Yamaha is once again hosting a custom sportbike competition for both amateur and professional builders. Up for grabs are MotoGP tickets, cash, trophies and bragging rights.

For amateur builders the competition begins in the digital world by submitting your entry at yamaha-motor.com/customshowdown. Yamaha will select 150 entrants and award them with 3-day passes to either Laguna Seca or Indianapolis for the MotoGP race. The top twenty winners will be invited to display their bikes at the Custom Bike Shows being held in conjunction with two USGPs.

Continue Reading »

Shot for Chinese FHM magazine, these photos have an anime, futuristic feel to them and are very well done. After the jump, there are some photos listed that have some very cool looking motorcycles that are easy on the eyes…

Continue Reading »

Motorcycle Retro is a pet project of former Motorcyclist editor Mitch Boehm, launching as Motorcyclist Retro in early 2008 under the Source Interlink media umbrella. It featured a contemporary look at motorcycles of the 1960s through the 1980s.

However, the circulation numbers of MR didn’t meet the expectations of the media conglomerate, and they cancelled production of the magazine after just two issues.

But Boehm won’t let it die and has taken production of the magazine directly under his wing. He says the re-launch of MR as Motorcycle Retro is “moving ahead nicely,” and is on track for a May release of issue one. “We’ve got a printer and an art director lined up, a business plan that makes a bit of sense.”

Continue Reading »

I love pop culture… maybe even a little too much. With such an addiction to collecting – regardless the industry – I read a lot of magazines. I simply don’t know when to say no. And yes, I still buy magazines despite being an internet addict and content creator. Just how many magazines constitutes “a lot” you may ask? I’ll just say that I employ the services of self-storage units to house my collection.

While walking around the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica tonight I tried to simply cruise past the open air magazine stand and not shop as I usually do. I didn’t have the carrying capacity on the motorcycle tonight to pick up my usual Friday night stack. My eyes however had to look from afar even though my body was keeping itself out of arms reach – they’re a weak team. I was surprised to see on the cover of New York City’s Surface Magazine, “Style and Design for Inspired Living”. Beneath a Louis Vuitton-encrusted Janine Henkes (the model) was Tiger Bracy’s visionary creation called the Victory Vision 800. Awesome! It’s rare to see two of my favorite worlds come together in a personally appealing way – fashion and motorcycles. I bought the magazine and added it to my collection of course.

Congrats to Tiger for designing and building such an oddity, and thanks to Robert and Manny Pandya for bringing Victory Motorcycles to the general public’s eye on the cover of Surface Magazine’s Annual Avant Guardian Issue.