Category: Fuller Moto

Urban Assault Machine: Fuller Moto’s KTM Duke 690

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date July 26, 2018

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
What’s your perfect urban runabout? When Bryan Fuller of Fuller Moto wanted something light and quick for navigating the streets of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, he picked the KTM Duke 690.

At only 330 lbs dry with compact proportions, and powered by a punchy single-cylinder motor that’s good for 70 hp and 69.8 Nm, it’s an ideal choice. And when Bryan found a brand new 2013 Duke at a good price at the local KTM dealer, he couldn’t resist.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
“Atlanta has lots of tight, old narrow streets with plenty of cars to navigate quickly,” Bryan explains. “Large bikes designed to cross the whole country on freeways just don’t fit the job.”

“The test ride was impressive: power is incredibly strong but the clutch is so light you can practically use your pinky to actuate the clutch. Quite handy while trying to get to the shop with a coffee.”

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
“I call it the ‘Scalpel,’ because you can cut a curve like you’re on a knife’s edge. A flick here, a merge over there. Power into a wheelie and make a stoppie at the next light.”

Bryan wasn’t too nuts about the Duke 690’s hyper-modern styling though, so he did what he calls a ‘two day hot rod’ job on it.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
By the second day of ownership all the plastics were on eBay, then the tail section was tossed and replaced by some basic fabrication to hold the stock seat in place. With the license plate zip tied on, Bryan rode the Duke around town for the next couple of years, smiling all the way.

Bryan’s a master hot rod and custom bike builder though, so the Duke 690 was never going to stay that way. Finally, he hauled it onto the bench for a proper Fuller Moto redesign.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
First on the list were the KTMs stock radiator—it was too ugly for Bryan’s taste, so he tasked Wes Hines at the Fuller Moto shop with adapting a pair of aftermarket units. Wes also simplified the wiring harness and ditched the ABS.

The project had hardly started when it changed gears. “Tom Arbeiter stopped by for a visit,” explains Bryan. “His company Industrial Depot supplies shops like mine with all we need to do our jobs.”

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
“Tom was looking for a new bike to ride to his facility in Gainesville, north of Atlanta, and I hate seeing my friends ride stock bikes! I felt with all the great support his company has given us over the years, I should make him a good deal on the KTM. That’s when the real custom work started.”

It’s the svelte new metal bodywork that catches your eye first, but there’s an equally distinctive change out back. Bryan sourced a single-sided swing arm from a Ducati Monster S2R, and the rear wheel from a Ducati 1198.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
With a little modding, the swinger was hooked up to a Fox shock that was rescued from the shop bin and rebuilt by CompuTech.

Then Bryan got cracking on the new bodywork, by first playing around with it at his home garage. “I take some of our projects home to lay out how things will look during my free time, working around the family’s schedule,” he explains. “The Yamaha Big Wheel BW80 is one of my favorite rides and a big inspiration on this.”

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
Welding rod was tacked together, along with chipboard and masking tape, to get the basic shape right. Then Bryan headed back to the shop and roughed the final forms out of metal. “Most of my days in industry have been spent metal shaping,” he says. “So it’s here I feel the most happy and confident.”

Namesake (and Fuller Moto linchpin) Bryan Heidt then took over, finishing off the parts and making them work. That meant re-using parts like the OEM fuel pump, gauge and vent, so that the Duke 690 would ride as stock but look a whole lot better.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
Peek under the tail, and you’ll see a louvered bottom panel. That’s functional—it keeps air flowing to the filter, which runs under the seat. The seat up top was upholstered with some leftover aircraft-grade synthetic leather, leftover from another project.

Tom naturally wanted the bike to promote Industrial Depot, so the Fuller Moto crew put their new Multi-Cam water jet machine to work—and cut out the front radiator guard with the company’s logo.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
The headlight mount brackets inspired the triangular grid pattern; it’s repeated on the panels that fill in the gaps in the trellis frame, and on an insert in the end of the exhaust can. (The exhaust muffler’s a universal-fit MotoGP style item source off eBay.)

The side panels hide all the wiring, all of which is held in place with 10-24 ARP 12-point fasteners—standard practice at Fuller Moto. Up front is a LSL headlight, retrofitted with an upgraded projector and halo.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
‘Daisy Duke’ was originally going to be finished in orange (frame) and raw metal (bodywork). But Tom’s corporate ID is black, white and green, so car designer Murray Pfaff was called in to help design some graphics. Mike Lewis shot the final paint, and Chastin Brand worked a little pin striping magic.

The final result is a 70 hp urban whip that now weighs less wet than it originally did dry—and looks a damn sight radder too.

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto
“I’m really proud of the result,” says Bryan. “It’s the perfect bike for short turns and bursts of speed. She barks a nasty single rumble and disappears into the dust leaving others behind.”

Daisy Duke debuted this past spring at the 2018 Forged Invitational on Jekyll Island, Georgia—the event’s second running. She’s now back to Fuller Moto for a final shakedown and delivery.

“Only bad thing,” says Bryan, “is that once Tom has it, I’ve lost my ride! Maybe a new Duke 690?”

Fuller Moto website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by (and major thanks to) Steve West of Silver Piston Photography

Urban Assault Machine: A custom KTM Duke 690 from Fuller Moto

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American Story: The Fuller Moto x Motus MST-R

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date June 16, 2017

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
Motus is one of the most interesting stories in the motorcycle industry right now. In a factory at the old Barber museum location in Birmingham, Alabama, Motus builds just two models: the MST and the up-spec’d MST-R, the only American-made sport-touring motorcycles on the market.

The bikes are powered by Motus’ own 1,650 cc ‘Baby Block’ engine, a 90° V4 that delivers massive torque. The MST range is now in its third model year, and with a growing number of fans, it was only a matter a time before an MST went under the grinder. And who better to do the job than Bryan Fuller, a man steeped in the ways of the American custom scene?

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
“We really wanted to tap into the style and hot rod culture that Bryan has become known for,” says Brian Case, the Motus design director. “We’re huge fans of Fuller’s vision and skills—so the project was a natural fit for Motus, with its American hot rod roots.”

The 2015-spec bike belongs to Californian moto enthusiast John Bennett, and arrived at the Fuller Moto workshop severely damaged. (Not from a riding accident, we’re happy to say, but from a transportation mishap.)

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
Rather than repair the MST-R to factory spec, John decided to turn his bike into a ‘naked streetfighter.’ And Motus quickly saw an opportunity—a chance to get stylistic inspiration, by observing how Bryan Fuller works. So Motus designer Brian Case worked alongside Fuller, providing technical guidance without restricting the creative process.

This is one seriously fast bike: with 180 bhp at the crank, the stock MST-R holds the world land speed record for a production pushrod-engined motorcycle, at 165.81 mph. That’s plenty fast for most folks, so Fuller has focused mostly on reducing weight and the aesthetics.

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
He’s installed a new lightweight exhaust system though—made from 1.75″ stainless steel and compact ARP 12-point fasteners. The collectors and mufflers are custom made with Cone Engineering parts.

A dyno run to check the tune of the engine confirmed a mighty 156 rear wheel horsepower. Wet weight has dropped from 565 pounds to 435, giving the Fuller Motus almost identical vital stats to Buell’s blazing fast EBR 1190RX superbike.

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
The ride height and spring rates have been decreased due to the reduction in weight. The stock forks are already exceptionally good—being Öhlins NIX30 adjustables—but they’ve been black anodized for visual impact. BST 17-inch carbon fiber wheels shod with Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsas help to keep the show on the road.

The heavy lifting from a custom point of view is at the back of this bike. The long subframe of the standard machine, designed to carry heavy panniers, is gone. In its place is a stubby new structure, crafted from .065 Chromoly tubing to match the trellis main frame.

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
The custom seat flows into a short tail unit: unlike the standard MST-R, it’s well inside the circumference of the back tire. The shape was hand formed in clay, and then replicated using 3003-H14 alloy. The neat little rear diffuser grille was CNC machined, and the main taillight has been lifted from a Victory Octane.

Underneath are painstakingly matched LEDs made by Johnathan Patten of JP Customs, hooked up to a pared-down wiring loom. Motogadget supplied the main gauge, switches and blinkers.

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
The MST was originally designed to avoid the retro cues that are so prevalent in the moto world today, so a simple round headlight wouldn’t cut it on this machine.

Instead, we have a one-off aluminum fabrication by Fuller Moto’s Bryan Heidt, with a steel bezel and LED lights from The RetroFit Source inside. The acrylic glass cover is a cut-up helmet shield, believe it or not.

Custom Motus MST-R by Fuller Moto
The icing on the cake is the classic American color palette—an asymmetrical design by Fuller himself, applied by Painter Mike and pinstriped by Chastin Brand.

For owner John Bennett, it’s proof that every cloud has a silver lining. His Motus may have been wrecked, but he’s now got a pristine, one-of-a-kind custom—and it’ll show a clean pair of heels to almost every other bike on the road.

Motus Motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Angelica Rubalcaba

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Side Project: Bryan Heidt’s Ducati 860 cafe racer

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date October 14, 2016

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
Somewhere round the back of every custom shop is an unloved bike that’s been sitting there for months, waiting for its moment in the limelight.

In the Atlanta, Georgia shop of Fuller Moto, the unloved bike was this classic Ducati. Of course, it didn’t look anything like the sleek cafe racer we see here.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
The Ducati’s savior was Bryan Heidt, a metal fabricator with a background in industrial design who has been working at Fuller for eight years now.

“It’s ’75 Ducati 860,” Heidt tells us. “It’s named Cavallo Nero, Italian for ‘dark horse.’”

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
The bike started as a motor and frame that Bryan Fuller picked up from Ducati wizard Rich Lambrechts, who runs Desmo Pro in Fort Lauderdale. It sat in the shop for a couple of years, taunting Heidt all the while.

Fuller had no plans for it. Then one day, on a whim, Heidt stuck an old Benelli Mojave tank on the frame. “It suited the bike to a T and I was hooked; I had to see this thing built.”

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
He proposed a joint project to Fuller, with Heidt handling the design and build in his own time. “I got to see my ideas for the bike come to life; he got a spec project moving, without taking up shop time. Win and win.”

The plan was to keep a classic look, but make the Ducati handle and stop like a modern sport bike. On went a 2007 Suzuki GSX-R750 front end, a Yamaha R6 rear shock, and Ducati SportClassic wheels.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
By December 2014, the bike was a roller. And Fuller gave Heidt a fantastic surprise—gifting him the bike as a year-end bonus, and a thank-you for six years of working on hardcore deadlines. “I happily accepted and that’s when things began to snowball.”

Heidt decided to take the modern-but-classic theme up a notch. The stock Dell’Orto carburetors worked great, so those got to stay. The carbs and engine cases were then vapor-honed to make them better than new.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
The electronics were a different story. “The stock stator only put out 110 watts. This wasn’t going to cut it with a new digital ignition, Motogadget m-Unit and Motoscope Pro gauges,” says Heidt.

So a stator from a more modern 900 Super Sport was fitted. Putting out a more desirable 200 watts, it keeps the H4 xenon headlight bright and the lithium-ion Antigravity battery fully charged.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
The 860 model was the first Ducati to come with an optional electric start—but the parts are insanely hard to find. Heidt kept a constant watch on eBay for two years before he hit gold dust—just in time for him to make it to the Handbuilt show in Austin as an invited builder.

He’s kept the front hub from the SportClassic wheel, but swapped the rear for a KLR650 item to beat chain clearance issues. Both hubs were then laced to lightweight SuperMoto rims and wrapped with Pirelli Diablo Rosso tires. The front tire is covered by a cut-down carbon fiber fender from a Monster 800, and mounted using a fabricated stainless steel bracket.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
To match the clip-on handlebars from the GSX-R front end, the stock foot pegs were removed in favor of a pair of GSX-R rearsets—which puts the rider in a more performance-oriented position.

The swingarm has been cleaned up and braced for the R6 mono-shock conversion, and the rear half of the frame is new. To top it off, there’s a custom aluminum seat pan covered by Love’s Trim in Hampton, Georgia.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
“The upholstered seat looked great, but I needed to step things up a notch or two,” says Heidt. “One of those steps was the hand-formed aluminum tail cover that gives the seat more of a race bred appearance.”

On a similar note, the stock Benelli tank had become extremely popular in the custom world, and would no longer set the bike apart. So Heidt cut out the sides and added some more dramatic lines.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
Joe Patterson at JDK expertly painted the tank and tail in a dark graphite Mercedes-Benz metallic. Heidt is a fan of pinstripes, but this bike didn’t call for swooping, pencil-thin lines of color. Instead, Chastin Brand added some small, detailed touches and a classic Ducati graphic—to give the paint an almost factory look.

With updated electronics and finely tuned carburetors (“thanks to my good buddy Wes!”), the bike fires up the instant you press the Motogadget M-switch. The exhaust rumbles through custom stainless pipes and a pair of reverse megaphone mufflers.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
After its debut at the Barber Vintage festival, the bike is now heading down to Desmo Pro for Rich to rebuild the motor with high compression pistons and a port and polish. Those modifications should boost the old girl from 65 to around 80 horsepower—giving plenty of grunt for a machine substantially lighter than stock.

The inverted race forks and rear shock allow the rider to hug corners like the Ducati designers could have only dreamed of 40 years ago. And to cope with the newfound acceleration, radial calipers and 320mm rotors provide ample amounts of stopping power.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.
“The 860 is now nice to look at and a blast to ride,” says Heidt. “But I wanted to make it stand the test of time too. So I swapped out all the nuts and bolts for stainless steel, and everything but the tank and tail is either powdercoated or anodized. The finishes will stay like new for years to come.”

That doesn’t mean the Ducati will be wrapped in cotton wool, though. “For now, this is my personal benchmark, and I couldn’t be more proud of it. But high scores and lap records are meant to be broken,” says Heidt.

“Let’s see where I can go from here.”

Images by Matthew Jones.

This sleek Ducati 860 cafe racer was built by Bryan Heidt of Fuller Moto in his spare time.

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Shooting Stars: The Best of the 2016 Quail Gathering

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date June 4, 2016

For motorcycle fans on the west coast of the USA, there’s one event you can’t miss: The Quail Motorcycle Gathering in sunny Carmel, California.

The 2016 show was the most successful in the eight-year history of the Concours d’Elegance. The manicured lawns played host to 400 display bikes, with an upgraded Custom/Modified class to cater for the growing custom scene.

As sponsors of this class, we were gratified to see strong interest from visitors and builders alike. After casting its eye over the show, Cycle World noted in its report, “Maybe the most invigorating were the customs,” with the builders being “brilliantly in command of a boundless, fertile artistic space.”

Photographer David Goldman was on hand to capture the magic for us. Here’s a personal selection of favorites.

Kawasaki W1 650 by Mike LaFountain of Raccia Motorcycles, customized to echo the iconic Matchless G45. This machine took Mike seven years to complete.

‘The Bean’ by Revival Cycles—a heavily modified Kawasaki W650. The tank is a homage to the classic Ducati ‘Jelly Mold’ design but the forks are decidedly modern Yamaha R6 units.

Devin Henriques of Cognito Moto showed a pair of stunning builds, leading with this CB750. The tank is from a later model CB750F, the wheels are 18-inch Sun rims, and the forks are from a Suzuki GSX-R 750.

Cognito’s second machine was this equally beefy Yamaha XS650, topped off with a lovely quilted seat from New Church Moto. We love those straight-shootin’ pipes too.

Nick O’Kane of K&N showed off his 1981 Honda CBX, a track bike with carbon fiber bodywork, 17-inch wheels and an incredible 6-into-1 exhaust system.

Richard Mitchell’s hardtail BSA A65L just oozes old school cool. It took over two years to build, and it shows—the detailing is amazing, right down to the tiny drilled heat guards on the pipes.

Bryan Fuller took along his BMW R75/5 ‘Bavarian Knight’ custom. It’s a mesmerizing mix of vintage and modern: the cabling is period correct, but the battery is a lithium ion. Note the gas cap with a Grolsch beer bottle style fastener.

For many visitors, the chance to see Walt Siegl’s machines in the metal was a highlight. And the man himself was there too, which was just as well: he ended up on stage to collect a well-deserved Industry Award.

A sublime example of Yamaha’s giant-killing RD350, customized by Kevin Dotson. The seat ‘hump’ gives it a classic café vibe, and just check out the welding on that exhaust…

Mitch Talcove has squeezed a replica Vincent engine into the frame of a 1973 Ducati to create the ‘Vincati 1200.’ Not surprisingly, he took home the Innovation award.

Chris Canterbury of Boxer Metal is a guy who thinks outside of the square. In a sea of cookie-cutter BMW customs, he broke the mold with this extreme twin-turbo R100. A show-stopper, literally and figuratively.

The Quail Motorcycle Gathering | David Goldman Photography | With thanks to Paulo Rosas of Pagnol Moto

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Stunt Double: A BMW homage to the Breitling Jet Team

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date February 2, 2016

Let’s face it: custom motorcycles are eye candy. And the eye candy doesn’t get much better than this new build from Fuller Moto, which has sent our photoreceptors into overload.

It’s a BMW R75/6 inspired by the stunning livery of the stunt planes used by the Breitling Jet Team. And it’s got the mechanical upgrades to match the jaw-dropping looks.

The name is somewhat cryptic: ‘FMW N8/75.’

“I don’t normally like to name Fuller Moto vehicles with just numbers,” says Bryan, “but BMW does. So we’ve paid a little homage to their nomenclature.”

“N8 comes from the client’s name, Nate. He’s been a close friend for around 20 years now.” Nate owns a tech company, but he doesn’t only get his kicks from high-tech. His daily driver is a 1929 Model A roadster pickup.

A couple of years ago, Nate gave Bryan his BMW and free reign to do whatever he wanted. So Bryan worked on it during downtime in the shop, and the result is a stunning combination of old and new.

“Anyone who has built a bike for a friend knows it can be tough,” says Bryan. “You want to build the best bike possible, but don’t want to break the bank.

“There’s also pressure to get the design right: What if they don’t like the result? So these usually take a while to complete.”

Believe it or not, this R75/6 is the first airhead Bryan’s laid spanners on. Not that he needed much encouragement to tear it apart: “It rode like a pig. Slow, underpowered, not very good-looking, and leaky. But with lots of potential!”

The Fuller Moto crew started by cutting off everything behind the motor, and getting the bike squared and centered on the UniJig.

“I did an initial sketch, working with my buddy Nick Garfias,” says Bryan. They decided to stretch the swingarm two inches, and convert the BMW to a mono-shock setup. “Nate is a big fella at around 6’4” so it will fit him a bit more proportionally.”

A jig was made up to stretch the swingarm and add the chromoly tube, bungs, and plates necessary for the rear Fox shock to work properly. Luckily, Bryan knows a Fox engineer—who helped set the correct travel and linkage ratios.

The front end is even more performance-oriented: it’s from a Triumph Speed Triple, complete with Brembo brakes.

“By the time we machined a new stem, and brake adapters to make it all work, the cost was probably the same as buying something designed specifically for our machine,” says Bryan. “But hey, it looks different. And it works!”

Bryan’s left the iconic BMW tank alone, even though it’s huge. “That presents monstrous design problems trying to make a cafe racer that looks fast and light.”

So he’s raised the back of the tank nearly two inches, using rubber isolation mounts. The giant fuel filler assembly is an aftermarket unit for a kit airplane, and matches the aesthetics perfectly.

The tail section is hand-fabricated though, and built from three sections of 3003 H14 aluminum. It’s old school fabrication using a planishing hammer, a Lincoln TIG welder and a bead roller.

At the back of the tail is a ‘porthole’ from a 1950s Buick, repurposed with a modern LED light unit.

BMW engines are a law unto themselves, so Bryan sent the 1975-spec motor and gearbox to the airhead specialist Boxerworks.

They stripped the engine down to a bare block, ported and polished the heads, reworked the guides and seats, and fitted a dual plug system fired by a Dyna electronic igntion.  Fueling is now handled by Mikuni 32mm flat slide carbs with aluminum stacks.

The paint scheme is lifted straight from Breitling’s Aero L-39 Albatros
jets: black, anthracite gray and metal gray. JDK laid down the silver base, Bryan laid out the graphics, and then Chastin Brand sprayed, gold leafed, and pinstriped the rest.

The vibrant seat echoes the yellow of the Breitling logos on the plane, and was upholstered by John Whitaker.

“It rides very ‘modern’ considering the 40-year-old power plant,” says Bryan. “It’s smooth both front and rear, starts awesome, and has great power. And of course the front end and brakes are state of the art.”

Not surprisingly, the owner Nate is very happy. “Some people spend money on art that hangs on the wall,” he tells us. “I prefer art that I can ride—and that’s exactly what this is.”

Fuller Moto website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Matthew Jones

BUILD SHEET

Engine
Boxerworks in Watkinsville, GA , completely rebuilt
New rings, cylinders honed
Custom ARP head studs 
ARP 12-point stainless bolts throughout 
Heads ported, polished, guides and seats reworked
Fitted with dual plug ignition system 
Cast aluminum air cleaner block off cover 
Mikuni 32mm Flat Slide Carbs with aluminum stacks
Dyna Electronic Ignition

Transmission
Reworked by Boxerworks for smoother shifting
Custom shift linkage by Bryan Heidt @FM
Polished rear cover 
ARP 12-point stainless fasteners

Frame
Rear section cut off and Mono-Shock fitted
Custom Control mounts
New 1 1/8 “ 4130 Chromoly loop in the rear to mount the tail section and seat New 1 1/4” downtubes going from the seat area to the top of the swingarm mount

Front End
Brakes: Brembo from a 2012 Triumph Speed Triple with custom FM rotor adapter 
Forks: 2012 Triumph Speed Triple 
Triple Trees: Custom stem on 2012 Triumph Speed Triple
Handlebar: 2012 Triumph Speed Triple 
Headlights: RetroFit Source LED with FM stainless mounts

Wheels and Tires
Front: Metzeler Lasertec 100/90-19 with 18” x 2” Triumph Tiger aluminum rim
Rear: Metzeler Lasertec 120/90-18 with 1” x 2.5” aluminum rim
Stainless spokes: Buchanan 

Mono-Shock Setup
Swingarm: Stock lengthened 2” then custom fitting of Mono-Shock adapter with input from FOX Shox
Driveshaft then lengthened to fit. The rubber driveshaft boot flange had to be cut off and repositioned to get the higher angle to work properly
Shock: FOX AirShox 
Brakes: stock rebuilt polished housing and custom hiem actuator rod
Custom stainless license plate mount by Bryan Heidt @FM

Exhaust
Stainless header pipes with crossover from aftermarket fitted with custom FM Magnaflow muffler designed and built by Bryan Heidt. Exhaust diameter 1.5”E

Bodywork
Stock Tank mounted 1.5” higher in the rear 
Gas Cap: Aviation cap NOS 
Tail section: custom .060 3003 H14 Aluminum by Fuller with a 50s Buick
Porthole trim piece turned into the bezel
LED tailight 
Paint: Designed by Fuller then applied by JDK and Chastin Brand to mimic the Breitling Stunt Team colors 
Seat: Yellow and Black vinyl by John Whitaker with FM Aluminum base

Wiring
Wes Hines wired @FM using American Autowire vintage braided wiring components
Electronic Ignition with Dyna Coils 
Speedcell Lithium Battery

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Look Again: Bryan Fuller’s Ducati 250 Scrambler

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date December 26, 2015

If this Ducati 250 Scrambler seems familiar, it’s because you’ve seen it on these pages before… kinda. Meet the ‘Super Duc,’ the posh twin of Fuller Moto’s ‘Dirty Duc.’

When Bryan Fuller had the idea for the Dirty Duc, he decided to build a pair. And much as we love the first bike, this second version is even more shareworthy—especially with Matt Jones’ stunning photos.

“I wanted two custom dirt bikes to ride at the 6000-acre Durhamtown off road resort, and around the streets of downtown Atlanta,” he explains.

“One for me, and one for a friend to come with.”

The first bike was based on a 60s-model, bevel-driven Ducati 250 Scrambler. Bryan picked it up at the Barber Vintage Festival, and hauled the engine off to Rich Lambrechts at DesmoPro to rebuild. And as it turned out, Rich had enough parts in the shop to build a second, identical Scrambler—so the Super Duc was born.

The two chassis are the same too, right down to the center-mount twin rear shock arrangements. The tail sections are new, and the swingarms extended by two inches. That meant also fabricating a custom chain guide and tensioner arrangement.

Both engines were meticulously rebuilt, right down to the very last detail. Upgrades included electronic ignitions and 12V conversions, Speedcell Lithium-ion batteries, K&N filters and ARP stainless steel fasteners.

Up front are vintage Ceriani forks. The wheels are Borrani shouldered rims, laced to stock hubs with Buchanan’s stainless steel spokes. They’re wrapped in Pirelli MT 21 RallyCross tires.

The exhausts for both bikes are custom: hand-made headers with Cone Engineering mufflers. Rounding out the package are bits like a Super Pratic throttle, repro Ducati grips, KTM foot pegs, and LED lighting.

When it came to the bodywork, Bryan hand-shaped a pair of identical headlight shrouds and tailpieces. But the project stalled when he couldn’t find a suitable tank for the Super Duc.

“The Dirty Duc had the alloy tank already on it,” says Bryan. “To make its twin, we needed to find another one like it.”

“This turned out to be harder than we thought—most folks I asked didn’t know. Two years went by, and finally Beno Rodi struck pay dirt. At Davenport, I believe, he found a NOS 1974 Penton tank that was a perfect match… and not a single dent.”

On went the Penton tank, along with a set of stainless steel fenders. But with Super Duc almost ready to hit the dirt, Bryan changed his mind about keeping it.

“Reality set in,” he says. “Handing people an expensive, right-side shift motorcycle to thrash wasn’t the smartest idea. So we decided to sell it for someone to own and enjoy.”

Decent upholstery and a tidy paint job were in order.

John Whitaker covered the seat with perforated black leather, while Bryan and Chastin Brand tackled the paint.

“We wanted the bike to appeal to Ducati owners, so we stuck to the Italian red, white, and black theme. Chastin’s pinstripes were inspired by the stripes on the Kiwi brand helmet I’m wearing in this shoot.”

Bryan loves his own 250 Scrambler, even though it’s rough around the edges. “It’s one of the few bikes I refuse to sell.”

With the same genes but a little more polish, looks like the lucky new owner of Super Duc will get just as much joy.

Fuller Moto website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Matthew Jones

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Fuller Moto’s Minty Fresh Norton Commando 750

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date April 23, 2015

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
The Handbuilt Motorcycle show rocked Austin, Texas earlier this month. As the name implies, the show was filled to the brim with custom motorcycles—including this show-stopping Norton Commando 750 from Fuller Moto.

Fuller Moto is an Atlanta, Georgia-based shop run by Bryan Fuller. When Bryan’s not presenting Velocity’s Naked Speed, he builds one-off hot rods and motorcycles.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
As builders go, he’s pretty versatile. The last Fuller build we featured was a raw, retro-futuristic Ducati Scrambler—a stark contrast to the clean, immaculately-finished Norton we’re looking at here.

Kyle Frey is the owner of this Norton, nicknamed ‘Misty Green.’ Once a resident of New York and part of the hustle of the Financial District, Kyle decided to leave the city behind—choosing a life in the Texas hill country in the aftermath of 9/11.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
Bryan picks up the story: “Kyle had seen our café racers and was interested in transforming his Norton Commando. He’d inherited it from his uncle, Fred Heistand.

“Fred had come across this Norton as a matching numbers unit, with a frame and four milk crates full of parts. But it’d been sitting for years. The spokes were junk and the kicker was stripped, so it was unusable.”

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
When the Fuller team began stripping down the bike, they found a solid piece of two-inch round stock holding the frame backbone together. It was no doubt a fix for the famously flexible frame of the 1968 Commando—so Fuller built a brand new cromoly frame from scratch.

The Commando uses an oil-carrying frame, so the process wasn’t without its challenges. The tail section bodywork hides a small reserve tank (as well as the battery and regulator), with lines running from the frame to the oil pump. And there’s an ingenious new crankcase venting system, with a vent tube hidden inside the frame downtube. It exits to a hidden slot in front of the steering neck.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
One of the goals of the project was weight saving. At 464 pounds or so, the Commando is not too heavy—but it only has 58 hp to push it around in stock form. So Bryan swapped the heavy forks out for a much lighter (and shortened) CB550 setup. NYC Norton supplied new, custom-drilled triple trees to hold the CB forks.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
A set of dirtbike hubs found at a swap meet went to Buchanan’s, where they were laced to aluminum rims—19” at the front and 18” at the back. The swingarm was lengthened two inches, with a new righthand side designed to accommodate the new rear wheel. The all-new brakes are from Beringer and the shocks are from Fox.

While the suspension was being fettled, the engine was rebuilt by Beno Rodi, an English bike expert. “He’s in his 70s, and still enters a hundred motorcycle races a year,” says Bryan.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
“He knows these old Nortons inside out, and has a stash of old and new parts to fill the gaps where necessary. The motor wasn’t in too bad a shape, so Beno did a basic ring, hone, valve and port job.”

Beno also gave the transmission a good once over, and installed a new open primary drive kit and clutch. “It works really smooth—light to the touch, and doesn’t slip.”

Bryan Heidt (AKA ‘Super B’) cut the original drive cover to leave the system exposed, while still offering a little protection for the stator (and Kyle’s foot). Most of the fasteners on the bike were replaced with ARP 12-point, stainless steel units.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
With the chassis and engine sorted, Bryan could move onto his favorite phase of the build: bodywork. “I’ve been wanting to do a fairing forever,” he says, “and this was the right bike for it.”

He started by making a buck, in a shape reminiscent of the old Manx racers, but more streamlined. The bodywork was then beaten, English-wheeled and hammered out of alloy, before the tops and sides were rolled and finished. The windshield is a trimmed reproduction Ducati ‘double bubble’ item.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
An old English lantern was cut up to make the head and tail lights. “It sounded like a good idea,” says Bryan wryly. “But the vibration from the parallel twin broke both glasses.” They started over, but this time the hot H4 bulb threatened to melt everything. Switching to LEDs ultimately solved the problem.

With the finish line in sight, Wes Hines (Fuller Moto’s ‘mechanical whizz kid’) and Super B assembled all the mechanical components, while Bryan planned the graphics.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
The rims and Beringer brakes were anodized red out of the box. As beautiful as they looked, they didn’t match Kyle and Bryan’s vision for the Commando. “We just felt like Norton Green was called for.” So the wheels were stripped and re-coated; the rims went green, and the brakes were anodized satin black.

The bodywork was polished before being painted by Atlanta-based Joe Patterson. Chastin Brand then handled pinstriping duties, adding highlights matching the green on the Smiths rev counter. John Whitaker crafted the leather for the seat, tank and tail.

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.
All that was left to do was give the Norton a decent shakedown. So Bryan spent a month riding it back and forth to work and around town. “She starts first kick nearly every time and hits with a rumble out of the Cone Engineering stainless steel mufflers. The Beringers stop perfectly, the clutch is smooth, it sounds good, the seat is comfortable… proud papa!”

The whole project took the Fuller crew a couple of years to complete—but the ‘Misty Green’ moniker was only chosen at the very last minute. Bryan picked it when he joined ace photographer Matthew Jones in the misty Georgia countryside early one morning, to shoot the bike before it was shipped off to the show.

A new dawn for an old classic—just the kind of build we like around these parts.

Fuller Moto website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Matthew Jones — Instagram

Immaculate Norton Commando 750 resto-mod by Fuller Moto.