Motorcycle News - Revealed: The Top 10 Custom Motorcycles of 2019
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This year, outside of the top two builds, the competition was tighter than ever before. Some builds that dominated site traffic barely registered a blip on social media; other bikes that went haywire in our social channels simply didn’t translate to solid web traffic. As always, this Top 10 is driven by data alone, rather than the personal preferences of our writers. It’s based on page views, comments, incoming links, and shares on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. If there are dead heats, we weight the rankings according to long a bike has been ‘live’ on the site. Everyone will draw their own conclusions from the Top 10, but a few things stood out for us. Firstly, the generic ‘café racer’ category is well and truly dead. Many of the most popular bikes combine elements of different genres. The offroad vibe is on the rise, whether it’s hints of classic Dakar styling or a trend towards rebuilding enduro/dual sport machines. And classic racing in general, from flat track to endurance to MX, is having an increasing influence on builders. Functional styling (with a twist) and authenticity is increasingly appreciated. Read on, and you’ll see the ten bikes that revved our readers’ engines the most over the past year. Some you may have expected to see, but others may be a surprise.
K-Speed is the most visible of those high-volume builders, and despite the relentless pace in this Bangkok workshop, the output is fascinating.
This build follows a relatively standard formula—new subframe, seat, exhaust, bars, wheels and accessories—but the K-Speed secret sauce lifts it to a new level. Shop owner ‘Eak’ knows how to whip up the ingredients into a tasty recipe, and our readers were hungry for more, with over 16,000 giving their approval on Instagram alone. [More]
Long and low, it hits the sweet spot visually—but there’s an equal amount of trickery on the mechanical front. The forks are from a Ducati 999R, with an Öhlins monoshock to match, and the single-sided swingarm is from a Monster 796.
It’s a deceptively clever rather than flashy build from a guy who knows what he is doing, and even has an autoclave to make his own carbon fiber parts. [More]
That was enough to cement its legendary status, and also enough to spur Brad Peterson into commissioning this very classy replica. The frame is an accurate copy of an original Champion frame, and it cradles a 1977 TZ 750D Scott Guthrie Racing engine.
“When the revs hit about 7,000, it lights the back tire up violently—and at the same time lifts the front wheel, pulling hard all the way to 11,000,” says Brad. Magnificent stuff in an increasingly sanitized world—and we need more of this. [More]
Our favorite this year was this Scout from the Belgian builder Brice Hennebert, a man who marches to his own tune. Looking like a V-twin that has crashed into a jet engine, ‘Appaloosa’ gets extra juice from a nitrous system—and despite the massive fairing, weighs a whopping 42 kilos less than a stock Scout Bobber.
There’s custom CNC machined parts everywhere, the suspension is Öhlins all round, and Akrapovič built a one-off exhaust system too. Even with Randy Mamola as pilot, the Scout couldn’t quite win the drag race championship—but it took home the ‘Best Style’ award, wowing racegoers as well as our readers. [More]
The Chicago shop completed the build for a local client, who wanted a stylish urban wheelie machine that could also handle the occasional rough stuff. So Mike Müller and his crew whipped up a new bolt-on subframe, installed an SR500 tank, and a Honda VFR400 radiator.
But Shaun has built just about every type of custom in his storied career, and he’s not afraid to try something new. And in this case, it was a big swerve away from his usual fare.
Better late than never, as they say. And our Instagram followers felt the same way: over 15,000 people hit the like button. [More]
It comes from the Spanish outfit Fuel, who are no strangers to these pages. As well as building classy customs, Fuel are famous for organizing the annual Scram Africa expedition—a 4,000 km dirt tour running through North Africa.
The styling recalls 80s enduros and Paris Dakar bikes, but Fuel have added some neat functionality too—such as custom switchgear for turning the ABS off if required. Very clever. [More]
This Fat Bob was the second most widely viewed article on the site in 2019, and as soon as we clapped eyes on the shots, we knew it was going to be a hit. Harley customs tend to occupy a niche of their own—especially the larger bikes—but this build also appealed to folks who would never dream of stepping into a Bar and Shield showroom.
The stance is slightly slammed, the brakes are upgraded, and the bodywork and exhaust system are all-new. It’s edgy and aggressive, from the signature headlight grille backwards. (The heavily modified tank, intriguingly, started life as a Sportster fitment.) Congratulations Winston on a decade at the top of the game! [More]
‘Chun’ Hung of Onehandmade is one of the world’s finest metal shapers, but even he tried to dissuade his client from messing with his MH900e. But when his client insisted, he went all-out. The new aluminum bodywork flows seamlessly, looking elegant yet aggressive.
Onehandmade entered the Ducati into the Café Racer category at the AMD World Championship of bike building but, bizarrely, it only placed fourth. Our readers were quicker than the AMD judges to spot the brilliance of this build though, and an absolute torrent of web traffic and social shares followed. [More]
Everything on this machine is top-notch, and it looks like the kind of bike you’d see on a manufacturers’ stand at EICMA, as a concept to test public opinion.
The styling is spot-on, the fit and finish is superb, and it looks like something that Yamaha could build tomorrow. And maybe that’s the source of its appeal: this MT-07 is not an impractical fantasy, but a machine that could happily sit in a showroom.
The people have spoken: will Yamaha take the hint? [More] EDITOR’S NOTE The toughest part of these roundups is seeing the bikes that didn’t quite make it—because a lot of them are personal favorites. The winners are bikes that scored highly across all criteria, smashing not only page views, but also social shares across all major platforms. There were a few bikes that just missed the cut because they didn’t have the “full hand” for some reason, even if they scored hugely on one or two other criteria. This year, that included Jake Drummond’s Yamaha MT-07, VTR’s BMW S1000RR and S1000XR pair, Krom Works’ Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, Craig Rodsmith’s front-wheel-drive motorcycle, and JvB-Moto’s Yamaha XSR900. It’s also worth noting that both Triumph and Honda seem to have some catching up to do, while Yamaha and Royal Enfield are on the rise. As are builders from the Southeast Asia region. We’ll finish with a note of thanks. Particularly to the builders and photographers who create and capture these fascinating machines—and to the advertisers who keep our servers running and the site free for you to read. Please support these people as they support us. We hope you’ve enjoyed this year of custom motorcycles, and we’ll be in touch again in a few days, when Wes will publish his Editor’s Choice for 2019—an entirely personal view, free from the constrictions of data and social media. Motorcycles via Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/2Mf9b0c December 24, 2019 at 11:12AM Leave a Reply. |
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12/24/2019
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