Written by Martin Hodgson

There are millions of people who ride motorcycles around the globe; most on small capacity machines to commute through big cities, others ride for fun, while an even smaller group makes use of them for their weekend sporting activities. But then there are those who are true bikers, they live and breathe their life on two wheels and you know it the moment you meet them. Christophe Canitrot is one such man, hailing from Toulouse, France, there is always at least one bike for riding and another in the works. Now preparing for an assault on the European flat tracks for 2020, he unveils his latest love, a Staracer framed Triumph that’s as dedicated to the sideways lifestyle as the owner himself.

Written by Tim Huber.

Building custom motorcycles allows for an immense amount of creativity and self-expression, though with so many new builds appearing each week, it’s become increasingly difficult to produce something that’s truly unique, thereby greatly mitigating the individuality aspect. When a concept has been employed by countless customs shops, the style becomes less representative of the builder and their tastes and preferences, and is hard to view as anything other than just more of the same. And it was this desire to create something thoroughly different that served as the core ethos behind the latest two-wheeled work from the Netherland’s Beekhof Motorcycle Builds.

Written by Martin Hodgson

You see them advertised all the time, usually on eBay, a project that is 95% complete according to the seller and just needs a couple of things to finish. Often they’ll even go so far as to claim just how much it’ll be worth upon completion and highlight the bargain you’ll be getting. But rarely is it true, 95% complete without any mention of all the real problems that prevented them from finishing the build in the first place. So when a bike with a similar tale arrived at the UK’s Spitfire Speed Shop, they decided to do it all properly this time around to create a stunning Honda CBX750 called Talos.

When the KZ1000 first rolled off the factory floor in 1976, it was the fastest production bike with a 1015cc inline four motor that produced a very respectable 83 horses. In recent years, these KZ’s have been in high demand and have been fetching some high prices. So when Steve Meyer from Maui, Hawaii inherited his late uncle’s 1979 KZ1000 he wanted to bring it back to its former glory but with a custom twist. He had seen the work of Sean Skinner from Motorelic and decided to give him a call out of the blue. “My first thought was ‘How in the heck did you find me?’ – and then I wondered how he was going to get the bike to Virginia,” recalls Sean. “Well, it turned out Steve was originally from Baltimore MD and the bike was there.” Once the bike finally arrived at the Motorelic HQ, they began the design process together and nailed down the final look. “We settled on a classy brat style theme that would be comfortable enough to do a cross country trip to San Diego on so he could ship the bike back home to Hawaii!”

Written by Martin Hodgson

It’s easy to look at big workshops full of the latest tools and be envious, imagining if only you had them at your disposal. But as MacGyver showed us on TV, if you really know what you’re doing you can save the world a thousand times over with just a Swiss Army knife and some miscellaneous objects. Working out of his garage in Minneapolis, James Berreau brings that sort of attitude to the custom bike building game. With just his second build he’s whipped up this stunning 1974 Yamaha RD350 nicknamed ‘The Deuce’ that is oozing classic cool.

Written by Tim Huber.

Unlike most creative mediums, custom motorcycle building isn’t taught in classrooms, and is instead of a mishmash of semi-related skills, often acquired over many years in other careers before being applied to one-off two-wheelers. For Tossa R’s owner, Tudor Dunev, that training and preparation came in the form of an illustrious four-wheeled motorsport career of building — and piloting — championship-winning drift and rally cars.

The Bulgarian racer’s accolades include a VW Lupo Cup championship, five consecutive Bulgarian Touring Car championship titles, and the title of 2010 European Drift King, among many others, the most recent of which being the 2019 Bulgarian Eco Rally which Dunev also took first in. So, after spending years churning out highly-competitive race cars engineered to take on extended abuse in some of the world’s toughest environments, Tudor has applied his skill-sets to running a successful customs shop with a proven history of quality and craftsmanship.

Written by Martin Hodgson

You might meet the nicest people on a Honda, but if it’s passion you’re after then look no further than Italian marque Ducati! The Ducatisti take things to a whole new level, even holding an annual World Ducati Week, so if you’re building a custom from a Duc then there is an extra layer of pressure. But Sven and his team at Belgium’s Barn Built Bikes were more than up for the challenge and showing their confidence decided to debut the finished product at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona, Italy. The end result is this stunning mix of old and new, a Ducati 900SS built to be a Darmah replica.

Words by the builder Kurt Diserio | Photos by Alexa Diserio

When you think of a scrambler motorcycle, the last thing that probably comes to mind is a Harley-Davidson. With Triumph and Ducati both using the term as the name of two popular current models, it can be a little confusing these days what “scrambler” actually means. Although, a quick search through internet land proves that the label has always been somewhat complicated. Let’s jump into the background of this unique style and the reason I went in this direction after acquiring a totalled 2015 Sportster XL1200.

Written by Martin Hodgson

It wasn’t so long ago that walking into a motorcycle dealership with a handful of cash, large or small, was not only your ticket to fun and freedom but also a healthy dose of antisocial behaviour that put a smile on your dial. Whether that was sticking your new ride sideways into a corner, spinning the back tyre or popping a wheelie, it was all just a twist of the throttle away. Try that on most new bikes and a cornucopia of flashing lights on the dash will tell you, ‘computer says no’. So to get back to the simple joys of life on two wheels, Stefan Lantschner of Koolt Creations, loves nothing more than turning lightweight singles like this Honda Dominator into uninhibited pleasure machines.

Written by Tim Huber

While Honda’s CB750 has undeniably played a pivotal role in the rise of the modern custom motorcycle scene, it’s become increasingly difficult to think of cafe’d CBs as being anything other than played out. The hooped subframe, fender-delete, pipe-wrap, and clip-on formula has objectively become pretty cliche, though every once in a blue-moon we open our inbox to discover a truly special CB cafe racer, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here, from Austria’s National Custom Tech Motorcycles — better known simply as NCT.