Riding September

This movie makes me wanna grow my beard, buy an old motorcycle, customise it, and ride it!

Also check out their very nice blog.

A must see

The atmosphere, the filming, the bikes, the workshop, the guy, they're all magnificent and fit so well together!

shinya kimura @ chabott engineering from Henrik Hansen on Vimeo.

Special movie of a special bike.

Honda Africa Twin

Also known as Honda XRV 750 has been sold from 1988 to 2003 in slightly changed versions. The motorcycle was based on the NXR-750 which won the Paris Dakar rally four times in te late eighties.

Because it's very reliable and it has great on and offroad capacities the XRV is a very popular motorbike amongst adventure motorbikers.

I currently own an RD04 from 1992, and I am planning to ride it to Central Asia in a few years... Might become a classic one day...

Another nice speedo

I was looking for classic bikes (as usual) and noticed the BMW R75/5, a very nice classic motorbike with some cool details. Never seen such a nice minimal combination of speedometer/tachometer mounted in the headlight. Inspiring design!

Last year's season

Last year's season I drove an SRX600, it's a funny little thumper which I bought non running. With some new fuel it started at the first kick. I painted it white and drove through europe on it (along with two friends on a KLE500 and a SRAD750...). Because of the low weight it was great fun to ride in the Alpes.

Quote from Performance Bikes Magazine

"So that's the KR1-s. Old, cheap, unreliable, barking mad engine, mentally unstable handling and more than the other three bikes added together. I'll have two please."

The three other bikes which are referred to are: Aprilia RS250, Suzuki RGV250 and the Honda NSR250. The guys are lyric about the KR1.

Nice detail

Well don't get me wrong, a Honda BlackBomber in general is an amazing bike (unfortunately hard to find too...), but one of those details which I think is really great is its cockpit. Just a very nice detail and very original, the speedometer combined with the rev counter in one oval shaped form.

One of the many...

Laverda has got to be it, it's Italian, it's very handsome, it's got character, it's unreliable(?), it's quite fast, it's got a nice sound, it's a legend... and just one of those many I would like to own some day...






















Ow and there's one decent example for sale at our famous marktplaats.nl, the old Laverda's aren't getting any cheaper, and since I haven't won the lottery jet, you should hurry up and buy it...

Harley Davidson Liberator...

Been quite busy last weeks but finally found some strength to write a new post! Yiehaa...

A few weeks ago a very nice Harley Davidson was for sale at the Dutch ebay: marktplaats.nl. Though I am not a great fan of the post WOII Harleys, I do like the WOII and pre WOII models. Especially a WOII model appeals to me because of all these extra features. Besides it's pretty special if you imagine it came to Europe pure for "practical" reasons, driven by American soldiers with a gun at the handlebars and an inscription where needed...

Take a close look at those details and inscriptions! I like it!

Long term project.

Last year me and a friend of mine bought us a KR1-s. It has 7000km on the speedo and looks stunning. The only problem is that it didn't run. The engine should have been revised but I have my doubts regarding the skills of the previous owner... The barrels are worn so we sent them to a barrel-revise-company. Unfortunately some mistakes by this stupid company were made, so it took quite a while before we were able to go further with the project. This week the barrels will arrive so we can finally build up the engine...

For people who don't know the KR1-s
The KR1-s replaced the earlier KR1, it was the direct competitor of the Suzuki RGV250. Because of the stunning specifications of this bike, 55BHP at 11.000rpm, 130kg's dry weight, a topspeed of 210km/h and good brakes. It was perfect for racing..! People say it was the nearest you could get to a race bike for the road. The only minor disadvantage was, because of its racy performances, maintenance and handling with care was very important. Bad maintenance and no good warming up meant braking down quite easily...

The KR1-s hasn't been sold a lot and if sold, it was most times raced at the circuit, because of these factors, few KR1-s are left, especially in Holland it's very hard to find a good one. Also good spareparts are hard to find...





Ow and I forgot to mention, in times of "global warming", two stroke road bikes will become very rare in the future...

Honda

Honda is reliable, Honda can be sporty, Honda is decent, Honda is for the middle class. Yes, Honda is boring...! At least, nowadays it is, but in the seventies, you would have been the man on a Honda! Honda had the first 750cc superbike, with four cylinders, super smooth, little vibrations and loads of power. Honda had the first mass produced motorcycle with a six cylinder engine. With a Honda you could pick up a girl without being afraid for a mechanical failure. Yes, Honda was it.

I like Honda, Honda is sexy.



Note: this statement only concerns Honda motorcycles.

Ex-bike

Wanted to share this with you, it's me at the age of 18, young and wild, racing on my CB350f from 1974. I bought the CB before I even had my driving license. I did a minor rebuild: changed the steering and backseat, put an overhauled and "big" bore 400cc engine in, other blinkers etc. It's a crappy video, but you'll get the idea.



I still regret for having it sold...

Real men ride the wall of death #2

You can always make it more exciting by putting a lion in your sidecar...

Real men ride the wall of death #1

And they rode in style! Like it.

Peashooter

Wanted to share this with you, awesome bikes, nice website.