After visiting the rareified air of the motorcycles displayed at the Quail Lodge, it's always good to return to the world of machines most everyone can modify and ride. A good example is this Honda FT500 Ascot. Nolan Arihood sent in some photos of his bike, an 83 FT500 which he worked over to fit his own particular needs. It's a nice makeover and gives you an idea of what … [Read more...]
Yamaha Maxim Transformed
The economy is slow, you really want a new or custom motorcycle but you're short on cash, well, how about investing some time instead? Chris Tschiffely, along with his brother and dad, went to work on an old $300 Yamaha Maxim and turned it into the bike you see here. In my New Year's post I said, "Do you have an interesting bike? Tell us about it and it might become a Reader's … [Read more...]
Triumph Street Tracker – Reader’s Ride
Steve Welte, one of our regular readers, saw quite a few street tracker posts on The Kneeslider and thought we might like to see what he put together According to Steve, this bike isn't about how much money you can spend, it is all about what you can do with the parts you have or can easily source. He did all of the work from engine building to fabrication and painting, … [Read more...]
Touring Japan on a 1950 Nimbus 4 Cylinder Bobber
The Kneeslider has quite a few regular readers and commenters with interesting stories of their own involving the motorcycles they ride. I noticed, Kim Scholer, of Denmark, who stops by frequently, has a nice article in the June 2009 issue of Britain's Classic Bike magazine that tells the story of his 8 week tour of Japan, on his 1950 Nimbus 4 cylinder bobber. I thought some of … [Read more...]
Royal Enfield V-Twin – The Musket
What you see here is a 700cc Royal Enfield V-Twin constructed using two 350cc top ends. The whole bike appears to have come from the factory, or maybe the "special vehicle operations" section, instead of the mind and work of a creative and determined owner. Aniket Vardhan, the builder, still wants to come up with a better exhaust arrangement, than short open pipes, but already, … [Read more...]
Yamaha 900 Seca Sport Touring Prototype
Several comments on our recent Just Do It post suggested a reader's rides category for The Kneeslider. Starting today, we have our first, Jon Fife's nicely modified Yamaha XJ900 Seca and it's a great example of taking a bike that suits you well, buying parts and pieces inexpensively, adding lots of labor and your own ideas to come up with just what you wanted all along. … [Read more...]