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w h e e l s Shaw 1200 CroSS harley rhondine Guzzi SinGle untitled MC'S BMw Spirit rd4 yaMaha laMB enGineerinG SteaMpunk ktM the Bike Shed kevil'S BMw old eMpire
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loud fast motorcycles FTW! Forever two wheels? For the win? F***…? Heck, what’s in a name? e bottom line is that we wanted to create a magazine celebrating the new wave of custom bikes that are sweeping the world. Because we love the style and the innovation and, most importantly, the fun of these motorcycles – and the scene they are part of. at’s the long and the short of it. e ‘Loud Fast Motorcycles’ strapline is borrowed and bastardised from a long defunct punk magazine Loud Fast Rules. e original punk ethos strikes a chord. Stick two fingers up at the establishment and do your own thing. Bikers have always done that. Motorcycling is an individual thing. A statement of anti-establishmentism. Loud fast definitely rules. Cafe racers. Street trackers. Bobbers. People have been building them for years. But now there’s a twist. e builders are largely a new breed. Younger, vibrant, fashion-conscious and drawing inspiration from BMX, skating and surfing, all with a healthy nod to grungy old nostalgia and taking influences from vintage bikes through speedway and dirt trackers to hi-tech racing projectiles. Like the early 1970s revisited, a time when motorcycles were the coolest thing since throwing peace signs at Hendrix, it’s suddenly hip again to be a biker – but only certain bikes can be hip. And
they’re the kind of bikes in this magazine. A celebration of engineering genius and free thinking. A celebration of do it yourself in a world of disposable trinkets. People want to get involved with their bikes again. ey want to strip them bare. Fettle carbs. Make seats… Plastic covered, computerized bolides are passé. FTW! is about all the bikes that underpin the new movement. A scene inspired by web blogs like e Bike Shed, Bike EXIF, Silodrome. People who love bikes – really love bikes – will know what we mean and embrace what we’re trying to do with FTW! Content like this has always been the preserve of the web blogs and underground biker mags for too long. Well not now. Hope you all love it. We had way too much fun creating it.
Stamford, England, March 2014
loud fast motorcycles RONDINE|MOTO GUZZI
THE RING OF BEARA. AND A PINT OF THE BLACK STUFF TWO IRISH FRIENDS TAKE ON THE BEST CUSTOM BIKE BUILDERS IN THE WORLD AND WIN WITH A CAFE RACER BUILT IN A WORKSHOP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN. AND TO PROVE IT ISN’T JUST FOR SHOW THEY CHASE THE HEALY PASS… Words & photos: Phillip Tooth
060 Gladstone bobber For discerning hooligans
068 raCer road
D
riven by passion and commitment, Russell Brown’s company produces the highest quality of work in design, machining and fabrication. This in return gives the customer a product that’s built, not bought”. Russell’s a self-made man. It says so on the tattoo across his fingers – but since 13 he’s been fabricating and welding and, what the website and tattoo don’t say, is that Russell has used his massive experience to become one of the most innovative and artistic custom bike builders in the UK. Since setting up RB Kustoms, he’s carried out the fabrication work on many of the bikes to come out of Warrs, the official Harley dealership on the Kings Road. But he’s also built bikes for his own customers and is expanding on that side of his business. It’s a journey that’s taken him beyond the biosphere of Harley customs and into the new world of customised classics. Of cafe racers and bobbers – and modified bikes that defy genre. Russell offers his views on business – and this new wave of custom bikes…
The book for race fans
070 husky-styled harley
I got into bikes later than most. I was into cars when I was younger – but I’ve been fabricating and welding since I was 13. It’s the only thing I’m good at. When I was a kid, I followed what Jesse James was doing. I got busier and busier, with people wanting me to do work for them and just over two years ago I set up RB Kustoms. James came to me with his XS650 and we became friends. He was fed up with travelling and working in an office, so we’ve made this work for both of us.
McQueen-inspired desert sled
RBK|CLASSIC CUSTOMS
IN THE COURT OF THE SELF-MADE KUSTOM KING
074 untitled boxer twin
ACCORDING TO HIS RB KUSTOMS WEBSITE, RUSSELL BROWN IS “A FULLY CERTIFIED WELDER AND SHEETMETAL MASTERMIND – AND HE HAD ONE GOAL IN MIND, TO PRODUCE SOME OF THE BEST CUSTOM MOTORCYCLES TO ROLL ON THE ROADS.
Camden does Bavarian trailee forever two wheels
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Photos by Phil Masters
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006 rondine Guzzi
World champion single
Stylish road race rep
098 rb kustoMs
082 the kinG’s sPeed bloCks
104 the first xr
English wheels and artworks
Prototype dirt tracker
A view from The Bike Shed
XS650 tracker done good
084 haMaMatsu hot rod
106 kevil’s bMw
030 CrotCh roCket
088 1917 indian PowerPlus
112 yaMaha bolt
Bell & Ross speedster by SS&C
Boxer twin king
Patina from the battlefield
032 rsd sPortster
T
Café Americano
040 roland sands Hot rod architect
PACIFIC|HONDA
RED ROCKER WHEN THE PACIFIC MOTORCYCLE CO IN NELSON, NEW ZEALAND, DECIDED TO BUILD ITS FIRST CAFE RACER FROM A CB350 HONDA TWIN IT KNEW IT HAD TO BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT
046 oeM’s MaGiC wand
he Pacific Motorcycle Co is based in the sunny city of Nelson on New Zealand’s beautiful South Island. The company was set up from an existing motorcycle dealership, but seriously changed its direction from ‘...just another motorcycle shop’ to a company specialising in classic restorations and custom builds. After only a few months it has turned out several fully restored British classics and has now completed its first custom build. Alan Pritchard, from Pacific, takes up the story… The Red Rocker was an idea owner/operator Ron Smith had for some time, as an old battered 1974 Honda CB350 twin had been sitting in the shop for a few months after being given it by one of our customers. To cut a long story, customer Ian had broken down on the old black CB about an hour from Nelson, called Ron and said: “I’ve left it there, she’s given up! If you want to collect her, she’s yours!” The world’s seen multiple CB350 cafe racer builds – it’s a very popular choice of donor bike – but Ron didn’t want people sighing at the sight of another one, so this had to be different! It had to be red, so that was to be the main canvas of the project. The other inspiration was the 1950s Corvette with its distinctive scallops in the wings and doors. With a very rough draught via Photoshop, work started. First of all, as in most builds, it was completely dismantled and any unnecessary parts discarded. The standard CB frame is a bit ugly to say the least with its pressed steel and spot welded gussets, so that was tidied up, including a rolled trim around the inside of the frame, a rear loop with fillets to keep clean lines on the back of the frame to accommodate the seat unit, and any
Livery is based on Honda’s Red Rocket motocrossers of the late 1970s, early 80’s
Slots are a feature of the bike, not only on this belly pan but also on the high level exhaust
You want red? How about these red leather grips? To match the bars and lever perches too
Polished carbs and bell-mouths make a welcome contrast to the beautifully painted engine
Monster gone cafe
120 oeM hunter Superdream supercool
Loving the number plate mount. It’s all about turning a boring bracket into an artifact
122 bonneville blaster
Words and photos: Pacific Motorcycle Company
Blown flathead salt bike
048 sCreaMinG stinkwheel
126 steaMPunk ktM
RD400 for the modern world
Kustom krazy sub-kulture
forever two wheels
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054 sPirit of the seventies
090 red roCker
058 evolution of sPeedway
096 MotoGP teCh world
Singles turning full circle
f o r e v e r Editor: Gary Pinchin Publisher: Dan Savage Designer: James Duke Production editor: Tim Hartley Sub editor: Val Dawson
The hipster’s organ donor
114 red Max duCati
unused tabs were ground off. The next thing was the tank, this one was definitely going to be a focal part. As we said earlier the Corvette from the 50s was used as some inspiration. So the tank was cut and extended by six inches, scallops were cut out either side and new rolled steel panels welded in to mimic the car’s style. The original fuel capacity is still as original as the extension part of the tank was reserved to hide the lithium battery. Being a red ‘canvas’ another major component, the engine, would also be a focal point. That had to be red too! In the style of Honda’s famous Red Rocket motocrossers, where the frame and engine was red, hence where the name was derived from, but we christened Red Rocker as an homage to the cafe racer scene. Engine internals have been lightly enhanced with a big bore using CB750 pistons, a ground camshaft and a bit of port polishing. Apart from the baseline of saying ‘she has to be red’, the exhaust system was a major area where we wanted to do something different. The whole exhaust system was fabricated inhouse so that both headers were equal, then came together via a collector/muffler unit under the seat before exiting out the rear of the bike. It was quite a task to get it lined up and fit exactly, but satisfying when it was achieved, finished in red (of course) with a triple coat internal heat proofing and some much needed polished heat shields. Another theme that began to take over were the slots, seen in the heat-shields, front air-scoop (which hides some of the electrics), chainguard and headlight bracket, all manufactured in-house. Going back to the air scoop, we decided to make this originally
Creating Merlin from W650
In search of performance
It’s like the Bike Shed opened up the (custom bike) market. Jamie went to Wheels & Waves (in Biarritz) and said he could count the number of Harleys there on his hand – compared the >>
forever two wheels
076 laMb enGineerinG
KR’s yellow Yamahas
018 insPirinG a Generation
I like to keep busy. I can’t sit and watch TV. I have to be tinkering in the garage. The Bike Shed movement is much bigger than people realize. I was impressed by last year’s Bike Shed Event – but that was just an eye-opener. I definitely think it’s a market to concentrate on. There wasn’t one horrible bike in the show. It was good to prove a point too – that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a good bike. We’re back to the Seventies where people are building bikes to a budget.
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The mad fabricators society
016 Paton s1
The business has gone from strength to strength. Warrs approached me to do its fabrication but now we’ve also started to get off-the-street customers. It’s all by word of mouth and we only set up the website a few months ago. The thing is, I like variety. With RB Kustoms, it means I’m not doing all Harleys any more. With Warrs, I could get six months of Sportster and then get a Dyna. Now we’re working on Triumphs, Nortons, Japanese bikes. I like that. We’ve got an old Evo, old-school chop. It’s a high neck, American style bike. Jesse James style with a big back tyre. It’s good to go back to our roots. It keeps us on our toes too. And keeps us fresh.
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130 rsd t-Max
CB350, daring to be different
How to sex-up a scoot
Full tilt Desmosedici
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Contributors Editorial: Alan Cathcart, Anthony ‘Dutch’ Van Someren, Phillip Tooth Photographic: Tim Keeton, Ashley Kent, Phil Masters, Greg Moss, Mykel Nicolaou, Kevin Wing
Special thanks to: Everyone who gave their time so willingly, and with such enthusiasm, to talk bikes and allow us to shoot pictures of their awesome bikes
Advertising key accounts manager: Steff Woodhouse swoodhouse@mortons.co.uk Circulation manager: Steve O’Hara Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Production manager: Craig Lamb Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole Editorial address: PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ. General queries: 01507 529529 24hr answerphone help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk Archive enquiries: Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk 01507 529423 Overseas distribution: COMAG, Tel 01895 433600 Printed: William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. FTW! (ISBN:978-1-909128-47-7) is published by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK Copyright Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
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Independent publisher since 1885
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Rondine|MOTO GUZZI
The Ring of BeaRa. and a pinT of The Black sTuff
Two IrIsh frIends Take on The besT cusTom bIke buIlders In The world and wIn wITh a cafe racer buIlT In a workshop aT The boTTom of The garden. and To prove IT Isn’T jusT for show They chase The healy pass… Words & photos: Phillip Tooth
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Left: Forks are fabricated from two left-sided V-Rod swingarms//Swingarm is from CDS tube//Exhaust follows the ‘yard of pipe’ ethos – but as an artform
D
on Cronin is on a mission. He’s travelled over 100km from his home near Kinsale, on Ireland’s south coast, to Adrigole, a village on the Beara Peninsula. e 580cc flat single thumps out a deep baritone as he turns off the coast road and heads for the Healy Pass. is is one of the finest biking roads in Ireland, rising 334 metres as it twists and turns between two of the highest peaks in the Caha mountain range. If any road is going to prove that the Rondine was built to be ridden then this is it. With his friend Mick O’Shea, Don had won the 2013 AMD World Championship in Essen, Germany, with the cafe racerinspired motorcycle that they spent two winters building in the workshop at the bottom of the garden. It was the first time that the prestigious custom bike building competition had been held outside the USA, and the Irish pair had beaten nearly 600 entries from around Europe and as far afield as Russia, Argentina and America. Not only beaten – but blown into the weeds. ey are too modest to mention it, but I’ll tell you that they scored 728 points, with the nearest rival awarded a mere 432. Aer they were crowned best custom bike builders in the world, studio pictures of the Rondine – Italian for Swallow – flew around the internet. Most people who saw them said that it looked stunning, but there were a few comments along the lines of ‘that’s one way to ruin a good Guzzi’, and ‘I bet it will never be ridden on the road’. For a man who uses a 1978 T140 Bonnie as his daily ride, keeps a MkIII Guzzi Le Mans for longer trips, and loves hustling his 350cc Morini Sport along the back roads of Ireland, that was an insult. “Sure,” says Don, “We built the Rondine to enter it in the World Championship, but we also built it to ride. It isn’t going to look this pristine for much longer!”
Don wanted to use a Guzzi flat single as the heart of this bike because he wanted to make the chassis as low as possible. And he loves Italian machinery. “It would be criminal to break up a 1950s Falcone to use the engine, but between 1970 and about 1976 the Mandello factory built the Nuovo Falcone,” explains Don, before adding: “ey are as ugly as sin. Most of these were sold to the Italian army and traffic police, but there was also a civilian version.” e engine carries the oil in a finned three-litre sump instead of a separate oil tank, and the external flywheel is hidden behind an alloy cover. A unit-construction four-speed gearbox is all that is needed for a slow-revving, torquey engine that produced an honest 26hp at 4800rpm. e Nuovo Falcone is massive, heavy and slow, and that’s why they don’t fetch much money. “I bought a scruffy 1971 donor bike for 1500 euros,” says Don. “It was the cheapest way to get a Guzzi flat single, but it wasn’t a great bike – overweight and underdamped, it felt like riding a pogo stick on a blancmange.” e plan was to hang the engine below the frame cradle, but the lack of bottom frame rails meant that the frame jig Don usually uses wasn’t suitable. e solution was to make a steel table from 13mm steel plate and inscribe a centre line along its length. Everything would be built using this line as the reference. en they made four mounting brackets and bolted them to the engine. Aer using a plumb line to position the engine along the centre line, they welded the brackets to the bench. Don made the girder fork legs by modifying two le-side Harley V-Rod swingarms, with alloy fork links and a Frenchmade Fournales oleo-pneumatic suspension unit that combines a high pressure air spring with hydraulic damping. Two modified VRod front wheels shod with 4.00 x 19in tyres were mounted along >>
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Attention to detail is phenomenal. Every angle. Every curve. Every nut and bolt. Appreciate the craftsman’s love and attention
>> the centre line on two more pairs of brackets. He wanted the fork links to be tilted so that the fork ends were lower than the headstock ends. With that in mind Don measured the rake and trail of a number of motorcycles that he liked riding before deciding on 30º rake and 105mm trail. “I didn’t want anything too radical,” he explains. “I wanted a bike that would steer and handle okay.” With the wheelbase set at 30mm longer than the Nuovo Falcone he welded the wheel brackets to the bench. Nothing was going to move now. “I started building the frame between the gaps – it was as easy as that,” says Don, as if it is the sort of thing we can all do on a dark winter’s evening. “I drew the engine plates full size on stiff paper and gave the patterns to a friend in Cork,” explains Don. “He scanned the drawings into a computer programme and laser-cut the plates from steel plate.” ese plates were TIG welded to seamless cold drawn steel (CDS) tubing. “A number of years ago, I met a frame builder at a show in England. en in his eighties, he had 40 years’ experience building Norton Featherbed-type frames. e quality of his gas welding was flawless. His advice was to keep it simple, both in terms of design and materials, and he said that CDS tubing is strong enough for most applications and that it is readily available.”
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e finished frame is tiny. Two long studs and nuts secure the frame to the top of the crankcase through the huge lugs that once carried the Dynastarter, with a third stud passing through the lower rear of the crankcase. Don would be kickstarting this motorcycle. He also fabricated the swingarm from CDS tube. Each arm is made from a continuous length of tubing with a second tube, cut in half lengthways, welded on to act as a strengthening brace. “I did it that way to maintain the structural integrity from the wheel spindle through to the swingarm spindle,” explains Don. Check out the gearbox sprocket centre, swingarm spindle and rear wheel spindle – they are perfectly aligned with the weight of a rider on board. Our Featherbed welder would have been impressed. e rear shock came from a Yamaha Midnight Star. “at wasn’t a stab in the dark,” laughs Don. “I wanted working suspension and I had an idea of what spring rate I needed!” He mounted it horizontally to keep the chassis short and low, and to give enough space for a battery. Brake discs for the 19in V-Rod wheels were made by Stan omas in Wichita Falls, Texas. “We met him at a burger bar in Sturgis in 2009,” says Don. “Mick and I had taken our 500cc Morini-based special Medaza to the AMD Championship. Stan didn’t know me from Adam, but when he realised that we didn’t >>
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a route less travelled The Ring of Beara on the Beara Peninsula, in the south west tip of Ireland, is a route less travelled. One of the world’s great biking back roads. According to www.ireland.com, the Ring is “the scenic route from Kenmare to Glengarriff, a 138km loop taking in some of the wildest nooks and crannies in the southwest of Ireland.
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“The road allows you to circuit the Caha Mountains entirely, or take corkscrew roads through the breathtaking Healy Pass. It’s an area you really want to take your time to explore. “Kenmare nestles at the mouth of Kenmare Bay, its collection of colourful shopfronts, sizzling seafood restaurants and luxury hotels is
remarkable for a town of its size. “Glengarriff is the Beara Peninsula’s other gateway town. Translated from the Irish for ‘rugged glen’, it’s ensconced in ancient woodlands, and has been a tourist stop since Victorian times.” Take one look at the Healy Pass road in the lead picture of this story. You would, wouldn’t you?
>> have bikes to ride he gave us the pink slips for a couple of Harleys and told us to enjoy the roads. He’s a great guy, and when he heard about this project he offered to laser-cut the discs in the right grade of steel. ey arrived in the post a week later.” Chris Harte, another good friend, helped to rebuild the wornout engine with a big-bore high compression piston and lightweight valves and springs supplied by Escher Moto Guzzi in Nordkirchen, Germany. Escher also supplied the big bore Dell’Orto pumper carb. Don modified the oil feed to the crank to ensure that it always received maximum pressure, and fitted a spin-on filter. e engine is now 580cc and, aer Mick machined a new external flywheel that weighs 2.8kg less than the 9kg original, it revs more freely. A stainless steel exhaust pipe curves into an alloy silencer box mounted under the cylinder. Even with three outlets it still looks compact but inside is about 250mm of tubing. “When it comes to exhaust pipes, I adhere to the old ‘yard of pipe will do’ adage. If you straightened the tubing out that’s how long it would be.” (A yard of pipe is one metre of pipe – editor). >>
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RSD|SCOOT
SexeD-up SuRf RaceR
RSD’S SupeRmoto Scoot: KilleR on canyon RoaDS. cool foR the beach Words by Alan Cathcart Photos by Kevin Wing
W
anna sex up a scooter? Send it to LA-based Roland Sands where the fusion chef of custom cool can get to work on it. That’s what Yamaha Europe’s product manager Shun Miyazawa did with one of the new generation T-Max maxi-scooters, and the RSD SuperScoot is the result. Creating it wasn’t easy. “I have to say this was one of my most difficult projects,” says Sands. “I kept wanting to turn it into a motorcycle. All my design sensibilities told me to eliminate the step-thru, straight line it from the seat to the neck, build a gas tank for it and make it into a cafe racer. But I said to myself, ‘whoa – if we’re going to do a motorcycle, let’s start with a motorcycle. Let’s take advantage of what this thing is – it’s a scooter!’ “There’s a reason why the motor’s so low, why it’s below where you sit and everything. So we ended up building a kind of sit-up surf racer, that you can take to
the beach but also go racing through the canyons. Call it a Supermoto Scooter. That’s what it is! “Everyone in the shop was battling to put their own personal stamp on it. So it’s had a suroard rack over the top, it’s had a drinks holder on the front, we even hung a crazy cooler box out back. “We’ve taken so much weight off of it, at least 60-70lb, so even though the engine is stock it can really motor. The seating position is awesome, we boxed in the floorboards with bars up front – maybe they’re a little narrow for your feet but it works okay, it’s comfortable, you can ride with two people, so it’s pretty sociable, but if you want ride hard, you can. “It’s one of the most fun bikes we’ve ever built – cute, practical, but also accessible. A little kid can ride it, but anybody who wants to go race the shit out of it can do that too. Just twist and go!” C’mon Yamaha, you gotta run with this concept surely?