Vintage cars have been recognized as collector items for many years, spawning Concours d’Elegance events across the country and across the world. Motorcycles have only recently begun to receive respect and attention from investors and collectors. The premiere event in the United States is arguably the most prestigious motorcycle event of the year, eclipsing even…
Cruiser Staff
Gorgeous women displaying amazing bikes at the Motor Bike Expo
The Motor Bike Expo in Verona, Italy kicked off today in full force. Walking into one of the ten massive showrooms, it’s impossible not to feel like a kid in a candy shop. Head on a swivel and camera firing like a tommy gun, we made our way through the masses of amazing bikes and gorgeous women presenting them.
Cruiser Staff
Custom Honda CB at the Motor Bike Expo
Cruiser Staff
Harley-Davidson Street 750 bagger!?
One of the biggest challenges of the day, aside from not gawking at all the stunning italian women, was narrowing this gallery down to workable amount of images. It’s hard to capture the quantity of custom bikes, and the amount of skilled work that went into each one. There are more high quality Sportster and Triumph builds here than I have ever seen, and the amount of performance parts integrated into most builds is insane. Inverted forks, proper sport bike levers and brake systems as well as other high performance aspects like custom triple trees and stabilizers seem to be the name of the game here. The European market wants custom performance driver cruisers, and they’re getting them.
Cruiser Staff
Custom Honda at the Motor Bike Expo
Cruiser Staff
Awesome custom H-D Softail at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom Triumph at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom Honda CB400four at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom Harley-Davidson bagger with sidecar at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom BMW K100 by Garage 65 Motorcycles at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom Shovelhead at the Motor Bike Expo
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A skateboard deck for a seat on a custom BMW
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Harley-Davidson and the Marlboro Man replica bike
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Custom Harley-Davidson Street 750
Motorcycle Cruiser
Custom BMW R100rt from Inglorious Basterds
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Crazy custom cafe racer at the Motor Bike Expo
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Custom Ducati Scrambler
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Custom Moto Guzzi, check out that intake!
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Custom vintage Triumph
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Custom H-D Shovelhead
Stay tuned over the next few days for more info and galleries from the Motor Bike Expo, and for more information on the show, check out their website MotorBikeExpo.It
Hell on Wheels puts on a few events a year, and they’re always an absolutely filthy good time. From the Halloween Hill Climb, to the Scrambles, to this here old Hot August Nights.
Every event HOW puts on is centered around having a good time. It’s goal #1.
Anyone who wants to can race, as long as you can put up the small entry fee. It’s the sort of event where the minibike class was the most crowded. These guys are notorious for their “Run What Ya Brung” class races, which are always entertaining to say the least.
Even if it has gotten much more crowded in the last few years, the spirit of the events remains the same. Racers from all over come to the Hell on Wheels events for some light hearted fun, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going all-out when it comes their turn to get slideways. There were more pros than ever this year, making my job as a spectator that much more fun. Being out in Perris, CA we were all very thankful that most of the racing took place once the sun had gone down.
If you havent had the chance to get out to a Hell on Wheels event, do yourself a favor and go to HellonWheelsMC.com for details on the next one.
Montgomery Motorcycle has been a running shop in San Clemente for a few years now. The old owner, Mark Williams, did some work on the bikes, did some fabrication, and helped run the business out of their large two-story shop with his lovely wife Lou Ellen. Mark was largely involved in building the steel building that house Montgomery Motorcycle for its first few years and, when offered a consulting job with the company that did the construction: he decided to put the building up for sale and offered the business to his good friend and head mechanic Terry Martin.
While the old shop was an incredibly stylish showroom, helmet, clothing and accessory store with a great spot right on the main strip of San Clemente; the new shop is much more functional for a mechanic. Just as you might expect if you hand off your business to your main wrench. The new shop is located in a soulful little nook of San Clemente that is lovingly referred to as the “Surf Ghetto,” because of all of the tiny little shaper shacks and glassers located in this small industrial zone right in the middle of town.
Terry’s custom CB750 build, which he finished and sold last month.
The shop has a relaxed and approachable feel, with Terry working alongside his friend Brandon and his dog Buddy. The guys can handle anything from restorations and full custom builds to a quick oil change on a Saturday. Terry has a long history of working on both American and metric motorcycles but most of their business here has been Harley-Davidson, and he has decided to embrace that fact: choosing a Sportster as the shops next custom build. Going forward they are putting a heavier emphasis on their in-shop builds, which we are looking forward to as we love the Montgomery style. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop by and say hello. You’re sure to see a few awesome bikes sitting in the stable and Terry and Brandon are always good conversation.
Montgomery Motorcycle
151 Calle de Los Molinos, San Clemente, CA 92672
(949) 940-8380
The Honda Gold Wing is making a comeback in a serious way. And while the days of khaki shorts and New Balances may not be completely behind this cross-country tourer, the custom scene is constantly giving us new hope and a new image of the Old Gold. Neal English is one member of that scene that brought us something a little unexpected last week: his 1976 GL1000 adventure bike.
Now, riding in Louisville, KY can be a challenge. With the weather cooperating about 30% of the time, you need to be a little more resilient to stay on two wheels out here. Just while talking with Neal this week, he was dealing with constant rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding. But this is exactly the reason he wanted to build something more “adventure” oriented. To be completely honest, I was confused by the choice of a Gold Wing for an adventure bike. I get the budget aspect, and choosing a Honda for a daily is always a good idea in my book, but wouldn’t an XR600l be cheaper, lighter, and better suited for off-road? My first question for the builder was “Why a Gold Wing?”
“GLs make for a great adventure bike due to the high allowable weight rating, shaft drive, loads of torque, and crazy low center of gravity. They love to stay up. Not to mention, as one of the world’s most successful touring bikes, they’re already designed to handle all sorts of weather conditions and altitudes.”
And there ya have it. The vision on this bike was not some “ride it to work, ride it home and park it,” sort of thing. This was truly built as a go-anywhere machine. A high-displacement interstate bike that was equipped with some stiffer rear shocks and some Metzeler Tourance enduro tires, and he was skipping mud puddles and hopping curbs like nobody’s business. But other than that, some mods in the ignition system, aesthetics, and a few modern amenities added to the trunk in the gas tank, the bike is pretty much stock. A testament to a nearly 40-year-old bike’s quality.
This build was done in small shop called FK Studios that Neal started with his buddy Matt Allen, where he did all of the mechanic work, cleaning/ polishing and paint himself. A local upholsterer named Mike Brewer took care of the seat, the only part of the bike that wasn’t done in house. It’s great to see the Gold Wing becoming such a popular platform, and awesome to see people like Mr. English here doing something a little different with it, while keeping it classy. Well done, sir.