Category: Walt Siegl

A brand new KTM Duke gets the custom treatment in Brazil. An MV Agusta with Lamborghini-style forged carbon parts. And a Triumph Thruxton from London called ‘Up Yours Copper.’ It’s a strange selection this week.

KTM Duke 390 by Bendita Macchina The São Paulo workshop has an unusual specialty: brand new, low displacement bikes. The process begins with a consultation and a bike with zero kilometers on the clock; then 90 to 120 days later, a one-off, handcrafted ride is delivered. The idea is ingenious and, after a perusal through their archives, it would appear that the work is magnificent.

Bendita’s latest customer handed them the keys to a brand new KTM Duke 390—which is one of the more powerful bikes the crew has seen. The Austrian plastics were quickly ditched, and the rear trellis subframe was re-worked to straighten its spine. The seat and tail unit are handmade, and so is the tank.

The bike now has a ‘modern classic’ aesthetic, which KTM would do well to add to their lineup. Other changes include modifications to the front end to accommodate the 5-inch headlight, and revised geometry to match the new riding position. [More]

Walt Siegl x David Yurman Bol d’Or Until now, Walt Siegl’s Bol d’Or has been the prettiest way to dress up (or down) an MV Agusta. But Mr. Siegl has been at it again, and treated a Bol d’Or to a smattering of Unobtainium—a.k.a. forged carbon.

Developed in partnership by Callaway Golf and Lamborghini, forged carbon is superior to traditional woven carbon fiber for a myriad of reasons. Each piece has a unique appearance, it is more cost-effective, and it can be produced in countless complex shapes: like the top yoke, rearsets and fenders on the David Yurman model we see here.

Jeweler David Yurman is the only outsider with approval to use the Lambo/Callaway patented process, and his son Evan was the person who commissioned this build. We’re bowled over, and if you are too, a forged carbon Bol d’Or can be yours for a tidy $48,000. [More]

Triumph Thruxton by Death Machines Of London Hot on the (w)heels of their stellar debut build, DMOL have just released this thug of a Thruxton. They’re calling it ‘Up Yours Copper’ and it’s an absolute blinder.

The double entendre name is as awesome as the creation. But James Hilton and Ray Petty haven’t just sprayed some coppery Tremclad on the rims: they’ve electroplated them with the real deal. The details on this build are staggering, so we’re only gonna touch on a few highlights and you can check the rest at your leisure.

The seat is made of 17 different pieces of hand carved American Walnut to ensure the graining lined up perfectly. The one-off ceramic-coated exhaust system cheekily exits from the center of the rear light through a copper plated nozzle; DMOL melted 11 light units in testing, to make sure they handled the heat. The velocity stacks have mirror-finished internals, the fueling is remapped to match, and the magnetos are from a 1940 Supermarine Spitfire Mk1, to ensure Up Yours fires with a bang.

The efforts here are monumental to say the least. So much for that sophomore slump. [More]

Yamaha XS650 by An-Bu There’s a rawness to many of the builds hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, and this XS650 from Nagoya-based An-Bu is no exception.

It isn’t the first time we’ve seen what Koichi Fujita can do when he’s got a Yamaha XS650 in the shop. But unlike his previous bobber-styled efforts, this time Fujita-san has gone full racer with this 1979 resto-mod. it features An-Bu’s ‘Full Cowl’—a part available from their online shop. Plus a gorgeous ‘Gulf Oil’-blue coat of paint, a few middle finger graphics, and lyrics from the Ramones’ 1992 track Touring.

The seat and tail unit is a modified version of An-Bu’s general purpose cowl, sitting just above the subframe rails. The long, skinny tank matches the proportions perfectly, and has been sanded and polished to a bare metal finish; a custom leather strap holds it down in true retro fashion. Engine modifications are minimal but the parallel twin breathes easier thanks to K&N cones and the re-worked two-into-one exhaust. [More]

Honda Tiger by Rich Richie Garage Being based in Java, Indonesia means the crew at Rich Richie Garage don’t have access to a multitude of high horsepower, high revving vintage race machines. That doesn’t mean they aren’t as excited by them as we are—so they work with what they have available. Which in this case is a 1987 Honda GL200 Tiger.

A homage to the RC166 that Mike Hailwood rode to fame in ‘66 and ‘67, the ‘Road Rebel 166’ won’t move nearly as quick—or rev so wildly. But it certainly looks the part. Building the bodywork to scale took careful planning, and we’d say they nailed the execution.

Everything was handmade from sheet steel in the Rich Richie shop, including the minimalist rear seat and cowl, which sits atop the reworked subframe. Most of the mechanicals went untouched, aside from rejetting the carb and new exhaust. To continue the authentic looks over to the brakes, a Honda CB Dream was plundered for the front and a Vespa unit was fitted in the rear—because the screaming RC166 didn’t have discs. [More]

Walt Siegl, I’d wager, is the world’s best custom Ducati builder. But it turns out that the machines from Bologna are not his only love.

“When I was a boy in Austria, long before I’d heard of Ducati, I considered the King of Persia a man of good taste: he had nine MV Agustas,” says Walt. “MV was winning everything at that time—Italian jewels that beat the British and the Americans. There were posters of Giacomo Agostini everywhere.”

The romance of MV Agusta has endured over the decades, and Walt has finally built a machine based around the superb MV triple—specifically, the Brutale 800.

It’s called ‘Bol d’Or’, and it’s got a distinct endurance racer vibe. “I have a soft spot for the raw brutishness of the endurance bikes of the early ’80s,” says Walt. “The big tanks that hold 20 liters or more, the large fairings to tuck under, the offset headlights for night riding, and so on.”

“But my heart is still with the small Italian bikes that have curves and a sexy waistline. So I tried to combine my attraction to all these elements in one bike.”

He’s succeeded. If the Varese factory decided to go down the same retro route as Triumph and BMW with the Bonneville and R nineT, they’d probably come up with something very close to the Siegl ‘Bol d’Or.’

Walt describes his client as “A very fast guy who has a soft spot for classic race bikes.” But unlike the Leggero Ducatis, this MV does not have a hand-built chassis.

“I wanted to stick with the factory chassis,” says Walt. ” I didn’t want to undo something that’s so good. The challenge was to design completely new bodywork around the existing frame and other very specific design elements—like the cast aluminum engine plates and swing arm.”

Walt used foam board to create the principal shapes, shaving a foam core and building it up with automotive clay. He then created a rudimentary subframe and fairing stay, positioning the new body parts and ram air system.

“A ram air system gets the best out of the highly tuned 3-cylinder engine. I increased the outer diameter of the air intakes and put the air inlet placement onto the front of the fairing.”

To get the most out of these mods—and improve torque and horsepower—the ECU was flashed with a fully tunable performance program.

John Harvey of FuelCel then took the molds and turned them into Kevlar composite. (“Kevlar has high structural integrity and resistance to impact, compared to the brittleness of a carbon fiber weave.”)

The weight savings are considerable. The new tank holds a hefty 20 liters of gas, but weighs just 3.5 lb. And that includes the stock fuel pump and aluminum fuel cap.

“In my experience, saving weight wherever you can, rather than tearing into an engine to get more horsepower, will always result in a better performing motorcycle,” says Walt.

“Buying a set of magnesium wheels, for example, will make your bike lighter, and turn easier. And it’s cheaper than putting money into engine performance.”

The entire bodywork of the Bol d’Or weighs just 8.5 lb. That includes the front fender, the upper fairing, two lowers, and the tail section.

Even more weight reductions come from the new aluminum subframe, the lightweight SC Project exhaust system, and Walt’s own adjustable rearsets—machined from 7075-T651 aerospace grade aluminum.

At a track day, Walt was able to compare the weights of a factory F3 and the Bol d’Or on the scales. The stock F3 weighed in at 421 lb., and the Bol d’Or came in at 340 lb.—with a gallon of fuel, and oil in the crankcase. (That’s 155 kilos in Euro parlance.)

Not surprisingly, the bike is seriously fast. “It’s a ferocious beast that screams like a F1 car, and tears your arms out of the sockets when you grab big handfuls. It sounds so good it gives you chills.”

Tempted? Though the Bol d’Or is based on the Brutale, future versions can be built using any current MV triple. If you want a truly personalized machine but don’t want to sacrifice performance, you know who to call.

Walt Siegl | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Douglas MacRae | Instagram