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The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew

By Paul Crowe

Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew

John Pellew, of London, builds custom motorcycles in his spare time under the name of Taimoshan Cycle Works. His latest project, the Super Cafe Racer, took 12 months to design and build and is just now completed. It’s a nice one.

He started with a custom built and modified replica of a Norton featherbed frame. The engine is from a 1000cc Aprilia RSV Super Bike.

Taimoshan uses a Ducati front end, wheels and brakes. The swingarm is a hybrid Honda Unit pro-link. The aluminum Manx tank, seat unit and rear sub frame are all custom made.

The radiator is tucked up under the seat along with the electronics package.

John says he just started 2 more custom racer style bikes, one is his take on a Vincent and the other is an Art Deco BSA A65 Oil In Frame, GP racer.

This looks like a very sweet blend of the old and new, vintage frame, modern power, nice work, John!

More images below:

Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer tail section close up
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer by John Pellew
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer with the builder
Taimoshan Super Cafe Racer with the builder

Posted on January 19, 2010 Filed Under: Custom motorcycles, Motorcycle Builders


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Comments

  1. Tin Man 2 says

    January 19, 2010 at 8:26 am

    I have the upmost admiration for a man who can form and finish his own body work. The body work makes this build special, very nicely done.

  2. Tim Tom says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:12 am

    Wow. Thats a sweet machine. Really captures the Cafe spirit.

  3. Joe says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:25 am

    I like all the polished metal, especially the bronzed colors. Has a nice steampunk appeal to it. Though what’s the deal with the left side of the front fender? It looks chipped or peeled or faded or something, is that deliberate? Wood inlay maybe? Seems an odd place and color for such an accent.

  4. Andy says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:29 am

    Very cool, and only 112db
    found some clips here:
    http://www.youtube.com/norzilla1

  5. Bigshankhank says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:32 am

    Joe, it looks like venting through the fender for the brake caliper, probably the same thing on the left side.
    I wonder how well the radiator works beneath the seat, though. Not that I have any room to criticise, this is a fantastic looking bike.

  6. kneeslider says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:33 am

    @Joe: Those bronze colored areas on the fender appear to be screens for air to cool the brakes. — hah, looks like Bigshankhank beat me to it.

  7. froryde says

    January 19, 2010 at 11:35 am

    Sweet bike + an interesting name. Just wondering if there’s a story behind “Taimoshan”?

  8. Rick says

    January 19, 2010 at 11:44 am

    yeah he could have gone with the name “Norilia” (pronounce No, Really, Yeah)

  9. Gitan says

    January 19, 2010 at 11:52 am

    I truly love the design of the bike, but when I see the movie, I doubt of the ability of this bike to be fast.
    John seems to be too careful, legs out, poor leaning,.. just like he doesn’t trust his bike.
    I hope that’s only because he crashed in his first tries…

  10. nortley says

    January 19, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    This is one of the best looking combinations of modern components and traditional styling that I’ve seen. It deserves a good mongrelized name.

  11. Walt says

    January 19, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    Love the way the motor fills the frame. And what a sound!

  12. todd says

    January 19, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Nice project, great work. Oh, to have such free time and other available resources.

    -todd

  13. kim says

    January 19, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    Ab-so-lu-te-ly delightful bike.

    (Bigshankhank; Britten used an underseat radiator too – it was very small, because for some reason the airflow made it a lot more effective. (Doesn’t explain why everybody else copied the idea, though)).

  14. Peter Lombardi says

    January 19, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    wow, really good looking! fun motor too. i could nitpick but, but overall a great build! 😀
    -peter

  15. kim says

    January 19, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    Oops, forgot another ‘didn’t’ in the last sentence…

  16. pabsy says

    January 19, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    awesome

  17. FREEMAN says

    January 19, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    I love where he’s stuffed the radiator. Radiators are such an eyesore. Beautiful build.

  18. Kai Ju says

    January 19, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    I’ve been running an underseat radiator on my naked VTR since ’05 with no problems.
    I agree with FREEMAN, radiators are truly an eyesore, especially on naked conversions where the radiator was never meant to be a design element.

  19. Walt says

    January 20, 2010 at 12:22 am

    Britten’s chassis was designed to channel air through to the rear-mount radiator. He took advantage of the low pressure area behind the bike and exhausted the hot air there. All bikes in motion create an area of higher pressure up front and low pressure behind. The issue is getting the air to move from one place to the other. I don’t see an air flow channel on this bike, but I do see a fan.

  20. Tirapop says

    January 20, 2010 at 12:45 am

    Pretty bike. Made me think of the Aprilia Blue Marlin

  21. Bigshankhank says

    January 20, 2010 at 9:50 am

    Walt made my point, I know the Britten had a “hidden radiator”, but was designed as such. I don’t see an air flow path to the rad on this bike. Again not a major critique, just curious as to how well it works in this application.

  22. Devilish says

    January 20, 2010 at 11:32 am

    This I like!!!

  23. Scotduke says

    January 20, 2010 at 5:32 pm

    Good mix of old style appearance and modern technology.

  24. JustJoe says

    January 20, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    Really nice…a custom that looks like it’s meant to be ridden! At first glance, I hated the muffler, but on further examination, I decided it looked like something old that had been re-purposed, which goes along with the sorta steampunk theme.

    Very nice job on the bodywork…kudos!

  25. seba says

    January 23, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    Great moto !

  26. John Pellew says

    July 7, 2010 at 2:39 am

    Hi Guys

    I have just hosted my website http://www.taimoshancycleworks.com but am still populating the images of the build end to end. Won’t be too long.

    Rgds
    john

  27. jonnyllew says

    August 16, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    Do you know the dangers of riding a bike without a helmet !!!!!!
    NICE WHEELS JONNY JUNIOR (senior)

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