This slim and agile Yamaha SR250 street tracker is the first product from a new Barcelona workshop called Reborn Motors. Light and maneuverable, it’s perfect for tight city streets and gravel tracks further afield.

Reborn Motors has an impeccable pedigree. The workshop is run by Jim Palau-Ribes, a European car designer who also runs Pursang Motors, and race bike mechanic Hector Zayas, who also helped build the Kiddo Uno Honda NX650.

Why an SR250? “It’s a common bike here in Barcelona,” says Palau-Ribes, “so we thought it would be a good starting point: to take an ordinary old bike and turn it into something special.” And special this one is. The mods are well thought-out and functional, with a 34mm Dell’Orto carburetor and short-throw throttle adding to the rider experience.

The bars are from a Sherco 450i enduro bike, and the triple clamps and footrests are from a Honda CRF. Dunlop K180 tires ride on Excel Takasago 2.50 x 18” rims, and Betor shocks smooth out the ride. The SR250 also now has a kickstarter and the tank is from a vintage (and rare) Derbi Tricampeona moped. A classy paintjob from the Spanish company “Chop In Art” provides the finishing touch.

I’m betting we’ll be hearing a lot more about Reborn Motors. This SR250 is a pretty good start, wouldn’t you say?

Photography by Jose Maria Espallargas.

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The Ducati Paul Smart is one of the all-time greats—a high performance machine with equal appeal to fans of both modern and vintage machinery. But it’s not quite perfect … so Texas-based Revival Cycles leapt at the opportunity to thoroughly upgrade this 2006 model.

“We built it for a client who already has a Diavel and another Sport Classic,” says Revival’s Alan Stulberg. “The goal was to create the machine that Ducati should have originally built. The factory Paul Smart was a bit visually cluttered, with plastic bits here and there. It left the door wide open for us to give the Paul Smart a more vintage look with modern upgrades.”

Much of the work was done with the help of parts supplier JC/Pakbikes. Revival started by installing a Termi 2-into-1 pipe and relocated the oil lines to reveal the timing belt cover, which is a Rizoma piece. “We also used a new lower triple from JC, and Rizoma reservoirs to top off the Brembo RCS clutch and brake masters. Then we installed stainless lines, a rear Demontech caliper mount and Brembo monobloc calipers and rotors up front.”

Revival has also swapped out the stock Paul Smart front fender and mount for regular Sport Classic parts, to get a more ‘vintage’ and proportioned look. “It looks factory and clean and it’s easy to miss, but it’s a subtle detail that really adds something,” says Stulberg.

The wheels are now Alpina carbon fiber items with anodized hubs, giving a big weight saving. The Paul Smart’s notoriously hot voltage regulator has been relocated (using a custom alloy mount) to under the seat subframe, where it’s cooled better in the airflow.

Rider comfort has been boosted too, with brown suede upholstery to match Japanese Posh gum grips. A few extra metal Rizoma pieces (such as mirrors) increase the perception of quality.

The final touch is the tail section. “The client is a healthy 6’4″ tall and this helped push the plan to get rid of the old seat. We started with a fiberglass tail that was well proportioned—but not very well made—and then improved it,” says Stulberg. “We cut in a little American charm by installing a 1960s Corvette taillight bezel with a clear lens and a super bright red LED bulb.”

One of the neatest parts is the easiest to miss—Revival’s proprietary ‘Micro-Supernova’ rear turn signals. Using just three watts apiece, these tiny and bright signals are almost invisible when not lit. (“It was almost comical to see something less than 6mm x 15mm being carved out on a full-size Bridgeport mill.”)

Revival’s client is now out and about enjoying his ‘new’ Paul Smart, and has just booked his regular Sport Classic in for a major overhaul. “He’s like us and just can’t leave it alone!” says Stulberg.

Head over to the Revival Cycles website for more information on their projects, and keep up to date with the company’s news via their Facebook page.

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Michael Mundy’s Steel Bent Customs is now well established as one of the leading custom shops in Florida, if not the whole south east of the USA. Fifteen bikes rolled out of the Tampa workshop last year, and production is now booked out to April 2013.

Mundy is obviously doing something right in the eyes of US custom fans, and this new 1981 CB750 shows why. It’s the epitome of what the market demands at the moment: sleek, dark and stripped of all artifice.

Called ‘the Hoang build,’ this Honda was a commission. “The client requested that we go fully black, and use a tin color similar to an earlier build called ‘Neck Tat’,” says Mundy. The client also requested a seat long enough to accommodate a passenger, and despite the washboard appearance, “it’s more comfortable than it looks.”

The rest of the bike is super clean and minimalist, a signature of Steel Bent’s work. The blacked-out 4-into-1 exhaust system is terminated with a Cone Engineering muffler, and the motor is now running pod filters with the carbs retuned to match. (“A fine growl with an intoxicating powerband,” says Mundy.) Black clubman-style bars add to the dark and glossy vibe, and the battery is now mounted on the swing arm.

The CB750 is now headed 4,500 miles west to the opposite coast of the US, where it’ll join its new owner in California. Even amidst that hotbed of custom culture, it’s sure to stop the traffic.

Images by Erick Runyon of Choppershotz. For commissions, bookings and fine art prints contact Erick here.

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Since the 1950s, Mooneyes has been at the heart of Californian custom culture. It’s now an international brand, with a huge presence in Japan and a reputation to live up to. So when owner Shige Suganuma decided to commission a bike for himself, he turned to one of the best: Master fabricator Lucas Joyner, founder of The Factory Metal Works.

Joyner turned Suganuma’s concept into reality. Nicknamed the ‘MQQN Machine,’ the bike is constructed around a 1964 Triumph 650 unit motor. Mooneyes makes some of the classiest components around, so Joyner started by raiding their catalog for parts.

The frame is a work of art: the front section is a custom-fabbed loop, hooked up to a stretched Mooneyes hardtail. That vertical oil tank is a modified Mooneyes item, and so are the bars.

The stock Triumph gas tank has been narrowed and ribbed, and sits ahead of a TFMW vintage-style solo seat. The wheels are especially beautiful: at the front, a 1961 Triumph Tiger Cub brake hub is laced to a 21” rim shod. At the back, a pre-1970 Triumph hub is laced to a 19” rim.

The tires are vintage Avon Speedmasters, 2.75” at the front and 3.50” at the back, and the exquisite paint is by legendary pinstriper Bill Carter.

The result is one of the coolest vintage Triumphs we’ve seen for a long time. A class act from two men at the top of their respective professions.

Images by Fran Kuhn.

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There’s a great story behind this Honda, owned by 33-year-old Chris Booth of Vancouver BC. Until he was 28, Chris swore that he’d never ride a motorcycle: “They’re far too dangerous.” Then he went on a road trip to Speed Week at Bonneville with three friends.

Chris had never thrown a leg over a bike before, but one of his friends had brought along a Honda CB cafe racer. And he let Chris ride it alongside the track—with no helmet, boots or gloves. After getting off the bike, Chris asked him how much he wanted for it.

“When I bought ‘Anna’ she was basically a stock CB500 daily rider, with a 4-into-2 exhaust and a set of clubmans,” says Chris, who quickly learnt to ride on the road during the Vancouver winter. “I thought I’d start by fixing the big ding in the tank. Then I thought, maybe I’ll paint the tank a different color. And then I thought, I’ll add a bump seat.”

And so it began, with Chris scouring websites for photos and avidly reading sohc4.net, the online bible for owners of 1969-1982 Honda four cylinder motorcycles.

The next winter, Chris upgraded the suspension with cartridge emulators and Works shocks. He fitted dual front discs and rear-sets, and installed fresh Avon rubber. He also got his hands on a Rickman Commando alloy tank, and had it altered to suit the Honda.

Then he threw in a 550 motor he picked up for a song. After six months, the 550 blew up. So Chris built up a new 550 motor, bored it out to 592cc with Dynoman 10.5:1 pistons, and ported and polished the head.

“At that point that I really got into vintage GP bikes. Nothing beats standing the bike up out of a corner and tucking into the fairing. I tracked down a guy in Holland who re-pops old MV Agusta 750ss fairings for the vintage race scene in Europe, and bought one.” It took 20 hours to fit it to the bike and manufacture the brackets. The paint scheme is inspired by the Yamaha ridden by Ago in his last World Championship, and the modern Rizla Suzuki MotoGP colors.

Chris’ favorite mod, however, is the braced swingarm with a hugger: “She tracks so much better coming out of corners now.”

Despite the racebike looks and extensive rebuilding, this CB550 has never been off the road for more than three days at a time. Chris even takes the bike on long camping trips—as far afield as California and Death Valley. “I like to ride,” he says. “She’s built with handling, speed and reliability in mind.”

A cafe racer in the truest sense of the word.

Thanks to photographer Luke Uri. Kodak Portra 160 film images taken with a Contax G1 w/ 90mm Zeiss and a Yashica FX-3 w/ 50mm Zeiss.

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Custom motorcycles are a mix of art and engineering—and there’s a tension in that mix. Trends develop, and quickly become cliché. But occasionally a builder bucks the trend so hard that it literally stops people in their tracks.

That’s what happened six months ago at the Wheels & Waves show in Biarritz, France. Crowds gathered around this BMW, which was given a brief outing by Spanish builder David Borras and his El Solitario MC crew.

‘Baula’ is based on a 1969 BMW R75/5 and it’s the result of six months’ hard work, from design to the fabrication of dozens of parts. “The inspiration was a mixture of the 1939 TT-winning BMW Rennsport and the art deco Henderson,” Borras reveals.

El Solitario completely rebuilt the motor and suspension, and the restored frame is now nickel-plated. The fishtail pipes are from a Velocette Thruxton, but it’s the huge Hoske long-range tank that dominates the looks.

The electrics are all-new, with a Silent Hektik coil and an electronic ignition system at the heart of it. A featherweight AntiGravity lithium battery provides juice, and the instruments are from Motogadget.

The metalwork is entirely new and hand-made. The fairing, molded around twin Bates headlights, sports a pair of brown Lexan polycarbonate resin windows. At the back, custom-made racks house vintage Buco Panniers.

Handmade bars are finished with leather grips and matched to Royal Enfield levers. The BMW now rides on Excel Takasago 18” aluminum alloy rims, more often found on motocross bikes.

And why the name ‘Baula’? It’s the Spanish word for a leatherback turtle. Like this BMW, it’s an ungainly yet strangely elegant creature. And impossible to ignore or forget.

Cycle World has just published an excellent piece about El Solitario and their exploits; Read it here. Then keep in touch with the adventures of Borras and his crew via the El Solitario Facebook page.

Images by Kristina Fender.

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I’ve always imagined that the frontman of a metal band would ride something like a V-Rod with open pipes. But Mike Hranica of Devil Wears Prada has a taste for classic machinery. Like this elegant and deceptively simple Honda CB350.

He chose Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles to deliver. “Mike wanted a build based on a smaller displacement Honda,” says Prust. “I had a CB350 in the donor bike storage bin; Mike had a fairly specific idea of the stance and overall appearance.”

Hranica wanted a low 70s-style moto to cruise around his home in Chicago, and he was especially taken by the Eric Meglasson/Holiday Customs CB450 cafe racer—a big hit from a year ago.

But Prust had reservations. “I frequent Chicago, and the potholes there make a low bike dangerous. So I decide to leave the front suspension height alone, and lower the rear just a little with Gazi shocks—to keep it from bottoming out and give it better dampening. Adding tall sidewall Firestones filled in the look well, and gives the CB350 a low appearance without the low ride.”

Jason Koschnitzke at Mottomoto rebuilt the engine to stock specs. It’s now fitted with Mikuni VM30 carbs and K&N pod filters; the exhaust headers are stock but hooked up to shorty mufflers. The sparks come from Dyna mini coils and an Earth X lithium iron phosphate battery.

The subframe has been modified to suit the new seat style, and the paint, although custom, could be straight from a 70s bike brochure. New bars and indicators complete the low-key but classy look.

I’m sold. If you are too, check out Analog Motorcycles via their website and Facebook page.

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Twice a year, we compile a list of the most popular motorcycles on Bike EXIF. It’s the global barometer of public taste, with bikes selected on the basis of web traffic and their popularity across our social media channels—including Facebook, Stumbleupon and our exploding Pinterest page, which now has almost 1.5 million followers.

So here are the ten machines that our readers liked best in the second half of 2012. There are several ‘older’ bikes that are still racking up huge numbers, and would make this list if it was an all-time Greatest Hits: That includes several Rough Crafts and Wrenchmonkees bikes, plus previous Classified Moto builds and many of Cafe Racer Dreams’ machines.

Let us know in the comments what you think of this list.

1. Classified Moto KT600 [top]. When Battlestar Galactica actress Katee Sackhoff wanted a custom motorcycle, she commissioned John Ryland to build this Honda XL600. It’s already garnered well over 100,000 page views, and not surprisingly, Ryland has been deluged with orders for new builds.

2. After a track day accident, Alonzo Bodden got his Ducati 1098 (above) customized by Anglada Originals. The result is a powerful, heavily upgraded performance bike packed with top-shelf components and given a brutal streetfighter style.

3. This 1982 Yamaha Virago XV750 (above) was Eric Meglasson’s first motorcycle build, and was inspired by Classified Moto’s work on the same model. The Oregon architect now runs his own custom motorcycle company.

4. 1970s-era BMW airheads respond well to the cafe racer treatment. But you don’t often see one with a mono-shock conversion. This 1976 BMW R75/6(above) is owned by graphic designer Casey Wilkinson of the motorcycle-mad Wilkinson Brothers.

5. It’s always fascinating to see the personal rides of bike builders. This amazing Ducati Pantah (above) belongs to JvB-moto’s Jens vom Brauck, a regular on these pages since the early days.

6. Dark and minimal is the custom trend today. But there’s always an exception, like this pale and elegant Triumph Bonneville cafe racer (above) by Loaded Gun Customs.

7. The Spanish workshop Cafe Racer Dreams transformed a humble BMW R75/5 (above) into a stunning vintage scrambler destined for the streets of Paris.

8. Holland’s Super Motor Company has turned the humble Honda Super Cub (above) into a fire-breathing salt flats racer. It’s not our usual fare on EXIF, but it was the surprise hit of the year.

9. Jason Kidd’s extraordinary Flyrite Choppers ‘Double Trouble’ (above) custom Norton has not one, but two Atlas engines.

10. A stern test for custom builders is how they handle the ‘budget’ job. This Ducati GT1000 (above) was no problem for the English workshop Spirit Of The Seventies—and won the company many new admirers.

What do you think about this selection? Is it representative of the custom scene today? And what do you think the next trends will be?

Add your thoughts below—I’ll be closely monitoring the comments from around noon (PST time in the US), and will be happy to answer any questions you’ve got.

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If you live in mainland Europe and ride a motorcycle, you’ve probably bought parts or accessories from a company called Louis. The Hamburg-based company is Europe’s largest moto retailer, and it’s just celebrated its 75th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, Louis commissioned Marcus Walz to build a custom bike—and asked for ‘a machine that combines tradition and the future.’ It was also a collaborative project with Louis’ customers: In five stages, votes were taken on Facebook regarding the basic concept, the wheels, handlebar, instruments and the finish.

A Ducati Sport 1000 was chosen as the starting point. Walz rejigged the sheet metal to create a slim and wiry look: The tank, seat unit and rear bodywork were beaten by hand out of aluminum, and the rear frame was redesigned. Even the housing of the fuel pump is custom-built, also machined from aluminum and hidden from view by integrating it into the tank. An 800-gram lithium-ion battery is now concealed underneath the seat hump.

An Öhlins fork (from a Ducati 999R) is used at the front, and a custom-built height-adjustable suspension is used at the rear. The triple tree is made from billet aluminium: it weighs around 1.5 kg less than the original, and is three times as stable. The braking system is state-of-the-art, too: Brembo monoblocks together with Lucas ‘Wave’ discs.

The controls are from LSL—from the bars and grips to the clutch and brake levers. Brake fluid reservoirs now sit on their own specially developed mounts, tightly and inconspicuously up against the triple tree. The V-Rod-style headlight (from Louis’ own range) adds to the compact feel of the front end. Walz foot controls, machined from aluminium, are adjustable in all directions. The wheels have Akront flat shoulder rims, and are shod with Metzeler Racetec K3 tires.

The inner workings of the Sport 1000 engine are untouched, with the exception of a light Ergal clutch basket and an SBK clutch. But engine output is up by eight horsepower, thanks to the titanium exhaust system developed by Akrapovic. And to give the engine a tidier appearance, Walz replaced the original oil lines with those from a Ducati Hypermotard—which do not run over the belt cover.

With the help of further mods such as an ultra-light wiring harness, the Ducati lost almost 20 kg in weight in the course of the rebuild. The finish is a special paint from the Ducati factory called “Anniversario Rosso,” used exclusively for anniversary and presentation models. It’s covered by a matt clear varnish that Walz describes as a secret mixture—smooth and low-maintenance like a gloss varnish, but with a subtle degree of matting.

The Jubiläumsbike will soon go on tour around Louis’ stores, and then it’ll be auctioned off with the proceeds donated to a good cause. Any bidders?

If you live in Europe, check out Louis’ online store here. And see more of Marcus Walz’ work on the Walz Hardcore Cycles site.

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