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It’s been a little over one year since we arrived back here in Brasilia, and this is how my arrival has unfolded. While being dragged around shopping with my wife, I meet a fellow rider in the shopping mall. I had on my Royal Enfield t-shirt. A stranger and now friend spoke to me in Portuguese asking if I was a rider. Not that I knew then what he said, as I replied my usual and well-learned Portuguese phrase:”Desculpe, mas eu não falo Portuguese,” yet in a friendly manner, he switched effortlessly and fluently into English (not such a common thing here). 

“Do you ride an Enfield?”, he asked. 

“Not yet, but I will be soon.”, I replied. 

And after a brief chat, we exchanged WhatsApp details – or ZapZap, as it’s known here in Brazil; with a promise to meet up for a ride. It took us nearly a couple of months before we could make good on our promise, since as life often does, the odd spanner got caught in the works, on family, or simply timing does not sync. Finally, when we made a time to meet up, Helder suggested going to his local moto hang-out, Kluster Moto Hub and Community.

Kluster, I was to learn, was set up and run as a loose co-op focusing on skill-sharing. For me, as an ex-pat Kiwi-aka-New Zealander living in Brasilia, Brazil, not yet having met too many moto riders here, this was just what I needed. Helder and Kluster have sure been the remedy to that minor problem. Since I don’t speak a lot of Portuguese yet, a harsh language to learn (but I am slowly adding words and phrases to my vocabulary), I was even more pleasantly surprised to find that many of the regulars at Kluster spoke a little English, or a lot more than I spoke Portuguese. I could not have found myself in better company and language or not; we all converse in fluent “Motorcyclese”.

And this is where I met Zeduardo aka Zed, co-owner of Kluster Moto Hub and Community”, with whom I got around to having a sit-down and a good chat about Kluster and how it all came into being such an excellent place. I found myself welcomed into its friendly and welcoming environment full of moto culture mementos and other memorabilia, all linked to Zed’s previous life as a geologist, travelling and working worldwide. I eventually suggested writing an article for Bike Brewers about Kluster and how it all began. 

Zed, like myself, started hacking around on motorbikes at age thirteen, and it has now grown into a full-on passion. His first bike was a 50cc two stroker, a scooter that he and a friend bought with their combined funds. Zed and his friend soon found that keeping an old motorcycle was not easy, a constant drain on their pockets. So after a short adventure of hiding the moto from their parents at friends places and other hideouts, they had to sell their first venture into motorcycle ownership. All of this was done without the permission of Zeds parents, like a lot of us who started riding at an early age but come hell or high water, we were gonna be motorheads. 

Zed tells me, once he started university, he had a scooter that brought him to and from his classes, all without a licence. His first legal bike was a 125cc Suzuki Bergman scooter and the perfect way to get around the streets of Brasilia. Not long afterwards, he finally got his licence and the beginning of a lifelong addiction to motorcycling. 

Kluster is a great community; a place where people can get together and work on their bikes, a unique opportunity as a place for people to get creative, to be supported and to be taught how to work on their motorcycles, doing simple jobs like learning to do an oil and filter change, adjust a clutch, bleed brakes or change brake pads. 

There’s enough space there for people to get even more adventurous and take on a full-on customization project. Or take on a motor performance upgrade, as I will be doing with the help of my mate Helder in the next few weeks. I will be sure to do a write up for you all once the work is completed.   

The customization scene here in Brazil and before the world wide web gave us all an eye into the world; Brazil had a uniquely tropical style of customization born from the isolation and the years of the dictatorship (a story for another time). But once we had the internet, the Brazilian motorcycle scene opened up with new models and larger displacement engines to play with. And of course, all that inspiration coming out of Europe, the United Kingdom and the US really set the creative juices flowing. 

Motorcycling in Brazil mainly was based around the use by poorer Brazilians as their primary mode of transport and working vehicle, and it still is today. Brazil’s cities and towns are awash with thousands of guys and girls who make their living working from their motorcycles. Small motorcycles are relatively cheap instead of car ownership in Brazil, which is quite expensive. 

Mostly, the customization scene is mainly done by people from more professional occupations, lawyers, doctors, corporate individuals, and the middle class in general. There is still quite a divide between the rich and poor here, but not as much as it once was. Most motorcycle riders here work in delivery or use motorcycles as the primary mode of transportation for the family. And customization is very low on their priority list and way out of their budget. Something we in the West take very much for granted. Life here in Brazil will soon wake most people up to the privileged lives we live as even our poorest people live reasonably well in comparison. 

Kluster has a membership program that, for R$75.00 a month, gives you full access to the tools and the motorcycle lifts to work on your moto, and some focused workshops are offered like learning welding and fabrication or basic motorcycle wiring, or spray painting a tank or the frame and other parts that you might need paint applied on your project. 

The team comprises Zed and his partners André Gusmão, Victor Mayer and Hérique Marque. André is a long time friend of Zed’s, and they have been working on Kluster together from its beginning. And again, a friendship forged from a love of life on two wheels. Victor is the workshop Cafe manager. Hérique aka Eric, is Kluster’s front of house man and the first friendly face you’ll meet on arrival. He speaks English and Portuguese.

 Kluster Moto Hub and Community is more than just a place for motorheads, it’s a home away from home, and it’s all about friends and family. It is also home to a tattooist, Marcelo Munster; you can find him on Instagram @marcelomunster if you are looking for some of that old school cool ink to go with your moto mania passion. 

The pandemic hit Kluster hard, as with many small businesses here and in the world. But thanks to cool heads, good management and a loyal community, it has survived and looks set to thrive as it moves forward with new projects and the steady growth of new members. 

Indeed Kluster has been a lifesaver, a great place to meet up and make new friends; long may Kluster rein as Brasilia’s number one moto hang-out and community. 

So if you’re passing, call in, meet the crew, shoot the shit, grab a coffee and a snack, get ya bike washed while ya kick back on the plush leather sofa and make new friends.

You can make contact via; 

• WhatsApp +55-61-3233-8978
• https://www.klustermoto.com

• NORTE – SOF NORTE QUADRA 05 CONJUNTO C LOTE 13 SOF NORTE – ATRÁS DA LEROY, DF-003 – Zona Industrial Norte, DF, 70634-530

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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.

The post Winner 2021 Café Racer Fest Bulgaria – Yamaha XV by Borislav Aleksov appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

Following last week’s announcement of the production of the millionth Triumph from Hinckley, the iconic British motorcycle brand also proudly presents the first ever Triumph prototype! To be touched only while wearing white gloves.

The prototype from 1901
This is truly nothing short of an amazing historical find. The prototype was discovered and restored by leading vintage Triumph collector Dick Shepherd. The 1901 prototype rewrites the history books and actually adds a whole new chapter to the period leading up to Triumph’s official sale, starting in 1902.

The rumors about the existence of this very first Triumph prototype were persistent, as it was referenced to in advertisements and reviews that appeared in 1901. The prototype was developed on the basis of a standard Triumph pedal bike, with a motor supplied by the Belgian manufacturer Minerva. The brand did this to arouse interest and at the same time to gauge among the public whether there would actually be a demand for a Triumph motorcycle.

Surreal discovery
Dick Shepherd says: “When I was approached by a friend of a collector, who unfortunately had recently passed away, to appraise an old Triumph, I was exuberant. Especially when I found out that this bike possessed unique details that I had never seen on any of the the first production Triumphs. Along with the engine, the collector had also received a letter from Triumph, dated 1937, describing the unique origin of the motorcycle and providing important details.”

Continuing: “With an engine number consistent with references in Minerva’s engine data from a first agreement with Triumph in 1901, the historical importance of this motorcycle became immediately apparent.”

“As a lifelong fan of the history and successes of this incredible British brand, it gives me immense satisfaction to have had the honor to ‘unearth’ this amazing survivor. Added to that feeling is the fact it is incredible to have been allowed to restore it to the glorious state in which it would have been, when it was first exhibited in 1901.”

Unveiling
The 1901 prototype, which was first unveiled at the Motorcycle Live show in the UK, will be on display at a special event at Triumph’s Factory Visitor Experience on December 14th. For this special occasion, the machine will be ridden in public for the first time in more than 100 years.

This important historic bike will be on display together with the millionth Hinckley Triumph in a new showcase specially made for the 120th anniversary in Triumph’s visitor centre.

The Triumph Factory Visitor Experience is free to visit and is located at Triumph’s headquarters in Hinckley, England. It is open daily from Wednesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 16:30.

The BikeBrewers team were invited for the opening back in 2017 and have been back a few times since then.
When visiting Birmingham on a road trip, make sure to add it to your stops. It is definitely worth spending some time in.

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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

The post REPORT: Café Racer Fest 2021 by Café Racer Club Bulgaria appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

In a shed far far away
We get requests from all over the world to write posts about builds.
Never ever before did we get an email all the way from Siberia though!

Nikita (no not the one from Elton John!), the owner of KrikMoto reached out to us via Instagram and presented us with the Honda he had produced as a first project.
The idea had been maturing in the brain of our new Russian friend during the last four years. It was about two years ago he decided to just go for it and got himself the 1993 Honda CB400 Super Four.

Step 1: buy a bike
Acquiring the bike set him back $ 1.000 to start with.
Hm, whilst on the subject of starting, the bike proved to be in pretty poor condition when he got it. This meant major work had to be done before he could even start working on the customization of his caféracer.

If you live in a part of the world which has a climate as harsh as in his homeland you are not easily scared by minor setbacks. You just roll up your sleeves and get to it.
The only thing Nikita was working from was the clear picture in his mind of how the bike should turn out in the end. But even that picture became slightly blurry at times, as he was struggling to get to grips with technical issues along the way.

Built not bought
He did not even steer away from creating many elements from scratch including the seat. For this particular part he had to call in some outside help as his mother had forgotten to teach him how to work the sewing machine.

Some of the other chores he sank his teeth into were exercises such as modifying the intake system by replacing the airbox with four K&N air filters with zero resistance, changing the subframe, replacing the dashboard, side shields and rear suspension.
As his father did not forget to initiate him into the secrets of welding, Nikita also took it upon him to produce a new exhaust system. Not bad for a first project.

First love
In answer to our question what he likes most about the bike he smilingly answers: “Everything”. Continuing: “Perhaps this is because it is the firstborn”.
Fortunately for him the managed to sell the bike quickly and is sure its new owner is now a happy man riding around the Tundra’s in far away Siberia. Unfortunately for us there was not enough time to provide a decent set of pictures, so we have to do with the few which were sent to us.

To make up for the minimal selection he did send us a tasteful video though.

Onwards and upwards!
Still we feel this is enough to anxiously await news of a next project. We have seen some snapshots of interesting things to come.
Closing off with the Russian builder’s famous last words about his motivation to start building:
“When riding a bike, you should savour the feeling of the ride. If you are fortunate enough to be riding a custom bike the feeling multiplies!”

Builder details:
Builder: KrikMoto – Nikita
email: krikunov_n@mail.ru
Instagram
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