Fifteen pictures racing with Deus Ex Machina through the snowy mountains near Verona, Italy
Month: January 2018
What would you get your motorcycle Valentine?
The little bikes are taking over. More and more manufacturers are adding small dual-sport bikes to their ranks. And riders are enjoying smaller scramblers that aren’t intimidating, don’t break the bank, and won’t cause tears when they fall over.
Kawasaki has cottoned on, and have two new baby dirt bikes on their books: the adventure focused Versys-X 300, and the more stripped back KLX250. The KLX has actually been around since 2009, but took a hiatus in 2014 before returning mostly unchanged—except for a switch from a carb to fuel injection.
This little number is a carb’d 2012-model KLX250. It’s been given a serious hit of vintage enduro steeze—and a few choice upgrades—by the crew over at Knuckle WhackJob.
Based in the Lebak Bulus province of Jakarta, Knuckle WhackJob not only have the best name in the business, hands down, but they have a knack for building really fun bikes too. We discovered them last year, courtesy of our friends over at Gas Tank Magazine, and have had our eye on them since.
This KLX250 was never really meant to be a custom job, but KWJ’s head wrench, Otir, has a huge imagination and zero restraint. The owner just wanted a Yamaha YZ250 swing arm and shock grafted on—and maybe some light subframe mods—but Otir convinced him to go all the way.
After the KLX was modded to accept the YZ250 parts, Otir installed a YZ front end too—giving the suspension department a serious boost. The guys fitted the forks by way of a Pro Circuit kit, with a new top triple and bar risers. The wheels are the original 21F/18R combo, but they’re now wrapped in grippy Maxxis rubber.
The guys wanted to leave the engine mostly stock, so they treated it to a polish and port job, then had it sand blasted and powder coat. An FMF Power Core 4 muffler adds a little extra grunt.
As for the Kawasaki’s bodywork, none of it survived the cull. The tank looks like it’s off an old enduro bike, but that’s just because the new livery is so on point. It’s actually a one-off, hand-shaped for this project in Knuckle WhackJob’s own shop.
You’ll find their handiwork lower down too. The radiator shrouds are custom made, as are the side covers with their integrated number boards. Look closer, and you’ll spot that the right side board’s been shaped around the exhaust, doubling up as a heat shield.
There’s a new seat up top too, designed to be long enough for the rider to move around on. The guys redesigned the subframe underneath it, giving it a classic kick in the end—and capping it off with a new fender and a classic-style LED taillight.
Even though Knuckle WhackJob have loaded the little Kwakka with tons of old-school touches, they’ve also added a bunch of modern, practical mods. In the cockpit you’ll find Renthal bars, ProTaper grips and controls, and Domino switches. The forks wear a set of plastic guards, and plus Acerbis seal protectors.
There’s a sump guard lower down, and a full-length front fender to keep muck out of the rider’s eyes. Lighting comes from a pair of vintage lights housed in a hand-made cage. And there’s even a recovery strap just beneath—handy for dragging the KLX out of sticky predicaments.
We’re especially digging the 70s-inspired livery; a vivid blue punctuated with red, yellow and white stripes. And the ‘Knuckle WhackJob’ decal under the period correct Kawasaki ‘K’ is just killer. The rest of the parts have been subtly finished in black, with a few crafty highlights—like the blue chain and red rear brake line.
But what we like most is how well Knuckle WhackJob have meshed old and new on the KLX, while giving it a proper worn-in vibe. We’d have no qualms getting this scrambler dirty.
Fits 5-3/4″ Headwinds headlights with screw in bezels (1-5200, 1-5500, 1-5600, 1-5800 series), US Headlights: 5-3/4″ Viper Headlight Housing (1-5800U), Tradewinds: 5-3/4″ Bradley Bullet Horizontal Groove Headlight Housing (1-5201TWCA). MAY FIT: After…
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Ken Nagai, (owner/founder of Ken’s Factory), is a great custom motorcycle builder, and although this project rolls on 4 wheels, it’s a V-Twin powered based on a 60’s Mazda Carol and worth the interest, I guess, of most of my readers. In Japan like in the…
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If you can you appreciate the look of a well organized workshop, lots of tools and really nice tool boxes, then you’ll like this project. It’s machinist toolbox laser cut out of birch plywood with laser cut foam inserts to securely hold the tools inside and it’s guaranteed to make you smile. Maker spaces and […]
A closer gander at Victory’s 2002 eye-catcher
Whether the rest of the economy is doing better or not, Harley Davidson is having problems selling new motorcycles and, as a result, they’re consolidating manufacturing with the closure of the Kansas City plant in 2019 and moving production to York, PA. Harley-Davidson worldwide retail motorcycle sales fell 6.7% in 2017 compared to 2016. The […]
If you’re into classic Porsche 911s, you’ve probably heard of the restorer Dutchmann. In his Johannesburg, South Africa workshop, Gavin Rooke painstakingly rebuilds classic Neunelfers to concours level, and ships his ‘Weekend Racers’ all over the world—ready to be thrashed around tracks, up hill climbs and through deserts.
But every so often Gavin and his craftsmen take on a special project, to keep their skills fresh: ‘We seek inspiration from different people and their interests,” he says. One such individual is 65-year old Bobby Hack (below), a retired Speedway legend who lives in the Eastern Cape.
“I was hunting for a second-hand speedway bike to convert into a Dutchmann ‘Desert Racer’ and came across Bobby,” says Gavin. “He’d hit some tough times, and needed to sell his old speedway parts.”
“As we got chatting, he mentioned he also owned a super-rare, complete 1968 Jawa 2-valve speedway bike. I convinced Bobby to work with us on a tandem project, to restore the Jawa to Dutchmann standard.”
A little background, in case you live outside the speedway hotbeds of Europe and Australia: the bikes have only a single gear and no brakes.
Their 500cc engines rev up to 11,000 rpm and run on methanol—which allows 16:1 compression ratios to produce upwards of 80 horsepower.
Gearing can be changed for different tracks and conditions, but only by changing the size of the rear wheel and the engine sprockets. Riders race around an oval track packed with shale and dirt, using the surface to powerslide into the bends.
They easily reach speeds of up to 110 mph (177 kph) on the straight sections.
It took Bobby and the craftsmen of Dutchmann three years to complete the nut and bolt restoration of the 1968 Jawa, which now sports Dutchmann’s signature grey paintwork and tan leather detailing.
“We weren’t in a rush,” says Gavin. “This is a very rare and special bike, so we needed to respect its heritage whilst still bringing our unique aesthetic to bear.”
Bobby Hack has been building bikes since the age of 10. “I restored an old BSA at the age of 16 and rode it to school,” he recalls, and then trained under the eye of Ian Scheckter—the brother of 1979 Formula One world champion Jody Scheckter.
The Jawa arrived in Africa via another champion: the Australian speedway rider Geoff Curtis, who won nine Australian speedway caps.
Bobby managed the mechanical aspects of the rebuild. The 500cc 2-valve pushrod ‘upright’ motor runs on castor oil using a classic ‘total loss’ system where the frame serves as the oil tank.
“All oil that isn’t burnt in the mechanical process is pumped out onto the track surface,” says Bobby. “These bikes were built for purpose and are wonderfully simple to work on.”
The motor was fully rebuilt, and given a light hone and refurbishment. But there was little to replace other than a set of rings and the Lucas magneto.
Given the use of methanol and castor oil, zero carbon build-up means a well-maintained speedway motor remain spotlessly clean throughout its life. The original Amal carburetor (with a main jet “the size of a matchstick”) was rebuilt and adjusted to spec.
“The Jawa was mostly complete from the outset, so we kept it stock,” says Bobby. “The only contemporary parts we added were a twist throttle, and new cables and hoses.” And of course, Dutchmann’s signature touches.
The frame was shipped off to Gavin Oliver of Buff King—Dutchmann’s metalworker of choice. That included the repair, polishing and chroming of the frame, the sprockets and the original rims.
New spokes were custom made by spoke specialist Central Wheel Components in Birmingham, England, then shipped to South Africa and built up by Oliver.
Dutchmann’s paint specialist Andrew Trow managed the limited paintwork and David Corlett saw to the leather detail on the original seat—using Dutchmann’s signature tan hide, which serves as standard spec on the majority of their Porsche Weekend Racers.
Half a century after it was originally built, the Jawa was complete. The team decided to pit it (and the replica Dutchmann ‘Desert Racer’) against a Porsche 912 at The Rock Raceway, a local Johannesburg drag strip and drift-oval.
“It was just a bit of fun,” admits Gavin. “These bikes are capable of reaching 100 kph in around three seconds. The Porsche is quick—but not that quick!”
Reported sales for the fourth quarter of 2017 increased 18% to a record $1,431 million; adjusted sales were $1,430 million, up 17%, a majority from organic growth. Total 2017 dealer inventory was up 1% year-over-year; ORV dealer inventory was down 6%. “I am proud of the…
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