It used to be that if you wanted a retro-styled helmet to match your retro-styled motorcycle, your choices were a handful of open face lids from a small pool of manufacturers. But given the proliferation of modern classics in recent years, having feature-rich retro full face helmets has become de rigueur among helmet brands. Today, we're sampling full face helmets with vintage style from three companies—one of which usually focuses on more modern gear, and two of which focus solely on class...| Bike EXIF
Thunderous American V-twins and sportbike handling don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying over the years. Andrew Marsden from Bristol, England is one of those people. He dreamed of riding a V-twin café racer that handled like a race bike and looked incredible—so he built one around a stonking S&S Cycle power train. “I started thinking about building this bike in 2008 after I finished 17 years of racing on short circuits and the Isle of Man,” says ...| Bike EXIF
Once I've completed the arduous task of poring over our statistics to compile our list of the year's most popular custom motorcycles, I have the even more onerous task of selecting my personal favorites. Given the caliber of the custom builders that grace these pages, it's a tall order. Each year's routine is the same, starting with a 'short' list of 30-plus bikes. Once that's trimmed down to a more palatable size, I eliminate any bikes that have already placed in our ranked Top 10, in the in...| Bike EXIF
Big bikes bookend this edition of Speed Read. We start with a 1,700 cc single-cylinder chopper and finish with a BMW R18 from CW Zon. Sitting in the middle are a classy Honda CB200 café racer from Indonesia and a K-Speed kit for the Honda Dax. 1,700 cc single-cylinder chopper by Al Hackel What do the Beechcraft Staggerwing and Ford Trimotor aircraft, M18 Hellcat and M4 Sherman tanks, and HUP Retriever helicopter all have in common? They’re all powered by the same 975-cubic-inch Wright R-97...| Bike EXIF
Earlier this month, the Pacifico Yokohama convention hall hosted the 32nd running of the mega-popular Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. A whopping 24,000 visitors sashayed their way through the scores of custom bikes and cars during the one-day show, displaying a sort of organized hubbub typical of Japanese events. Among them were our friends Marc Holstein and Christine Gabler; a formidable German photography duo with a deep love for Japan and her culture. With an invite to the much quieter setup...| Bike EXIF
The Ducati Scrambler 1100 is not long for this world. Rather than update its aging engine (originally borrowed from the Monster 1100) to meet ever-stricter European emissions regulations, Ducati is dropping it from its portfolio altogether. The odds were stacked against the Ducati Scrambler 1100 from the get-go. It offers less power than most of its competitors for the same, or more, money. And the fact that it inherited the goofy 'Scrambler' moniker from the more established Ducati Scrambler...| Bike EXIF
Endurance racer style for the venerable Kawasaki Zephyr.| Bike EXIF
Chris Scholtka's modern take on the cafe racer genre is as sharp as it gets.| Bike EXIF
Built with parts from a K1100, a K1200, and a Ducati Panigale.| Bike EXIF
The exact definition of 'café racer' is often debated, but it holds a special meaning for Kenji Heianzan, founder of the Japanese workshop Minami Motorcycle. “We pursue what we call the 'Way of the Café,'” he tells us. “It's a philosophy that values quiet confidence, balance, and street presence, without pretense.” Minami Motorcycle is a small two-man operation based in Meguro—a quiet residential ward in Tokyo. They have a particular affinity for iconic Japanese bikes like the Hon...| Bike EXIF
On the first weekend of December each year, the Pacifico Yokohama convention center is filled to the brim with highly imaginative machines for the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. There's a whole lot going on—from crazy engineering to retina-searing paint jobs. But one Japanese custom builder stands out for entirely different reasons. Shiro Nakajima, otherwise known as 46Works, wows year after year with his tastefully restrained racing-inspired customs. A trained engineer and former boss of th...| Bike EXIF
Six cylinders, 1,649 cubic centimeters, 113 liters of storage space, and more electronic aids than you can shake a stick at; the BMW K1600 GTL is a high-tech behemoth, built to devour miles in supreme comfort. It's the first bike we'd pick for a cross-country trip, grinning widely as its six inline pistons spool up like a row of angry hornets. But it's the last bike we'd want to customize. Thankfully, Yuichi Yoshizawa doesn't share our reservations. The frontman of the hit-making Japanese wor...| Bike EXIF
Based in Caxias do Sul, a town in Brazil's hilly Serra Gaúcha region, Caffeine Custom is fast becoming a regular on these pages. They celebrated their tenth anniversary last year, and wanted to celebrate in style with a special custom build. The stars aligned when a customer approached them to create a slick Honda CB500F café racer for short rides and events. “The client wanted a Honda Four that maintained some original aspects, such as the mechanical aspects and the tank,” says shop bo...| Bike EXIF
This edition of Speed Read is our sportiest one yet, jam-packed with custom superbikes. First, we profile a Ducati ST3 sport tourer-turned-café racer from France. Then we run through a Honda CBX1000 restomod from Dubai, Buell's new Freedom Edition Hammerhead, and a Nicky Hayden Edition Honda RC51 that's just popped up for sale. Ducati ST3 by Jerem Motorcycles Despite its sport touring prowess, you could say that the Ducati ST3 is the most Honda-looking Ducati that Ducati ever made. The squar...| Bike EXIF
The German boutique motorcycle manufacturer Krämer blasts onto the page this week with the lightweight Krämer APX-350 MA race bike. Also on offer are a retro-fabulous Ducati 848, a Yamaha Virago café racer, and Thornton Hundred's hopped-up Triumph Bobber. 2025 Krämer APX-350 MA The lightweight racing world has a new kingpin—the 2025 Krämer APX-350 MA. Designed to separate the wheat from the chaff in the MotoAmerica Talent Cup spec-series, it’s a precision tool crafted for riders seri...| Bike EXIF
Known for his classy café racers, Dustin Kott threw the rule book away to build a Triumph Daytona bobber for Born Free. Other highlights this week include a razor-sharp BMW K1100, a retro-fabulous Suzuki GSX-R1100, and the 2025 Triumph Speed Twin 900. Triumph Daytona 500 by Kott Motorcycles Dustin Kott is no stranger to these pages, with a long list of satisfied clients aboard his custom café racers. But when he received an invite to exhibit a bike at the 15th running of the Born Free show,...| Bike EXIF
Diamond Atelier impresses with an uber-slick BMW boxer built for the race track, while Japan's Infiniti Motorcycle builds a stunning Harley-Davidson bobber. We also profile a brawny Suzuki Bandit 1200 café racer and the brand-new Yamaha R9 sportbike. BMW boxer 'MK Race' by Diamond Atelier Diamond Atelier is back and in a big way. From hip scramblers to sleek street bikes and everything in between, the Munich-based workshop has a long list of incredible builds. For their latest release, they ...| Bike EXIF
Building a café racer with an older motorcycle usually involves two phases; getting the bike running, and customizing it. And if the bike is really beaten up, the first phase can be the hardest—especially if the engine is too far gone. Marshall Hewitt had a novel approach to this particular challenge. This ex-police 1991 BMW K100 was a true basket case when he found it, with a seized engine among the myriad issues that needed attention. So Marshall side-stepped the problem entirely, by sim...| Bike EXIF
As the founder of Spain's 72 Cycles Performance, and one-half of the collaborative outfit 72 HKG Performance, Antonio Rodriguez has developed an affinity for custom BMWs. So when he recently moved his operation to the US, choosing a BMW R100R café racer as his first project on fresh soil was a no-brainer. “After building more than 60 motorcycles in Spain, and due to the restrictions we have when making substantial modifications to our motorcycles, I had it in my head for a long time to mov...| Bike EXIF
Pierre Terblanche has penned countless motorcycles in his career, but he's best known for the 11 years he spent at Ducati. In that time, the South African designer became infamous for designing bikes that were polarizing at first but went on to become successful. The Ducati 999's boxy bodywork and stacked headlights upset Ducati purists, but it was wildly successful on the race track. The Ducati Hypermotard was a massive departure from the Italian marque's usual fare, but it was immensely pop...| Bike EXIF
We've cast the net wide this week, with a selection of tasty motorcycles that are worlds apart. Purpose Built Moto kicks us off with a slick Ducati 900SS café racer, then we look at a stunning Kawasaki H1 Mark III restomod from the USA. Our fastest candidates are this week's 75th anniversary MotoGP bikes, and our slowest is a 1965 BMW R60/2 with a very peculiar sidecar rig. Ducati 900SS by Purpose Built Moto Our friends at Purpose Built Moto in Gold Coast, Australia have built plenty of grou...| Bike EXIF
We all have our inclinations, preferences, and particular predilections. In custom motorcycle circles, a BMW boxer or Triumph Bonneville are considered mainstream choices, while unlikely donors present a more left-field option. Yamaha’s Virago is one such machine—but it's not enough of an outlier for Jimbo Turner. Jimbo reserves his fervor for only one variant of the XV1000—the Yamaha TR1. He didn’t discover his kink straight away; dalliances with a rigid Yamaha XS650, a Honda CB, a D...| Bike EXIF