to a GP bike on the street. Brace yourself for the maintenance costs though.

Hairu wrote in:

I consider myself a 2stroke lover. I always believed that 2stroke is the most ideal engine for a sportbike. I think MotoGP made a big mistake by banning the 2stroke to compete. They should have let the 2stroke to compete with what ever type off engine. Anyway I just recently owned an Aprilia RS250 1997 model. This has been my dream bike back then and now I own 1. Riding it takes some time to get use to as this thing has freakish power delivery at ultrahigh RPM…..but ones you get use to the power delivery you would enjoy the superlatively devastatingly fast riding you could ever have imagine. you can even take a very steep angle short corner without any brakes being applied from a very high speed. Of course your feet will be very-very busy changing the gears but it still fun doing it. Anyway this is my picture with I consider my 2nd wife…….she is 1 of my big extended family.

Thank you.

Hairu Al Akmal

It’s always a great day when you land your dream bike! Nicely done! (oh and I agree about the Moto GP comments)

Living the dream!

Mini Ice racers and other cool rides from Portugal to Canada!

Armando Barqueiro sent in some cool bikes with some interesting backgrounds.

He wrote in:

Jose Esteves is a Portuguese born Canadian immigrant (like myself) and an absolute motorcycle loon. He loves both 2 and 4 strokes of all kinds but his favorites are 2-stroke cafe or road racers. He road-raced in Angola and South Africa when he was young and continued when he immigrated to Canada. I met him when he stopped beside me while I was riding my cafe RD400 in ’79 and he was on a Honda 750F done up to the max (I later owned that Honda). We started talking and found out that we were both Portuguese and both loved bikes. We both raced here in Quebec, he on an ex Alan Labrosse TZ250 and I on my 77 RD400 and later my ’81 RD350LC.
About a decade later a bunch of us decided to ride on the ice and Jose built a bunch of mini ice bikes for that purpose. Two of those are the yellow mini bikes. The front one is a Kawasaki 65 chassis with a stroked XL125 Honda engine (154cc). I later bought that bike from Jose. The rear one is an XL500 Honda that he minimized by replacing the wheels with 10″ CT70 wheels and a Z50 gas tank as well as a bunch of other changes.
The RD400 was his first race bike in Canada and it then saw a bunch of conversions as he kept modifying it over the years. This picture was its final version.
He had raced a Kawasaki S3 in South Africa and liked it a lot so he bought two H2’s in sad shape here in Montreal and rebuilt them both, one in stock condition and the other as the cafe in the picture. It has cast wheels from a KZ650, Toomey pipes and a bunch of other stuff I don’t even remember. I rode it once and it was very fast. He’s given me permission to post these photos.

Manny ’82 GS1100L/California Sidecar, ’02 GSXR1000, ’86 Fazer, ’92 DR650, ’92 FZR600, ’00 DR400Z, ’00 TTR225

I have an H1 similar to that H2 with the KZ wheels. and that RD is take WAY out there. But those minim ice racers must be a total blast! Thanks for the pics Armando!

 

 

 

The Husqvarna Moab and Baja concept bikes.

These beauties have been making the rounds lately. I sense that Husky is taking these concepts very seriously as there has been two generations of the same concept. The MOAB and the BAJA. More at the links. All I know is that my DR650 should be getting nervous right about now. If the production model manages to hold these basic lines (and that’s never a sure thing. *cough* right Honda *cough*) then this may be a must own for me. Especially the more offroad inclined Baja.

Some Really Cool Motorcycle Art/Sculpture and a Sweet XS650 tracker.

Thanks to Ted Brecheisen for these really interesting shots.

Hey Steve,

I went to Sheridan, IN last weekend to a very cool place that is like a museum but is also a shop. The XS 650 Yamaha was a stock bike he found in the weeds a couple of blocks from his house. It’s on the way to a great looking flat tracker.

Don Christy makes “cycle art” from junk parts and bicycle frames. Everything is miss-matched. On one piece the v-twin’s cylinders are made from plastic drain pipe. The crankcases on many are made from cake pans. Very creative. More pics are at www.flickr.com/photos/boanerges-indy

Thanks for a great blog,

Wow! That’s my kind of art! Talk about shopcraft as soulcraft! And a great way to make a living too! I really like that style and that XS is sweet! Thanks Much Ted!

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By the way. A little heads-up on viewing photos at their original resolution.

I realized yesterday when I posted the collage that it won’t go to full resolution by simply clicking on it. If you want the pics at their uploaded resolution, click on the photo and then look for a link just above the photo that will read something like:

Posted: January 25, 2012 | Full size is 2560 × 1920 pixels.

Hit that link and you’ll get the original in all it’s glory! Be warned though. NOT recommended for slow connections! Hope that helps.