2003 Harley Sportster - Maindrive Cycles

Harley-Davidson motorcycles. You either love them or hate them. They may have a reputation for poor build quality but let's leave that debate at the door for a moment. Why? Because when it comes down to it, when they are done right these bikes can make you want to trade in your Japanese metal for some good ol' American iron and to hell with the consequences. Like this clean Sportster, built by Cory from Maindrive Cycles in Texas, USA. Corey specializes in Harley's but the last bike he built for the same client Andy Hines was a Kawasaki KZ400. So when Andy approached him to turn his Sportster into something a bit more bespoke, Corey was much more at home this time around. Even though he had never worked on a Sportster before. Over to Cory for the whole build story.

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The Sportsman Flyer ‘200’

Here's one bike we've been dreaming about what seems like ages now. After the sweet success of his first bike, we were kind of wondering just where he'd go after such a tasty treat. The answer? Open your eyes you crazy, inattentive blog viewer you, because it's right in front of you - for this magical monotone magnificence is the second bike from Mister D and his California-based Sportsman Flyer Company. Now if you liked the last bike, prepare to have your mind totally bent, just like some chocolate-loving freak who's just been locked in a Swiss sweet shop overnight after spending his life entire thinking that Hersheys was the top-shelf stuff. Just shout when you want to be let out; until then here's Flyer's own Pat "Wonker" Dolan.

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The Motomethod Story

This beautifully shot vid was sent to us the other day by the Zenga Bros, who are the director brothers behind this great little story. It's essentially about a motorcycle repair shop in Vancouver called Motomethod who are trying a different business model – which seems to be working. Motomethod call themselves a 'community motorcycle repair shop', which means you can rent a bay and work on your bike, use their tools and even get help and advice from the mechanics. They charge around $100 a year for a membership, which seems pretty reasonable when you think a mechanic can charge that per hour to fix your bike. If you don't want to do it yourself, they're also a full blown motorcycle repair shop, and will work on pretty much any kind of motorcycle. The idea came about when Paul Malowany and Simon Travers decided they wanted to fulfill their dream of owning a motorcycle repair shop. With limited startup funds, the duo pretty much begged, borrowed and stole the equipment needed to make it happen. Their idea seems to be paying off and has sparked a lot of interest in the local Vancouver community. The Motomethod clientele couldn't be more diverse, ranging from 16-year-olds to seniors, including some veterans and even some grandmothers. With space in big cities costing so much coin these days, we think this could work in many places. What do you think, would it work in your home town?

'78 Honda Goldwing Cafe Racer - ‘Vyper’

It's funny how some types of bikes just get under your skin. And I know I speak for both Scott and myself when I say that Honda Goldwings are definitely one of them. Along with the CX500s, Goldwings seem to be dripping with that inexplicable coolness that gives any custom build a killer cool factor even before the first spanner has even touched the WD-40 drenched rusty bolt. But what exactly is it? I'm not really sure - but Jah knows the flat four, solid silhouette and chunky build don't hurt. And the in-tank beer storage compartment? Japanese genius. I can see Honda-san sinking a few tininess with the designers after hours and giving them a well earnt slap on the back in between burn-outs and practical jokes involving no-pants-sushi-balancing races. Richard "Sunnbobb" Matrass is similarly down with this whole Goldwing thing. Despite a bad first date, it was still love at first sight. And the marriage? Well just look at these shots and take a read of what Richard has to say...

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Poll - Cafe Racers And Track Days. Yes or No?

The image above shows the everbold Mark Hawwa, supreme ruler of our good mates at Sydney Cafe Racers, doing something that kinda blew my mind. Extraordinarily, he took his beautificient SR to Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway for a track day. A cafe racer. On a race track. Crazy. But it got my mind wheels a turnin'. Do cafes really belong on a track? Aren't they specifically a public road beastie? Sure, they were inspired by racing bikes but they were never intended to actually race on a track, were they? Or is it more a long-lost son returning to his true home? Oh, how my motorcycling mind spins! So what do you guys think? Do cafes belong on-track?

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1973 Honda XL 285

Finding and showing the world great custom bikes. It's what Pipeburn does. But being at the pointy end of the whole process with it's constant search for the latest and greatest can easily make you forget about the other amazing part of the process - the part where all you guys arrive and check out the cool bikes. Now here's the really cool part of the whole process; like some crazy custom bike feedback loop the bikes we find and feature then go on to inspire the new builds to a greater or lesser extent. Like the simple, clean, elegant Honda you see here. Except in the case of Jake Lyons and his XL it was a little more, shall we say, direct than usual. See Jake went from nothing to knee deep in grease and Shoichiro design after his first ever session of Pipeburning. So if you'll allow us a brief moment of pride, please enjoy the bike that Pipeburn built.

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1978 J.C. Penny Pinto - ‘The Baby Maker’

New Year Resolutions. Some people give up smoking crack, others tell themselves they are going to get fit and lose a hundred pounds. Then there are folk that just say they are going to do something different. Like us, we decided to start a New Years Resolution at Pipeburn this year. Can you guess what it was? I'll give you a clue. Our last post was a trike - which we have never posted before. And now I am posting a moped - which we have posted before but not on a regular basis. Yep, we decided to quit doing drugs and focus on the bikes we truly love. No seriously, we decided to try and surprise our readers with bikes that were a little bit more unexpected. Sure, we'll still be featuring the usual suspects like the CB750 cafe racers and XS650 bobbers, but we want to be more open to different builds. Like this J.C. Penny Pinto moped they call 'The Baby Maker'. Nothing gets the ladies hotter than a featherweight cafe'd moped. The owner of this beautiful specimen started building it as a young single man and finished the bike as a young father of twins. True story, almost. Here's the virile builder Nicholas Voigt with all the facts...

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Kustom Racer Design's ‘Bonneville Spirit’ Trike

I couldn't honestly start this story without an admission. I'm not a trike fan and I have openly mocked them in the past - always with superbly hilarious results. Just ask my friends. Some even said I should do stand up. Really. And can you blame me? How many cool trikes have you all seen in the past? And how many trikes have you seen with purple velvet bench seats, bad fibreglass mouldings and car tires? That's right; a freaking heap-load. But like a politician raising taxes, I recently had to eat my words after Scott shot me an image of the creation you see here. Obviously it's a trike, but it's been done with such a keen eye and good taste that I'm never going to think of trikes in quite the same way again. And the man who is responsible for the foot in my mouth? Meet Francis Bouillet, owner of France's Kustom and Racer Design Workshop.

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Vicious Cycles '94 Yamaha ‘FTW200’

If you could pick any city on earth to settle down and customise bikes in, we think it's a safe bet that Singapore wouldn't be at the top of many lists. In a similar fashion to Hong Kong, Singapore has very little tolerance for vehicular modifications and a few of our Pipemates who live over there have told us that you can be defected for something as minor as having non-standard rubber on your rims. And heaven help you if you were to do something crazy like add a new exhaust or tank - that'd result in your bike being impounded. So as you are gazing over the sweet, sweet lines of this little Yammie TW keep in mind that it's creators, Matt and Merv from Vicious Cycles Singapore, risk severe punishment if they were ever caught riding it in public. Apparently, the last biker who dared do this was forced to watch the movies Wild Hogs and Torque on an endless loop for an entire month while he was simultaneously made to delete all his browser's cool bike bookmarks one by one. And that's not all. Afterward, when he still wouldn't swear against his beloved custom bikes they forced him to stay in a remote house at the end of a very long, windy road. They then gave him a Wrenchmonkee's original with all the bells and whistles and covered every inch of the road with lard as they waved goodbye. Bastards.

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