Category: Down And Out Cafe Racers

Double Scoop: Down & Out’s Fat-Tired Ducati Scrambler

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date August 8, 2016

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
The fat tire look is not everyone’s cup of tea. But if that’s what butters your toast, Down & Out Café Racers are the guys to call.

The British shop has perfected the art of beefing up a bike’s footprint, mostly applying the technique to Triumph Bonnevilles. But builders Shaun and Carl wanted a breath of fresh air, so they decided to give a 2015 Ducati Scrambler the fat tire treatment.

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
“We looked at what other builders at the time were doing,” says Shaun, “and most were building cafe racers around the Ducati.

“After looking at the bike, we decided to keep the bike the original style of a scrambler—with a twist.”

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
That twist meant adding a beefy front wheel to match the Scrambler’s already burly rear. D&O laced up a custom set of 17-inch wheels, shod with 180/55-17 TKC80s.

Next up was the task of fitting the chunkier front wheel to the bike. Fastec Custom Racing machined a wider set of yokes to stretch the stock forks. They also hooked D&O up with a custom spindle and wheel spacers, and a new speedo mount.

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
D&O then set about giving the Scrambler a nip and tuck. “We were going to cut the rear end of the bike,” says Shaun, “but in the end we wanted to avoid chopping it up—so we can make parts for others to achieve the same look.”

The seat is custom, and doesn’t extend down the sides of the bike like the original does. Instead, D&O have made a set of side covers to fill the space. They’ve also fabricated a new front fender and headlight, with custom-made brackets for both.

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
LSL bars are mounted on D&O risers, and kitted with Biltwell Inc grips. But the micro turn signals—and the very neat tail-tidy arrangement—are in-house items.

The Italian parts manufacturer Rizoma has a tasty catalog of parts for the Scrambler, and D&O have been busy on the foreign exchange. The air box and cam belt covers, front brake reservoir cap, rear brake reservoir, lower fork guards, chain guard, sprocket cover and levers are all Rizoma parts.

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
There’s also an Öhlins rear shock, and a sump guard and frame plugs from Ducati. The exhaust ‘silencer’ is from Competition Werkes in the USA, and has placed this bike squarely at the top of our ‘want to hear’ list.

The lads tweaked the Scrambler’s wiring too, installed a Motogadget keyless ignition. Prokustom handled the paint, while Moto Demon Speedshop applied the graphics.

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers
Is running a 180-wide front tire a little over the top? Probably. But according to Shaun, it’s a blast to ride.

And it looks pretty badass, doesn’t it?

Down & Out Café Racers | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Simon Krajnyak

Fat tire motorcycle: A custom Ducati Scrambler from Down & Out Cafe Racers

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Custom Bikes Of The Week

Post author By Matt Neundorf
Post date May 29, 2016

A glorious Thruxton R from Down & Out Cafe Racers, a dynamite Ducati from Iron Pirate Garage, and a classy BMW R100 from Kevil’s Speed Shop. These are the machines that spun our wheels this week.

Ducati 750 SS by Iron Pirate Garage In last week’s best custom bikes selection we were introduced to Iuri Castaldi and his crew from Iron Pirate Garage of Empoli, Italy. Their custom Buell XB9 was arguably the most talked about bike from last week’s selections. Well, get ready to have Iron Pirate on the tip of your tongue again as they’ve now released The Kraken.

Working from a Ducati 750 SS, the Kraken takes post-apocalyptic themes to an entirely new level. The intricate trellis of the rear subframe is an absolute work of weld porn, putting the upright cylinder of the Ducati’s motor on full display—and creating an almost flat ‘bone line.’ The yellow divide line wraps completely around the bike, creating a simple yet beautiful visual break.

The bespoke tank bucks tradition and features a horizontal strap at its tip, just above the emblazoned phrase, “The rougher the seas, the smoother we sail.” In another unique twist, the exhaust finishes with two, equally horizontal pipes flanking the underside of the frame. We suspect they are loud enough to actually wake the Kraken. [More]

Triumph Thruxton R by Down & Out Cafe Racers Triumph’s new Thruxton R is an entirely impressive bike. It sets a new standard for factory cafe racers and, thanks to Triumph’s accompanying line of ready to bolt-on parts, can be easily customized by most shade tree mechanics.

But what excites us most of all is seeing what professional builders will do with the new high-performance platform. Partnering with Barbour International and Triumph UK, the lads from Down & Out Cafe Racers pulled the wraps off ‘BIT2’ at London’s Bike Shed show this weekend.

The front fairing is a custom aluminum unit that moves the headlight to a side-mount position, and features a Barbour/Triumph button grafted into its housing. The seat is upholstered in Barbour waxed cotton, and tucks under the hand rolled aluminum tail.

Up front, the wiring has been tucked in and hidden to accommodate lowered gauges, new switchgear and aggressive upside-down clip-ons. Oh, and yes—the rubber has been fattened up too, in true D&O style. [More]

Harley-Davidson XG750R When you envision riders gettin’ sideways around a dirt oval, the Harley-Davidson XR750 is the bike they’re riding. So ubiquitous is Milwaukee’s machine with the sport, the 44-year old platform is still being used today… but maybe not tomorrow.

Built using Harley’s Street 750 as a base, the new XG750R is the long awaited evolution of The Motor Company’s only racing effort outside of the quarter-mile. The new XG750R is powered by a modified version of the water-cooled 60-degree, V-Twin 750.

To handle the extra abuse, there’s a collection of go-fast parts including titanium intake valves, CP Racing pistons, Carrillo rods and a trick two-throat throttle body—which boosts the motor to 110 hp. Vance & Hines tackled almost all of the development with the XG, hence the signature placards on the high-mount exhausts. A Showa suspension set-up and chain-drive round out the major changes. Now, if they’d only crank out a couple of street-legal versions… [More]

Triumph Trident by Oldscool Mechanics Drop the name Dave Degens or Dresda Autos around any Ace Cafe aficionado and you’ll surely raise an eyebrow or two. Degens is synonymous with the cafe racer scene, and Triton builds specifically—so you know the bike will be special without even seeing it.

This Triumph Trident cafe racer comes to us from Antwerp’s Oldscool Mechanics [sic]. Their hands are deft at tuning vintage racers, so Bernard, the owner of the Triumph, knew he’d get a high performance machine. But to make everything work the way Bernard wanted, a custom frame needed to be built. And this is where Dresda comes in.

Dave Degens was tapped to craft a frame specific to Bernard’s proportions—one that would also get the most out of the Oldscool-tuned Trident. As Bernard puts it, the build took “a lot of sweat, swearing and time.” But the efforts obviously paid off. This is a sublime cafe racer built in the truest of Old Sc(h)ool ways. [More]

BMW R100 by Kevil’s Speed Shop When it comes to bespoke builds on a vintage BMW base, few builders can deliver the fit, finish and fancy of Kevil’s Speed Shop of Devon, England. Shop owner Kev Hill has always had the keenest eye for detail, and that continues with this new R100 build, ‘Quartz.’

The name stems from the stunning champagne-gold-and-gunmetal stripes adorning this impeccably clean cafe racer. The rear subframe has been modified in typical fashion to deliver a straightened support for the CAD-designed aluminum tail, and the rear shocks have been upgraded to Hagon units. The tuck-and-roll seat is finished in brown leather and sports an upswept rear, peeking just over the top of the tail, to provide extra comfort and support.

The top yoke is a custom billet unit—complete with the shop’s signature engraved on the top. It permits a switch to clip-ons, and there’s also a KSS fork brace to shore up the handling. If you like what you see, and have a R100 donor kicking around, Kev’s crew is happy to build you a Quartz of your own. [More]

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Custom Bikes Of The Week

Post author By Matt Neundorf
Post date May 15, 2016

The first official custom Triumph Street Twin breaks cover. Plus a sneak peek at the next build from El Solitario, and a cafe racer kit that anyone with a set of sockets and spanners can build. It’s the proverbial mixed bag this week.

Ducati Scrambler by Beautiful Machines The last time Malaysia’s Beautiful Machines caught our eye, they’d turned a Harley Davidson Sportster into a steampunk cafe racer. This time, they’ve repaired a botched custom job on a Ducati Scrambler—and it’s equally compelling.

‘Dirty Fellow’ has been stripped of excess baggage, and given a hybridized tracker/scrambler stance to exploit the Duc’s built-in fun factor. The rear subframe is a one-off unit that trims about six inches of heft from the back end, and allows an intricate re-routing of the custom exhaust. A hand-stitched seat with just enough room to justify a pair of grab handles tops things off. (Although my wife would probably say ‘No thanks.’)

The tank is a completely custom unit—scalloped and sculpted to provide notches for knees and create angles of visual interest not normally seen. Word from Beautiful Machines is that it’s even more fun to than to look at. [More]

Triumph Street Twin by Down & Out Café Racers Much like the polarizing creations rolling out of El Solitario, the wide-tired bikes from Down & Cafe Racers are often met with mixed regard. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of their signature style: It adds brutish appeal to Triumph’s typically delicate motif.

Commissioned by Triumph itself, this new Street Twin debuted at the Bike Shed’s Paris show. It isn’t as wild as we’ve seen Shaun and Carl go, but it’s an impressive take on Hinckley’s entry-level modern classic.

The TKC80s this Twin rides on are ‘only’ 150 series hoops, but they complement the Street Twin’s dimensions and are made possible by D&O’s wider yokes. The subframe has been chopped, and a custom seat and snubbed set of fenders installed. YSS shocks replace the stock units, while new bars and risers from LSL put the rider in control. Other aesthetic touches include a re-worked headlight bracket, smaller switchgear and a custom exhaust unit from GP Exhausts. It’s more mild than wild, but beautifully judged—and we’re sure the next Bonnie to be reborn in D&O’s garage will take things to the next level. [More]

Moto8ight cafe racer kit If you’re enamored with customs but devoid of the talent to fabricate your own, the bolt-on world is traditionally your salvation. The aftermarket industry is quick to cater to whims, and a set of sockets and spanners will usually see you through. But those simple skills and tools could now craft a custom from the ground up.

After putting together a few bike builds, Jack Chin decided it was high time that the two-wheeled world had a kit-bike option as well. Working under the Moto8ight banner and still in the R&D phase, Jack’s frame kits give amateur builders the right geometry to maximize gains from updated suspension and braking.

Moto8ight’s current frames work with Suzuki donor parts, such as suspension from GSX-Rs, Bandits and Katanas—as well as powerplant options from the same machines. Plans are in the works to expand those choices, and Jack figures a full kit can go from bucket of parts to hunting corners in around two hours. [More]

Coming soon: Zaeta by El Solitario Any time David Borras and co. start work on a new build, you can feel the electricity spark throughout the custom world. Both celebrated and chided for their design directions, builds from the Galician cannibals are always unique and never boring.

Of course, when you start with a 255-lb. supermoto-style weapon like the Zaeta 530SE, ‘boring’ would be impossible anyways. The brief for this commission is to create a street legal flat track racebike with enhanced performance. Right now, all we know is that ‘Pluto’ will be quick and nimble, and will debut at the Wheels and Waves festival in June.

David has revealed that Pluto will be torture-tested right off the hop: It’s also been entered into the El Rollo Flat Track in Spain at the San Sebastian Lasarte hippodrome. We have no idea what the finished product will look like, but we’re keeping our eyes peeled to see what emerges from the clouds of tire smoke and flinging dirt. [More]

Custom Yamaha RX-K The power of the internet to connect people in niches is a staggering thing. Teguh Setiawan, a 23-year-old Indonesian engineering student with a passion for motos, cobbled this custom two-stroke Yamaha RX-K together with the help of friends and a YouTube education.

Legislation banned oil-burners in Indonesia back in 2009, so Teguh has called his cafe racer ‘Long Live the King’—and it’s a build worth hailing. Working with a student’s budget, the RX-King took 10 months to complete and began with a hand-drawn sketch on a piece of cardboard. A new subframe was welded on to the donor bike using ¾-inch tube steel, and the tank was swapped out for a sleeker Suzuki A100 unit.

Most impressive of all, Teguh hand-formed the fairings from 0.8mm galvanized steel plate using only a hammer. With skills like this, we can only imagine how much better his builds will get once he finishes his engineering degree. [More]

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Tougher Than The Rest: Down & Out’s Intimidating T100

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date March 26, 2016

Pick a word to describe the stock Triumph Bonneville T100, and we’d say ‘elegant.’ It’s a throwback to 1960s style, right down to the peashooter exhausts and two-tone paint.

‘Elegant’ is not the word to describe this new build from Down & Out Café Racers though. ‘Brutal’ is closer to the mark, or perhaps ‘aggressive.’ This is not a motorcycle for shrinking violets.

The stance is belligerent, helped by the chunky Continental Twinduro TKC80 rubber—one of the few dual sport tires that perform well on pavement.

There’s no way that sort of rubber would normally fit between the forks of a standard T100. But builders Shaun and Carl have neatly solved that problem, by installing Honda CBR1000RR (Fireblade) forks and a set of custom triple trees.

The trees are a mighty 246mm wide, and were developed with the help of specialist Fastec Racing.

Holding up the rear are a pair of Fox shocks and the wheels are beefy 5.00×17 alloys, powder coated black.

The front rim is attached via a custom hub, with twin high-performance wavy brake discs. All-weather riders will approve of the new alloy fenders front and back.

The engine internals are unchanged, but there’s a new free-flowing stainless exhaust system topped off with stubby end cans from Competition Werkes.

D&O’s rear loop conversion houses a short seat, wrapped in quilted burgundy leather.

It’s the only splash of color on this otherwise monochrome machine, with silver and black paint expertly shot by Pro Kustom.

Shaun and Carl manufacture lots of quality parts for Triumphs (and BMWs), but they also know when to call in outsiders.

So we have bars, risers, a master cylinder and an ignition relocation kit from LSL in Germany.

The classy side panels are from Germany too (JVB-Moto), but the English supplier Motone has also helped out—with a smattering of dress-up and performance parts, including aluminum air intakes and blacked-out finned tops for the ‘carbs.’

Motone have also provided the micro switches on the bars, which are hooked up to a custom wiring loom.

If you want to toughen up your own T100, Down & Out make a kit that’ll get you started. And if you’re within riding distance of South Yorkshire in England, they can also fit it to your bike.

You just need to make sure you’ve got the attitude to carry it off…

Down & Out Café Racers | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Simon Krajnyak

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Triumph Thruxton by Down & Out Cafe Racers

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date September 18, 2015

Barnsley is a town in the north of England famous for three things: brass bands, the semi-mythical Barnsley Chop*, and a name-check in the 1990s techno hit ‘It’s Grim Up North.’

For our purposes, however, the small Yorkshire town is notable for one thing only: it’s home to Down & Out Cafe Racers, one of Britain’s finest custom builders.

Shop owners Shaun and Carl specialize in Triumphs, with the odd BMW airhead thrown in. And staying true to the great traditional of the Industrial North, they like to hand-make many of the parts on their builds.

This Triumph Thruxton is the latest beauty to roll out of the shop. And you’d never guess, but it was completed in just three weeks.

“The customer wanted it to be ready for the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride in London,” says Shaun. “Unfortunately we had another three builds to get ready for the Ride too … but we made it on time.”

The donor bike was a 2015-model Thruxton. “It wasn’t the best choice for this particular build though,” Shaun says, “because we wanted to use the smaller clutch and brake set-up from the Scrambler and SE models. So we ordered in the components and swapped them over.”

The stock switchgear was binned too, replaced by Motone micro switches. “This allowed us to run all the wiring inside the LSL bars for a super clean look.”

The biggest change is an unusual one, but worth it for the visual impact alone. “We fitted a wide fork kit, so we could run 16×3 wheels with bigger tires. The kit is made for us by Fastec Racing, and includes 246mm wide yokes.” Custom brackets keep the seven-inch headlight tucked in tight for a tidy appearance.

Frame cuts are almost de rigueur these days, but Down & Out resisted the temptation to fire up the grinder for a quick chop. “We made a prototype stainless steel rack and baseplate instead,” says Shaun.

“With this set-up, we can still install the custom seat we use on all our Triumph builds. And it all unbolts, so you can put your bike back to standard using the stock seat whenever you want.”

Underneath the seat are JVB-moto side covers. The custom alloy rear fender bolts straight in—and fits all standard Bonnevilles, too.

Engine work was minimal. “The customer wanted a clean-looking bike, one that’s custom but not over the top,” says Shaun. “He’s not looking to go racing.”

So the powertrain gets just a subtle boost: a modified airbox, a custom stainless exhaust system that sounds as good as it looks, and an ECU remap to sharpen engine response.

“We wanted to concentrate on the stuff that makes the bike ‘clean’—the bars, the shorter seat and the rack, which influence the overall feel of the bike,” says Shaun. The finishing touch is a delicious lick of gold and black paint by Pro Kustom.

We reckon Down & Out have absolutely nailed it.

What say you?

Down & Out Café Racers | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Simon Krajnyak

* The Barnsley Chop is not the English equivalent of the Glasgow Kiss. It’s a cut of lamb sometimes called a saddle chop, or a double loin chop. Believed to have originated at the Brooklands Hotel in Barnsley, alhough others claim it was first served in the Kings Head pub.

Specification
Down & Out custom parts Bear trap foot pegs, short levers, two-into-two full stainless exhaust system, alloy front and rear fenders with stainless steel mounts, custom short seat, custom stainless bolt-on rack system, rear loop conversion, headlight and mounts, custom alloy 16×3 alloy wheels powder coated black, micro indicators, stainless number plate mount, wider fork kit with new spindle, caliper bracket and wheel spacers, custom loom to suit micro switchgear, rear stainless steel indicator mounts.

Motone parts Gas cap, gear lever, regulator relocation bracket, finned carburetor tops, choke knob, micro switchgear, and aluminum intake bellmouth.

LSL parts Ignition relocator, chain guard, bars, risers and master cylinder.

Also Renthal sprockets, Öhlins shocks, Motogadget Tiny speedometer and m-Tri signal adaptor box, JVB-moto side panels. Paint by Pro Kustom.