'68 Triumph TR6 - “The Trumpet”

Ahhh - the classics. They're hard to beat, yes? In architecture they have the Doric column, in music you have Beethoven and in philosophy there's Socrates. When it comes to cuisine you have Duck a l'Orange, In art we have Michelangelo, and with languages you have Latin. But what do we have in the world of custom bikes? As much as I'd like to think that Caesar would spend most Sundays causing trouble in the back streets of Rome on board a very, very early version of a bevel Ducati, I'm almost certain that it never actually happened. So where does that leave us? I'll tell you where. With the humble yet beautiful bobbed '60s Triumph hardtail. It's a Venus de Milo made from chrome, oil, and rubber I tell you. And right at this very moment, I can think of no more perfect example of this art form than this classic '68 example made by Danish artisan Daniel Peter Dyrberg. Enjoy.

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'82 Yamaha Virago XV 920

I figure it's best, in the interests of being fair and open, that I disclose a shocking and personal fact. I own a Virago. Oh yes, very funny. Laugh it up, ladies. Say what you will, but you know what? I'm an XV owner and proud. Now mine's not an 920 jobbie like you see here - she's a MY 1980 XV 750. But let's not spilt hairs here, a Virago's a Virago. Every piss weak, Harley Davidson copyin' inch of them. So just how does such a seemingly lame-ass no-hoper bike suddenly become the darling of the custom scene? Through a series of sow's ears into silk purses by Classified Moto, Doc Chops and Zero Cafe Racer - do some Google image searching if you are drawing a blank. And it might well be time to add another name to that list. Meet the Virago that Shed-built, um, built.

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Kawasaki KZ400 - "The Bolo Shit"

Ok, let's not beat around the bush. There's an elephant in this custom bike room and we'll need to get it out in open right now. I haven't got the slightest idea what a "bolo shit" is. I've Googled. I've Bing'd, why I even tried an Alta Vista search by travelling back in time. Nada. Now according to the always amusing urban dictionary.com, a "bolo" is a itself a term for pooping, so that would make it's name "shit shit" which, while quite funny, doesn't make any sense at all. Then I saw the gun on the tank. Bingo. Another Google search of "bolo gun" tells me that bolo is a nickname for the Mauser C96, better known as "the gun that the Nazis always have in war films." Except that the gun on the tank looks nothing like C96. So where does that leave us? I'd suggest we just all don these here special glasses that make white elephants invisible to the human eye and click that "read more" link below.

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Interview: Jeff from Twinline Motorcycles

Twinline Motorcycles is a custom shop in Seattle Washington who have been building and restoring loads of beautiful cafe racers and vintage bikes. Last year Jeff (Tower) Pochodowicz took over the running of the shop and he hasn't looked back. He managed to put the wrench down and answer a few questions for us.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and Twinline?

My name is Jeff (aka. Tower). I took over the management and operations at Twinline Motorcycles in September 2011. I grew up spending most my days riding a bmx bike and at one point my dad bought a Suzuki 125 quad, I loved that machine. I rode the hell out of that bike, breaking tons of parts along the way. Eventually he sold it and my sights turned to skateboarding. On May 25th 2007, my 30th birthday, I bought a Gpz550 off my friend and really that's were my motorcycle career started, bang. I had no idea that buying that bike would change the course of my life and direct me to where I am today. I moved to Seattle in 2008 and was introduced to Ian and the guys at the shop. My buddy said "maybe these guys will help you get that piece of shit running right." For a half rack of PBR and 80 bucks i was rolling. I thought the place was cool so I hung around soaking up as much knowledge as I could. In January 2009 i was interning at the shop full time. We changed locations to a larger, better workspace and I worked hard on honing my skills in problem solving, motor builds, fabrication and customization. During the summer of 2011 Ian had the itch to move to California with his family so i decided that taking over the shop was the best way for me to continue doing what I love to do while keeping the shop as a creative hub for the motorcycle community.  

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CRD #14 - BMW R75/5

The guys from Spanish shop Café Racer Dreams are truly making a name for themselves on a global scale. The garage was born out of a lack of vintage custom shops in Spain and founder Pedro Garcia hasn't looked back since opening its doors a few years ago. This is the first BMW to roll out of their small Madrid based garage and we love its stripped down simplicity. The bikes engine has been rebuilt with the expertise of Javier from Maxboxer who specialises in boxers. At this stage it's still a work in progress but we definitely like where they are going with this project. Pedro tells us it should be complete by the end of next month so we'll keep you posted. In the meantime there's a solid build thread worth checking out on the CRD blog.

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Yamaha XT 500 - "The Bastard"

Some bikes are served to us on a silver platter, replete with back story, specifications, build photos, screen shots from the eBay ad, the builder's mothers maiden name, when she lost her virginity and some original polaroids of the aforementioned event (with handwritten notes), and a professionally shot selection of photos with notes from the lensman himself noting time of day, ambient temperature, and how many beers he'd had with his delicious lunchtime meat pie. Then there's this bike. You want information? We have just about as little as we possibly could without having nothing but a gaping black hole where our email inbox used to be. The real crime here? It's that something so arse-smackingly cool can be so damn anonymous - like finding out that the hottie across the room at the party who took your breath away is actually suffering from amnesia.

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WLA Harley Bobber

Buying expensive things on ebay can be very dangerous, especially if you've been consuming a few too many beverages. We have all been there. We talk ourselves into needing the thing so badly that we make a spontaneous decision to buy the thing before someone else beats us to it. Russell Lowe had one of these experiences. He was so excited about leaving New Zealand for the sunny shores of Sydney that he thought he would buy a new motorcycle for the new country. "I decided not to ship my current bikes (Moto Guzzi 850t, Sunbeam S7 and a 1920 Douglas 350) over with me as it gave me a great excuse to get another one" he says. So after looking through bike magazines and on ebay he admits he "got a little crazy about finding something". Then this Harley WLA appears on ebay and he knew he had to have it. Russell impulsively hit the 'buy it now' button in fear of missing out on it. Then around a week later the Harley was delivered from Melbourne and he got the shock of his life...

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DP Customs - ‘Seventy Three’ Harley Ironhead

Study the keeping of time and you'll soon realise that methods for keeping track of the multitudinous moments that tick by before we all drop off this mortal coil are as many as they are varied. Which is all good and well, but what's the best way of accurately measuring time if you are a biker? You can't see a wristwatch under your leathers and take it from me, using radioactive isotopes to power your handle bar-mounted atomic clock really isn't a good idea - the judge said I may never get off that damn terrorist watch list. But never fear, for I have found a way to measure biker time so accurately you'll never need a watch again. How? It's easy! You just need to note the time that has elapsed between two cool Harleys that are rolled through the out door at DP customs and divide by 60 to get a perfectly accurate 1 second measurement. Why? Because that's just about how often they've been managing to produce their superb new creations. At this rate, every Arizonian man, woman and child will be riding an DP Customs Ironhead by this time next year. Best get your ear plugs now before stocks run out.

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Review: Icon 1000 Chapter Jacket

This is the review I have been putting off writing. Not that I didn't want to write it, I just didn't want Andrew (from Pipeburn) to read it. You see, one morning a few months ago I received a knock on my door and there's a FedEx dude holding two large boxes. I quickly signed for them and opened up the first one and there in all its glory was a brand spanking new leather jacket from ICON. It's probably a good time to mention that ICON are a sponsor of this site but we pride ourselves in giving unbiased reviews - just check out the last Icon product review). Anyway, after pulling out the jacket I instantly knew there was a serious problem - there was only one of them. The problem being there are two of us that run Pipeburn so when it comes to products like new leather jackets it can cause problems. I had two options. Don't tell Andrew that I was sent the jacket and always wear my old jacket when we go for rides together. Or the other option was just to tell Andrew and see what his reaction was. I chose the later. So I text Andrew and he replies faster than Marion Jones on speed. "I want it!" he says. "you have a cool jacket and mine is shit". He had a point, his jacket is ugly as sin. But this was going to be a hard one to hand over. So I try the jacket on and it fits perfectly. Then my wife walks in right on que. "wow! nice jacket" she says. The last time she said that was on our wedding day and I was wearing a very expensive suit. Seriously. This was a keeper, plus it was pretty much second hand now. Couldn't give Andrew a second hand jacket could I?

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