1976 Yamaha XS360 - Bombshell Customs

We love boredom. Boredom can drive a person to do some crazy things. Sometimes boredom can get you into trouble. Other times boredom can motivate you to create something unique, something out of the norm. That's exactly what happened to Mike Busch, a 26 year old Hot Rod builder from Pennsylvania. His original passion is building Hot Rods, which he's done for years, but he recently decided to do try his skills at building a bike. "I literally got bored one day" says Mike. "I searched Craigs List for cheap bikes with potential and came across this XS". Mike is one of those guys who has always tinkered with things, even working at a motorcycle shop where he learnt a lot of the skills he used to build this bike. This is Mikes first custom build under his new shop called Bombshell Customs Cycles which is already gaining attention from around the world. 

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Triumph Bonneville T140 - Yuri Shif Customs

It's hard to believe its been a year since we featured Yuri Shif Customs (YSC) jaw-dropping creation they called 'The Machine'. What we love about this builder from Belarus is he is always experimenting with different styles of bikes, and this time it's right up our alley. Yuri's exquisite Triumph café racer is so clean and lean with everything being shortened, hidden or removed. At a glance it may seem like a relatively easy look to achieve but when you take a closer look you see the amazing attention to detail. The kind of detail you'd expect from a guy who has won the AMD World Championship and also the Best International Builder award at the Verona Expo. We were surprised to learn that Yuri actually found building a café racer a real challenge. "Standards of building café racers have been developing for decades and seem to be now fixed as undeniable laws" says Yuri. "That’s why it naturally gives much less space for free creativeness than, say, building of a bobber or a chopper." Even though building a café racer might be a little bit restrictive for a creative guy like Yuri, we still think he's managed to stamp it with his individual style.  

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Honda CB900F Bol d’Or - 'Mr Meaner'

A bus driver called Simon Whittaker from Canberra (Australia's Capital city) recently sent us some photos of his motorcycle collection and we instantly hated the guy. He had the dream garage. In his possession was one mint bike in every different style. He had a bobber, a couple of stunning café racers, a street tracker and this sheriff inspired Bol d'Or he calls 'Mr Meaner'. "I do split shifts as a bus driver which gives me a few hours a day to work on the bikes" he says. It's amazing what can be acheived with little money and a few hours a day when you think outside the box. We asked Simon how the bike came about and this was his answer...

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1974 BMW R75 - Krautmotors Street Tracker

When it comes to finding inspiration on building a custom motorcycle, most people search the internet, look in magazines or pray to a higher being to give them a brilliant idea. Not Rolf Reick from Germany. He was inspired by people telling him he couldn't do what he always wanted to do — build a BMW using an old frame and a new engine. "I guess the overall motivation was that people told me it just wasn't possible to build it like that" says Rolf. Rolf is a product designer and head of a private school for product design. Besides that he works as a freelance designer and also owns a clothing label called Krautmotors. So between doing all those things we have no idea how he has time to build so many amazing bikes. Like this one-of-a-kind 'BMW Frankenstein' Street Tracker... 

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Honda NX650 - Deus 'Dominari'

Bali is one of the most famous islands in Indonesia. Famous for it's amazing surf breaks, tough drug laws and strict low displacement bike laws. So when we recently received some photos from the guys at Deus Bali, we just guessed it would be another sweet little Yamaha Scorpio they do so well. But when we opened up the photos of their latest project we were pleasantly surprised to see a completely unrecognizable Honda NX650 Dominator. To say this size bike is rare in Bali would be a huge understatement — there's only one other 650cc bike and it also happens to be a NX650. So someone at some stage has paid 'the right people' to get it on the island and on the road. Anyway, this is not a story about how it got there, we're just glad it did. To tell us the tale of how this Dominator transformed into the 'Dominari', I'll pass you over to Tom from Deus...

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Skull Motorcyles SR400 - ‘No.019’

Can't type. Brain melted by amazing bike. Must copy and paste thesaurus instead. Admirable. August. Best. Breathtaking. Choice. Elegant. Elevated. Exalted. Exquisite. Fine. Glorious. Gorgeous. Grand. Great. Lofty. Magnificent. Majestic. Marvelous. Matchless. Noble. Optimum Optimal. Outstanding. Peerless. Prime. Proud. Resplendent. Solid. Splendid. Splendiferous. Splendorous. Standout. Stunning. Sublime. Super. Superior. Superlative. Unrivaled.

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Yamaha XJR 1200 - "Mastino"

This beautiful creation was built by an Italian shop based in Rome called Emporio Elaborazioni (EE). It was started by a graphic designer, a mechanic and a silversmith who all shared a love of custom motorcycles. This brutal bike is nicknamed the 'Mastino' or Mastiff after the breed of large, powerful and rather stocky pedigree dogs. When you look at the stance of this short, mean and muscular café racer you realise the name couldn't be more fitting if it tried. We always thought the powerful and naked XJR 1200 would be a great contender for a modern café racer, but we had no idea it could look this good - trust the Italians to teach us a lesson in style. Here's how Andrea from EE describes their project:

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DP Customs - ‘Mele’ Ironhead

If you've ever studied art (yes, yes - but I'm all better now) you'll know that history's best artists often hit a sweet spot in their career where they just can't seem to do any wrong. It's like the planets have aligned for them and they have some sort of sixth sense about what makes a masterpiece and what doesn't. Picasso had his blue period. Monet had his water lilies. Coop had that series of pictures with the hella sexy nudie devil girls. Oh, hang on; that's all his work. Anyhoos, we're beginning to think that Arizona's DP customs has reached their own particular acme of perfection. It seems that every bike they have completed of late is somehow from a collection of work yet each one is a superb example of the custom bike art form. We are not worthy.

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Video: Cafe Racer TV Season Three Preview

When we first heard about Cafe Racer TV we were more than a little scared. After train wrecks like American Chopper where the producers seem to be more interested in creating a bitch-fest soap opera than a show for real bike fans, we were all but convinced that this would be following the same route. All cafe and no racer, to coin a phrase. But oh how wrong we were. As those of you that have caught an episode or two will know, it's a solid show with a decent balance of eye-candy, tech, and talk that will keep you more than interested over the length of an episode. So we were quite chuffed when Jason from Dime City Cycles (who have been featured previously in the series and are the guys who distribute the DVDs and official Cafe Racer TV merch) shot us over an exclusive sneak peak of the third season. We asked him why we should tune in.

"I think Cafe Racer TV is great because there's something for everyone in every episode. More importantly though it's focusing a great deal on DIY culture, which is largely becoming extinct in our over-communicated-latte-infused world of fancy packaging and bolt-on products that will supposedly make you faster, cooler and more popular with the ladies. Granted, there has to be a little glitz, otherwise the networks wouldn't air it, but in end the crew of Cafe Racer TV are honest to God motorcycle guys who understand the importance of the culture they're purveying. 

And if you asking me, which you are, anything that promotes making something with your own two hands vs. running down to Wally Word to buy a cheap Chinese version of what you could produce of your own accord with a little time and effort is good in my book.  Kick-ass motorcycles, history and an insight into the future of where garage builder culture is going, that's just a bonus in my mind."