American Chopper Canceled

American Chopper Canceled

The long running pseudo reality show American Chopper has been canceled. After Paul, Jr. left the show and Paul, Sr. sued his son, the show finally succumbed to the same fate as many custom build shops. The finale will run this Thursday, February 11th.

Now if TLC could start a show about real builders without all of the made for TV drama, they might have something.

Link: American Chopper

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

Is Any Motorcycle Company Indispensable?

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 2/4/2010

in Motorcycle Builders, Motorcycle Business

With so many things to occupy your time and attention, so many needs and wants competing for your disposable income, where do motorcycles fit in to your life, when do your expenditures on motorcycle related products and services or even the motorcycles themselves, move ahead of other potential choices? The motorcycle industry would love to know, but, whether your attraction to motorcycles is riding related, technology based or just as an investment, the question is, does your attraction to and enthusiasm for motorcycles require any one company? In most cases, the answer is no.

This creates a problem for any management team trying to ramp up sales or build profits in any way they can, they need to find those products, services and activities that keep you coming back generating some sales revenue. Do you see their struggle to survive as important to you in any way beyond a short term pang of sorrow for the displaced employees before moving on to something else? Is there anything truly irreplaceable lost when one company closes its doors?

Many custom builders have dropped out of sight with little fanfare but then Buell was closed and that got the attention of many. Though their fans and customers were passionate, there were evidently not enough of them to keep the company going, at least to the degree that Harley Davidson required. Although many are upset, everyone has moved on, Erik himself has already set up shop at Erik Buell Racing, but Buell Motorcycles is gone. Did it really affect you in any long term way? Are you giving up motorcycles because of it? I wouldn't think so.

Is any motorcycle company "too big to fail" in the current jargon, or indispensable to you in any way, or are they all just names on a list of companies struggling to keep going while the economy tries to get back on its feet? If another big name company turns out the lights, will you still ride and wrench as you always have? I'm betting you will.

The industry is changing and I truly hope every company is trying to change and adapt with it, not just trying to wait until things get better, waiting until the old days come back. I have a hunch those days are gone, but, and this is important, those of us who ride and wrench are still here, searching for the companies that will provide us with what we want. What company will it be, one of the old guard or some new kid on the block? Which company is most likely to do whatever is necessary to survive and prosper? Will the future motorcycle industry be made up of the same old names or a whole host of new ones, a few major players or many smaller builders. I wonder.

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

Zeppelin hub center steering boardtracker

Zeppelin hub center steering boardtracker

Here's a project that's different, it's the Zeppelin, Harley Davidson WR powered, hub center steering, board track racer. It's the work of Roel van der Heide, a retired Dutch steelworker, who has been building the Chiqane series of motorcycles where he developed his hub center steering design.

After the article announcing that ISR was offering a hub center steering kit, Roel van der Heide left a comment about his hub center design, and then he contacted me about his latest project, called the Zeppelin Boardtracker. His Chiqane motorcyles, built in the late 1990s and early 2000s, were ridden by Alan Cathcart who was very impressed with the latest version and they seem to work quite well.

Jump ahead to the present and Roel is working on this design, powered by a WL 750 engine upgraded to a WR with a Mikuni carburetor and a 4 speed BSA gearbox, a Norton primary shaft and Norton dry clutch plus a home made belt driven primary, home made chassis and components, and all based on the Chiqane system.

Roel is not only working on this bike but is also planning to open Zeppelin Works, where he will be offering this Zeppelin boardtracker as a custom motorcycle with various options for engines, gearboxes and wheels. All, however, will be built with his unique hub center steered front end.

If this boardtracker handles as well as the Chiqane motorcycles evidently do, this could be very interesting, and as a custom motorcycle offering, it's not something you see everyday.

Link: Zeppelin Works

Zeppelin boardtracker steering

Zeppelin boardtracker steering linkage closeup

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

CSA Performance Wheels Relaunches Dymag Motorcycle Wheels

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 2/2/2010

in Motorcycle Business

CSA Performance WheelsChris Shelley left a comment on my earlier post about Dymag Racing going bankrupt. It looks like CSA Ventures has bought up the Dymag business and equipment with plans to get things rolling in March. The new company is called CSA Performance Wheels.

Chris says:

CSA Ventures announces that it has acquired the assets of Dymag Racing’s motorcycle wheel business including all tooling, designs and inventory. A new production unit is being set up near Chippenham, Wilshire, UK.

From the CSA website:

CSA Performance Wheels is the exclusive and sole supplier of original Dymag Motorcycle Wheels. We are now taking pre-orders for delivery in April 2010 on selected models.

The re-launch programme for the Dymag range of wheels is built on the traditional Dymag Magnesium Classic 3-Spoke and Racing 5-spoke ranges, as well as the Forged Aluminium 7 Spoke Wheels, which are all available ex-works in late March 2010. The Forged Magnesium 7 Spoke Race specification wheels will be re-launched in late 2010 with carbon wheels to follow for the 2011 season.

CSA Performance Wheels has launched an online sales platform that will enable customers anywhere in the world to purchase wheels and have them shipped direct door-to-door. In due course, distributors and racing teams will be eligible under a loyalty and volume discount scheme to re-sell Dymag wheels.

Link: CSA Performance Wheels
Related: Dymag Racing UK Ltd in Bankruptcy

{ 1 reader commented, what do you say? }

ISR hub center steering kit

ISR NS2 hub center steering kit

Maybe you can't build a motorcycle quite like Stellan Egeland, but at least now you have access to some of the same exotic components he uses. The Harrier, Stellan's most recent custom, had a very unique look due to hub center steering, which more than looking good, worked very well, too. ISR, a Swedish company responsible for a number of components used by builders worldwide, is behind the steering on the Harrier and based on the excellent feedback from riders who rode the Harrier on both the street and track, is now offering the NS2 hub center steering kit.

Since the Harrier was BMW based, I'm assuming the steering kit will work on BMWs, though there are no specific details in their description. Whatever the case, this could be an opportunity for wider adoption of hub center steering on some custom street bikes, something quite a few fans of the technology will be happy to see. Now you don't have to buy a Bimota Tesi or a Vyrus to get the performance benefits, professional engineering and unique looks of this well tested hub center system.

It will be very interesting to see where this starts to show up. I like it.

Link: ISR
Related: Stellan Egeland's Harrier in action

ISR hub center steering on Stellan Egeland's Harrier

ISR hub center steering on Stellan Egeland's Harrier

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

Wakan 500 Superlight by Oberdan Bezzi

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 1/29/2010

in Concept Motorcycles, Motorcycle Design

Wakan 500 Superlight powered by Royal Enfield

Wakan 500 Superlight powered by Royal Enfield

Oberdan Bezzi seems to have a desire to repower motorcycles with Royal Enfield's new engine. We saw his Bullet Sport last year where he put the single into a Honda design concept, this time he's taken the 500cc single and fitted it into a Wakan in place of the S&S 1640cc V-Twin, the result is the Wakan 500 Superlight.

I really like the Wakan 1640 and Oberdan's Photoshop skills are very high, the drawing looks good, everything fits together perfectly, but, ... I think the 500 single is better suited to other duties. Interesting idea, though.

Link: Oberdan Bezzi
Related: Wakan 1640

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

Norton 880 Monoshock Cafe Racer

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 1/26/2010

in Motorcycle Builders, Vintage Motorcycles

Norton 880 monoshock cafe racer

Norton 880 monoshock cafe racer

When Paul Zuniga first saw some Photoshop images in 2001 of a new Norton that Kenny Dreer was planning to build and bring to market, he knew he had to have one. Unfortunately, we now know, those bikes never made it. The prototypes gradually evolved from the original concept, a bike was built and shown around to various journalists, but they ran out of funds before it could be produced. Undeterred, Paul kept in contact with Dreer, and though Kenny sold the company assets to the new Norton in the U.K., he had a few Norton parts and pieces left over, some of which Paul purchased.

Paul works on Nortons a lot and with all of the parts he had or could find, plus some inverted forks from a Kawasaki, he figured he could build his own Norton, very similar to the 952 prototype Dreer had shown many years before. The bike you see here is the result of his work and it looks good.

The first Dreer prototype had a monoshock rear suspension, something that went away on later versions and even the new Nortons now being offered don't have it, but Paul has one on his 880. It really cleans up the tail section. The engine is actually an 850 at the moment but the 880 build is well underway and will be fitted when ready.

I guess when some people want a particular bike, they REALLY want it and this shows, with a proper mix of determination and skill, you can get exactly what you were looking for. It looks like very nice work and a really fun ride. Great job.

Link: Born Again Bikes

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

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R with girder suspension

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R with girder suspension

The Buell 11125R may be finished as a production motorcycle but there are plenty of people ready to continue on with their own ideas of what it might be or could be. The boys over at Magpul have built this version with a girder front end which looks very natural on the 1125, incorporating the visual style of the frame into the girder.

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R with girder suspension

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R with girder suspension

Lots of interesting parts but there's very little information available and no definite plans for offering these components, but it's an interesting take on a new direction for the Buell.

Thanks for the tip, Andy!

Link: Magpul Buell

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R

Magpul Ronin Buell 1125R

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