Cardsharper Customs is a shop in Lublin, Poland first founded in 2012 that seemingly specializes in professional-grade large-displacement cafe racers and bobbers. While hundreds of other reputable customs shops are also building cafe bikes, the folks at Cardsharper do phenomenal work with their bikes often featuring ample handmade custom bodywork. Pipeburn featured a ridiculously cool 1975 Honda Gold Wing cafe …
Foundry Inspired – 1987 BMW K75 Tracker
If you follow the custom bike scene you may remember back in February when a BMW K75 Street Tracker build by Carlos Ormazabal – the owner and founder of The Foundry MC just outside of Madrid – made its rounds on sites like Pipeburn. I loved the Foundry’s K75 build, so when I recently came across another K75 that is …
“Fauxari Enzo 1” – 2002 Honda VTX1800S Custom
This weekend, Mecum is auctioning off a whole bunch of collector cars…and two weird motorcycles. One is a special construction chopper that I can’t find interesting no matter how hard I try, while the other is a custom Honda with a matching trailer. For some reason, it’s been turned into a “Ferrari.”
De Angelis Elaborazioni’s “LaDina” – 1992 BMW K1100LT Custom
Giorgio De Angelis has been a diehard motorcycle enthusiast for the vast majority of his life. The Roman grew up competing in a diverse selection of motorized two-wheeled competition, but now that De Angelis has gotten older – or “more mature” as he puts it – his attention has turned towards building custom bikes under the name De Angelis Elaborazioni. …
Custom and Special – 1981 Yamaha XS650 Special II
Post Listing Update: This XS650 did not get any interest at asking price of $4,300. In varying forms, the Yamaha XS650 was built between 1968–1985. In 1978, Yamaha introduced a “Special” variant that was more of a cruiser, as well as a Special II that had less chrome, decals instead of plastic on the side covers, and for some reason, …
1959 BSA 650 Special
With Rocket Gold Star headers, the front end from a Lightning, and plenty of other BSA parts, this mutt of a Beeza may not impress the purists but it looks like it would be a blast to ride.
Custom Street Tracker – 2003 Harley-Davidson 883R
Despite the genre’s moniker being objectively oxymoronic, “Street Tracker” builds have become increasingly popular in recent years, with most custom-moto sites now giving the genre its own section alongside cafe racers and bobbers. With this rise in popularity we’ve seen an increasing number of amateur tracker builds, some being far more impressive than others. To get it right you really …
Brough Replica – Banquer Superior
11-6-17 Update: Reader John G notes that this bike is still up for sale 10 months later, but now there’s a $4,000 discount. Find it for sale here on Craigslist. Gwen Banquer is a motorcycle restorer who has made a name for himself with some interesting reproductions over the years. One of his creations is the “Banquer Superior”, a replica …
Repsol Livery – 2014 Honda Grom Custom
The most obvious modification to this Grom is the Repsol livery, but the list of upgrades is extensive and pricey. Does that mean it’s worth owning?
Gooichi Motorsports Showbike – 2008 Honda CBR 1000RR
Modern sport bikes are hands-down my favorite kind of motorcycle, but I’ve never been a fan of the heavily-customized Japanese liter bike-builds with custom paint, massive rear wheels, and single-sided swing-arm kits. This style makes a little more sense to me on already non-agile models – like the ZX-14R or Busa – than it does on a GSXR1K, but in …
In Italy – 1954 Norvin
10-16-17 Update: A month later, this Norvin is back up for sale. I try to let more time pass when a bike doesn’t sell but it’s just so fantastic that I have to share it in case someone missed it the first time. With that said – take special note of the seller’s feedback rating! Find it with bidding up …
Q-Tec Quad Conversion – 2015 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic
In a small town in Belgium called Dilsen-Stokkem, Sandy Poglavec created a Harley shop called Poechy’s Classics. After 20 years of customizing bikes with an automotive specialist named Erick, both gentlemen decided to start a company called Q-Tec Engineering to develop trikes (and even quads) on the Softail platform. Here’s one of the rare quad builds, which does not require …
“Skyway” – 1979 BMW R80 Custom by Hutchbilt
I’ll start off by saying that the aesthetic of this build doesn’t work for me, but styling is subjective and I do like things that are different. This is definitely different, and it’s the work of Jeremy Hutch of Hutchbilt. What do you think?
“The Wrench” – 1980 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead Custom
Long before modern electronics were found inside motorcycles, it was just the rider, the bike, and a couple of wrenches. I’ve never been a huge fan of what I like to call “Gimmick Builds”, but this custom shovelhead gets a pass as far as I’m concerned. The build quality and attention to detail on this one-off Harley are nothing short …
WRENCHMONKEE #69 – 2003 Harley-Davidson XL 883R Cafe Racer
Harley-based cafe builds are very hit or miss for me. The American machines don’t lend themselves particularly well to this genre of build so it takes an extensive transformation to really get it right. Though this example may at first look like just another one of the many cafe builds floating around these days, it boasts a couple of subtle …