ASV – 'Allan Special Vehicle'

By guest writer Ian Lee.

One offhand comment about Canadian bike customising has brought some rather passionate Canadians out, resulting in a raft of emails from Canadians wanting to show off their custom creations. Among these emails was the ASV, the Allan Special Vehicle, a custom bobber style bike built by Joe Allan, who wants to show just how much customising a Canadian is able to fit into one build. And what a radical, built from the ground up bike it is. 

The build began when Joe picked up a Cushman Truckster from a surplus auction at his work, for the princely sum of $85. For those not aware of what a Cushman Truckster is, it is an industrial motorised cart, with a semi enclosed cab. Hardly the sort of thing one would consider when starting out on a build, however Joe could see potential in the air cooled opposed twin motor and three speed gearbox. After stripping the Cushman of it’s driveline, Joe fitted late model Kawasaki quad running gear to the Cushman, and put the factory running gear away for use at a later date. 

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Destino Custom Garage - ‘Samurai’

Last week at the Sydney Motorcycle Show this stunning Samurai caused quite a commotion when it was unveiled to the public. At first glance you might think it's been built by Zero Engineering; the creators of this Samurai style bobber, but when you take a closer look you'll see there's one obvious difference - we'll get to that in a moment. The bike was built by Destino Custom Garage who are a Sydney shop that specialise in custom builds on metric cruisers. Their goal was not to replicate the Zero style Samurai, but to build their own on a completely different platform. The Zero Engineering bikes have always been focused on American engines due to Shinya's love of the American culture and all things old. "Because we specialise in Japanese motorcycles, we thought that it is only fitting that our Samurai is powered by a Japanese engine" said Jimmi from Destino.

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Yuri Shif Customs - "The Machine"

Here's one out of left field, or more correctly out of east field. I think it's fair to say that Belarus isn't exactly known for custom bikes... come to think of it, I'm not sure what it's known for. Until now, that is. Say "Вітаю" to The Machine, a bespoke creation from Minsk's Yuri Shif Customs and the best thing to come out of Belarus since, um, since ever.

Some of you might remember Yuir's previous creation, the very baroque Ducati DUster, which made quite a spalsh back in 2010 at the Verona Expo when it took out the Best International Bike Builder award. Not one to rest on his laurels, Yuri apparently sketched this bike out in his hotel room after the show and hey presto, he shows up with this creation at the AMD Custom Bike Building World Championship later in the year. Either Yuri's a guy with a lot of free time up his sleeve, or there ain't jack to do in Minsk. Either way, I think we should all be thankful that a guy with pretty much zero local help or custom bike culture can come up with something as amazing as this. Sorta makes you feel a little lazy, don't it?

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ICON Container Yard Classic

Love em or hate em, Icon know how to have fun – and isn't that what riding a motorbike is all about? This video is fresh out of the box and features some of the Icon team riders tearing it up in a container yard on some of the Icon bikes. Enough said.

We would like to give a big shout out to Icon, especially their creative genius Kurt Walter who decided to support Pipeburn this year. Check the Icon blog to see what motorcycle goodness Kurt has posted today.

Icon Death or Glory

It's safe to say this drop seat rigid isn't going to win any beauty contests. But then again it wasn't built for that purpose. The Icon Death or Glory was built for one thing in mind - speed. One of the first thing that caught my eye was the plastic toy mirror, so I asked Icon's design director Kurt Walter whether it was there to be ironic, he replied  "I built a 2100cc powered rigid death machine virtually incapable of turning or stopping yet equipped with Ohlins forks on billet Attack triples. Garnishing it with a mirror stolen from my daughter's Barbie bike just seemed appropriate. So yeah, I suppose the mirror is - ironic, sarcastic, humorous, ridiculous, stupid... all of the above". 
Icon always write the best press releases about their bikes so I decided to quote them: "2100cc's of air-cooled twin stuffed into a Detroit Bros gooseneck frame. The handformed aluminum seat low enough to decapitate quizitive roadside squirrels. Suspended by an Ohlins front and a Ohlins rear, the D/G rides like a straight line American dream. In the vein of our Midwest upbringing, where anything more curved than ruler is best left in the closet. The ability to turn bikes, as we've found through countless hours of research, is highly overrated. Ground clearance and functioning brakes are also non essentials, best left as accouterments on 'fancy' Japanese models. No, in America we like our machinery overpowered and underthought. Performance that can be measured a quarter mile at a time. Anything longer and our miniscule attention spans go into sleep mode. Thankfully bikes like the D/G are within the easy grasp of any blue blooded tax payer. All you need is a fully equipped machine shop, ten grand worth of welding equipment, an Ebay account, and a complete lack of common sense. All traits that the Icon garage team has in spades". You can view more shots of this beast and read the impressive spec list on Icon's website.

Icon Kawazuki

We love the story behind this killer Icon KZ1000. Back in 1979 this humble bike started life as a police bike in Portland - but now 30 years later it's on the other side of the law, ready to cause some trouble. The build started by removing the stock swingarm and replacing it with the swingarm and rear wheel from a '92 GSX-R750. The KZ1000 frame was modified to accept a SV monoshock - not quite sure about the Redbull can shock cover but we have been told it's already been removed. The engine was given a 1075cc Wiseco big bore kit and the front end is off the same Suzuki SV1000. Considering the bike is a motorcycle mash-up we can't believe how stunning it turned out. It not only looks great but we bet it would be a whole lot of fun to ride this monster. To read a very humorous story about this KZ, visit the Icon Blog. [Spotted on HFL] 

Venice Bobber

We love how Chris Tragert from Venice Choppers describes his custom bobber; "This bare-knuckle venice bobber is a product of its environment. A light, compact weapon needed to slice through the traffic-choked urban sprawl surrounding the sea-side oasis where it was conceived. Lightweight, quickness, agile handling, and good brakes were top priority. The resulting menacing appearance would give murderous cagers something to text about". This mad candy red bobber has the unmistakeable 78 CB750F motor. Stripped down and rebuilt with stainless hardware. Love those pipes and we bet they make a great bark. For a full list of the specs (written beautifully by the way) check out their website or for more pics visit the gallery.

Goldmember Custom

Goldmember is the name of this amazing machine. Built by Canadian Roger Goldammer from Goldammer Cycle Works. Goldammer knows how to build bikes and he builds most parts on his show bikes. This bike won last years Official World Championship of Custom Bike Building. Not only does it look great, it also performs well. Recently becoming a world record holder, averaging over 160 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Wouldn't you love to ride this beast on a salt lake? In the words of the other Goldmember... Yeah baby!

Liquid Chrome

Japanese custom motorcycle builder Chicara Nagata is in a league of his own. He doesn't call his bikes motorcycles, he calls them pieces of art. Which is why the Ippodo Gallery in NYC has had an exhibition recently showing his amazing chrome bikes. Chicara has won numerous awards for his custom motorcycles, which take him over 7000 hrs to build. This level of craftsmanship has its price, with most of his bikes selling for around $1 million – ouch. Hit this video to see Chicara talk about his amazing masterpieces.