Metallic green is the flavor of the week, with our first two bikes—a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 café racer and a Triumph Bonneville—both wearing the timeless color. We also feature a wild 1,230 cc Suzuki Katana, and a brooding custom BMW R100.
Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 by Skunk Machine Carl Cerra of Melbourne’s Skunk Machine is well-established in the automotive world, but he’s a dab hand at building bikes too. This Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is his latest build, and it’s a cracker.
Carl was approached by a customer named Stu with the idea of making his Continental GT 650 a little more special. Even though the bike was brand new, Stu had some ideas he wanted to bring to life—and Carl was on the same page.
First off, the factory wheels had to go. A set of 17” Excel rims went on instead, with a custom hub up front and a 4.5-inch-wide rim at the back. This allowed Carl to fit a 160-section rear tire for a sportier look; with the new Pirelli Rosso Diablo rubber, we bet it feels sportier, too.
Next, Carl designed and built a set of custom front fork clamps. They are delicate, yet chunky, and hold a Motogadget Chronoclassic speedometer in place so well you’d think that an OEM designed and built the dashboard. Fresh clip-on handlebars hold more Motogadget goodies, along with Brembo brake and clutch levers, while custom rear-set foot controls do duty lower down.
The best thing about the new yokes is that they now hold a set of 43 mm Showa forks from a Triumph Thruxton R, complete with the Thruxton’s giant, radial-mounted Brembo brakes. A set of Ikon shocks helps smooth out the ride out back.
The seat is another item that was designed and built by Carl. Made entirely from carbon fiber, and sporting a leather cover from Sam at Majestic Moto, it looks incredible and suits the Continental GT perfectly. An LED taillight, complete with turn signal functionality, is integrated into the back.
With all this show, the engine (although brilliant in stock form) needed some extra go. The bike went down the road to Revelry Cycles for an S&S Cycle 865 cc big bore kit, CNC billet throttle bodies, and a proper tune. A short, blacked-out exhaust was fitted to cut weight and let the engine breathe even easier.
Finished in metallic green (inspired by Steve McQueen’s ‘Bullitt’ Mustang) with black and gold accents, this might just be the most perfectly proportioned Royal Enfield café racer that we’ve seen to date. [Source]
Triumph Bonneville by C+R Moto Co. It’s not every day that a Hollywood stuntman and big wave surfer asks you to build them a bike. But that’s exactly what happened to Clancy Peterson of C+R Moto Co. when Jack Kingsley walked through his door. Jack had seen a 3D render of a custom Triumph Bonneville online and needed Clancy’s help to bring it to life.
The donor bike was a bone-stock air-cooled 2008 Triumph Bonneville—but it didn’t stay that way for long. The entire back end was lopped off, with the C+R team engineering a cantilevered seat and a mono-shock conversion. The custom seat pan was topped with a diamond-stitched leather seat, which looks fantastic against the fresh green metallic paint.
Since it was all made by hand, C+R teamed up with Hagon in the UK, who built a custom rear shock for the build. The front end was swapped out for a set of gold USD forks which also came with a twin disc front brake—a useful upgrade for any older Bonneville. Gold 19F/17R Sun Rim rims match the new forks, with Continental ContiRoadAttack tires offering modern levels of grip.
A Motogadget control box runs the new wiring loom, while a Motogadget speedo sits embedded in the top fork clamp. The LED headlight is from our mate Tom at Purpose Built Moto, and the turn signals are Kellerman’s brilliantly discreet Atto items. Messner Moto sent over a set of their switch blocks and controls, with the C+R team converting the clutch to a hydraulic setup to match the brakes.
The engine was blacked out, as was the Triumph bar logo on the tank. There is no chrome on the bike, with the only pop of silver being the pie-cut exhaust that snakes its way through the frame and exits under the seat.
We did expect to see a surfboard rack, but perhaps Jack will just keep this Triumph for bopping around the streets of Hollywood. Either way, he’ll look great doing it. [C+R Moto Co.]
Suzuki Katana by Andy Harriman This big blue Suzuki Katana belongs to an English bloke named Andy Harriman. Andy has always loved big Suzukis—but this is was first Katana. Andy wanted to bring the legendary bike kicking and screaming into the modern age with a few choice upgrades, and boy, did he get it right.
First up, the 16-valve engine from a 1984 Suzuki GSX 1100EFE was shoehorned into the Katana frame. But before being married to the frame, the engine spent some time with Chris Tombleson of Grumpy 1260 Suzuki Parts & Performance, who tore it down and rebuilt it with a 1,230 cc big bore kit, FCR flat-slide carburetors, and a Racefit titanium exhaust system.
Front and rear suspension components are from Öhlins, with the front forks held in place by billet aluminum yokes. The braced swingarm is from JMC and the brakes are from Brembo. The seat has been recovered in suede (a bold choice in the UK), while a set of drag bars helps Andy sit more upright. The master cylinder is from LSR and he’s also fitted aftermarket rear set footpegs.
While we love the classic Katana silver with red accents, Andy has done great with the stunning blue paint. The Marchesini wheels were painted bright yellow as a nod to Barry Sheene and Kevin Schwantz. It’s a bold color combination… but it works. [Source]
BMW R100 by oneYedeer Sometimes opportunities come up that you can’t let pass. That’s pretty much what happened to JP when he bought this 1991 BMW R100 50th Anniversary Edition. The bike was in good condition but it had been sitting for some time, which necessitated checks on its mechanical and electrical condition.
It may have been this initial once-over that got JP thinking about a custom bike project. After a call to his friend Seba Achaval from oneYedeer Design, some arrangements were made. This is the result.
“I knew from the start what I was looking to get,” says JP. “I wanted this bike to be unique, fine, and somehow romantic. After all, I am Italian…”
Once Seba had the BMW running like a German pocket watch, his attention turned to the aesthetics. The basic geometry of the bike remains the same, but the front forks have been slightly lowered, and the chunky Michelin Anakee Wild tires lend a very aggressive stance to the build. The color scheme also contributes to the angry vibe, with parts of the tank stripped back to polished bare metal.
The factory bolt-on subframe was removed and the frame was de-tabbed and cleaned up. A new subframe was welded in place, with an integrated taillight that Seba made by hand after being inspired by the Ferrari Testarossa. The high exhaust pipe and twin mufflers meet under the seat in two different positions; together with the taillight, they’re a standout feature of the build.
With the airbox gone, the rebuilt Bing carburetors breathe through pod filters, with an Antigravity battery housed in a custom box under the engine. The ADV tires will be flicking detritus in all directions, so Seba mounted a beautiful set of fenders that were blacked out to blend in.
A Bates-style headlight was bolted on up front, along with a tiny fairing to keep the weather off the Daytona Velona speedometer. The bike was rewired with a Motogadget brain and bar-end turn signals. A Brembo master cylinder from a Ducati 748 was fitted, along with stainless steel brake lines and Tomaselli levers.
With style for days and myriad unique details, we think JP got exactly what he was looking for. [oneYedeer]
