Two-times World Superbike Champion James Toseland, who retired from racing last year because of a wrist injury sustained during a test in Aragon, has just bought himself a Harley-Davidson. Considering that the man spent most of his life chasing the fastest lap-time possible around the track, the choice sounds kind of odd to the fans, but it actually makes perfect sense.

The 31 years old from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has recently moved to London and was looking for a bike that looked great, could get him easily across the city and would be a comfortable option for his girlfriend to be taken around as a passenger. Apparently, Toseland went for a brand new Softail Slim and is now planning to test ihs new toy on a coast-to-coast trip in the US, on the iconic Route 66.

“Racing has been my life for a very long time - said Toseland - and I’m lucky to have enjoyed success at the level I did. It opened up opportunities to travel the world and meet a variety of inspirational people. So, when I retired, it seemed strange to not be on two wheels, but I think I’d find it difficult to get on to a sports bike on the road and relax. Getting on a Harley was a totally new experience, but just riding it put a smile on my face and gave me a new perspective on riding. The Harley is a head turner as well as having the convenience factor, plus it‘s comfortable enough to convince my girlfriend - singer Katie Melua - to get on the back!”

via | Visor Down e MCN

The motorcycle featured in these pictures is a special bike based on a 2011 Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight 1200, and is the brainchild of Mr.Winston Yeh, the creative mastermind behind Tapei-based studio Rough Crafts. The sophisticated Taiwanese design house is specialized in custom motorcycles, but its work can be appreciated in other fields as well, like furniture, graphics and street art.

However, when it comes to custom bikes, these guys just know how to create proper ‘motorcycle art’, and this awesome Sportster Bomb Runner is yet another shining example of their craftsmanship. The model is supposed to be a ’sequel’ to Rough Crafts’s own ‘Iron Guerrilla’, a successful ‘all-black’ special bike they made in 2010 out of a 2009 H-D Sportster Iron 883. As in its predecessor’s case, the ‘Bomb Runner’ is not a disruption of the design of the bike it is based upon, it is more like a menacing and dark fine-tuning of an already brilliant bike.

The tail has been lifted up a little bit thanks to a couple of longer shock-absorbers, that also make room for its original 2-into-1 exhaust system on the right side. The standard tank, front mudguard, yoke and engine casing have been replaced with beautiful new parts made by Rough Crafts itself, all of which coated in a contrasting, classy matt/shiny black paint job. The rims have been supplied by Roland Sands Design (with the mandatory Black Ops finishing) while brakes come from Performance Machine. More details about this model can be found at the official Rough Crafts website.

View the full The Bomb Runner by Rough Crafts photo gallery

The 9th edition of the Moscow International Exhibition Moto Park has just closed its doors registering yet another record of attendance. The event took place last weekend at the Crocus-Expo IEC and is regarded as one of the most important Russian fairs in the motorcycle business. In comparison to the previous edition, the latest Moto Park had a show floor that was twice as big in size and - apart from the official distributors -it’s been a nice opportunity to find out about the latest trends in the Russian custom scene. In fact, the event hosted the 6th edition of the Custom & Tuning Show, which they organize alongside specialized mag Ruriders.

This ‘event within the event’ also included the Russian Custom Championship, which saw the participation of over 50 customizers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and even some more obscure territories such as the Komi Republic, Bashkortostan, and the Perm area. Russian customizers aside, there was a delegation of the AMD (American Motorcycle Dealer), organizers of the prestigious World Championship of Custom Bike Building, which provided the event with a sort of international vibe.

Talking about motorbikes, the models on display in Moscow were indeed quite flashy, which kind of shows how keen are the Russian to emerge in the international scene: chiseled engine covers, German-like tails and all sorts of exaggerations. Just take a look at the pictures featured in our photo gallery and you will see it for yourselves. By the way, there was a bunch of nice hostesses too, but nice ladies are never too flashy, are they?

via | Motoblog.it

Roland Sands, former racer from California, is another one of those well-known names in the custom bikes business. Son of Performance Machine’s founders Perry & Nancy Sands (a well known supplier of custom parts such as wheels, brakes and other accessories) Roland has been a professional racer for 10 years, clinching the AMA 250 GP title in 1998. After a crash left him with no less than 32 broken bones, Mr.Sands left racing to start a new life as a designer of custom parts for Performance Machine as well as building up his own custom motorcycles. His past in the racing world surely had a big influence on Mr.Sands style, and his original creations went on earning him quite a few prestigious awards in the business. The outstanding success led to the birth of his own design company, the notorious RSD (Roland Sands Design), based in Los Alamitos, a small city in Orange County, California.

Just like his buddy Marcus Walz, lately Mr.Sands has been involved in a couple of projects that we were more than happy to warn you about, namely the Yamaha VMAX Hyper Modified series and the unbelievable Desmo Tracker (a dirt track bike powered by the terrifying Desmosedici RR’s 197 hp engine), and, in the same fashion as his German mate, he’s just come out with a new masterpiece based on the forms of his first love: Harley-Davidson. However, this is no ordinary customization as you can never take anything for granted when Mr.Sands is involved. The challenge was to take a 300 kg Softail Blackline and turn it into some sort of dirt-bike that would be totally at ease off-road, and the result is the awesome Blackline Dirt Tracker.

In order to keep the weight as low as possible, Roland got rid of all the frills and unnecessary parts, replacing many original bits with special PM and RSD components. The original fuel tank managed to survive the slashing, but it now has a classy and exclusive RSD Tracker cap and got painted according to a new matt black/shiny white color scheme (with green inserts) created by its maker and turned into reality by renowned specialist Chris Wood from AirTrix. The model uses a Nightster head-light at the front and new tail-light and plate holder from RSD. Find out more about the Blackline Dirt Tracker after the jump.

View the full Softail Blackline Dirt Tracker by Roland Sands photo gallery

The original instrument cluster is mounted on a RSD Cafè XL support, while handelbars are fixed on 1,5” risers and uses Avenger levers and Tracker handles provided again by RSD. The Azteca leather saddle is somewhat reminiscent of the the old H-D WR 750 racer, which used to battle against the Indian Scout in the good old days of dirt racing. Footpegs are from Performance Machine while at the back we have a light RSD Narrowed Vintage mudgard linked to the swing arm.

Most components are Black Ops, which seems to be be quite fashionable these days. The engine uses RSD Clarity and Nostalgia casings and comes with a Clarity air filter, Tracker exhaust system and Fuelpack FI ECU (both of which courtesy of Vance & Hines) and, given its off-road attitude, a skid plate. Obviously, Mr.Sands had to add some spring at the rear that was up for the task, picking up the Progressive 422.

Other highlights of the model include 19″ Judge rims fitted with Goodyear race flat track tires D3616 CD5 front at the front and D1637 CD8 at the rear, RSD brakes with 6-piston calipers at the front and 4-piston calpers at the back by PM. In a nutshell, this bike is yet another masterpiece from Ronald, which surely was the right guy to test it too: the guy you see jumping around on the Balckline Dirt Tracker in this photo gallery is in fact its maker himself. Great job.

After more than 20 years in the business, Marcus Walz has definitely become one of the most established customizers in the scene. Born and bred nearby the Hockenheim circuit and with a past in Moto Cross racing (abruptly cut off by a serious accident), Mr.Walz has since then moved on and managed to become one of the few real household names in the ‘custom community’, with a list of clients that includes the likes of Brad Pitt and Kimi Raikkonen and - especially - a consistent number of awesome masterpieces on two wheels, the most exclusive ones of which can cost you up to 100.000 €. We have recently introduced Mr.Walz’s rendition of the Yamaha V-Max created for the Hyper Modified line, but now it’s time to go back to what he’s mostly known for: drag-racing inspired V-Twin cruisers, and here is the Softail Adrenaline.

So, let’s get this out of the way: this baby obviously doesn’t come cheap. It is priced at almost 50.000 €, but it is top notch quality we are talking about here. Then again, to get yourself a heavily modified Softail you would need to spend almost that sort of cash anyway, thereby if you like extreme custom bikes and you can spend spend spend, this might just be the right bike for you. It took three months to Marcus and his mate Michael Kroheck to come up with the ‘Adrenaline: the frame is a softail WHC that is very similar in size to the one of the Harley-Davidson Softail - meaning that it is not an extreme construction and can suit anyone, even those with are not too familiar with Marcus’s style - while the engine is a 1,650 cc RevTech Evolution with belt drive primary transmission.

Almost needless to say, the whole chassis is elegantly refined and includes upside down forks by Cipriani, and 18″ rims by Rodder fitted with a 130/60 tyre at the front and a 240/40 at the back. The whole bodywork has been designed and made by Walz, while other parts such as brakes, handlebars, handles and footpegs are built in-house too. Being this a hand-made matorcycle, it can be customized in many ways: saddles, mufflers, rims and even the fork can be modified according to the customers’ wishes, but only if they can spend spend spend. Regardless, the Adrenaline is a proper piece of art.

View the full Hardcore Cycles Adrenaline by Marcus Walz photo gallery

Brutus Electric Motorcycle presents the Brutus 2.0, an all-electric cruiser that is likely to become one of the most significant electric bikes in history. As the name suggests, this is the second version of the Brutus: the first one got unveiled last October and is set to debut on the market by the end of this year, while this 2.0 is still well into its testing stage and not yet homologated for road use.

The Brutus 2.0 uses some elements of its slightly older sister like the exposed trellis frame, the old-school mudguards and the DC engine coupled to a 5-speed transmission, but also comes with some interesting aesthetic and technical feature of its own, such as the chrome cover of its primary chain-set, the see-through pipe that encapsulates the Hairball interface for the liquid-cooled Zilla controller on its right side and a little but nice aerodynamic protection on the head light.

In terms of sheer performance - and considering that the Brutus 2.0 weighs in at 243 kg - the data available so far are pretty impressive. As we said the model is still being developed, but Brutus Electric Motorcycle’s main man, Mr. Chris Bell, says that the model can easily hit the 60 mph mark (96 km/h) in just 4.7 seconds, while top speed should be more than 100 mph (160 km/h), a figure which has already been touched during testing. As for braking, the model uses a couple of discs at the front mated to 6-piston calipers whereas at the back we have one single rotor with a pair of clamps that are individually controlled by a handlebar-mounted lever and a traditional foot pedal.

After the jump you can find a couple of interesting official videos: there’s a one-minute long one that shows the bike in action and another very short one that gives us the chance to appreciate the sound of the Brutal 2.0: check them out, you might be in for a surprise.

via | AutoBlogGreen

Harley Davidson expands its range for the year 2012 with the addition of two new motorcycles, which follow the recently unveiled Dyna Switchback: they are called Sportster Seventy-Two and Softail Slim. The Sportster seventy-Two somewhat retrieves the legacy of the old Sportster Custom, with a large old school metal spoke wheel at the front and specifically dedicated paint job, whereas the Softail Slim loses the chrome bits in favour of the black color, keeping the frills down to a minimum in order to retain that wicked look that was typical of the 1950s bobbers.

Describing the Seventy-Two, Harley-Davidson emphasizes that the model is inspired by the chopper’s pioneering years, when the bikes used to come with flashy colors and loads of chrome bits, but were also deprived of all the superfluous parts in order to make them sleeker and lighter. In fact, looking at the motorbikes of that period, one cannot help but notice how stripped they were, almost like pushbikes: that style of custom bikes is typically American and was originated in California. One of the most distinctive features of the Sportster Seventy-Two is its Hard Candy Big Red Flake paint, which can be found on the small fuel tank, tail and front mudguard, which covers the big 21″ Dunlop tyre with white side (typical of the custom bikes of the 70s). The model is powered by an air-cooled 1200 cc V-Twin Evolution engine - which we have already seen on all the latest Sportster models - and provides a peak torque of 96 Nm at 3,500 rpm. Besides, it makes use of the advanced Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), which waves goodbye to carburettors and boasts increased reliability and less routine maintenance.

With its big, fat tyres and the minimalistic design, the Softail Slim instead is a real ‘bobber’. It uses certain elements that are more reminiscent of a Sportster (i.e the fuel tank) but everything on this bike seems to underline its essentiality. After all, this is exactly what H-D had in mind when they got started with the project: taking a Softail and put it on a diet. The Softail Slim has a smaller rear wheel with a shorter mud guard, and leaves an empty space between saddle and tank that allows riders to admire the upper side of the engine while traveling. The bike is powered by an air-cooled 1,690 cc Twin Cam 103B unit with Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), which is mated to a Six-Speed Cruise Drive transmission and produces a maximum torque of 132 Nm at 3,250 rpm.

View the full Harley Davidson Softail Slim 2012 photo gallery

American company Brutus Electric Motorcycle presents the Brutus 2.0, an all electric cruiser that - as the name suggests - follows a first ‘Brutus’, which was introduced last October. The Brutus 2.0 shares quite some feature with its slightly younger sister - like the exposed trellis frame, the DC engine, those old-school mudguards and a 5-speed gearbox - but boasts some pretty distinctive trait of its own, such as the chrome cover for the primary transmission chain on its right side, a transparent box hosting the Hairball interface for the liquid-cooled Zilla controller on the left side, and also a little piece of fairing for the head lamp, providing some aerodynamic protection.

In light of the fact that the Brutus 2.0 weighs 243 kg (over 500 lbs), the performance available at the moment are not bad at all. The Brutus 2.0 is still undergoing its texting stage, but Brutus Electric Motorcycle’s main man, Mr. Chris Bell, said that the model can easily hit the 60 mph mark (96 km/h) in 4.7 seconds, while top speed should be well over 100 mph (160 km/h), a speed that has already been approached during testing. It can only get better. As for the breaking system, the model uses two discs with 6-piston calipers at the front and a single ring at the back, with a pair of clamps individually controlled by a handlebar-mounted lever and a more traditional foot pedal.

After the jump you will find a couple of interesting official videos released by the manufacturer, a one-minute long clip showing us the bike in action and a very short one giving us the chance to listen to the actual sound of the Brutus 2.0. While it has been announced that the first Brutus will become available on the market by the end of the current year, the 2.0 version will have to carry on with its development program for a while.

View the full Brutus 2.0 photo gallery

via | Brutus Electric Motorcycle and AutoBlogGreen

And here is the third and final chapter of our photo gallery dedicated to the most impressive custom bikes on display at the 2012 Motor Bike Expo in Verona, Italy. This time we present you with a slew of spiced up Harleys, some intriguing one-off prototype, a bunch of colorful Vespas, some old-school piece and then some. Each one of them seems to ooze passion from every bolt, and if you are into this kind of special motorcycles as well, we are pretty sure that you are going to enjoy this last set of pics as much as we did. By the way, if you have missed the first two episodes, here are the direct links to Part 1 and Part 2.

View th full Custom bikes at the Motor Bike Expo 2012 - Part 3 photo gallery

Italian manufacturer Headbanger Motorcycles did not miss out on the opportunity provided by the 2012 Motor Bike Expo to show off its most recent creations, and once again they surely did not disappoint the audience. The model that probably got the most attention at HB’s massive booth is the Special LowRide (pictured), which has been designed with and named after a popular Italian custom bike magazine. The bike has been unveiled with a proper ceremony during the opening day of the event in Verona, and is based on a standard Headbanger Gipsy Soul - equipped with a 1,530 cc (93 cubic inches) Shovel S&S engine - whose aesthetics have been created by renowned designer Oberdan Bezzi with input coming from both Headbanger and the mag’s staff. The outcome of this collaboration is a magnificent custom bike with a design inspired by the racers of the 70s, which comes with some premium parts such as magnesium wheels by Marvic, brake system by Discacciati and an ‘homemade’ cast aluminum frame courtesy of Metal Bike Garage. To top it off, the paint job was performed by specialist Kaos Design, which adopted certain specific procedures in order to emphasize its ’70s racer’ looks.

Another pretty interesting ‘newcomer’ at the Headbanger Motorcycles’s stand in Verona is a special version of the High Flyin‘ turned into a sort of “cafè racer“ with the simple addition of a mudguard at the rear and new handlebars. These simple modifications change the overall line of the bike quite significantly, making it even more ‘custom’ and unique. We just cannot help but notice how fast this young manufacturer is growing, but if you want to know more Headbanger Motorcycles just check out their official website.

View the full HB al Motor Bike Expo 2012 photo gallery

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

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