Martin Hodgson

TURNING IT UP TO ELEVEN: 1980 Yamaha XS1100.

Forty years is a long time in motorcycles, and where once upon a time a manufacturer could have a successful touring bike by just bolting a big motor into an existing frame, these days people want all the creature comforts of a first-class flight. But that is...

FOUR MEN, THREE CHIEFS: Indian Motorcycle launches Chief Custom Build Program.

From board track racing to the post-war bobbers, the American V-Twin was at the heart of the custom bike world for decades. But truth be told, that influence has been drastically diminished in recent times, and comments sections of websites like this and the...

SUPER SPECIAL: 1976 Honda CB550 Café Racer by 089moto.

The original Honda CB750 sportsbike might have been the Japanese motorcycle that made the world sit up and take notice, but it was the CB550F that was turning many paying customers towards the land of the rising sun. Bike Magazine labelled the Honda the pick...

BATTLE READY: Kawasaki Z900 Urban Fighter by Droog Moto.

The internet has not only radically changed the way we live our lives, but also how we do business and those at the vanguard continue to reap the rewards. A virtual showroom is one such advantage, lowering overheads and ensuring the customer gets the greatest...

THE MUTANT: BMW R100 by WYLD Garage Co. x Ironwood Custom Motorcycles.

Transatlantic relations go back centuries and have combined for some of the most important events in modern history. In fact, some of the greatest motorcycle racing the world has ever seen was in the grand old days of the Transatlantic Trophy. Now partnering...

TASTEFULLY DONE: Suzuki ST250 Scrambler by Heiwa Motorcycles.

They say you can't have your cake and eat it too but if you head to the port of Hiroshima, Japan, and enter a small nondescript building, you can literally have it all. It is here you will find the headquarters of Heiwa Motorcycles, the place where the legend...

CUSTOM COMMUTER: Yamaha Fazer by Cramento Motorcycles.

Around the world, a motorcycle means many different things to many different people. But most of us reading these pages, myself included, remain largely oblivious to the biggest sector in the industry, that of the commuter bike. In large cities across the...

THE WHOLE WERKS: BMW R90 Scrambler by Skrunkwerks.

We've all heard it at some point, the abbreviated quote, Jack of all trades, master of none. With the reality being that to compete in the often cutthroat world of being a custom bike builder, you simply have to be capable of all things to maintain the...

RESCUE MISSION: Honda CX500 by Purpose Built Moto.

If you've ever been in the market for a house and been looking to save some money, you've probably come across a property that the agent called a “renovators delight”. What they really meant to say was that it was a money pit, with a million problems that...

BOLOGNA BEAUTY: 1985 Cagiva Alazzurra by Nico Dragoni Motociclette.

Few motorcycle manufacturers have come out of the blocks swinging like Italian marque Cagiva, selling 40,000 units in just their second year. By the end of the '90s they owned Ducati, Moto Morini, MV Agusta and Husqvarna. They also had teams across the Grand...