Introduced in 1996, the Suzuki Bandit 1200 took the bulletproof air/oil-cooled GSX-R1100 engine, bumped it to 1152cc, and dropped it into a steel frame for a naked streetfighter.
The formula was simple: big torque, cheap purchase price, and nearly unlimited modification potential.
That spirit of affordable performance lives on in Suzuki’s modern lineup, with the SV650 confirmed for 2027 with an all-new SV-7GX engine.
Continue reading “Custom 1996 Suzuki Bandit 1200 by Colin Worth”Ducati introduced the Hypermotard 1100 in 2007 as a supermoto-style machine with a 1078cc air-cooled Desmo V-twin. Pierre Terblanche designed it to combine supermoto agility with a heavier, torquey V-twin character.
The 1100S was the up-spec version with improved suspension, brakes, and forged Marchesini wheels. MCN described the original as having a “pathological penchant for wheelies.”
Marc Wilmington, a UK builder who has owned more than 30 motorcycles since a teenage Suzuki TS50X, chose a 2009 Hypermotard 1100S for his first full custom build. He wanted something that looked like a manufacturer concept before the boardroom watered it down.
REZ Industries has turned a 2024 Honda Monkey 125 into the GeeGee Chop, a small-format chopper built in Taiwan for a customer who planned to ride it. The project keeps the Monkey’s original frame and rear twin-shock suspension instead of converting the bike into a hardtail.
That decision leaves the donor bike recognizable beneath the taller front end, ape-hanger bars, and bright flame paint. The result follows the proportions of a traditional chopper while retaining the compact Honda platform, much like other custom vintage motorcycle builds.
Continue reading “REZ Industries Turns 2024 Honda Monkey 125 into a Chopper”Bultaco’s TSS racers were built for the sharp end of road racing, pairing light weight with increasingly potent two-stroke singles. Jets Forever’s latest machine takes that competition lineage and stretches it toward the dry-lake racer tradition, using a 340 TSS engine as the center of the design.
Built by Jeff Duval, the Montjuich Class 340 TSS Competition Client carries the name of Barcelona’s famous circuit and the spirit of Bultaco’s racing history. It looks part Grand Prix machine, part straight-line special, with a long stance that makes the polished engine and huge expansion chamber impossible to miss.
Continue reading “Custom 1976 Bultaco 340 TSS by Jets Forever”There are plenty of classic Ducati models that make obvious café racer donors, but the first-generation Multistrada has rarely been one of them. Pierre Terblanche’s tall, heavily faired sports-tourer was deliberately unconventional when it arrived in the mid-2000s.
Yet beneath all that polarizing plastic sat some of Bologna’s finest hardware of the era. For their latest project, dubbed “Desmo Corridore Caffè,” UK custom workshop Pit Lane Moto stripped a 2005 Ducati Multistrada 1000S DS back to its bare essentials to unlock its true athletic potential.
Continue reading “Custom Ducati Multistrada 1000S by Pit Lane Moto”Portugal-based workshop Holy Moly Motorcycles has returned to its custom-building roots with a stunning retro-inspired creation dubbed the “XT700.”
Designed to explore what a modern Yamaha XT500 might look like if built on today’s hardware, the project uses a Yamaha Ténéré 700 as its donor platform.
Continue reading “Custom Yamaha Tenere 700 by Holy Moly Motorcycles”The best custom motorcycles aren’t built from a catalogue. They start with a problem and an idea.
For Poulson Creative, an Essex workshop founded by Stuart Poulson in 2018, that meant taking Triumph’s Scrambler 1200 XC and asking what it could become. Their answer: The Jackal, a bespoke machine that blends off-road capability with long-distance comfort, all without losing the scrambler’s character.
Continue reading “Custom Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC by Poulson Creative”The Bonneville Bobber has always been a minimalist’s dream. Triumph’s modern take on the classic bobber aesthetic comes complete with a floating saddle, stripped-down bodywork, and an air of restraint. But what if you wanted to push it further? Spanish custom shop Tamarit took that question seriously with Miss Hyde, a build that transforms the Bobber into something far more aggressive.
The conversion starts with the bodywork. The factory’s floating saddle is replaced by a one-piece subframe that merges the seat and rear section into a single assembly. Below that, an airbox delete hides the wiring behind a chrome cover. The swingarm gets the full Tamarit treatment: heavily braced upper section, chrome plating, and speed holes to reduce weight.
Continue reading “Custom Triumph Bonneville Bobber by Tamarit”One of the most iconic custom motorcycles ever built has found a new owner. Allen Millyard’s extraordinary Viper V10 sold at Bonhams’ Summer Stafford Sale today for £130,000, ending decades of speculation about what the legendary build might fetch if it ever came to market.
The hand-built machine never left Millyard’s hands until now. It appeared at shows and featured in videos over the years, but the hammer falling today marks the first time the bike was offered to the public.
Continue reading “Allen Millyard’s Legendary 8.0-Litre Viper V10 Finally Sells at Auction for £130,000”James Fawcett of Slipstream Creations breathed new life into a neglected 1975 Honda CL360 scrambler, a bike with immense sentimental value that had been given to its owner, Chris, for his 14th birthday back in 1985.
Over the course of four decades, the motorcycle had lapsed into severe disrepair from being stored outdoors, prompting a complete restomod transformation. Utilizing the CL360’s robust tubular steel frame, Fawcett stripped away unnecessary factory tabs and welded on a custom rear seat hoop bent from one-inch chromoly steel.
Continue reading “Custom Honda CL360 Scrambler by Slipstream Creations”
