Voxan – Weary Rider

The best cafe racers, scramblers and bobbers of the week
This week, we’ve got three classic cafe racers, a Honda Dominator scrambler, and a fire-breathing Voxan. Which one would you put in your garage?

Honda CB500t cafe racer
Honda CB500T by The Corner Garage This Miami shop specializes in working on vintage Japanese bikes, and while they’re happy to breathe life back into old iron via restoration, their custom creations are something to behold. The latest is this 1975 Honda CB500T—the simple and clean kind of cafe racer that makes the style so everlasting.

The stance is absolutely spot on. The Excel aluminum rims are and beefy and high-shouldered, and the custom work on the seat and tail flows perfectly from the Honda’s tank. A small 4-cell battery has been fitted, along with a custom wiring harness to keep the spaghetti contained—but most of the mess was eliminated with a kick-start only conversion.

Aluminum was used throughout the build to keep parts light and add visual interest, the velocity stacks, billet triple and motor mounts all being standouts. The exhaust is a custom 2-into-1, stainless steel set-up, welded to follow the downtube’s lines near perfectly. The white on blue paint is absolutely gorgeous too and was mixed and shot by some nearby friends at Magic City Customs. [More]

Voxan by Motorieep If you frequent this space, you’ll immediately recognize the signature of Pierre from Paris-based Motorieep. His handiwork with the now defunct Voxan motorcycles never fails to impress. We’ve seen both his cafe racer and scrambler versions of the Voxan before, and now we’re drooling over this one too.

Pierre tells us that this build is what he believes the Voxan factory would be cranking out today, had it not disappeared. That means the lines are contemporary, with a focus on rider ergonomics to maximize the smiles per mile. And there will be plenty of those, given that the incredible 123 horsepower V-twin powers a bike weighing just 379 pounds (171 kilos).

The tank once called a Yamaha home, but you’d be hard pressed to suss that out. Pierre sliced and diced the original before reshaping and TIG welding it back into the beauty we see here. The subframe is the same unit that was fitted to his other Voxan builds but we can’t fault him for the repetition: it provides the perfect perch, and makes for a tidy rear end. Up front the minimalism continues with a reworked Yamaha XT500 headlight sitting above a carbon fiber fender. The cockpit is clean too, with only a single gauge mounted that serves as tach, speedo and integrated GPS. [More]

Honda Dominator by Dab Design Simon Dabadie may not be a household name (yet) but you’ve no doubt been intrigued with his work before. As a 3D designer he has printed and prototyped parts that have appeared on bikes by Roland Sands, the house of Deus and Holographic Hammer, to name a few.

His shop in Bayonne, France is now creating a series of Honda Dominator based builds that are spec’d by customers. Working from a 3D scan of the donor bike, Simon creates a photo-realistic rendering for his clients to work with. Simon then tweaks the digital dream bike to match desires and then the hands get dirty. LM #2 is the second iteration to roll out of Simon’s shop and it ticks a lot our favorite boxes.

The new fiberglass tank, tail and number plate were all the result of 3D printed molds created from those renderings. That means the fit and finish here is pretty exemplary. Unlike Simon’s first bike—a supermoto-style NX—the owner of this one wanted some extra off-road abilities. So a matched set of 18-inch SM Pro wheels were fitted with Heidenau K67s, and a beefy Renthal bar sits on top clamp machined in-house. If you like what you see, Simon is offering up a build via lottery that you can enter here. [More]

Honda CB750 Nighthawk by Industrial Moto Industrial Moto is a relatively new shop based in Culpeper, Virginia, and aims to make affordable customs that don’t skimp on the details. Its latest project is this performance-focused Honda CB750 known simply as Project Scorpion.

Working from a well-ridden 1992 CB750 Nighthawk, the team decided they wanted a corner-carving cafe as the end result. A 2006 Gixxer was robbed of its front end and its mono shock swing arm was fitted up as well. This not only improved suspension and stance, but also allowed for better brakes and beefier rubber. To make sure those components weren’t wasted, the Honda powerplant was completely rebuilt with all new seals, bearings and gaskets, and the carbs were rejetted too. The air intake sitting on top them is a hand milled aluminum unit.

The Nighthawk’s bulky tank was swapped for a 1978 CB750 unit to help nail the retro aesthetic. That look continues with the custom sub-frame and the humped and tuck-rolled leather seat. A Motogadget m.Unit has been fitted up to work with a custom iM emblazoned gauge set along with the m.Lock wireless key system. Project Scorpion is currently listed on eBay, if anyone is interested. [More]

Paul Tremmel’s BMW R100 café racer The story of the builder of this BMW is arguably even more interesting than the bike itself. It involves adventures through Africa with the United Nations, a short time in London as an investment banker and a stint mining gold in the Congo. But regardless of where he was or what he was doing, motorcycles remained a constant in Paul’s life.

This R100 is the result of Paul’s focused energies to conquer myocarditis (which he contracted while in the Congo) and a barn find of a couple boxers in need of his attention. Working with the two bikes, the best bits from each were plucked for this cafe racer and Paul customized from there. The subframe needed some tweaking to deliver a balanced stance and to work with a new rear cowl sourced from Flat Racer. Much like the gorgeous front fairing though, Paul needed to modify and trim a few bits to get the look he wanted.

The better of the two boxers received some internal work along with a new set of piston rings and a full tune to deliver performance befitting its looks. The new, reverse-cone exhaust set helped that a touch, too. With his first build now complete, Paul intends to keep wrenching on bikes full time and to follow his other passion, writing. [More]

A vintage-inspired Indian Scout from Roland Sands, a BMW R NineT given the Dakar Rally treatment, and a custom Voxan with a finish worthy of Rolls-Royce. Meet the machines that revved our engines this week.

Indian Scout by Roland Sands Design If you made the trek to Biarritz for this weekend’s Wheels and Waves festival, this latest creation from the Roland Sands team was sure to catch your eye. Working from yet another Indian Scout, RSD took a grinder to the conservative approach: On this build, just about everything is bespoke.

The custom frame and twin radiators are works of engineering art. Had a conventional set of forks cushioned the front wheel, it would still look as awesome—but no, RSD decided to run with a custom girder set-up. It’s dampened by an Öhlins mountain bike shock, with an Öhlins MotoGP-derived TTX shock out back. (The same set-up RSD used on the Project 156 Pikes peak racer.)

Each detail on this bike is worthy of its own page alone, so pour another coffee, sit back and explore everything that’s been done. I recommend starting up front, with that sneaky throttle cable pull mounted on the number plate. Genius. [More]

BMW Motorrad ‘Lac Rose’ R NineT concept Speaking of Wheels and Waves, BMW wasn’t ready to let RSD steal the entire spotlight: They took the wraps off their concept bike ‘Lac Rose.’

Clearly inspired by BMW’s stints in the Dakar, the bike is named after the Retba salt lake that sits 35 kilometers from the infamous rally’s end point. Working with an R NineT, the Motorrad engineers clearly had hands in the GS parts bin—creating what head designer Edgar Heinrich calls “our laid-back and very individual interpretation of the bike that won the Paris-Dakar Rallye in 1985.”

This Beemer’s off-road chops are more form than function, though: think of it as a roadster that won’t balk at a fire trail. Regardless, hot on the heels of the R5 Hommage, the Lac Rose shows BMW’s dedication to the custom world we celebrate. [More]

Mash 250 by XTR Pepo It’s not often we find a French-designed, Chinese-made motorcycle lying beneath a custom cafe racer. In fact, this svelte Mash 250 build from Pepo Rosell’s XTR Pepo may be the first.

Christened Cafe Noire, this latest creation to roll out of XTR’s Madrid garage is based on the styling of the endurance racers of the late 60s—and weighs about as much as Gidget on a longboard. Tipping the scales at approximately 120kg, Cafe Noire is infinitely flickable and, thanks to an XTR air filter and SuperMario megaphone exhaust, has the hustle to go with that flow. But you don’t need to see it in motion to glom it’s a runner. Thanks to Rosell’s handcrafted fiberglass tank, fairing, seat pan and tail, Cafe Noire looks fast and slippery—even when it’s standing still. [More]

Custom Ducati 600SS by Imbarcardero 14 Pore over these digital pages long enough, and the dream of retiring to your garage to ply your hand at bespoke builds will plant its seed. While most of us snap back to less romantic realities, Maurizio Carraro of Venice’s Imbarcardero 14 (IMB14) has turned that dream into a thriving business.

This is one of IMB14’s newest creations, ‘Hidden.’ It’s based on a 1994 Ducati 600SS and it’s a refreshingly original vision. Over 300 hours of design, fabrication and assembly were devoted to creating the bike for a discerning client.

Where most Ducatis have their trellis frame and L-Twin engine showcased, Carraro has ‘hidden’ these iconic traits with expanded metal-mesh and a beefy belly pan. The lines of the Duc’s tank were softened and the rear wheel was given the full-metal jacket treatment before a bespoke exhaust was fitted—clearly to ensure Hidden could be found. [More]

Voxan by Motorieep When we first laid eyes on what the Parisian garage Motorieep could do with a now defunct Voxan, we were immediately impressed. Apparently, shop owner Pierre was able to scrounge up a couple more of those rare French bikes and his latest, the Voxan M-1000CR, is Motorieep’s most gorgeous work yet.

The fit and finish would make a Rolls-Royce technician blush, whether it’s the front cowl, the suede saddle or the high-mount 2-into-1 exhaust unit. And, since the aftermarket for Voxan parts is non-existent, that means everything has received the hand built touch.

That being said, Pierre benefits from past experience. The underslung rear suspension is a carryover from a previous Scrambler build, and the same high-pressure fuel pump has been fitted—to help that mighty 996cc V-twin flex even more muscle. [More]