#custom

Indian officially revealed the latest edition to its premium Elite collection, the 2024 Roadmaster Elite. Limited to a run of just 350 motorcycles, the 2024 Indian Roadmaster Elite comes in a custom paint job and numerous top tier accessories, with pricing starting at $41,999.

Updated April, 2021

A couple of weeks ago, Harley-Davidson provided an update on its Rewire strategy, including a commitment to releasing the Pan America 1250 adventure tourer in 2021. Harley-Davidson did not, however, provide the same vote of confidence to the Harley-Davidson Bronx, leaving the fate of the streetfighter unclear.

God bless the Brits. I mean, leave it to them – and by “them” I mean Honda UK and its British Touring Car Championship partner, Team Dynamics – to make the most of their bad weather and go after a Guinness world record. In this case, stuffing a CBR1000RR engine inside a riding lawnmower. All in search of going after the title of World’s Fastest Lawnmower. If ever there was such a thing as an answer to a question nobody asked, this is it. Usually, though, those answers are stupid. The Mean Mower v2 is the rare exception. Yeah, it’s absolutely pointless – but it’s also absolutely brilliant. And less than a dozen people on the entire planet have had the pleasure of piloting it. I’m lucky enough to be one of them.

“¡No milagro, milagro, sino industria, industria!”
(“It’s not a miracle, a miracle, but industry! Industry!”)

Arlen Ness lived in way that speaks volumes to his character and values. A man who has long been associated with the churn of an air compressor and the fizz of a paint gun, the clang of tools on a workbench, the staccato first firing of a straight-piped high compression rabble rouser, and a clan of like-minded loud and proud riders on gleaming custom American V-Twins. After a career and life in motorcycling, Arlen wanted to be in his home to peacefully take his last breath. Following a battle with cancer, Ness passed away after a full life of friends and motorcycles, with loving family at his side.

(UPDATE: We’ve added higher-resolution versions of the original illustrations —DC).

Earlier this month, BMW and Japanese builder Custom Works Zon presented a rather industrial-looking retro-styled roadster at the 27th annual Mooneyes Show in Yokohama, Japan. The bike itself, christened the “Departed” by builders Yuichi Yoshizawa and Yoshikazu Ueda, was an interesting combination of vintage styling and modern production, making use of a lot of milled aluminum, steel piping and sheet metal and drawing inspiration from the bikes ridden by racer and landspeed record holder Ernst Henne in the ’20s and ’30s.

Harley-Davidson is launching a new modular platform including a liquid-cooled DOHC engine that will be produced in four displacements ranging from 500cc to 1250cc. This platform will result in three product lines, an adventure touring family, a streetfighter/standard family and a more traditional H-D custom lineup.

Many of us often dream about leaving our boring desk jobs and taking off on two wheels to pursue some hidden desire buried deep down in our soul. Some seek the exploration of two-wheeled travel, while others take their soul searching inward and reflect on what they really want to do in life. Efraon Triana Lopez is one of those people. At age 38, after starting his own graphic design company in Spain, he decided to leave it all and reinvent himself and his understandings of making a living.

This past Saturday marked the tenth installment of one of Southern California’s favorite vintage motorcycle events, the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally. Established in 2007, the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Club (VVMC) is comprised of a band of motorcyclists faithful to and united by the love of riding and maintaining old machines. They’re dedicated to the preservation and celebration of motorcycle culture and everything that goes with it.

Triumph will reveal a new Speedmaster on Oct. 3, adding a cruiser to its Bonneville family. A teaser video announced Triumph’s “new British Classic Custom Icon,” offering a few furtive looks at the new Bonneville Speedmaster.

I’m not sure if every generation that hits my 20-something age range sees a sudden spike in its demographic getting tattoos of daggers, huffing light-blue American Spirits, and stocking up on vests of various materials, but these things all lead that group pursuing the next coolest thing they can do beyond not giving a heck what you think, mom. That next thing can be any number of things from knitting to custom motorcycles.

Being the international man of mystery that you are, you must be in need of an exquisitely designed and meticulously crafted melding of leather and metal that transcends transportation to get you from that hilltop villa overlooking the French Riviera, to your luxury yacht waiting below to take you and your supermodel “friends” out to sail the Côte d’Azur.

BMW announced a new factory customization program for its Heritage and Touring models. The new BMW Motorrad Spezial program expands on the customization concept of the RnineT, adding a number of factory-installed options for the RnineT Pure, Racer, Scrambler and Urban G/S variants, as well as the K1600GT, K1600GTL and R1200RT.