Written by Ian Lee.

When a bike manufacturer commissions a special edition bike to be built outside of their factory, they don’t just put their creation in the hands of any nuff nuff who can swing an angle grinder and crimp terminals together. As part of this new trend to work with outside customisers, Yamaha approached Wrenchmonkees, Triumph went to Icon, and now BMW has collaborated with Roland Sands to create a homage to the BMW R90S – the German marque’s bad ass bike of the 1970’s. Forty years after it’s launch, BMW & Roland Sands have reimagined the R90S in a modern vein, while still retaining such touches as the blended paint job, ducktail and bikini fairing the original bike was renowned for. The spirit of the original is retained, with some awesome new design ideas thrown into the mix, making it clear that BMW has chosen the right bike builder for the job. 

When they are rolled out of the factory, some bikes are a lot closer to a rider's dream of visual perfection than others. Your early 80s Yamaha Virago is a great example of this. Until an intrepid customiser realised that there was gold buried under them there faux Harley hills, most people would have crossed the street to avoid riding one. Now we're not about to lump the Bonneville into this category. Not at all. In our eyes, it's a bike that is as close to perfect as you'll ever get from a mass-produced ride. But that's not to say that it couldn't do with a few little custom touches to really let it shine. And that's just the approach that the bike's owner and the team at Ellaspede took when they started this, their latest build.

It's almost been 3 years since Shinya the "motorcycle mechanic" starred in the stunning short film called the 'Smell of Oil'. Well, we are glad to see he is back in front of the camera with another beautifully shot film. This time it was directed by Danielle Levitt and shot by Evan Scott as a supplement to the third issue of On Paper Magazine. Shinya not only builds some of the most amazing examples of moving sculptures but he is also one of the most intriguing personalities in the motorcycle scene. In the film, Danlelle digs a little deeper into what makes Shinya tick and the feeling he gets when riding his machines. In the end, the film left us wanting one thing... to go for a ride with this master of metal. How about you?

Check out Danielle's site for more photographs of Shinya in his element.

Written by Jason Cormier. Jason is a freelance writer and accomplished shade-tree mechanic based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the editor of Odd-Bike.com, a selection of odd, exotic, unusual, and rare motorcycles from around the world.

In a modest garage a few miles east of San Francisco, there is a man who builds motorcycles. This might not sound particularly exceptional, as there are men building bikes in many garages in many cities, and some of them are exceptional enough to get profiled on sites like this. Julian Farnam is a different sort of builder though, and he has built a different sort of bike. He is a consummate tinkerer, a man who puts together unique machines of his own design in his spare time. It's not his day job, but he is damn good at what he does – producing some of the most interesting and thoughtfully designed custom bikes you'll come across anywhere. The bike we are featuring today is one of Julian's odd creations, a raked and chopped Yamaha RD400 that applies one of Julian's favourite concepts – alternative front suspensions. More remarkable is that the CHOPPRD, as Julian has christened it, was built in his spare time over a 30 day period for a total budget that could not exceed $1000 – that includes the donor bike and all the parts and modifications that go with it.

Everything old is new again. The more we race towards the future with our iPhones and internets, the more we seem to long for a time when things were simpler. Cut throat razors are now selling better than they have in 50 years. 15 years ago, a hand-made leather wallet was something only Louis Vuitton and $500 could have got you. Now there are small leather makers popping up all over the place. And it seems like every man and his dog are doing a decent pair of jeans, although we remember when the only choice you had were 501s. So what would happen if you took this bespoke, small-scale approach and applied it to build an entire motorcycle? Enter Janus Motorcycles of Goshen, Indiana, and their wonderful Halcyon 50.

So the hangovers have finally passed and all the custom bikes have all been ridden home or taken back on their trailers. But the talk is still going about what a great event Throttle Roll turned out to be. We are super proud of our friends Mark Hawwa and Jordon Kightly for taking a punt on such a large scale event – and it looks like it paid off. Not that they made much money out of it, because it was free. Yes, free! With over 3500 (motorcycle enthusiasts, families, hipsters and dogs) people attending the event across the day, the streets of Enmore were filled with the likes of Bobbers, Classics and Café Racers. Traffic clogged up as bikes where parked left right and centre. The 'No Parking' signs were covered so the footpaths were littered with stunning bikes – the way it should be.

I many ways, creating a custom bike is not dissimilar to having kids. You put all your time, effort, and money into them. You pay too much attention to them. But mostly you just lay awake at night worrying if they'll turn out OK. And then you meet the parents that give their kids names like ‘Jazzy’ and ‘Zealand,’ pull them out of school and dress them up in day-glo pantaloons. Similarly, some bike builders don't start with plans to build a safe gun metal grey Yamaha SR400, but instead pick the weirdest bike possible and then decide to paint it sludge brown. Doomed to fail, you'd assume. But you'd be assuming wrong. Meet the latest offspring from Kiev's DoZer Garage, their inexplicably cool Ural 650 bobber.

Yes, you are on the right site. And no, we haven't suddenly decided to add four wheeled vehicles to our stock-in-trade. That's because the convertible we happen to be talking about here isn't a little red Corvette or your daddy's Thunderbird, but instead it's the latest build by Florida's Steel Bent Customs. This Nighthawk not only ticks all the right boxes in terms of clean lines, cool pipes, and sweet paint - it also manages to be both a café and a brat at the same time. Cool trick, huh?

Written by Ian Lee.

Ebay has changed the custom bike world in many ways. Anyone wanting unique parts can look all over the world for what they require, but on the other hand if the seller is unscrupulous, are you really going to fly across the globe to confront them because your fork gaiters don’t fit? One such customiser who has utilised Ebay to it’s fullest extent is Volure Cycles, based in Estonia. Using global buying ability, matched with neat engineering skills, a rather pedestrian Yamaha XS400 has been tranformed into a slick café racer. And with nearly all the work done in the owner Sander’s garage, Volure’s first build has come up looking like the work of a bike builder with a lot more experience. And best of all, it is proof for your boss or partner that trawling Ebay isn’t a complete waste of time. 

So, by now you'll all know about Throttle Roll, and if you're in Sydney next weekend you'd be crazy not to come along and join in the fun. But maybe you are crazy - crazy enough to ask ‘why?’ Well here's exhibit A in your mental health review. It's a unique take on a late model Honda CB250 from Rene9ade Custom Motorcycles, and it along with more than 40 other killer builds will be making an appearance at the show.