Month: January 2017

A 500 horsepower drag bike with Chevrolet power, a Ducati-sanctioned custom Scrambler Sixty2, and a vintage-styled BMW R1200 GS built for an epic trip across Africa. We’re stretching the moto envelope this week.

Honda CB750 by Dromos Motor Works We’d thought we’d seen just about every style of CB750 build by now. And then we stumbled across this angular gem from Joseph Mulhouse’s Dromos Motor Works, and everything changed yet again.

The bike entered Joseph’s New York shop as a non-running lump of neglect just begging for new life. To that end, everything you see here has been tackled in-house. The engine was torn down, balanced, over-bored, blueprinted and meticulously put back together. The frame was de-tabbed, blasted and repainted while a new snub-nosed subframe was welded together and fitted.

All of the bodywork, with its intricate angles was fab’d in-house. From there, no expense was spared in rebuilding and updating the Honda’s components to deliver a truly modern ride. You can truly lose yourself in the details on this one, so we implore you to take some time to check them out.

On his Instagram account Joseph asked one incredibly important question: “Why everything gotta be round?” Thanks to his deft handiwork here, we have a stunning example of why it simply doesn’t.

EJ Potter’s V8 drag bike Meet ‘Widowmaker 7’: It generates 500 horsepower from its 350cid Chevy small block, and lays claim to a 1973 Guinness World Record as the world’s fastest motorcycle.

Known as the Michigan Madman, EJ Potter was obsessed with speed. After an early career in the dirt, Potter went on to drag racing where he’s rumored to have earned one dollar for every mph over 100 he could make. Partly because he needed the cash but mostly because he wanted the glory, Potter experimented with direct drive transmission, since clutch chatter was costing him valuable velocity.

Fuel injected and boasting a 12.5:1 compression ratio, Widowmaker 7 is undoubtedly as insane to ride as it is to look at. It’s probably enough of a challenge to keep yourself from being sucked into the velocity stacks, or igniting your left leg on its headers.

Right now, Widowmaker 7 is crossing the blocks at the Bonhams Las Vegas motorcycle auction, with bids expected to hit up to $85,000. Anyone brave enough ..? [More]

Suzuki TL1000R by Magnum Opus Despite never living up to its hype, Suzuki’s own ‘widow maker’ commands cult-like status amongst late-nineties nostalgists. It’s the bike that always could have been for Suzuki. But despite thunderous V-Twin power, the rest of the TL1000R lacked the refinement to deliver race results.

Which is why Ezio Covelli of Magnum Opus Custom Bikes decided to refine this Suzuki—to the tune of a 23% improvement in power to weight ratio. Christened Alphamille, this cafe fighter is leaner, meaner and infinitely more focused on speed and handling. In total, 80 pounds of extras were shed and Ezio even found a few extra ponies, too. To help with the diet, the subframe is a complete custom unit, topped by a hand-formed, fiberglass tail. Suzuki’s ill-fated and weighty rotary damper was swapped out for a fully adjustabl, mono-shock and the front fork internals have all been updated too. The gas tank used to call a GSX-R home and needed extensive work to make it play properly with the injection set-up of the TL.

Ezio figures he could make a few other changes to drop the weight to below 400 pounds, if 0.65 horses per kilo isn’t sharp enough for ya. [More]

Ducati Scrambler R/T by Anvil Motociclette If you read my ride report last week, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Ducati’s new Desert Sled: It delivers all the characteristics of a true scrambler. You can simply ride it anywhere you like, grinning like an idiot the entire way. But if a cookie-cutter Ducati Scrambler isn’t your cuppa, this beaut from Anvil Motociclette just might be.

Working from the smaller displacement Scrambler Sixty2, San Marco and Phonz have created a modern distillation of Ducati’s original 70s Scrambler. Their work began by stripping the brand new bike down to nothing, and lopping off the factory subframe. A new hooped unit was crafted and bolted in place that closer resembled the lines of yore. From there a hand-rolled rear fender was tacked in place to help keep mud from being slung onto that gorgeous white saddle. The fuel tank is also a one-off unit that not only nails the slim line aesthetic perfectly, but also houses the requisite injection componentry to keep the studded wheels spinning. Further changes came at the rear with a swingarm built in-house, and the suspension has been upgraded to handle some serious punishment. [More]

BMW R1200 GS by Ton-Up Garage The Scram Africa is retro adventure ride concocted by the lads from Barcelona’s Fuel Bespoke Motorcycles. And with 2,000 kilometers of riding spread out over eight days, it sounds like an epic journey. But there’s a catch: only scramblers can partake in the trip.

To make sure they could enter, Daniel and Pedro from Portugal’s Ton-Up Garage created this Dakar-inspired, scrambled BMW GS. With everything superfluous unbuttoned on the bench, the bestselling ADV bike would undergo a rally-raid transformation. It’s now lean, light and lithe enough to make potential R nineT Urban GS buyers second-guess their intentions.

Everything from the revised rear subframe to the custom R80-styled tank has been developed with long distance, dirt pounding miles in mind. To that end that tank is larger than a standard R80 unit to allow for longer sprints between splashes and to accommodate the GS’ fuel pump as well. A new electrical box was crafted to hide as much wiring as possible, as well as housing the battery. Spoked wheels from a GSA were fitted and the Ton-Up boys sculpted and shaped that exquisite high-mount exhaust too. [More]