A promise is a promise. In the wake of the good response to the first part, here is the second installment of a special photo gallery dedicated the most interesting custom bikes displayed at the 2012 Motor Bike Expo in Verona, photographed on the spot by our friends from Motoblog.it. We got some pretty interesting model here too, but we invite you to get ready for the grand finale: the third and final part of the gallery is already waiting in the wings..

View the full Custom bikes at the Motor Bike Expo 2012 - Part 2 photo gallery

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Verona’s Motor Bike Expo has a reputation in Italy for the astounding number of custom motorcycles, choppers and cafe racers that every year show up at this event, coming from every corner of the world. Many of these bikes have been designed and built by specialists with the specific goal of showing up there and make an impression on all enthusiasts and fellow artists alike. Here is a first lot of pictures of some of these bikes, a first installment of the models that caught the attention of our mates from Motoblog.it. Just looking at them we can feel the passion and dedication that their makers have put in their work, and we obviously have the utmost respect for what they do. Part 2 and part 3 will follow soon.

View the full Custom bikes at the Motor Bike Expo 2012 - Part 1 photo gallery

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BMW can be more than satisfied after posting record sales in 2011 , a +6.4% increase from 2010 despite a waning world wide economy and now their super six cylinder tourer, the BMW K 1600 GT has been voted the “International Bike Of The Year 2011,” with two other of their motorcycles making it into the top five.

Announced at a press conference given by the Belgian motorcycle magazine Motor Wereld at the Brussels Motor Show. The award for the K 1600 GT comes from an international jury representing 25 motorcycle magazines: (Australian Motorcycle News (Australia), Auto By (Japan), Autocar India (India), Bike (Scandinavia), Bike (UK), Cycle World (USA), Der Reitwagen (Austria), Inmoto (Italy), KicXstart (Netherlands), Kiwi Rider (New Zealand), La Moto (Spain), Maximoto (France), Moto Kultur Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), Moto (Greece), Moto Journal (Canada), Moto & Loisirs (Belgium), Moto Mag (Israel), Motoraj (Czech Republic), Motoron (Turkey), MotoSi (Slovenia), MotorWereld (Belgium), PS Magazin (Germany), Revista Moto (Mexico), SuperBike (South Africa), Swiat Motocykli (Poland).

The K 1600 GT convinced the motorcycle journalists with its unique combination of comfort, performance and use of innovative technologies. The powerful in-line 6-cylinder engine was said to offer power, refinement and lots of fun. The bike’s sophisticated technology – in addition to ABS, traction control and navigation system, an adaptive headlight and electronically controlled suspension with various modes increase active riding safety – makes the K 1600 GT an incomparable touring motorcycle. On the road, the outstanding qualities of the K 1600 GT are its agile chassis and unusually light handling. All this gives the rider a unique riding experience, according to the jury, impressing the most demanding touring and sports motorcyclists.

Continue reading: BMW K 1600 GT voted the 2011 International Bike of the Year

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Bet you couldn’t live without knowing this latest snippet about Britney Spears, and the fact that she gave her new fiancé Jason Trawick a $45,000 (34.500 euros) custom motorcycle.

Spears ordered Confederate’s new and ’slightly’ more affordable X132 Hellcat with its 2,163cc v-twin motor and 150 lbs•ft of torque which will go into production in January 2012 and will be limited to a mere 164 units.

Apparently the older princess of pop was so bowled over by her lover’s appearance in her ‘Criminal’ video that she decided to present him with the new motorcycle for his 40th birthday.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading: Britney Spears buys fiancé a Confederate X132 Hellcat

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If you want to capture the attention at international motorcycle show like the EICMA, you have to try to stand out and that’s what Yamaha Europe decided to do by giving three well know custom builders the iconic Yamaha V-Max to modify.

Ludovic Lazereth of France, Marcus Walz of Germany and Roland Sands from the US, worked their creativity and special magic to come up with these stunning results. Check it out.

Continue reading: Lazareth, Walz and Sands hyper modify the Yamaha V-Max

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Check out Harley-Davidson’s second ‘No Cages’ ad campaign, this one is called ‘Liberation’ and no doubt this one will probably go down big with animal lovers and the younger generation, than with the older and very stereotyped Harley riders.

After dropping their former ad agency Carmichael Lynch, HD went to Victor & Spoils and this is part of their crowd sourcing creative strategy which allows Harley fans to come up with the new commercials.

This one features Harley-Davidson’s new Twin Cam 103 engine, which comes with all their 2012 Touring, Softail and select Dyna motorcycles.

Harley Davidson No Cages commercial after the jump.

Continue reading: Harley-Davidson Liberation Ad (w/videos)

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Who would have thought that Ducati and AMG, the Mercedes Benz performance division, could have gelled so nicely? This special edition Ducati Diavel AMG will go on show next week at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show and we’ll bring you more live pics from the event. This particular special edition starts with the Diavel carbon as its base model and adds special five-spoke wheels, carbon fibre radiator grills with aluminium trim, AMG-style sport exhaust system with engraved end-caps and an Alcantara seat.

If you’re seeing engineers names engraved on your engine casing, that’s because each Desmodromic cam-timing is set by hand. Each model will also have a plaque bearing its number mounted on the fuel tank. The carbon black look gets AMG’s “Diamond White Bright” contrast on the frame and tank stripe. More pics to come next week.

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One of the US’ historic motorcycle brands, Indian, was ready to disappear from the market recently before being bought by Polaris Industries last April. Polaris bought the Indian brand clearly with the Chief model in mind as it was definitely one of the more interesting prospects at the time.

As such, Polaris decided to continue with the Indian Chief project and simply moved the production to Spirit Lake facilities in Iowa, with the Victory line as well, and has now released these images of the first Indian Chief produced by Polaris Industries. The model is highly similar to the pre-Polaris one and no revolutions are planned until at least 2013.

That year marks the start of a new business plan for Polaris and Indian brand motorcycles, which should also see some new product revealed. The only touch-ups on the current Indian Chief involve additional chrome accents and a new colour scheme. Dealership distribution is expected to occur for October this year.

First Indian Chief by Polaris

Source | Motorcycle USA

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Trust the Italians to make custom motorcycles in a kind of setting that seems straight out of a coffee table book. These Italian custom motorcycles come from “Mr Martini” who is a bike builder based in Verona. His roots go back to Triumph customs as he was the first Triumph dealer in the area, although clearly the fascination of custom Ducatis has made its way into the workshop.

Mr Martini’s Verona showroom is like walking into a reproduction of a Tuscan gentleman’s country home with antique furniture and original artworks. The motorcycles decked out on the carpet seem to fit perfectly. Martini has quite a collection of custom built bikes starting with a 2002 Triumph Cupercooper special.

The other custom bikes seem to have had a peak production from 2010 and there are even a couple of Martini’s creations from this year, including the 2011 Charlie R which is possibly our favourite. Go to Mr Martini’s website to see all his creations.

Mr Martini custom motorcycles from Italy

Continue reading: Italian custom motorcycles by Mr Martini

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The Bonneville salt flats are the scene of many a strange, speed beating creation and in this case we get a new project for a motorcycle land speed record from Laurent “Zen” Dutruel. On building a new Harley fit for Bonneville, the project is called Hagakure and involves a workshop-built bike based on racing concepts from a century ago, in a special version Bonneville racer that has no suspension and virtually no brakes.

So you’d have to be mad, right? The bike in the video is certainly beautiful, but some of its components look awfully flimsy to be doing more than 200 km/hr on (for those of us worried about our own mortality, that is). There’s not a lot of info available, but the bike apparently has no springs and no clutch (and the previously mentioned minimal brake set-up), and it could be the perfect machine for Zen Motorcycles’ third speed record attempt. In which case, it would also be one of the most beautiful bikes to take on the salt flat as far as we’re concerned.

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