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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ONE MILLIONTH ‘HINCKLEY PRODUCED’ TRIUMPH KICKS OF THE ICONIC BRITISH BRAND’S 120-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PLANS

Hand in hand with the announcement of plans to celebrate next year’s 120th anniversary of the most iconic British motorcycle brand in the world, Triumph unveils the landmark millionth (!) Hinckley Triumph produced.

Just in case you wonder why the particular mentioning of Hinkley;
The original factory, Triumph Engineering Co Ltd was a British motorcycle manufacturing company, based originally in Coventry and then in Meriden. In the 1980’s of the last century the company went bankrupt largely due to the heavy competition of the Japanese manufacturers. Just like most other iconic British motorcycle brands.

The current company, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, is now based in Hinckley. It gained the name rights after the end of the company in the 1980s and is currently one of the world’s major motorcycle manufacturers.

The Millionth Triumph of The Modern Era
Triumph has reached a historic milestone in its modern era with the reveal of the millionth motorcycle built since the brand’s return in 1990. Unveiled at Triumph’s Global Headquarters in Hinckley on December 1st 2021 by Nick Bloor, CEO, in front of the UK team, the millionth Triumph is a one-off custom painted model of Triumph’s incredibly successful Tiger 900 Rally Pro.
Launched in 2019 the Tiger 900 Rally Pro provides a perfect demonstration of Triumph’s world leading design, engineering and production capability, courtesy of its class defining character, capability, quality and attention to detail – attributes shared by all of Triumph’s modern line-up

With its sophisticated custom Silver paint scheme and one millionth graphics this very special milestone motorcycle will be displayed on Triumph’s stand at this year’s Motorcycle Live show at the NEC and then on show in Triumph’s Factory Visitor Experience.

Says Bloor: ‘’Everyone at Triumph is incredibly proud to have played a part in achieving such a momentous moment in the modern history of this iconic brand. Over the 31 years since we re-launched Triumph with a new line of British designed motorcycles in Cologne in 1990, we have shared so many great moments with our fans across the world. Triumph’s success has always stemmed from the passion and commitment we share with our riders.’’

‘’Whilst the last year has been challenging for all of us, this passion and commitment has driven Triumph to even greater heights, including the successful entry into new categories with the Trident 660 and Tiger Sport 660.”

“Over the last three decades Triumph has maintained sustained and significant investment in our people, our partners and our in-house design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities, in order to grow the reach and reputation of this iconic British brand. This investment in home grown talent, both in the UK and around the world, matched by the passion we share with our riders for delivering the complete and perfect motorcycle, has seen the brand go from strength to strength, achieving the most successful year in the brand’s entire 120-year history.’’

‘’Furthermore, we are committed to taking the brand to even greater heights, and with the forthcoming launch of our brand new Tiger 1200, new competition MX and Enduro motorcycles, plus our strategic partnership with Bajaj to create smaller capacity bikes, I am delighted to say that the future for Triumph and its fans across the world will be just as exciting and rich as the last 30 years has been.’’

Celebrating 120 Years of the Most Successful British Motorcycle Brand
Encompassing millions of passionate fans who share the same obsession for motorcycling Triumph announce their plans to celebrate in 2022 the landmark 120-year anniversary of this iconic British motorcycle brand.

The very first production Triumph motorcycle went on sale to the public in April 1902, starting one of the world’s richest and most exciting brand stories; a story that has gone on to encompass countless legendary motorcycles, and playing a significant role in shaping the motorcycle world we enjoy today.

Triumph’s modern era began in 1990 with a completely original range of motorcycles designed and built in a brand new, state-of-the-art factory at Hinckley. In the three decades since, Triumph has built and sold more motorcycles than at any previous time in its history through an international network of more than 700 dealers in 57 countries.

And despite recent challenges, the passion for Triumph shared around the world by owners, riders, fans and dealers has made the last 12 months the most successful ever, with more than 75,000 bikes registered globally and a turnover of £650 million.
Triumph represents the very pinnacle of Great British design and engineering, with a line-up of world-beating bikes spanning multiple genres from adventure to roadsters to modern classics, each delivering Triumph’s renowned reputation for class-leading handling, finish and detailing and original, authentic design.

Today Triumph operates across five manufacturing facilities, all managed and led by the global headquarters in Hinckley, Leicestershire, where every Triumph is conceived, prototyped and tested in Triumph’s centre of design excellence by our in-house team. The most recent addition to Hinckley’s impressive infrastructure is an all-new UK assembly plant, built to enhance Triumph’s global manufacturing flexibility and complement the existing multi-million-pound paint shop and rapid prototyping facilities.

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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
Facebook

The post Summer in Siberia – KrikMoto’s Honda CB400 appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

Don’t try this at home, we are professionals
The BikeBrewers’ team members are becoming true experts in ‘unboxing’ stuff in all shapes and forms.
Recently we had received a box filled with gear from the guys and girls at SA1NT.
Obviously we were anxious to see what Pandora was hiding and decided to share the unboxing with you all by video.

HOT TIP!!
If you like SA1NT gear and you are looking for a good deal:
USE THE CODE ‘BB20‘ for a whopping 20% discount* on our behalf!
*European residents only

From down under to the top of the world
SA1NT originated in Melbourne Australia and, as with many other apparel brands it is designed for riders by riders. Which makes sense as riders know exactly what we need to protect ourselves.
Their team are passionate about motorbikes, but they grew tired of compromising looks for safety, or safety for fashion.

SA1NT apparel claims to delivers great freedom and form, with world first single layer protection. With no bulky layers or liners.
They boast about providing the very best in strength and impact abrasion resistant denim, while maintaining a classic style.

That made us very curious.

In their own words
“We create world first single layer protection by stretching, spinning and blending ballistic, industrial and military application threads with wearables like merino and cotton.
We are designing milling, weaving and knitting the latest impact abrasion resistant fibers with motorcycle denims, drills and base layer fabrics.

Designed to be worn all day and all night, our apparel allows the freedom to look as good on your bike as you do off it and most importantly stacks the odds in your favor when things go random.”

Hunter S. Thompson
They SA1NT team are inspired by a quote from this great writer who happens to be one of our all time heroes.
Part of the quote can be found on the SA1NT website, but we think it deserves to be presented to you in full glory:

“But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right … and that’s when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it … howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica … letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge … The Edge … There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others — the living — are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.

But the edge is still Out there. Or maybe it’s In. The association of motorcycles with LSD is no accident of publicity. They are both a means to an end, to the place of definitions.”

― Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels

*Source: Wikipedia:
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement.
He first rose to prominence with the publication of Hell’s Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of the lives and experiences of its members.

Thompson remains best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), a book first serialized in Rolling Stone in which he grapples with the implications of what he considered the failure of the 1960s counterculture movement. It was adapted on film twice: loosely in Where the Buffalo Roam starring Bill Murray as Thompson in 1980, and directly in 1998 by director Terry Gilliam in a film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.

If you have not yet seen that movie, we strongly advise you to make up for this omission in your life.

Not just for boys!
It may not come as a surprise that SA1NT does not only produce cool gear for men.
They take good care of the ladies too.

Here are some examples of their female rider gear (jacket, pants)

Photo credtis:
‘Nubbs’ Sugrue
Pien Meppelink (riding shot – courtesy of Royal Enfield and Royal Enfield Benelux)
Female rider: Caroline Westendorp

The post Unboxing SA1NT gear appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

But growing up between motorcycle parts George wanted more and was ambitious enough to start his own brand just after the war in 1919. The son was convinced he could improve on his father’s designs, and made sure all motorcycles produced in his factory were high performance and of superior quality.

To achieve this all motorcycles were actually assembled twice. The first round was to make sure all parts fitted properly, whereas the second and final build was after all materials that needed to be painted or plated had been given the required treatment. After that all machines were test ridden to make sure they performed up to specifications.

It goes without saying that the Brough Superior were expensive and clients came mostly from higher echelons in British society.

Lawrence of Arabia: Eternal Brough Superior icon
Lawrence of Arabia, also known as Thomas Edward Lawrence or T.E Shaw (when he enrolled in the
Royal Air Force), was a British author. He owned no less than seven Brough Superiors. He was a fanatical rider. His Broughs were so important to him that he used to write about them in letters and in his books. The ultimate brand ambassador. Each of his Broughs was given a name that was similar to a royal lineage, going from George I to George VII.

In his book The Mint, Lawrence dedicated an entire chapter (The Road) to the pleasure he had of riding across England in the morning to get the best ingredients for a brunch.
This chapter is still considered as one of the most beautiful odes to riding motorcycles.

Ton up
Brough Superior was the first brand to have produced motorcycles that could go ‘Ton up’ (above 100 mph) even before the expression became common in the British café racer scene in the sixties.

The original factory produced motorcycles between 1919 and 1940. After the war it ceased production. It was not until 2014 when a by French motorcycle expert Thierry Henriette bought the rights to the brand name.

Presenting ‘The Lawrence’
After relaunching the iconic brand with Lawrence of Arabia’s legendary ‘S.S.100’ in collaboration with Aston Martin to create the only existing bike of the brand, French owned Brough Superior decided to set out to produce the most high end motorcycle of the world, the “Lawrence”.

In line with the original way of producing more than a century ago, modern day Brough superiors are also hand-built using only the best materials available (titanium, carbon fibre, aluminium), the production of the Lawrence benefited from the excellent network within the French aeronautical while it was being developed.

Launch delayed
A highly anticipated revelation of the bike was scheduled for the EICMA 2020 fair in Milan, but the show was cancelled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lawrence was only recently released to the public online.

This new model represents a milestone for Brough Superior. Inspired by the mechanical architecture
of the S.S.100, the Lawrence has unique curves that were only possible to be created by using
carbon fibre. The frame of the motorcycle is in titanium, and its fork is a Fior type in aluminium.

The engine has entirely been developed internally by the Brough Superior engineers. The production
technology and the engineering skills that are required to build this bike partly come from the
aeronautical industry that is very influential in the region of Toulouse, France. The world’s leading
spaceships, satellites and aircrafts are also produced in the same region.

Limited edition
The original brand only manufactured only 3.048 motorcycles during the factory’s lifetime.
Only 188 editions of this 21st century edition will be produced. The number 188 is echoing the
birth date of T.E. Lawrence: 1888.

With the high standard of quality it is hardly surprising the price tag is in the upper regions as well. The French factory has set it around 66 000 euros, the definite price depending on local taxes.

The proud owners of the brand name describe the birthplace of their latest brainchild as “a mesmerizing place where ideas take shape into beautiful objects.”
Each part of a Brough is thought, drawn and designed by the Factory’s engineers and designers. It is
then hand-built with the finest existing materials by Brough Superior’s craftsmen.
Welders, polishers, painters and saddlers are working in harmony within the headquarters of the
company.
Some parts like wheels and swingarms are cnc-ed by local machinist partners. Their expertise allows Brough Superior to meet the same quality requirements as in the aeronautical industry.

The BikeBrewers team is in high anticipation of an invite to travel to the South of France and fly this baby around in the lovely French countryside in search of the right ingredients for a decent picnic.

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