B4 DicE and GK...

was BSH and AwoL, Street Chopper across the pond and god only knows what else... and can't forget Iron Horse...but this was surely one of the 1st. Ed Roth's work, pls correct me if I'm wrong.

proper iron

proper iron- or even ravin' iron for you cockneys (or mockneys)...whatever minger, cos this is a neat-o iron cafe, seat unit is well cool, as are obligatory clip-ons and (?plastic?) caff tank, plus a good old ironhead sporty motor nestled between those skinny factory framerails.

For a minute there, I thought this dude had finished off this sublime ride with a set of heat-wrapped cheapo chopper drag pipes, then I saw he really had- surely he's havin' a giraffe? WTF, cheap SOBs like me should learn to be less picky, it's a killer bike and I love it.

BEASTLY!

Proper beastly, powered by a ridiculous 2-litre evo-style lump, is 'el bruto', one of choppershack's recent WCC-influenced choppaz. I bet this one goes a bit.

DUCATISTI

from caferacer.com. Bellissimo!

excess 650 all areas #2

Here ya go-bobber style 650 chop, fantastic look without breaking da bank. Lovin' the green and the grey colour combo, and some neat touches on the engineering front make this a winner all the way.

38 special

Bonus pic today.

Swede-style

SOOOO nice trump cafe. cleaner than a cat's bum. Note use of metzelers- and why not, it's meant to go round corners fast, innit?

Look again...

If ya saw this blastin' past, you could almost be forgiven for thinking it really was that most mythical of sportster-relatives, the XLCR1000- sadly it's pretty much just a lookalike, albeit a very nicely-executed one. This kit was made by classy French outfit Mecatwin until recently, it looks like they concentrate mostly on new Triumphs now. If you like this look and are on a budget, have a google of 'airtech fibreglass', you may well be pleasantly surprised.

WTF is a WORMBURNER???

Indeed you might ask- in this case, it's the slightly dodgy name a new frame builder ['Hard Up Choppers'] have come up with for their generic bandit/GSXR frame kit. £495 all in, sounds like an absolute steal to me, and by the looks of things, it's a quality piece of kit too. I was hoping to do a chop next year, but full-time college (ie low bread) and a dead car may well put paid to that bright idea. So normal service is resumed- dreamin' on', daydreamer.

What would I do? Score a cheapo bandit 1200, sling it together. Add Hinckley triumph spoked rims at a later date, maybe something a little taller than 17'' on the front. Stainless 4-1 when bread allows. Milled Slabs, solo seat on pushbike shox, mid-controls, pod filters, rattle can til I can spend more on paint. I'm doing it again...is there Daydreamers Anonymous?

ENUFF ALREADY/any followers please note

Enough choppershack/Phil Piper chops that is; but as a swansong, here's a coupla fine shovels,both of which were absolutely state of the art when they were put together round the early 90s.

Vida MOTO will be a little quiet for the next few days as I'm back on nights, but I'll try and put up some candy. In the meantime, keep da shineysideup!

And a further note- on my 1st post for this blog, I said this was gonna be 'all about bikes', with no other nonsense. Which is all well and good...except I've noticed the content has been a little 'dry' (that means kinda dull), so I guess I'll try and include some different stuff. [I've just saved a week's worth of posts which are ALL bike pix, so don't hold yer breath!]

edit- for anyone who's taken the time to click the 'follow' button- thanks for your support, as a measure of my appreciation I've amended my follow list to include all of your blogs. I do try and read any updates you do- of course we can't all keep up with everything, but I figure we all have to try and support one another as best we can. Keep up the good work- if it weren't for this stuff, I might have to actually buy a bike mag!

Cafe au lait

Poor title, agreed...but how's this for a work in progress? Spotted over on the xl forum (for all things sportster), a very natty 883R being done up in a wicked cafe racer style. All I know is it's owned by a French tattoo artist and the fab work is done by a welder mate of his. Click on the pics, and get an eyeful of how nicely this is being put together, it's quality work. Getting a stock XL frame to look right as a caff is a tricky job to pull off right, but these two are nailing the look. Proper.

hmmm, chops, cafes, I'm missing sumfin...

That'll be flat-trackers. Like this top drawer 1984 XR. No words necessary; wanna call this a 'girl's bike'?

MY BIKE!!! stockers don't read this

...well, ya can if ya like- but i'm sure you've seen this bike before...


for anyone else, this is my humble 4-speed evo sporty. Fun to tart up, fun to ride, cheap to own.


yeh i know, how can i criticise anyone else's ride?

as seen on screen

Ease back- there ain't about to be a flood of pics starring balding middle-aged geezers. Unless they happen to be one of the UK's most talented and respected chopper builder, like Phil here. Most UK readers will be familiar with his stuff, in fairness this Buell-based chop isn't among his best- but it's still an absolutely crackin' ride, as seen on the dreadful 'UK Biker Build off' from a few years ago. That looks frighteningly like a 'Villain' tank on there, and those wheels have definitely felt the sharp edge of a CNC machine; but lines is lines, and it makes a change, don't it? Respect is due, and if you like this, maybe you should head on over to choppershack.com, from whence I half-inched these shots.

HONDA POWER

Here on vidaMOTO, we have a LOT of love for cafe racers. Consider boats floated, fancies tickled (oo-er), IMHO you just can't beat a tidy cafe. And these two, from the esteemed stable of one Mr Steve Carpenter aka carpy, are tidier than a spring clean with OCD. 'Tornado' just blows my mind (no pun intended), lovin' the black-on-black, dished tank, hump seat- that is the technical term- and oh yes, that 750 cee-cees of soichiro's finest, the baby elephant itself, SOHC four. Check carpy's site out, cb750cafe.com, he's a mine of inspiration, and sells great parts too.

Pan 'ed

Outstanding panhead chopper. You know where this comes from, right? The mini turn signals (that's indicators to us Brits) suggest this is another from the land o' the falling Yen- Japan has gotta be the new Sweden when it comes to one single country that seems to be turning out one mind-blowing build after another.

That lump's so clean it looks aftermarket- I hope to be proved wrong...whatever, it's a peach, ain't it? Paint, finish, you name it, everything's right out of the top drawer.

On another topic- many thanks to anyone who's checking vidaMOTO for the first time, and showing support. I'm going to try and update daily, mostly stolen stuff, you know how it goes.

Not again...

Sad to say, my perversion for stock-framed but tastefully-mofified sportsters seems to be manifesting itself once more...I'm gonna stick with the program, remember the steps, remeber the steps!!!

You might have seen this one before, I found it on a great Japanese blog called 'evo spo', well worth a look. Loads of neat-o touches on this one, crowning glory has got to be that seat unit; tho' IMHO he shoulda used some proper clip-ons. That said, it's one of the cool things about this kind of build, it's a case of 'anything goes'- there's element of cafe, classic road bike, custom/bob/chop...bit like this blog, really (except the bike is a whole lot more fun to ride).

do not confuse with Orange County ironworks

yes indeed, I have seen too many episodes of THAT programme!

Only the other day, the mrs sez to me 'you have a letter'- at which point I start bemoaning the fact that there's never any non-bill or statement post these days- and inside is a load of cool stickers from the excellent British Ironworks blog.

Thanks to Quaffmeister for putting my faith back in the postal service. And life in general.

ridin' high!

evo sporty? check.
cut down/ tarted up pretty nice? check
stolen pic? you betcha.

You get the picture. old dog, new tricks and all that. At least it's a riding shot fer a change. Zeus customs ironster/nightie/ whatever they call them. Zeus are an outfit I know little of, but what I've seen looks good.

Swingers!

As in swing-arms, or more accurately swing-arm chops, such as these two(should be 'swinging arm' really, shouldn't it? Rest assured I won't be referring to 'triple trees' and such).

I really wish I knew more about these two, because anything else I might say is mere guesswork, and these deserve better than that. I'd venture they're influenced at least by the current Japanese style, but just check that build quality and finish. Both bikes have lines and proportions that flow 'just so', no mean feat with a swingarm and dual shocks, tho' I doubt there's a great deal of suspension on either ride. Who needs comfort when you look this cool?

I'd just like to say,to my handful of readers worldwide, thankyou for your interest and support. I know the content has been a little 'static' thus far- just stolen pics of parked-up motorcycles- but I do hope to vary things a little in the near future. Stay tuned, and remember, comments and feedback are gratefully received. Prost!

French letters

Cool mag from across the (small) pond. Version in English anyone? I can order a beer/coffee/plate of horse in French, that's about as far as my comprehension goes.

Proper leader

Remember this? The original Greasy Kulture, absolutely excellent. If it was a song, it'd be 'louie louie'. Respect in spades is due.

Phew- enuff harleys already

Remember the 'Exocet' FJ yam, another from master builder Phil Piper? Hard to believe there's a humble yam 600 motor beneath those perfectly-formed frame rails and 'zorst tubes (and what an exhaust!). The hard-as-nails modern jap running gear (gotta be GSXR, surely)-USD forks and 3-spoke mags- coupled with just-so stance and flawless finish make this one of the stand-out bikes of its time (mid 90s, BTW). Where is she now, I wonder?

so it had to happen...

It was inevitable there'd be some harleys on vidaMOTO- especially seein' as that's what everyone builds chops out of- but here's a couple in a timeless style, which don't slavishly 'follow the rules'. You might have seen 'em before, as they're both the products of one of the UK's most prolific and talented builders, Phil Piper from choppershack.com. Check their site out, it's first rate.

This pair have all the Piper trademarks- rigid frame, big HD motor, modern brakes and tyres, and lots of tasty one-off machining and fab work. It's all about getting the lines right-which yer man does every time- then working from there. Check the pipes exiting between the open belt on the black evo- click the pix and see the detail work that makes chops like these just SO nice.

Fantastic work, and always an inspiration.

bob? caff? chop?

You decide,when they're as nice as this pair, who cares?

The more 'ornate' 2nd one certainly has an air of bratstyle about it, though- it's top to toe top notch!- while the blue beauty is clearly going for the 'less is more' ethic.

More guzzi madness

I've spent most of the last year writing about Harleys, Hotrods and various trad-style choppers. All of which I love to bits. But all in all this hasn't left much room for other stuff, and I do have a pretty wide taste in what constitutes a desirable motorcycle...and classic cafe racers really do it for me every time, and have done since a ridiculously young age. Here's another, which incidentally I've nicked to use as my Twitter and Facebook photo for vidaMOTO promotion purposes. Gotta love that manx tank, 'da hump' (seat!) and various caffed-up detail pieces, from guards to pipes to bars. Gimme gimme.

Back to the old...

Blimey, I almost said 'back to the old school' there...close call...just to calm your nerves in case you thought I only was gonna put cafe racers up on the blog, here's some nifty 6-fifties for you. excess of course (x-s 650, geddit?). The so-called japanese triumph. These are just a lil' taster for you peeps, I got some AMAZING machines to bring you in the near future.

'drink yer black coffee...

...stare at the wall'


lyrical class from Rollins frontin' up BLACK FLAG or was it Keith the other guy?


Not too sure, what I do know is Honda's 'world's 1st superbike' cb750/4 SOHC is a beautiful machine that makes a cafe that's SOOOOOOO right. I like 'em, that's my old orange 750 chop from the mid-90s in the 1st pic on Vida MOTO. You musta seen Carpy's work before, aka Steve Carpenter, expat brit now in SoCal; that's one of his, resplendent in deep black and gold/checks, while the other one is a Belgian caff off of caferacer.com, great site (only if you like cafe racers, that is), not that you'd ever guess with a name like that, would you?

jap chops rule

Not necessarily japanese-built chops that is, but kickass bikes built around late-model air/oil cooled big CC beauties like this 'ere GSXR. Great lines, and guaranteed not to spill its guts all over the street. Unlikely to hang about either, what's not to like?


Watch out for loads more like this, coming your way courtesy of VidaMOTO.

Big seat! Fairing! Radials! Mirrors! Shocks!

'Scuze the daft title, but do you ever get the feeling all the bikes you see trumpeted all over the web on sites and blogs like this one tend to follow a, er, 'particular style'? I tell you what, I do, and I reckon it's time to add a little variety to the mix. Sure, I'll be posting plenty of trad-style choppers and (dare I say it) bobbers- but there'll also be bikes like this gorgeous Guzzi, streetfighters, maybe even some racers and factory bikes too, if they're nice. There'll be plenty of Jap-powered chops, not just standard Brit/Harley fare.

This blog's gonna be all about a positive attitude, and the focus is squarely on motorcycles. I really welcome any contributions from readers, send me some pics of your projects, and I'll get them up here. Ride on!

French cafe style

Hinckley Triumph's modern bonnie twin is a great platform for a practical, stylish ride, no question about that- it might not have the same class as an Edward Turner original, but then again an evo big twin ain't a knucklehead, is it? Stating the bleedin' obvious, but just illustrating my point. Whatever, if you've not heard of 'em, Mecatwin are a French outfit who specialise in fairly high-end parts, mods and specials based on new bonnies. Mild to wild, they do all sorts, but you'd better have deep pockets. When my ship comes in, I'll have one or two in the stable, this pair will do for starters.