The creative destruction continues among the print magazines as Cycle News, the long running California based print publication, best known for coverage of motorcycle racing, closed its doors on August 31st. This long running shakeout has been harsh and any printed magazine or newspaper slow to come to grips with the Internet is likely facing a similar fate. Paul Carruthers, Cycle News (recently laid off) Editor-in-Chief, confirmed rumors of the shutdown.

Cycle News is familiar to anyone who has been involved with motorcycles and motorcycle racing over the last four or five decades, but when the online world offers many of the same things your print publication does, only faster and often for free, your print model needs to change. News of all types is becoming a widely available commodity and motorcycle magazines are certainly not unique, even the largest circulation newspapers and magazines are trying to figure out how to adjust, and if the adjustment takes too long, the doors close.

Shutting down the presses could be an opportunity for the folks at Cycle News who have lost their jobs, although I'm sure they don't feel that way right now. If those same individuals decide to transfer their talents to the online world, without the overhead of the print publication, they might be able to make a go of it. Easy? No. Hard work? Absolutely, but definitely possible.

I wish all of those affected by this closure the very best going forward.

Link: Paul Carruthers via MotorcycleDaily
Link: Cycle News

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Suzuki DR650 Street Tracker

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 8/30/2010

in Motorcycle Builders

DR650 Street Tracker by Mike Sternick

DR650 Street Tracker by Mike Sternick

Whenever we talk about all around motorcycles on The Kneeslider, the kind of bike you can ride every day no matter where you're going, someone will mention the Suzuki DR series, a bike capable of taking on both urban streets or the occasional off road foray. The comment is usually along the lines of "someone should modify a DR" or "I was thinking about converting a DR." Mike Sternick, on the other hand, did more than think about it, he actually did the work and the end result looks pretty good.

The DR is a single cylinder dual purpose bike and comes from the factory dressed in the usual off road garb, a look which might turn away the more street oriented rider, even though that same rider might love the bike. Hmm ..., what to do.

DR650 Street Tracker by Mike Sternick

DR650 Street Tracker by Mike Sternick

Well, here's what Mike says he did:

The suspension's been lowered 3" with a 18" front and 17"rear rim. I used the stock seat panel and just recut the foam. Rear fender is off a trailer. Side panels were cut from sheet stock left over from another project. I'm not sure what the tank is off of, an old AMF maybe. The exhaust is one off with a two brothers muffler a friend gave me. A little loud for the neighbors but just right for me.

DR650 Street Tracker

DR650 Street Tracker

This street tracker still retains lots of suspension travel but sheds the off road look and dressed like this, would fit in most anywhere Mike decides to take it. It's amazing how a few well thought out changes dramatically alter the appearance. With lots of used DRs for sale, someone might get the idea of trying this themselves.

Nice work, Mike!

DR650 Street Tracker from Mike Sternick

DR650 Street Tracker from Mike Sternick

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Warboy - the Harley Davidson 883 XWL

Warboy - the Harley Davidson 883 XWL

You've seen the old Harley Davidson WL models, decked out in olive drab and used by the military in WWII, really neat old machines. The original WL engines were reliable but not ideal for riding around on today's roads, combined with 3 speeds and a foot clutch, you had an interesting, but very vintage ride.

Warboy - the Harley Davidson 883 XWL

Warboy - the Harley Davidson 883 XWL

Well, today I receive an email from France with some really sweet photos, showing what looks for all the world to be a perfectly restored WL, but on closer examination is a thoroughly modern 883 wrapped in WL bodywork. Francis, who goes by the tag Milwaukee Belle, has been a fan of the old 45s since his first in the 1980s. He's restored many and some remained totally barn fresh, but he wanted to build a tribute to the old 45s, with all of the appearance of the old bikes but completely modern and street legal in every other way. [click to continue…]

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CB550 Cafe Overkill from Jeff Stephens

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 8/24/2010

in Motorcycle Builders

Cafe Overkill CB550 by Jeff Stephens

Cafe Overkill CB550 by Jeff Stephens

Cafe Overkill CB550 starting pointWhen you think of modifying an old Honda CB, the choice for many is the CB750, but recently, we've seen more examples of builders using the CB450 or the CB550 as a starting point, and it makes you wonder why we haven't seen more of them before.

Jeff Stephens operates a little business out of his garage called Godffery's Garage building and modifying bikes for his customers. He was considering a cafe project when a customer approached looking for something special. After questioning the customer and narrowing down what he had in mind, Jeff began work on a rough CB550 and his only restrictions were a red frame and a Benjis tank. With that kind of freedom, he began building and since the bike wasn't pristine to begin with, he had no qualms about cutting off and tossing the unnecessary bits and pieces.

Cafe Overkill CB550 by Jeff Stephens

Cafe Overkill CB550 by Jeff Stephens

Jeff says he did a lot of research along the way and went through many changes in the build process. With budget room to do it right, he focused on quality, he wanted a lot more than a set of clubman bars and a bump seat on his build, which seems to be where too many cafe projects begin and end.

Cafe Overkill CB550 engine closeup

Cafe Overkill CB550 engine closeup

Why twin shocks? Everyone is doing mono conversions. Why exterior fork springs? He liked the look. Why a hydraulic clutch conversion? He hadn't seen one on a CB550 before. Jeff took a lot of in progress shots along the way so you can see the whole build process and it's interesting to see the detail work and fabrication that goes into a project like this.

Cafe Overkill CB550 brake closeup

Cafe Overkill CB550 brake closeup

I think the end result is a really sharp bike. It's also one of those smaller displacement rides everyone seems to be asking for these days, of course, when the CB550 was new, it was no small bike, more of a middleweight. Times sure have changed.

Cafe Overkill CB550 in progress

Cafe Overkill CB550 in progress

With builds like this showing up, maybe a lot more builders will begin looking at this little brother to the well known and maybe overdone CB750. There's a lot of 550s out there just waiting to be restored or turned into projects like this. I like it.

Link: Godffery's Garage cafe build photos

Related: CB450 Clubman Cafe
Related: CB550 Cafe

Be sure to check out the Honda CB550 motorcycles for sale

Godffery just posted a couple of new videos.
Videos below: [click to continue…]

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What Can Motorcycle Companies Learn From a Furniture Maker?

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 8/20/2010

in Motorcycle Business

Let's talk furniture. Well, let's talk about a certain, almost bankrupt, furniture maker and how the company was transformed. If you look at what happened, we might see a few lessons for some motorcycle companies struggling through the slump.

Norwalk Furniture from Norwalk, Ohio, was having a really tough time due to the housing market being in the dumps, fewer new homes meant a lot less new furniture sold to fill them up, plus a lot of imported furniture was taking an increasing share of the market, squeezing the company from two sides. Just before the company slid into Chapter 11, Dan White and a group of investors, bought the choicest assets of Norwalk Furniture and started fresh with no union, little debt and a simplified business plan.

The new Norwalk chose a niche, custom furniture. Customers placing custom orders usually expect delivery within a month, tough for imports to do considering ocean shipping times of a couple of weeks.

Norwalk Custom cut costs by reducing the number of fabric choices to about 850 from 2,200 at its predecessor. It prices most of its sofas in a range of about $1,000 to $1,800, the lower end of the custom market.

Unlike the old company, the new one doesn't own or franchise retail stores, and it no longer owns the trucks that deliver its furniture. The furniture is sold through about 350 dealers scattered around the nation. ... the new management is better at consulting dealers before product launches.

Dan White knew nothing about the furniture business which helped him avoid the "that will never work" thinking often found when industries need to transform quickly. He did promote some veteran managers because you need some real experience to keep things moving but they were willing to look at everything. Employees needed to reapply for jobs at the new company and they're down to 120 from 325 workers at the former company.

Mr. White says Norwalk Custom's sales this year will be about $20 million, or one-eighth of the predecessor company's five years ago. But he says Norwalk Custom should be able to make a modest profit this year because it has stripped away so many costs.

What I found interesting was the civic pride among the investors and many Norwalk natives involved who wanted to preserve as many jobs as possible while producing a great product. Instead of setting up shop out of state or in another country, they asked, "How can we do this right here?"

In the previous article about motorcycle trends, Richard Pollock commented:

Which takes me back to my Triumph Bonneville of the 60′s theory. A starting point for any direction the owner cared to take it. Perhaps what’s needed is an OEM neutral chassis platform delivered to a shop where you sit down and discuss the style of ride you want with a build consultant. Order up a Cafe’ tank or a peanut chopper style tank. Choice of wheels, seat, bars and get the bike you want. An entire aftermarket could support variations on the basic bike package. As it is now, aftermarket companies have to select a niche and hope the fad lasts long enough for them to stay in business or they have to be able to leapfrog to the next niche.

Richard says a "universal bike" probably wouldn't appeal to anyone, which may or may not be true, but what he describes in his comment is a niche manufacturer, the niche is custom builds based on a common platform.

I read an interview recently with one of the bigger name custom builders of a couple of years ago, he said they used to build customer bikes the way they wanted to, not how the customer wanted it built. They charged high prices for their big name customs because it was so hot and trendy and customers just paid the tab. Unsurprisingly, they're pretty much out of the custom business these days. Gosh, what a shock.

If some of the smaller "custom" (which really means "chopper") manufacturers were willing to go more universal with a base motorcycle or frame and then present the customer with real choices, they might have something. They could also, as Norwalk now does, consult dealers before launching a new product to find out what customers really want. Who knows what might happen?

The point of all this is a slow economy requires some really creative thinking that goes beyond "cut costs and hold on until it gets better." You can only cut so long before you have nothing left, maybe you need to cut as much as necessary and then change direction. Narrow your aim with a niche and serve it really well. If the option is going bankrupt or trying something new, the positive thinking doers get their company down to fighting weight and move forward. Bad economy, no credit, government out of control, those are just excuses for sitting still. It's a great time to adapt to new conditions, especially while your competition is in disarray. Let's all get moving.

Link: Wall Street Journal

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Honda CR500R resto mod by Jason Meyer

Honda CR500R resto mod by Jason Meyer

Here's one answer to the "anti-trend" segmentation of the motorcycle market, a 1991 Honda CR500R resto-mod by Jason Meyer. If you look at the photos, you see a spotless, better than new, off road bike built just the way the owner likes it. It's almost 20 years old and he's got something you can't buy in any showroom. Jason has to build on a budget, but this bike looks great, runs great and is ready for endless hours of fun riding in several different off-road environments.

Honda CR500R resto mod by Jason Meyer

Honda CR500R resto mod by Jason Meyer

Jason, a motorcycle mechanic, wants to build, restore and modify bikes of all kinds and customize dirt bikes like this one, so he started a business, MSV Racing, and launched into the build. It's based on a 1991 CR500R with parts from multiple years, bits from an 07 Kawasaki KX450F and pieces from a 2002 KTM SX. Everything on this bike is restored, customized or new.

My vision was a high power, low noise, "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" that would run on pump fuel and rock the custom bike industry with a fresh idea that is a true show and go piece. The bike is designed to easily switch from torquey off-road/single track riding to hill shooting dune predator in about an hour. A true "Jekyll and Hyde" transformation.

It has 73 horsepower at the crank on pump fuel which, at the light weight of a bike like this, should be sufficient for huge performance and wide smiles.

Jason sent me lots of photos and a very long and complete list of tech specs and, suffice to say, nothing was untouched. There are high quality components throughout and obvious attention to detail.

Jason's skills look top notch and the bike is sweet. Of course, not everyone wants to ride a dirt bike like this, and that's the whole point. Jason's just the kind of guy who could serve that small niche of riders looking for a custom dirt bike, maybe rebuilding the one they already own and he doesn't have to worry about Honda offering that same service. They have a business that demands they sell bikes and lots of 'em.

On the other hand, this is just the kind of niche focus one particular dealer might want to go after, not this one that Jason is working on, but any narrow niche. No one in the showroom? Start building bikes your customers can't find anywhere else. Don't just line up those used bikes and hope for a buyer, make it special and just like new, or better. The number of small specialized niche markets is huge, be the one guy or one shop that turns out something unique. You don't have to sell ten thousand units, five or six restorations or rebuilds might be nice to get your name out there as the place to go for a certain type of bike and then see if the market responds. Not sure what your customers want and can't find? Ask them!

Motorcycle companies and many dealers, as well, take a shotgun approach to customers, find any warm body, drag him into the showroom and sell him something. Instead, they might want to narrow down their focus, say, "this is what we do," and then do it very well. Mass markets are fickle while niche markets tend to have passionate members who will go a great distance to get what they want. Become the place they want to go.

Jason rides, builds bikes and is involved in the business, in the meantime, the motorcycle industry is in the doldrums, listening to crickets in their showrooms. They may not be able to respond to the needs of a guy like Jason with a new model only a relatively small number of riders might want and serve all of their other potential customers, too, so Jason, like many others, simply does it himself, he's a "doer."

So, if you're a builder or dealer, what's your niche? Pick one, any one, then be the best.

And, Jason, very nice build! I like it.

Honda CR500R and Jason Meyer, the proud builder

Honda CR500R and Jason Meyer, the proud builder

Tech specs below: [click to continue…]

{ 21 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

"Choppers are over." That's really old news, their day came and went and may, some time down the road, come again, ... or maybe not. What's interesting are comments we see on many posts here showing a cafe racer, board tracker, street tracker or some other style of motorcycle where the complaint is we're seeing too many of those, implying that style is also too popular and reaching the end of a cycle. It makes a person wonder, what's next?

Whenever there's a style or trend in bike building, it means everyone is building one, or in terms of owners, everyone wants one in their garage, but, the truth is, "everyone" never wants one, some riders do, some don't, some never will. Maybe we should stop talking about "everyone" and start concentrating on just you or me.

When choppers became popular, TV shows popped up, custom builders everywhere were turning them out, small manufacturers grew larger, they exploded in numbers and a lot of guys looking for a weekend hobby thought choppers were what motorcycles were all about. At the same time, a lot of riders never thought much of choppers and never wanted one. They continued to buy what they liked and the chopper fad faded away without affecting their riding in any way. There's always a market for motorcycles of every type, absolutely everything has a dedicated family of followers, the problem of styles, fads or trends is manufacturers need something big to support sales in large numbers, maybe the day of any style being dominant is over and ALL styles can have their place ALL the time.

When a fad dies out, you see hundreds or thousands of those bikes for sale and it brings out comments like, "no one is buying those anymore." It's not true, some of those bikes for sale are snapped up by bargain hunters who still want one but couldn't afford the hot trendy prices of the recent past. There's always someone willing to buy because people are different in their choices, tastes and desires. When someone says too many of a certain style of bike are being built it usually means, there are a lot of bikes being built they don't personally like and if they say too few exist, it means no one is building what they personally want.

Manufacturers selling a bike based on trends and fads, are the ones in jeopardy because when the fad dies, the numbers drop fast. If another trend doesn't follow quickly, the company sinks. If manufacturers are selling something more utilitarian, those sales tend to be much more stable. The Japanese companies are selling far fewer sport bikes and cruisers over here in the US and probably world wide, but those same companies are selling huge numbers of 125cc bikes in Asia, hot trend versus utility transportation. Companies like Harley Davidson are looking for countries around the world where the big cruiser and Harley style still appeal to large numbers of riders with disposable income to spend, a tougher target, but that's the narrow choice they've made, it's a niche market strategy requiring mass market numbers.

Smaller builders and manufacturers appealing to solid niche markets could be in better shape than you might think as long as their success doesn't depend on selling in big numbers and isn't attached to a fad. A small builder trying to capitalize on sales to a larger market already served by the big guys and lots of other small builders is going to be vulnerable when the market turns.

On the other hand, if someone wants that cafe racer or street tracker or board tracker or anything else, those could be solid markets for a small builder to cater to. They may never support sales numbers the Japanese big four would like or Harley or the European builders, but they could provide a nice business and keep the riders looking for those styles happy.

A big problem in the motorcycle industry is it requires big numbers, lots of buyers after one kind of bike. Maybe that day is over, it's now all niche, all the time and that's not a market the big guys are comfortable serving. Maybe we should forget the next hot style or big trend, let's think about what everyone individually wants, all of the styles, all of the applications and riding types, all of the displacements and engine types, all of the time. Small builders don't need to start their own trend, they just need to find a small niche, probably too small for the big guys to cater to, and focus on them. Think small builder for small niche and let the big companies worry about trends and fads. Instead of selling to "everyone," just focus on you and me and the next rider, the guys that buy and ride. If someone finds a trend in the resulting sales numbers, let them chase it.

{ 70 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

If you look at some of the other results at the 2010 World Championship, there's a lot to like and many of the entries are far removed from all of the chopper variations of not too many years ago. The winner of the production class is this entry from Sergio Bayarri of Sbay Motor Company of Spain. Using a RevTech 110 cubic inch V-Twin, though it could as easily have been any of the many others available, they've built a sporty big twin custom

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

The curved aluminum top tube of the frame doubles as the oil tank, the gas tank is carbon fiber and the bike shows the aluminum frame and carbon fiber parts free of any paint and there's no chrome anywhere. The bike weighs 465 pounds.

Although the oil line on the top tube provides visual interest, I might change the location or routing. Other than that it looks pretty neat.

Sbay is planning a production run of 250 units. I didn't see any reference on the Sbay website referring to price.

Link: Sbay Motor Company
Link: AMD World Championship

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

Sbay Motor Company - production class winner

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