Honda CL 360 - 'Willow'

"So why did you name the bike Willow?" This is the first question we asked Troy Helmick, the builder of this amazing bike. "Willow trees are strong but fluid" he replied. Very zen, sensei Helmick. Troy is a retired photographer who now runs an Alpaca farm in West Virginia. "It is my attempt to evoke a picture in a person's head when they hear a name and then couple that name with the image they see before them in my machine" he explains. This bike was reborn on a farm in West Virginia. Willow started life as a 1974 Honda CL 360 before Troy found her on her side, rotting behind someone’s garage. The build was inspired by the era of the board track racers — they were brutal machines, elegant in their simplicity. The pictures you see before you are Troys redefined interpretations. Photographs and words by Troy...

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Sportsman Flyer Racer

Back in 1910 the world's first board track was opened at the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome near Playa del Rey, California. Now, 100 years later, board track racers are again making a comeback to America's west coast. These stunning bikes are being hand-built in Gilroy, California by Pat Dolan who started the company out of passion for these classically styled motor bicycles. The “Sportsman Flyer Company” started not as a business, but as a hobby" he says. "I have built and collected cars and bicycles for years and have always wanted to add a Schwinn Whizzer motorized bicycle to my collection". So while Pat was searching for the right bike, he started seeing motorized bicycles around the place with newer two stroke engines. That's when he decided to build one and started the project with a vintage Schwinn Panther frame.

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Royal Enfield 'Light Foot'

Just came across this stunning motorcycle on Bikermetric. No, it's not the latest from Falcon Motorcycles – although it does look like they've taken inspiration from the Bullet Falcon. Surprisingly, it was built by a custom shop in India called Rajputana Custom Motorcycles. The bike was made for a famous Bollywood actor, model and singer named John Abraham. Vijay Singh, Rajputana Customs Co-Owner said: "The bike we have built for John is an extension of his personality and taste. For instance, the bike is subtle, simplistic, and a complete stand-out much like John’s calm and uncomplicated demeanor but amazing presence”. Doesn't John sound like a catch?

The motorcycle was built around the new Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500 engine and was inspired by Board Track Racers from the 1920's. Fitted with girder front suspension and original 1948 BSA 500 spring. The attention to detail is amazing, right down to custom hand engraving on all the brass parts. 

If you want to see more pics of this bike they call 'Light Foot', you can visit Rajputana Customs Facebook page.

Yamaha XS650 Boardtracker

It's not every day you see a Yamaha boardtracker – especially one of this calibre. It wasn't long ago that this one of a kind XS650 created a lot of attention when featured on XS650Chopper. Built by the talented Nick Stringer from Metal Head Fabrication in California, it recently picked up Iron Works Bar Hopper 1st place at the LA Calendar Motorcycle show. Amazingly Nick was so humbled by his competition at the show that he didn't think his creation would even pick up a place, so ended up missing the awards. When the winner was announced – SFX: Crickets chirping – he was actually sleeping under a tree, catching up on the lack of sleep from the night before. He must of been the only one surpised when he won because even Shinya Kumura gave his nod of approval. The beautiful slender tank and the all brass rear fender are truly works of art. To see more photos of this special build, check out the Metal Head Cycles website.

 

Fong Bros XS650

This beautiful piece of chopper craftmanship was sent to us by Ted from XS650 Chopper. It was built by Denis (AKA Billy Joe Fong) from Fong Bros who has built many sweet rides in the past. Here's how Denis described the project: "As for the white bike, It’s a 1982 xs650 special. It was a mail delivery bike for the Post Office in either Delaware or Pennsylvania but was only used for about 10,000 miles. The tail is a TC Bros tail that I made some very minor mods to. I was using Kansas Kustoms but I was able to get a good deal with TC Bros. From front to back, here’s what was done. The forks were done by hand. I used an angle grinder and a hand file to get rid of all the tabs and smooth them out, then polished them. They are also lowered 2.75 inches.

The front and rear wheels are 21 inch Ankront’s laced to the 650 hubs and have Trials tires. I usually don’t like to use shouldered wheels, but I wanted Fong Bros on the wheels and it was easy to do on the shoulder. I made the handlebars out of the stock bars and a pair of clip-ons. The gas tank is a high tunnel Wassel that did not fit well at all. I had to move the coil and cut part of the motormount off the top of the engine to get it to fit. It is silver leafed. There is a LaRosa polished seat. I pretty much just wanted it to look old.” Denis has truly created a super clean vintage looking bike, right down to those ingenious boardtracker styled handlebars. To see more pics of this old school chopper check out XS650 Chopper.

Filipino Bobber

Noli Coronado is not only a silversmith for Lucky Monkey in Manilla but is also a passionate bike builder. He likes to build sculptures that have wheels and engines. Like this one-of-a-kind board tracker cross bobber he built for Ron Poe of P&P tattoo. Ron is the son of legendary Filipino actor Fernando Poe Jr. Fernando Poe’s most famous role was of Panday (blacksmith in Filipino) in the movie Ang Panday. He played a blacksmith named flavio who made his own swords and fought evil foes. Dante from Lucky Monkey tells us "The build started out as a CB550f from the 70’s complete with raked out neck and flamed tank. The bike features a girder front end, rigid frame painted in rust inspired by pandays costume. Flourishes using brass and other found objects such as wrenches were integrated into the build. The bike also contains Agimats which are Filipino brass amulets which hold magical properties that protect the rider". This is one of the most unique and original builds we have seen in a while, almost as crazy as Noli's previous Kawasaki KZ750 project.