Yamaha XS650 - 'YABSA'

Written by Ian Lee.

Some bike builders are like magicians. They take particular props, put them together and ‘hey presto’, produce something you didn’t think was possible. A mixture of new and old componentry on a bike build is an example of this. If you lean too far one way, or the other, you can ruin the concept of a build. Or at the very least, while trying to put a new image on an bygone concept, you have the motorcycle equivalent of David Hasselhoff. Roberto Totti and the team at Hook Motors have what it takes to mix new with old, and with over thirty years of experience in Robert alone, you can see the professionalism put into their builds. The Yabsa is one such bike, with a few different motorcycles, from a few different eras donating componentry, and the end result is magic. 

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Briton Bees ‘47 BSA B33 - “Howlin’ Wolf”

There's a funny feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you first start to customise a classic bike. It must be the same kind of feeling that an architect who is asked to modify a famous building gets, or an audio engineer that has to do a ‘digital remaster’ of a classic rock album feels. The excitement that builds from creating something new and original, mixed with the heavy burden that comes from modifying a classic. But there's a simple remedy to this that I'd never considered until I laid eyes on this, the latest build from North Carolina's pre-eminent custom bike shop, Briton Bees. And that's to build the bike from not one, but ten different donor vehicles... including a VW Bug and a ‘30s Peugeot. Seriously. Please read on as you enjoy the world's most recycled, um, cycle; the amazing ‘Howlin’ Wolf’ BSA.

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Rajputana Custom's 1942 BSA M20 - “Laado”

You may or may not have noticed, but on the odd occasion us Pipeburnian types do tend to hunt out some pretty sweet bikes. And as with anything that's pleasing to the eye, you often can't help but feel a little jealous because every time you look in your inbox you are bombarded with a vast array of rides that, save for a massive crime spree, are most definitely not yours. But today I think I can safely say that I've taken it to the next level. See, looking over the photos you see before you, I found myself not only jealous of the bike shown in the shots, but also of... well of everything. There's the polo horses. The garage full of sweet rides. A house that looks to all intents and purposes like a palace, and a guy called Vijay that owns the lot and runs a custom bike shop too boot. And then he's gone and done the whole thing in Rajasthan, often acknowledged as one of India's most beautiful spots. Don't you just hate him?

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1965 BSA A65 - Chasing Lightning

Here at Chez Pipe de la Carbon we don't know much about art, but we know what we like. And we like this; it's the work of Antoine Stemerding who is an artist living in the south of the Netherlands. His day job involves building weird and wonderful sculptures, most of the time out of metal. So when he came across a 1965 BSA for sale he decided to turn it into a hardtail. "I fabricated the hard tail frame myself" Antoine says. "That wasn't a big issue, because I work a lot with metal when I make my art. There aren't alot of chopped BSA's in the Netherlands but now and then one pops up."

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Photos: Silverwater Street and Custom Bike Show

Ahhh - Sydney's beautiful Silverwater! Well known across this wide, brown land for it's wonderful gaol, the Silverwater bike show, and... um. Did I mention the prison? I popped along yesterday with my trusty Nikon in hand to see what I could see. And what I saw was mostly Harley choppers covered in skulls, fire, and billet. Having braved hellish traffic on Parramatta Road only to arrive 20 minutes before the gates closed I was more than a little pissed off. Then like a bolt from the blue I stumbled across the fine gentlemen of the BSA Club of New South Wales and all was saved. Not only were they friendly and ready for a chat, but the bikes they were sporting were as beautiful and cool as they were collectable.

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Vintage Motorcycle Ads

If this website was around in the 1960's, we'd be featuring an army of beautiful women straddling motorbikes on just about every single page. The site would be filled to the brim with them. Before 'political correctness' was ever invented, the motorcycle industry loved to target males (sorry ladies) using some good old fashioned 'sex sells' tactics. They'd usually do it with headlines filled with sexual innuendo and many, MANY beautifully seductive women. Women that stared you in the eye and said "Purchase this fine motorbike and you will find yourself swimming in a ocean of pre-feminist, lose-moraled women in see-through clothing without any buttons."

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BSA B31 - GOLDSTAR REPLICA

Steve Jones is the owner of this sensational BSA B31. Like most vintage motorcycles, it has a story and I thought it would be best if Steve told it:

The bike was purchased from a dealer in 2008 by the previous owner. It was described as a running and restorable 1957 B31. On delivery it was clear the bike had not been run for a very long time, after a little bit of tinkering it was fired up, but sounded like a box full of spanners and the big end was shot so a full strip down was required. After the strip and examination it was found to be in a far worse state. So the rebuild commenced with the idea of a special to show what the B31 could be capable of.

The bike was given the name 'Claude' and was to become a B31 Clubman Goldstar Replica.The frame was modified with lugs being added for rear sets, then a genuine Goldstar swinging arm was found and was re worked with phosphor bronze bushes to improve the handling. then the forks came from an A65 lightning Clubman then fitted with clip ons on hard chrome stanchions. The engine was rebuilt to early Goldstar touring specification, the Cylinder head ported and gas flowed to BB32 dimensions with BB32 valves, springs and cams. The bottom end is to BB31 spec, with new big end assembly, but with a polished and lightened aluminium con rod as to ZB32 Goldstar long rod spec. The Barrel is a Phil Pearson big bore conversion, 400cc with a Wiseco forged piston, 9:7:1 which is estimated to take the engine to 32bhp. Then the gearbox was completley rebuilt with new seals and bushes and is now one down and three up. A brand new Amal carb 389 - 11/8 was found and added along with Replica Clubmans Tank, Seat,Clocks and Exhaust system, the silencer giving the Goldstar twitter sound. The wheels are aluminuim spoked type adapted to fit the swinging arm and forks.
When Claude was run in, it was found after 4000 rpm he hits the powerband and really will go! He revs to 7500 rpm with an estimated top speed of 90mph safely and is probably capable of 100mph.
This is not my story but it was amongst the paper work and mountain of receipts that came with the bike when purchased, I just thought it had to be told because the bike is a real credit to the guy who built it.

The bike was named Claude because of the Claude Rye bike dealer of London badge (pictured below) that was on the back mudguard. He was a well known english bike dealer in the 60s and 70s. You can view more pics of handsome Claude on Steve's photostream.

BSA Goldstar Flat Tracker

Someone wiser than me once said "Ask and Thou Shall Receive", I asked for your bikes and I did receive. We'll start with this mouthwatering BSA Gold Star which was originally a long time racer ridden by Ramon 'Porky' Perez from Northern California. After he was injured several years ago he sold off most of his Gold Star racers including this one. It was then purchased by flat track legend Tom Horton, who was a former pro National, sporting the number 55. The bike was stripped down and the motor was sent to Matt Hilgenburg from Speed & Sport in Northern California for a complete rebuild to race specs. The chassis and all other work was handled at Tom's shop Palmdale Supercycles. Most of the custom fabrication was done by Steve DeVoll of SD Fabrication in Little Rock, Ca. Some of the features on this immaculate BSA include a K&S chrome moly replica frame built in England, Alloy Lyta Gold Star tank, Barnes style wheels with no brakes, Ceriani Road Race forks in Betor wide triple clamps and a Lucas race magneto. As you can see every part of this Goldstar has been polished, plated or powder coated to perfection. It now resides in Bob & Linda Neilson's motorcycle collection, which are mainly vintage flat trackers and desert style bikes. Bob Neilson and his family have a long history in the professional flat track racing scene, he tells us he even raced his Dad a couple of times. Thanks Bob for sharing this impressive flat tracker with us.

Ajito BSA

Discovered the Motorcycle Factory Ajito (their website needs some work) on a Spanish blog called Retro Custom Racer. Ajito is a custom shop in Japan that have made loads of cool sr400's bobbers but it was this BSA C-11 named Racy King that really stood out. Everything on this bike looks hand made. The seat, brake light and Japanese dragon tank won't be to everyone's taste but you have to give credit where credit is due. Ajito has created something truly unique and we look forward to seeing more bikes from these guys in the future.