Gentlemen, may we have your votes please?
In 2021 the BikeBrewers team got invited by the Café Racer Club Bulgaria to act as judges for the 2nd edition of the Caféracerfest in Kyustendil – Bulgaria. We didn’t know what to expect, since this was the first time we were asked to perform this serious duty, and all we had seen so far were (lovely) pictures of the first edition. Now, we may not know much about the Eurovision Song contest, however, we do know a thing or two about caféracers, so we grabbed our motorcycle gear and headed East.

Throwback 2021
As you may recall, we were blown away by the quality of the event, which we clearly communicated in our September 24th report. A major factor in the success of the first two editions is the undaunted organizer of the event, Ivan Mushev. That name may ring a bell, and it should; we’ve featured some of Ivan’s masterpieces under the name of his outfit Bull Moto custom. But that’s not what we are here for now.

We must have done something right as we have been invited to judge again at the 2022 edition of the Caféracerfest which is coming up on June 11th, and we couldn’t be more excited! Looking back at last year’s event did raise the question if this year’s contenders have any idea of the high level of last year’s participants? If we go by what we saw last year, we have some pretty high expectations.

…and the winner is..!
This story is about Borislav Aleksov and his dream to build the ultimate café racer. Before the Bulgarian builder got his hands on this 1992 Yamaha XV1100, he had already built a Honda CX500 café racer. Borislav was fascinated by the air-cooled Yamaha v-twin, so when one of his friends was selling his, Borislav knew that it was now or never. We’re glad he took that chance.

It’s safe to say that we have yet to see a boring Yamaha XV caféracer here at BikeBrewers. This one seems to be the latest addition to that list, keeping the standard yet again, very high. It’s hard to imagine that Borislav had a budget of a mere 7500 euro; that kind of money you’d expect a shed-built bike to cost, definitely not a show-winning unit like this.

Torches out
Borislav started with chopping the rear sub-frame, and building a new one from scratch. At the front a set of Suzuki GSX-R1000 forks were adopted, held firmly in place by a set of Aprilia RSV4 triple clamps. The forks allow for radial brake callipers to be mounted, which is exactly what the master craftsman did, courtesy of Tokico. At the rear, a Yamaha FZ6 mono-shock keeps the bike on track. The new forks brought a new dilemma; the ground clearance was now compromised. The solution: raising the engine up in the frame. That’s not an easy task, so countless hours were spent trying to get it right.

The engine didn’t go back in the frame before being completely overhauled and got covered with a fresh coat of paint. The carbs were cleaned and rebuild, so that took care of the intake side of things. On the exhaust side, a new custom-made exhaust system was build from the ground up. We really liked the lines and angles of the exhaust system, and it’s one of the key features that attracted us to this bike on the day of the event. When we asked Borislav what his intentions were when he built this bike, he said that, at first he wanted to build a classic looking café racer, but that he changed his mind half-way through the project after being inspired by some builds he saw on Facebook.

Wheels
A friend of Borislav took care of lacing the hubs to a new set of aluminium rims, which were also in black. Yes, black is the theme with this build, and we like it! Do you know what’s also black? The modified Benelli fuel tank, the epitome of café racer fuel tanks. Everything was painted in-house by Borislav himself. A custom leather seat keeps the rider firmly in place, and a Daytona Velona 80 gives all the necessary rider info whilst maintaining a contemporary look.

It is clear to see why this particular café racer took the 1st prize during the 2021 Caferacerfest.
This is what Borislav had to say about his build:
“I like the paint scheme and the general profile of the motorcycle that is the exact opposite of a chopper. The riding experience is unexplainable after 3 years of working on this project to be able to finally ride it is a dream come true. Thanks also for the Felix helmet that I received as a prize. It really enhances the look of the ride” he smiles.

Previous life
Below are some shots of the bike before Borislave opened his toolbox and the build in progress.

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Another XV!
So when our friend Jeremy Duchamp of JeremMotorcycles shared his modified Yamaha XV1000 TR-1 with us last year, we were over the moon! The Frenchman can’t seem to get enough of the Yamaha XV, so he spent over 240 hours in his shed brewing on another Yamaha XV project, this time is a XV750. We have to say that we were blown away by how this café racer turned out!

It goes without saying that the XV didn’t start of its life like this. Jeremie bought the 1983 XV750 about 1 year ago and it was not in a good shape, according to the craftsman. Each and every bolt was removed and replaced where necessary. The subframe and swingarm had sever corrosion and were removed and decluttered, after which they got sandblasted and powder coated in a gloss black finish.

Serious components
The front end of the XV received a serious upgrade. The front fork has been adopted from a Ducati Monster and was mated to a  Ducati Diavel front wheel. To make it all work , a custom triple clamp was made by USV Racing. Integrated into the top yoke is a KOSO speedo. The radial brakes are courtesy of Brembo and offer tremendous stopping power. The brake lines are of aviation grade quality too. On the clip-ons we find CNC’ed micro switches. All the switches and electrics have been connected to an M-Unit by MotoGadget. Talking about electrics, the café racer received an LED headlight, mini front indicators, and a tail light that appears to be floating, pretty neat! All of this is powered by a Solise lightweight Lithium battery which has been placed underneath the tank.

Moving towards the back of the Yamaha, we can see some serious eye-candy. The rear wheel is an absolute stunner, with the closed rim giving it an old-school racer look. A custom rear-set ensures the rider maintains full control. The rear shock comes off an MV Agusta 800 and has a custom mounting system. The single seat has been built to spec by “Point Sellier 34”, in a beautiful black leather finish with a colour matching piping.

Engine Refreshment
The engine wasn’t up to snuff to begin with, so Jeremie decided to replace it completely by a unit with a lower mileage. With less than 10.000 km on the clock it definitely was a lot fresher. From there it was simple. Replace the original carburettors with a pair of Dellorto PHF32’s, open air-filters, and get the lot tuned by “Les Belled d’Oc” in Béziers, France. To let all the gases out in an efficient way, a custom exhaust was made in the JeremMotorcycles workshop.

Green by AUDI
To finish this custom project off, the engine received a fresh coat of paint, and the fuel tank got painted in a lush AUDI green paint. The fuel tank also received a protective KEVLAR layer underneath to protect against any unwanted influences. There are little easter eggs hidden all over this build; JM logo’s are engraved or painted in countless places, most notably on those Metzeler tires.

Putting all things together, we can’t imagine how Jeremie completed this build in only 240 hours. It is truly impressive, and we hope that someday we can see and hear this beautiful café racer rip the streets of France, in real-life.

Photo Credits: Jonathan Silene

Builder details:
Jerem Motorcycles
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Back in 2020, BikeBrewers were invited to join the first edition of the Café Racer Fest in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Unfortunately COVID had paralyzed the world and travel restrictions caused us to miss out on that event.

We followed the happening on social media while the enthusiasm of participants, visitors and bike builders vibrated through our screens. We knew we missed out on something special! We made a promise there and then, that we would do everything to make it to the 2021 edition. As we are always true to our word, there was no reason not to make the trip this time.

To team members Ron and Adnane it felt nearly as good as going on a road trip even though two flights, three cars but no bikes were involved in getting from Amsterdam to Kyustendil.

Arriving close to midnight, the organizer of the Café Racer Fest and spiritual father of the event, Ivan Mushev of Bull Moto Custom, had kindly arranged transportation from Sofia airport to the ski resort up in the mountains about half an hour up from town up a dark and twisty country road with al sort of wildlife crossing our headlights.

Early start
In order to make the most of the day breakfast was served early and we took off to the centre of town. The empty square would soon be the stage of an extraordinary event, attracting an sizable crowd of both participants and spectators. On the plaza of this nearly 40.000 inhabitant’s rich city, volunteers were busy setting the stage for things to come.

The Café Racer Fest harbours not only custom bikes but also offers a stage for vintage motorcycles and cars from all makes and years. There was quite a collection of incredibly beautiful Pre-Perestroika MZ’s, Jawa’s and Ural sidecars. Truly as if time stood still.

Talking about time, it is funny what the years do with your sense of beauty. Bikes that were considered hideous in the 60’s and 70’s Western Europeans are now considered attractive by the same crowd. Thanks to younger demographics, discovering the fun in riding, Eastern Bloc classic icons such as the 60’s MZ have now grown from being more hideous than the word itself to ultra-cool! We bet there will be quite some young urban riders who would not mind to be spotted on one of those former ‘monstrosities’, were it not that in most large European cities, those two-strokes will never be seen spewing their distinguishable blue exhaust plumes again.

Ride out
Prior to the start of the event, a number of bikers and bike builders met at the local gas station for a ride out to the venue. Little over 150 bikers, nearly of which were modified in one way or another, joined in this brotherly gathering. The atmosphere was incredible; there is something quite special about seeing cafe racers being used for they were built.

Choices, choices
There were three contemporary categories; Modern Classics, Scrambler & Brat, and Café Racers. BikeBrewers were given the task of selecting the Top 3 in the “Café Racer” category. We were given about twenty projects to choose from and had about an hour to finalize our task.

As we always do when judging bikes, we put together a matrix awarding points on a scale of 1-10 for elements such as the ‘Wow!’ factor, originality, quality of work & amp; paint, and craftsmanship and set out separately to do our first independent judging.

You’d expect this to be easy and give clear comparable results. No such thing! We had quite a hefty discussion and with the clock ticking away it required a final walk around to re-evaluate our choices. At the ‘strike of twelve’ we managed to come up with a Top 3 we could both fully subscribe to.

And the winner is…
A 1994 Yamaha XV1100 had scored high points on both our lists and was chosen ‘Best of show’ in this year’s Café Racer category. Its owner, Borislav Alexsov, has put quite a lot of hours in building this machine and is rightfully proud of the result. 2nd place went to Vencislav Angelov with his stunning 1984 Honda CBX 750, and 3rd place went to Kaloian Ivanchev Chekelev with his very cool BMW R75 which saw daylight in 1982.

All top 3 finalists were showered with gifts from local sponsors. To top it off BikeBrewers’ came bearing gifts from our partners Felix Auto Moto and SA1NT! adding a helmet and a sought after twill trucker cap to the basket of each of the category winners!

Come rain come shine
Bulgarians have been spoiled with loads of sunshine over the past couple of months. Unfortunately, rain was predicted during the hours of the event. The start of the award ceremony for the café racer category was launched with a clap of thunder followed by a slight drizzle. That made us feel like home instantly.

Luckily the audience was not scared away that easily, and there was quite a cheer from the several hundred people on the square. According to the organizers, the total attendance during this year’s edition the audience grew with 20% to around 2.500 visitors who meandered amongst all the beauty displayed on the town square this morning.

The next edition
Writing this post just before the party organized by the Cafe Racer Club Bulgaria, we are already spoiled by the kindness of the Bulgarians we met on the way, especially by the members of the café racer community.

As much as we love attending established events in Western European countries, we are always on the lookout for new, exciting and more grass roots experiences. This scene is way bigger and vibrant than you would ever dare to imagine. Everyone we met was proud of the results of their labour and insights are shared freely among this close-knit society.

We will be back for sure and hope the organizers can look forward to an even bigger crowd in 2022. Being the only international visitors this year, we share our experience with the knowledge that this is likely to be the last time we enjoyed this exclusivity.

Given the fact that there is a very lively local scene and magnificent twisty country roads and awesome virgin off road tracks to be travelled freely, it is likely many adventurous bikers from the West will be heading East next year.

Photos by:
Georgi Georgiev Photography
Kalina Kalcheva
BikeBrewers

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V-Twin

Cult-Classic
Due to its unpopularity at the time, the XV slowly started to grow a cult-like following. Being an underdog, second-hand XV’s have been up for grabs for beer money, and it soon became the custom builder’s base bike of choice; with its narrow frame, short wheel-base, easy to work on engine, and Japanese build quality. No surprise that we at BikeBrewers have featured modified XV’s over a dozen time!

Jerem Motorcycles
We have seen what France-based Jeremie Duchampt of Jerem Motorcycles is capable off in the past. This time, he did his magic on the venerable Yamaha XV 1000 TR-1. The bike he used was a neat looking 1982 model. All stock and original. Jeremie first took the entire motorcycle apart, replacing each and every bolt and bearing. The first modifications were done to swingarm and subframe. The swingarm got cleaned-up by removing any unnecessary tabs, and the rear-subframe was swapped out for an in-house made unit. After that, both parts received a sandblast and a fresh coat of black gloss paint.

Cannibal
At the front things have become a bit more serious. The front end of the Yama was swapped out for a fork and front wheel from a Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja. The same goes for the Tokico radial calliper brakes. Combined with a Brembo master brake cylinder and steel-braided hoses, they give the old TR-1 some incredible stopping power. Visibility is provided by LED lights at the front and rear, as well as LED indicators all around. A KOSO speedo gives all the necessary info whilst maintaining a minimalistic look. The rear wheel is a unit from a 2006 Suzuki SV 650, and is now being offered traction by a Sachs rear shock which was cannibalised from an MV Agusta.

The engine received a rebuild and was tuned on a dyno by Thorn Bike, not that it was necessary, but more for peace of mind. The carburettors were rebuilt as well, and are now mated to a Harley-Davidson air-filter. The piece-de-resistance has to be the exhaust system. Built by hand in the Jerem Motorcycles workshop, it looks like a piece of art. Other eye candy has to be the handmade seat. Made by Point Sellier 34, it fits the XV like a glove.

Digital meets Analog
Although the build was kept minimalistic, there are a ton of details on this bike. The original fuel tank was replaced with another Yamaha fuel tank, one from an XV750. It got slightly modified to accommodate a Motogadget fuel sensor. Special paint with Stardust glitter finish and 12 layers of clear coat was done by the folks at A2F. Underneath the fuel tank, a light weight Solise lithium battery is housed, together with the M-unit. The underside of the tank received KEVLAR protection.

Finally, a few more small details that leave a big impact. The bike has the JM Logo engraved on various part of the motorcycle, making it clear that Jeremie built this one. About 400 hours of labor has been put into this café racer, but the results, speak for themselves. We haven’t received any official specs, but it is safe to say that most of the original 70hp and 80Nm of torque are now available on tap. Combined with the heavy weight reduction… If we were in France, we would surely drop by to check this build out. In the meantime, we will have to make do with the pictures Jeremie sent us.

Builder details:
Jerem Motorcycles
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You may recall a similar looking bike built by Industrial Moto late last summer. We featured it in 2017. Someone liked it so much they wanted one for themselves and commissioned Industrial Moto to build another one. While this version is based on the original Project Scout concept, it incorporated a few changes. Maybe the most noticeable is the color of the rims. The customer wanted to feature more of the Solar Flare orange in the color scheme. This Scout II also has front suspension sourced from a Yamaha R1. The front brake master cylinder and reservoir were re-located under the gas tank to give the front end a cleaner look.

The gas tank is originally from a 1974 Suzuki GT750. The wheels came from a Honda CB750. The subframe and seat are handmade and the seat was finished by Tuffside seats. The electrical system includes a MotoGadget m.unit that uses a smartphone as the proximity key and allows the rider to program the display, brake and turn signal functions, as well as report faults and act as an alarm system. We do not expect to see this bike off-road, but the word “ruggedized” factored heavily into the design.

As with all of Industrial Moto’s bikes, all colored surfaces are powder coated to match the specific color scheme, including every exposed bolt head and nut. The motor is completely disassembled and rebuilt with new bearings and seals. Front and rear suspension are rebuilt and modernized. Footpegs and controls are handmade in Industrial Moto machine shop. This bike may be similar to the original project Scout, but it is still a one of a kind build.

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I can’t help it, but we got a submission of another awesome Yamaha Virago. And just like Bal Deo’s Virago I’ve posted last week, it’s an XV750. It’s not on purpose, it’s just how they roll in.

This bike is built by Oran, owner of Buriam Siammotor, a motorcycle dealer in Buriram. This mid-sized town which located in north-east of Thailand was selected to held Moto GP at Chang International Circuit for the first time in 2018. Oran’s family has a long history of selling motorcycles and he’s involved in the business as a youngster. A couple of years ago he bought a 1982 Yamaha XV750 without a clear idea behind it. “Simply because I love the unique sound of the V-twin and that the bike was from my year of birth.” He decided to turn this Virago into a sleek looking cafe racer.

With the help of Mee Classic Shop, a custom bike shop in the same region, Oran managed to create his very own version of the Virago cafe racer. Oan: “Many people told me to stop wasting my time with this project, but the harder they told me, the harder I pushed to get the bike ready”. Most of the parts saw the hands of the builder and he brought the machine back in shape. All parts have been painted, polished or powder coated to bring back the “shine”. Unlike many others, he did not go for the standard Mojave gas tank, but he used a complete hand-built aluminum tank. Combined with the custom subframe and seat, the bike got a beautiful classic line.

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Just like the Honda CB or BMW airheads, the Yamaha Virago is one of the most popular base bikes for custom projects. And yes, it has been done over and over again. Some good, some bad, some terrible. And when a bike design is being consolidated, it gets harder and harder to stand out. Some bikes simply stand out by design, other bikes have something that isn’t so clear to point out. The latter works for this machine built by Bal Deo, a photographer from Vancouver, Canada. If you have a photographic memory and take a quick look, it’s easy to put this bike in the line of the Virago that was built by Moto Adonis. But it also has some similarities with the XV920 by Ugly Motors. Nevertheless, a cool machine that deserved a spot right here. Words by the builder:

Due to some medical issue and going through a rough patch, it was hard not to feel depressed. By profession, by trade, I’m a photographer with microelectronics and some mechanical engineering background. Always loved bikes and surfing the web came across a couple of bike sites that had a wonderful piece of art in term of the builds. There’s nothing more inspiring than look at beautiful art in any form and shape. Hence my journey begins with finding a donor bike. So the most popular for cafe were BMW, Honda, and Yamaha Virago. It happens that while traveling the beautiful countryside of Canada BC, I came across a true “barn find” with 20K on the clock. So my donor bike was a 1982 Yamaha Virgo 750.

I wanted to the bike to look dominant yet pleasing and simple to the eyes. Having a comfortable ride factor was a priority. The main challenge was to keep the build costs down by using the original components much as possible, however, it should be hard for people to recognize the bike as a Virago.

The wiring was completely removed, besides the stator and regulator wires, The electronics were based on the motogadget M-Unit and M-button. You simply can’t buy better, the guys at Rivival Cycles were wonderful in support, considering this being my first build. The frame was sandblasted, cleaned and powder coated, The rear subframe was completely removed and a simple seat pan was fabricated and the frame modified by my friend Jeff (the welder), who’s great in understanding your vision. Initially, we considered moving the battery box underneath the bike and go with a smaller lighter lithium, anyone who knows a virago and their famous starters, for the first version we stayed with a modified stock battery box. The wheels are stock Yamaha virago Rims, however, the tire size was beefed up by using Bridgestone – Exedra MAX 140/90-15 for rear and 120/90-17 for the front.

The top end was completely rebuilt, including new seals, oil filter, adjust valves, and new matte black paint with fins cleaned up to give the lines perspective Aftermarket stainless steel exhaust to give a, even more, simpler clean look. The front end comes from a 2001 R6 with a 2007 R1 fork with a modified stem. We had two padding size for the seat, one comfortable ride, the other “it’s all about the looks”. Unfortunately, at the time of taking the pictures, the “look” seat was borrowed by a friend for his build. The upper shock mount was welded into the frame with very little effort, as we measured, drew up the plan and measured again, and again…

You simply can’t go wrong with careful planning. I had a pretty good handle on from my engineering days.

The overall ride is just wonderful. I’m 6’1″ and find the seat to be little higher, this may be fixed as I would like the front to be lowered by another inch or so. This is pretty simple by moving the clip ons to the topside of the stem, which would give a more comfortable ride.

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Three weeks ago we’ve featured this cool Honda CL350 Brat build by John Thompson, owner of Retro Rebuilds. He’s specialized in (re)building vintage Honda motorcycles. He built up a pretty firm list of custom bikes and today he presented us his latest machine based on a 1982 Honda CX500. And as many readers may know, I have a special “thing” with the CX500, as it was this machine that made me start this blog three years ago.

John aimed to create a “modern-day warrior” to attack the streets of a downtown city. And if you take a good look, it may look like a direct relative of David Bailey’s Yamaha Virago we’ve featured back in 2015. Go ahead, see for yourself: XV920 Virago by David Bailey.

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In a world where everybody is looking at each other through a little screen, it’s becoming harder every day to be original. Same goes for building custom motorcycles, it’s hard to build something that’s not been done before in one way or another. Another difficulty is that everybody seems to know what is good or not. Luckily, our Dutch buddy Sergei Papyan, owner of Ruthless Customz based in Rotterdam (NL), was not afraid to start working on an ’83 Virago XV920.

With a pretty filled stack of skills and a budget of around 7,000 euro’s, Sergei started working on the Yamaha. He wanted to create “an aggressive modern cafe racer“. Let’s sum up some of the most striking mods: the front end comes from a 2007 Yamaha R1. “This was my biggest challenge,” says Sergei, “I’ve never done it before and I wanted the bike to be 100% safe. So swapping something pretty new to something pretty old made me put a lot of effort into this mod”. The gas tank comes from a KZ650R which is mounted at an angle that, together with the custom rear end, give the bike that aggressive stance Sergei was looking for.

Another out of the box item is the headlight. We usually see around, classic looking headlights on custom Viragos. But Sergei didn’t want that; to keep it aggressive and bold he mounted a more modern looking headlight which you may know from Diamonds Atelier machines (this one and this one). To keep the bike as clean as possible, the bike was completely rewired with even the ignition put out of sight; it’s below the seat. The whole bike got a new paint job with a tight, two-tone palette of black and grey.

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The original post was featured earlier on Pipeburn, but as you may know, we always like to give fellow Dutchies some extra attention.

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