Yamaha RD400 - CHOPPRD

Written by Jason Cormier. Jason is a freelance writer and accomplished shade-tree mechanic based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the editor of Odd-Bike.com, a selection of odd, exotic, unusual, and rare motorcycles from around the world.

In a modest garage a few miles east of San Francisco, there is a man who builds motorcycles. This might not sound particularly exceptional, as there are men building bikes in many garages in many cities, and some of them are exceptional enough to get profiled on sites like this. Julian Farnam is a different sort of builder though, and he has built a different sort of bike. He is a consummate tinkerer, a man who puts together unique machines of his own design in his spare time. It's not his day job, but he is damn good at what he does – producing some of the most interesting and thoughtfully designed custom bikes you'll come across anywhere. The bike we are featuring today is one of Julian's odd creations, a raked and chopped Yamaha RD400 that applies one of Julian's favourite concepts – alternative front suspensions. More remarkable is that the CHOPPRD, as Julian has christened it, was built in his spare time over a 30 day period for a total budget that could not exceed $1000 – that includes the donor bike and all the parts and modifications that go with it.

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Halcyon 50 Deluxe - Janus Motorcycles

Everything old is new again. The more we race towards the future with our iPhones and internets, the more we seem to long for a time when things were simpler. Cut throat razors are now selling better than they have in 50 years. 15 years ago, a hand-made leather wallet was something only Louis Vuitton and $500 could have got you. Now there are small leather makers popping up all over the place. And it seems like every man and his dog are doing a decent pair of jeans, although we remember when the only choice you had were 501s. So what would happen if you took this bespoke, small-scale approach and applied it to build an entire motorcycle? Enter Janus Motorcycles of Goshen, Indiana, and their wonderful Halcyon 50.

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Throttle Roll Wrap Up

So the hangovers have finally passed and all the custom bikes have all been ridden home or taken back on their trailers. But the talk is still going about what a great event Throttle Roll turned out to be. We are super proud of our friends Mark Hawwa and Jordon Kightly for taking a punt on such a large scale event – and it looks like it paid off. Not that they made much money out of it, because it was free. Yes, free! With over 3500 (motorcycle enthusiasts, families, hipsters and dogs) people attending the event across the day, the streets of Enmore were filled with the likes of Bobbers, Classics and Café Racers. Traffic clogged up as bikes where parked left right and centre. The 'No Parking' signs were covered so the footpaths were littered with stunning bikes – the way it should be.

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Ural 650 - DoZer Garage

I many ways, creating a custom bike is not dissimilar to having kids. You put all your time, effort, and money into them. You pay too much attention to them. But mostly you just lay awake at night worrying if they'll turn out OK. And then you meet the parents that give their kids names like ‘Jazzy’ and ‘Zealand,’ pull them out of school and dress them up in day-glo pantaloons. Similarly, some bike builders don't start with plans to build a safe gun metal grey Yamaha SR400, but instead pick the weirdest bike possible and then decide to paint it sludge brown. Doomed to fail, you'd assume. But you'd be assuming wrong. Meet the latest offspring from Kiev's DoZer Garage, their inexplicably cool Ural 650 bobber.

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1982 Honda CB750 ‘Convertible’ - Steel Bent Customs

Yes, you are on the right site. And no, we haven't suddenly decided to add four wheeled vehicles to our stock-in-trade. That's because the convertible we happen to be talking about here isn't a little red Corvette or your daddy's Thunderbird, but instead it's the latest build by Florida's Steel Bent Customs. This Nighthawk not only ticks all the right boxes in terms of clean lines, cool pipes, and sweet paint - it also manages to be both a café and a brat at the same time. Cool trick, huh?

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Yamaha XS400 - Volure Cycles

Written by Ian Lee.

Ebay has changed the custom bike world in many ways. Anyone wanting unique parts can look all over the world for what they require, but on the other hand if the seller is unscrupulous, are you really going to fly across the globe to confront them because your fork gaiters don’t fit? One such customiser who has utilised Ebay to it’s fullest extent is Volure Cycles, based in Estonia. Using global buying ability, matched with neat engineering skills, a rather pedestrian Yamaha XS400 has been tranformed into a slick café racer. And with nearly all the work done in the owner Sander’s garage, Volure’s first build has come up looking like the work of a bike builder with a lot more experience. And best of all, it is proof for your boss or partner that trawling Ebay isn’t a complete waste of time. 

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1992 Honda CB250 - Rene9ade Custom Motorcycles

So, by now you'll all know about Throttle Roll, and if you're in Sydney next weekend you'd be crazy not to come along and join in the fun. But maybe you are crazy - crazy enough to ask ‘why?’ Well here's exhibit A in your mental health review. It's a unique take on a late model Honda CB250 from Rene9ade Custom Motorcycles, and it along with more than 40 other killer builds will be making an appearance at the show.

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The Throttleroll 2013 Custom Motorcycle Show

In the U.S. they have the 1 Moto show. France has its Wheels and Waves. And now we are very proud to introduce Sydney's own world-class custom, classic, and café racer biker show - the inaugural Throttle Roll. It's the brain child of our very own Mark Hawwa and Jordan Kightly. The same guys who brought us the Australian Café Racers and the now famous Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. With a pedigree like that, we're guessing it's going to be a doosey. That's why we put our name on it.

If you're in Sydney next Saturday the 11th of May, you can drop by the The Vic in Enmore from 12pm onwards. There'll be more than 40 custom bikes, live bands, a few cleansing ales and a whole bunch of guys and girls who like custom bikes... just like you. And if you're the type who finds that too much fun is barely enough, then you can also join the Sydney Café Racers on a morning ride through the Royal National Park. Interested? Then check out more on the website and Facebook pages for the event. Scott and I will be there with bells on - and Pipeburn t-shirts as well. Feel free to come up and say hello.

Yamaha SR250 - First Notion

If you have ever tried to cut your own hair then you know how things can get out of control pretty quickly. I’ve tried it and it usually only goes one way. You just want to trim a bit off the sides and clean up the back, next thing you know you have totally butchered your locks and there’s no other option than to shave your head. That’s kind of what happened with this SR250 build. These part time builders from the newly formed First Notion in Belgium decided to “do a few things” to their trusty commuter bike. The next thing they knew they had stripped the bike down and were using carbon fibre, Italian leather and other fancy pants materials. The final result is this super slim SR250 with the best crew cut we have seen.

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