Pipeburn and Sydney Café Racers - Group Ride

Here's something we haven't done in a very long while; a good old-fashioned group ride. It's been more than a year since we did our last one with the lads from Sydney Cafe Racers, and that was a bit of a wash out. Not being ones to take such metrological insults lying down, we have decided to get together and do it all over again. And this time we're inviting you.

So what do you have to do to join the fray? If you live in Sydney and you are free this coming Sunday, the 17th of February then all you have to do is meet us at Audley car park in the Royal National Park at 9am. From there we'll cruise down south for a spot of lunch in Kangaroo Valley. Easy. All bikes types and skill levels are welcome. There will be a support vehicle, photographers and a film crew on the day. More details here. Feel free to ask questions in the comments below.

(As always, sorry to our interstate and international readers. If you start pulling your bike apart now and sending it via FedEx, you just might make it in time.)

Engineered to Slide's '08 KTM 250 Café

Here's a story that has more twists and turns than a drift racer's wet dream. You see, we first eyed this bike when it appeared on the front cover of the Australian Just Bikes Magazine all the way back in August of last year. We tried to get in touch with the owner via text message and email, but only managed to get a single reply before the trail went cold. We were was lost. Why wasn't this guy getting back to us? Frustrated, we went to the owner's website and began to read up on the bike's builder - a guy called ‘Nigel’. Then the penny drops. ‘State drift car champion,’ the site says. And V8 Supercar demonstration driver. And TopGear Live demonstration driver, drift racing car builder, and custom bike builder. Phew. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Nigel Petrie - builder of the world's baddest KTM café, and quite possibly Australia's busiest person.

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DP Customs '95 Harley Sportster - “del Rey”

Anyone that has studied the creative process will tell you that the world's great artists eventually develop a style that is simultaneously totally original, yet uniquely and utterly their own. Think Kimura. Or Falcon. Or Lennon & McCartney. They seem to reach a point in their careers where they just manage to transcend their contemporaries and take flight. After that, their work is a good as their signature or their offspring; inherently and unmistakably theirs. Looking over the shots you see here of DP Custom's lastest creation, I'm beginning to think that they, too, have taken flight. Please welcome back the brothers Del Prado, with their 6th (!) bike to make it's Pipeburn appearance - the larger than life Harley ‘del Rey.’

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Tattoo Project's 1970 BSA Lightning

Building a custom bike can be one hell of a challenge. And we're not just talking about the skinned knuckles and cold nights with nothing but a greasy lump of metal to keep you warm. No, what we're really getting at is the more intellectual aspects of a customisation. The seemingly simple decisions you have to make about what to do with the bike that will successfully take it from ‘hate’ to ‘great’. Having done this ourselves, we are all too familiar with just how infuriating choosing a seat, picking rubber, or routing an exhaust can be. Thoughts race through your head. "Is this a cliché... is it original... will it look cool?" These things can eat you alive if you let them, but then along comes a bike that slaps you right in your navel-gazing, self-important face. Cue the latest build from Rudy Banny's Tattoo Project Custom Motorcycles. It takes no la-di-da, avanté garde approaches, yet like a simple slice of apple pie and ice cream, it totally manages to hit the spot.

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1980 Honda CX500 "Testardo"

When it comes to creative Italian bike builders, the guys at Emporio Elaborazioni Meccaniche always bring something original to the table. For their latest build, they decided against using a local bike like a Guzzi or a Ducati and chose the humble Honda CX500. "We suggested this cheap bike to work with the customers request to have a cool but inexpensive custom" says Andrea. Back in 1978 when Honda first released the Honda CX500, they used the advertising tag line “First into the Future!” to launch this motorcycle – referring to it being the first water-cooled, shaft-driven V-twin. Now 30 years into the future, these clever guys from Rome have reshaped this Honda into a street tracker the Japanese would be proud of. 

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2012 Triumph Bonneville by Vintage Racer

By guest writer Ian Lee.

Ah the sights of Paris. Le Eiffel tower. Le Arc De Triomphe. Le modified Triumph Bonneville. The last of these is a recent addition to the visual splendour of Paris, and we have Vintage Racer Motorcycles to thank for the pleasure. This Bonnie was created for a customer who turned out to be a prince from Qatar, or an 'emir' in french – so they named the bike 'Bobbemir'. It has been built with all the hallmarks of Vintage Racer’s belief that their bikes should be ridden not hidden. Whether as an every day rider or something to take for a burn on a Sunday afternoon, their bikes are for blowing out cobwebs, not collecting them. This bike is as much a monument to French engineering as the Eiffel tower, but le tower Eiffel never had a chance to sport pipewrap. 

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Boneyard Customs' '74 Yamaha TD250

Adelaide gets a bit of a bum rap as far as Australian states go. Ever since a really disturbing sequence of events took place there in the '90s, it's been referred to by fellow countrymen as Australia's ‘mass murder capital’. And the label isn't without warrant, as the stats show that South Australians are much more likely to end up becoming a bunch of bones buried in a backyard than the rest of the country. Enter a guy called Heath, someone who is, we're glad to say, quite the opposite. He's called his shop ‘Boneyard Customs’ as he likes to resurrect old, scrap bikes from the dead and turn them back into living, breathing, roaring rides. Which is just what's happened to the bike you see here. We're sure you'll agree when we say it's a killer too, just not in the serial sort of way.

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Pipeburn on Pinterest

Let's face it, although Scott and I are handsome, smart, witty guys who's writing will one day stand alongside that of Hemingway and Kerouac, the real reason you come back here day after day is the great photos of the bikes. Well, what if I told you that there's a place where you can now see every bike we've ever posted on Pipeburn in one place? Every. Single. One. There's one thousand of them to be exact, and as of right now they are all up on Pinterest for your eye-candy-ing pleasure. Take a look, and make sure you follow us when you're there. Enjoy!

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Fred Krugger's '66 Honda CB 450 - “Tribute to Japan”

There's a few names that truly sit on the top shelf of the imaginary custom motorcycle hall of fame in my head. Ian Barry from Falcon is one. John Ryland from Classified is probably another. But in terms of longevity and sheer hard work, few builders can beat the stirling rep created by Belgium's Fred Krugger and his Krugger Motorcycles. Looking back through his work, he has created some of the most memorable customs of the past 10 years. Bikes that redefined what the words "custom bikes" actually meant. He even created a bike that transforms, for god's sake. And he took out some pretty impressive awards along the way, including a win at the AMD show in Sturgis by an epic 50 point margin over second place. All these great bikes, but never a café racer. Well, not until now that is...

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