Marlon Slack

2019 Custom Built Show, Bogotá, Colombia

. I was in Colombia for twelve hours when a man yelled at me and shoved a pistol in my face. I panicked, reverted to German and cried ‘Nich schiessen!’ before he laughed, lowered the gun and ran out of the shopping centre. Security guards in Bogotá...

BOXER REBELLION. Matt Hart’s Classic BMW R65 Scrambler

Matt Hart’s a photographer - and a damn good one at that. Trawling through his drool-worthy Instagram shows his passion for racing old Porsches and other, lesser marques. But when he was young he lived and breathed bikes, belting around on a little 80cc...

BRAAP MUSIC. Hombrese’s KTM 450 SX Dirt Tracker

We totally get show queens here at Pipeburn. Something built and polished to within an inch of its life, destined to live out it’s existence in a shop front window or a lounge room. That’s cool. But even better is a custom bike that’s going to be...

ROUGH AND READY. Pasquale’s ‘111’ Honda CB500 Cafe Brat

Gustavo from Pasquale and his dad are fucking legends.” That's how our man Marlon described the family powerhouse that is Colombia's Pasquale Motors, and he's harder to impress than Vladimir Putin. We don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the whole...

WERKING CLASS. Schlachtwerk’s Kawasaki W650 Racer

Schlachtwerk’s Tommy Thöring is obsessed with the Kawasaki W650. As everyone should be. They’re dead reliable, have handling so neutral it could be described as ‘Swiss’. If you’re in Germany and you own a Dub you want chopped into something...

JEWEL, BRITANNIA. Old Empire’s ‘Gypsy’ Honda CB360 Cafe Racer

When you’re as good as suffolk’s Old Empire Motorcycles you don’t need to go hunting for work. Hell, their incredible history of customising classic motorcycles has customers practically begging them to create a bike. And that’s what’s happened with...

BOXER BULLION. Untitled’s ‘Silver City’ BMW R80 Street Scrambler

We’ve had more airheads through here than a cheerleading college. We’ve had bobbers, choppers, cafe racers, trackers and everything in between. So we here at Pipeburn can pick a killer R-series BMW build from a mile away. And here’s one of the best, a...

FORREST THUMP. Red Clouds’ Twin Yamaha XT500 Enduros

The Red Clouds Collective are a Portland-based outfit that make bomb-proof waxed cotton moto gear. And luckily for us Seth and Casey Neefus, head honchos at Red Clouds, also use the business as a front for making gorgeous custom bikes, like this pair of...

ZEE WHIZ. BGM Cafe Racer’s ’78 Kawasaki Z400 Street Scrambler

BGM Cafe Racers’ Tonie Wishart is trying to redeem himself. Years ago his father brought a bike home, an old Kawasaki G4TR 100, which Tonie successfully pulled apart and unsuccessfully put back together. Now, years later, Tonie and the team from BGM have...

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. Pop Bang Classics’ ‘Borg’ Honda CB450

Living next to the ocean is gorgeous, but as any surf-girted motorcycle nut will tell you, all that salty sea breeze just destroys motorcycles. It eats chrome, dulls aluminum and causes rust to flash up in weeks. So what’s the point of a polished custom if...