While visiting the Monza circuit, we also got the chance to check out the special Superbike Museum that has been set up just outside the paddock area to celebrate 25 years of World Superbike Championship, and we got to say that that turned out to be a pretty emotional trip down the proverbial memory lane. The place is filled with many exciting motorcycles that simply made the history of this class: bikes that won the championship, bikes that just went close to win the title as well as bikes that did not win much but still managed to carve out their own place in the hearts of many fans around the world.

So we have the mandatory Ducati 916s, 996s and 998s that brought the likes of Carl Fogarty and Troy Bayliss to success, the mighty 888 of Doug Polen, the Honda RC45s of Aaron Slight and John Kocinsky, the SP1 twin of Colin Edwards, James Toseland’s championship winning Fireblade and 999 and so forth sitting beside more ‘obscure’ racers such as Foggy’s Petronas, Haga’s first Aprilia and even the mighty Bimota SB8K that earned Anthony ‘The Go Show” Gobert a famous win under the rain at the at the 2000 Australian World Superbike round.

Actually, there are just too many cool and exciting bikes at the museum in Monza, too many to mention, so we would like to challenge to recognize the lot of them in our exclusive photo gallery: that should be more fun than reading a boring list anyway, but if there’s some that you really can’t figure out what it is, feel free to ask. In order to see all the thumbnails at once, click on the ‘continue reading’ link below.

View the full WSBK, Monza: the 25th anniversary museum (Gallery) photo gallery

If you are wondering what to do with an old Motobecane Mobilette 41V, here’s a nice idea for you. Motobecane is a French manufacturer founded in 1923 that changed its name into MBK in 1984, and the Mobylette is a moped that has been produced (in several different version) from 1949 to 1997. This one in particular, a ‘41V’, was produced in the 80s and was lying into some forgotten barn before the nice guys from FrenchMonkeys put their hands on it and turned it into this lightweight chopper motorcycle.

The new model has been dubbed Tobec 41C Hood Ride: ‘Tobec’ is the French word for ‘moped’, 41C is a reference to the original model it derives from (where C stands for ‘Chopper’), and ‘Hood Ride’ is an expression coming from the custom lingo that would mean an old bike that has been ‘lowered’ and uses a “rusty” paint job.

The frame has been modified in order to give the bike the classic ‘chopper’ look and host a Malaguti-branded engine made by Franco Morini in the 70s, with a 3-speed gearbox. The model uses Girder-type forks (which were quite fashionable in the 30s) and handlebars that are pretty reminiscent of a Boardtracker, the bikes that used to race on wooden oval tracks in the same period. Also pretty interesting is the ’spade-shaped’ saddle, which is another well-known symbol of the custom world. The resulting bike was so good that the FrenchMonkeys just had to make another one straight away, so they got ahold of a Mobylette 50 V, modified the frame, gave it a ‘Whitewall’ set of tyres and made a sort of lowride racer out of it. You can see that one in our photo gallery too.

View the full Tobec 41C Hood Ride by the FrenchMonkeys photo gallery

Triumph celebrates its 110 years of history with a special edition of its Bonneville T100, aptly dubbed Bonneville T100 110th Anniversary Edition. The model is based on the standard T100 and uses a very ‘classic’ styling that is meant to remind of the Triumph Bonnevilles of the 60s as well as the very first one, which came out in 1902. No doubt this limited edition bike is bound to become a quite popular item among the many Triumph’s collectors around the world.

Only 1000 units of the Triumph Bonneville T100 110° Anniversary Edition will be produced, all of which will be equipped with a 865 cc parallel twin engine and a number of old school bits such as its spoked wheels, the Aluminum Silver and Khaki Green paint scheme, the chrome chain guard, the cam cover and the old Triumph logos. Suspension is provided by the same 41mm forks and chromed rear shocks of the standard T100.

This 1970 Ducati ‘Desmo Corsa’ 450 is one of the most exciting vintage motorcycles to ever go under the hammer, and comes from the private collection of Mr. Carlo Saltarelli, a former Ducati tester who later became a Ducati dealer. More precisely, this Ex-Works Ducati 450 Desmo Corsa is a proper historic model which is also a featured bike at the museum and in the Ducati book

There is no doubt that this bike will be one of the most contended pieces at the Monaco RM Auction, which will take place between the 11th and 12th of May in the diminutive European city-state. Since quite a few royalties, dignitaries and motorcycling celebs are expected to be in the audience, we just cannot wait to see them fighting over this awesome piece of art on two wheels.

View the full Ducati Desmo Corsa 450 photo gallery

The pictured motorcycle isn’t your average old school BMW piece, it is ‘the’ BMW R80 Cafè Racer owned by Holland’s own Michiel De Molenaar, one of the biggest BMW Cafè Racer enthusiast in the world and founder of Bmw Cafè Blog. This is actually the one bike that really ingnited the spark for Mr. De Molenaar - so to speak - the one which had him falling in love with old cafe racers, but it’s also a further demonstration of what people can do with little money and loads of passion.

It all started with a crashed 1988 model equipped with an engine of unknown origin. Michiel replaced this unit and mated it with a BMW R65 transmission, while the home-made exhaust system was built using an old Virago muffler and a one-dollar stainless salad bowl. The headlight comes from Ural, the rear fender once was a Honda CX500 front fender and the rear subframe is made out of a chopped-up bicycle carrier that Mr.De Molenaar found in the trash.

A few other bits have been retrieved through e-Bay and come from early 90s motorcycles. Basically, the only expensive part is the instrumentation, courtesy of Acewell: Mr. De Molenaar wanted “rev counter, speedo and all the idiot lights” for his baby, but he also wanted to keep it as minimalistic as possible, and so he invested some money on that. Anyway, considering the bike history, the outcome is indeed astonishing.

via | BikeExif

These pics come from our guys on Motoblog.it and show a vintage BMW sidecar and a Laverda which we believe is a 1980’s 750SF model but we’re happy for someone to step in and correct us on that one. The pics come from Jego who snapped them in Italy and convince us that on seeing any sidecar, vintage or not, is like stepping back in time.

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

This vintage-style Brough Superior model is apparently the last British-built model to have been produced and is now up for sale. The model was produced by Dave and Les Card and was the last SS100 machine before the brand was sold overseas. This particular model has a JAP 1000cc V-Twin, two-stroke engine producing about 75 hp.

The engine is an all-aluminium unit and the pared-back design features exposed rockers. Builder Dave Card says the engine is heavily based on the unit that was used by British tuner Herbert Le Vack in Paris in 1929 to hit a world record speed at the time of about 207 km/hr. Card says: “Get them running right and they’ll go into orbit.” This particular Brough Superior is expected to fetch about £100,000.

Source | MCN

In creating the new Captain America film based on the vintage comics from the World War II era, film producers went to American legends Harley-Davidson for the right kind of military motorcycle for the superhero. The result is a Harley-Davidson Captain America custom based on a Cross Bones model. The challenge was to recreate a WLA military bike and we think they’ve done quite a fine job.

Autoblog reports that the Cross Bones model was the closest HD could get to an accurate period piece given its spring mounted saddle for a solo rider and springer fork. In the video above you can see more of how they created the bikes for the Captain American film, plus some action shots of the superhero himself riding around on a Harley-Davidson.

Want a vintage Vespa look without all the time and money spent trying to find and restore an old Vespa GS? The guys at Vivo Scooters have the solution for you with their Vivo Body Kit which takes a Vespa PX or LML Star and fits it up with accessories to make it look like a GS.

Vivo Scooters are in fact restorers of vintage Italian scooters, but have design the bodykit to create the look without spending the money. The curvy GS look can be achieved through fitting various mudguards, indicators, body panels, front suspension and even a glove box to create the vintage look. Vivo Scooters says:

Our experience in classic scooter restoration has lead us to develop a complete bodykit taking design from the 1960’s iconic Vespa GS160 MK2. Months of work and we are finally able to release for sale our Vivo GS BodyKits for the Vespa PX and LML Star scooters. We wanted our kit to be simple to retro fit, no drilling, no cutting no fibreglass or gelcoat panels, offering a like for like quality ! All our items are available to buy individually or as a complete kit, supplied primer or painted and ready to fit.

The unfinished kit costs about €750, or if you want the full painted job, it’s about €1,100. We think it’s still more satisfying to restore your own model, but if you don’t have the resources, and want the vintage look, this is an option. Check out the Vivo Scooters website for more info.

Source | MotorPasionMoto

A KIND OF PASSION, a tribute to classic motorcycles and the people who love them from Squadra Sutge on Vimeo.

The Classic Moto event in Spain celebrates custom and vintage race bikes. The event takes place every year on the Jarama track at Madrid, and these sepia-toned pics from the Squadra Sutge are quite evocative. The Classic Moto festival looks like it has become an essential stop for anyone restoring a bike, with parts and vintage bike components on sale. The Johnny Cash accompanying soundtrack is pretty appropriate, and check out the Classic Moto website for info if you’re interested in participating in next year’s event.
Classic Moto 2011

Cafe cowboy from benedict campbell on Vimeo.

In a wonderful amalgamation of tradition, family history and motorcycle culture, Americans build some of the most beautiful custom bikes often inspired by European motorcycle culture. In this video, we hear custom motorcycle builder Dustin Kott describe how and why he makes his vintage custom bikes. The Benedict Campbell film is beautifully shot and was made after Campbell met Kott at a Harley-Davidson photo shoot.

Campbell is British and wanted to make the film on Kott because the bike builder is a “classic American” who rebuilds 1970’s Hondas in the style of British Cafe Racers. In the video Kott describes his early days and goes on to discuss the similarities and differences between American hot rods and British cafe racers, how he managed to make a living in the industry and why he uses Hondas. Check it out above.

Source | Jalopnik

Next month’s Silverstone MotoGP round on June 11 will see the auction of a rare historic race helmet. The helmet from Mike “The Bike” Hailwood is part of an auction of prestigious motorcycle memorabilia, of which this Hailwood helmet is definitely a highlight.

The Mike Hailwood memorabilia helmet was worn by the famous rider at the 1963 Brands Hatch round and still displays scratches of a fall he had during the race. The helmet is hand-painted and is expected to fetch about 4,000 pounds. The helmet will be auctioned together with a Mike Hailwood Tag Heuer watch.

After a period in Formula 1 car racing, “The Bike” returned to his love of motorcycles, and won the 1978 TT Isle of Man with a Ducati 900 SS. It was on that occasion that he gave his watch to his team, who he considered family, and bidding for it will start at 4,200 pounds. To be auctioned at Silverstone Auctions over the MotoGP weekend, the watch is called the “Heur Silverstone” because its blue face is said to reflect the curvature of the circuit.

Source | Clubmoto1