Built by Harry Hoffman Sr in San Carlos, California in 2000, this melting pot of a custom combines American muscle with a home-made frame and suspension components from Italy and Japan.
“Griso Americano” – 2015 Moto Guzzi Griso Custom
Dubbed the “Griso Americano” by its builder to “play on the Italian heritage and American spin,” this customized Griso offers a red/white/blue twist to one of my favorite machines from Moto Guzzi. What do you think about it?
“1100SS” – 1994 Moto Guzzi California Custom
One of Moto Guzzi’s most popular machines in the last several decades is the 1000S, but that’s also why prices are high and they can be hard to track down. An owner of this California has made it a “modern take” on the S – what do you think of it?
Softail Predecessor – 1981 RoadWorx
Did you know that Harley-Davidson’s iconic Softail frame was originally developed outside of the company? It all goes back to a company called RoadWorx, the brainchild of Bill Davis. Bill owned a FX Super Glide but didn’t love the styling of it – he created a new frame and had enough success with it that he patented the design. He …
Period Custom – 1974 Triumph Trident
Post Listing Update: This Trident did not meet reserve despite 16 bids up to $8,100 on eBay in Mauldin, South Carolina. Adorned with all sorts of period upgrades, this Triumph Trident has plenty of go to match the show – but it is a style of show that you like?
“Major Tom” – 1986 Suzuki GSX-R750 Custom by Icon Motosports
4-23-20 Update: Almost a year later, Major Tom is back up for sale and the price has gone up though it looks like it’s otherwise unchanged from the last listing. Find it in here on Craigslist for $8,500. Post Sale Update: This custom Gixxer “sold” for the BIN of $7,500, however it was later relisted at a lower BIN of …
“The Deuce” – 1974 Yamaha RD350 Custom
Friday’s RD350 was a bit polarizing, as some thought it should have either been closer to stock or more customized. This one’s definitely on the custom side of the equation – what do you think about it?
“Street Scrambler” – 2000 Honda XR600R Custom
In a piece entitled “Bring it Back“, Dirt Bike Magazine had the following to say about the Honda XR600R: “Do you think that anyone at Honda knew? Do you think that when the first XR600R rolled off the assembly line, anyone had an inkling that it would become the definitive off-road bike, not only of a generation, but for two …
In France – FCR Original’s “Green Legend” Triumph Bonneville Custom
The fine folks over at Motorcycle.com recently shared a profile on FCR Originals, a French custom motorcycle shop that loves building beauties out of classic English twins. This is the “Green Legend”, a custom Bonneville built as a tribute to the enduro that Steve McQueen used in the famous scene in The Great Escape.
In Canada – Colorado Norton Works #82
4-14-20 Update: A year and a half later, this beautiful custom Commando is still up for sale – but the price is almost 50% off. It looks like nothing else has changed but the price, which is down from 40k to 25k Canadian dollars (currently about $18,012 USD). Find it still on sale here at Robin’s Classic Motorcycles in Parksville, …
“Thrasher 2” – 1983 Moto Guzzi LeMans III Custom
Jim Knaup of Encore Performance and Fabrication (EPF) built a custom Guzzi based on a 1977 T3 – it featured hand formed bodywork from Evan Wilcox and was part personal project/part rolling parts catalog for their shop. An anesthesiologist in Phoenix liked what he saw and came to EPF with a beat up ’83 850 Le Mans III with “a …
Retro Custom in Belgium – 2002 Ducati 900SS
We’re seeing a lot of OEMs build modern bikes designed to look like old ones – here’s a custom effort that tries the same thing, taking a 900SS ie and trying to make it look like the black/gold Darmah stunner from 1978. This generation of Ducati’s air-cooled SuperSports wasn’t particularly loved by the public from a styling standpoint. Does this …
Custom Scooter – Bomb Bike
Someone in New Zealand has built a one-off that he calls the Bomb Bike. Hopefully it’s obvious why…
1910s Wood Motorcycle
When Tim Graber of Classic Motorcycle Consignments sent this over to me, he said “I got something you have never seen, betchya!” He was right!
Rare Project – 1963 VW-Powered Custom
Post Sale Update: This custom sold for $5,000 on eBay in Inverness, Florida. “It seems that if you want something new and different these days, the easiest way to get it is to build it yourself.” Sounds like something you’d hear at your local bike night today, right? But in this case, it’s the opening line from an article in …