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

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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

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There is debate about to the exact year of these vintage Beta motorcycles, but we understand them to be Beta 74 and Beta 75 models from about 1979. If someone can help us out with that in the comments, we’d be happy to clear it up! The pics come from the guys at Motopiù (and Motoblog.it) who have a dealership in Italy specialising in Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Beta and Garelli bikes, especially their offroad models.

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.

Continue reading: Vintage Beta pics

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The first motorcycle space at the world famous Concorso d’Eleganza, Villa d’Este on Italy’s Lake Como, was open over the weekend. We gave you the full list of Villa d’Este vintage bikes, but here are some pics and the winner of the Best in Show. The Pierce Four was awarded the BMW Group trophy for Best of Show.

The model was originally inspired by the F.N Belgium bikes, and the Pierce American model has a four-cylinder engine with 4 hp and a top speed of 97 km/hr. The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company built cars at Buffalo/New York, but the son of the owner, Percy Pierce, was interested in building bikes as well.

The first American four-cylinder model was the result and it was based on the 1909 F.N. model, but with chassis upgrades. The use of three robust tubes was an important innovation at the time, and in 1910 a two-speed transmission was added. Production stopped in 1913.

Vintage motorcycles at Villa d’Este

Continue reading: Pierce Four takes Best in Show at Villa d'Este inaugural motorcycle space

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Italy’s Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza for automobiles is a world famous concours hosting some of the most beautiful concept and vintage cars you’ll ever see. To give you an idea, the 2011 Villa d’Este event will host a new Aston Martin-Zagato concept and a one-off Ferrari built specially for an American collector. And now we’ll see the inaugural Villa d’Este motorcycles space on the shores of Lake Como.

The gardens of the Gran Hotel Villa d’Este and the Villa Erba in Cernobbio will also host 35 motorcycles from 1910 until today in five different categories including concept motorcycles and examples of innovative motorcycle design over the years. The categories and the bikes on show are as follows:

Class A Pioneers, pre-1917 motorcycles
- F.N. 5 hp, 1910 Belgium - four-cylinder motorcycle made by F.N which originally produced arms and ammunition.
- Pierce Four, 1910 USA - Inspired by the F.N, the Pierce had a four-cylinder, 4-hp engine and top speed of 97 km/hr.
- Wilkinson Touring Auto Cycle, 1910 UK - Designed by PG Tacchi, it was a revolutionary bike built on a Gran Turismo platform.
- Husqvarna Moto-Reve, 1910 Sweden - equipped with a 274 cc twin-cylinder, it was the first Husqvarna branded bike.
- Militaire Autocycle, 1915 USA - Defined by the company itself as a “car with two wheels” it had an automobile-style aluminium steering system and a four cylinder engine.
- Pope Twin, 1916 USA - using a V-Twin engine and valve heads it had about 25 hp. Rear suspension was innovative - a bike subsequently copied by many manufacturers.

Continue reading: Motorcycles now at Concorso d'Eleganza, Villa d'Este

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This restored AJS Porcupine rare motorcycle will be auctioned by Bonhams in August at the Quail Lodge in California. Built in 1954 as a racing bike it was one of only four E95 models built by the British manufacturer AJS. The model comes the National Motorcycle Museum in England and has been fully restored.

The AJS E95 is considered a very rare and special bike, with a brief but impressive racing pedigree. The Porcupine could exceed $750,000 when it goes on sale. On the model, Bonhams says:

One of just four E95s completed by the factory, the Porcupine (so nicknamed because of the spiked cooling fins on its cylinder head) was created as a works racer by British manufacturer AJS and is perhaps one of the most legendary motorcycles in history owing to its brief, sunburst racing success and extreme rarity. (See complete history at the bottom.)

Continue reading: 1954 AJS E95 Porcupine to be auctioned at Quail Lodge

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Originally the project for the new Falcon Motorcycles model, The Black, started life as a conversion of the Vincent Black Shadow. But it got to be much more than that. It’s the third model in a series of ten concepts from Falcon Motorcycles, and as Bike Exif says, it “blurs the boundaries between motorcycling, industrial design and sculpture”.

The Black Falcon custom built bike took a year to build, and is now equipped with a 1952 Black Shadow engine which was found in pieces and which had been modified over the years. It is now stronger and lighter, and has 75 hp, and combines with two separate fuel tanks - one for everyday riding and one for drag racing.

This Falcon Motorcycles creation has just one first place in the custom class at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering in California. If we needed converting to custom bikes and tuning in Europe, something like this would be completely effective. We’ll see what the 2011 EICMA inaugural custom space brings, but it will be difficult to see a beauty like this. See Bike Exif for all the details, and go after the jump for a video of the Black Falcon. See more details and pics on the Falcon Motorcycles website.

Continue reading: Falcon Motorcycles Black Falcon

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The Royal Enfield name started out as a legendary English motorcycle manufacturer, before the enterprising Indian arm of the business carried on the brand after the English part shut up shop in 1971. That made for nearly 100 years of motorcycle history, and in 1995 the Indian branch managed to buy the rights to the Royal Enfield name.

The company is still making bikes and has released this video to celebrate the significant contribution from the Indian branch. In fact, if it weren’t for them, the Royal Enfield brand would have been consigned to history. The video uses predictably romantic imagery, but then given the Royal Enfield status of being the world’s oldest bike brand still in production, the Indians can well be proud of continuing the tradition.

Source | Faster and Faster

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We got the idea for the title of this piece from one of the comments on the BikeExif site - as it suggests the inaugural 2011 BikeExif calendar is here for your custom bike pleasure. The team at the blog has created their calendar with 13 of their favourite images from vintage and custom-built bikes. The photos include some of the gorgeous work from this year from workshops such as Officine RossoPuro, Wrenchmonkees, Deus Ex Machina, Hammarhead Industries and more. Having seen the preview from the website, it looks quite stunning. This could be the perfect Christmas motorcycle gift for someone who’s got all the gear, but still needs a pin-up. Check it out on BikeExif.

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We’re very taken with this news - the McPherson College in Kansas, the US, is offering a four-year degree in motorcycle restoration. So we’re expecting to see some lovely things from them in the future. The college has already been offering a degree in automotive restoration and has decided to expand that into the two-wheel sector. It might be niche, but there’s definitely an international fascination with restored and vintage bikes.

The first two motorcycles up for work are a 1965 Honda 305 Dream and a 1970 BSA 250, while the college is also on the look-out for pre-1970’s models of Harley Davidsons, Triumphs and Indians. The degree includes lessons on sheet metal, motorcycle trims and paint, the history of the American motorcycle and of course more technical stuff like bike engines, power trains and suspension.

McPherson College’s Joe Dickhudt says: “It turns out there’s a lot of people interested in motorcycle restoration because they’re popular and affordable.” And we bet there’s a whole lot of guys out there wondering why this wasn’t around before they decided to become dentists and IT professionals!

Source | The Kneeslider

Photo | Flickr

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