- By Ron BetistPublished On: April 5, 2017
Regular readers already know the cool boy story of Ironwood Custom Motorcycles (if not, read more here). In short: owner Arjan van den Boom turned his hobby into a serious business. But if you build bikes for a living and have to maintain a couple of social media accounts with some […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: March 27, 2017
To be honest, I have to say that bobbers are not a specific type of motorcycle that I love, but I must say that my perception slowly is changing in a positive direction. And if I take a look at the motorcycle market, I think we see a similar change in […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: March 9, 2017
We all dream of a scenario to turn one of our hobby(‘s) into a business or job. What is better than paying your mortgage by doing what you love? For a lot of us it will remain a dream, but not for Arjan van den Boom, the owner of Ironwood Customs […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: February 28, 2017
Back in 2009, Sven Decoux turned his love for motorcycles into a company called SD Motors. His main activities where buying, fixing and selling bikes. Next to this he also started working on his first custom bike project and people around Sven started asking if he could build bikes for them. […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: February 3, 2017
When I was in Barcelona last year I visited Fuel Bespoke Motorcycles and met the owner Karles Vives. Great to have a look at his workshop and talk about custom bikes. Since his shop was full with ongoing projects I asked if he ever has time to ride these machines. His answer […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: December 29, 2016
Last week I featured a bike that was the result of some good old brotherhood; two friends who share a lifetime passion for motorcycles that decided to create a custom bike together. That brotherhood is the same glue that Roland “Roli” Rüegg and Paul Brokking used to create this 1986 BMW R80 […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: December 24, 2016
When an e-mail begins with the sentence “I’m not a mechanic” with these pictures attached, I thought I was loosing it. What I see, is a perfected creation of somebody with taste, vision and a set of skills to die for. The e-mail came from Marco Matteucci and he opened up like […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: November 30, 2016
Since day one I’m a big fan of Jose Rosell’s (a.k.a. “Pepo”) work. Usually Pepo focusses on Ducati’s, but this time he took a ’92 BMW R100R as a base bike for another awesome creation. His goal was to build a real classic racer, stuffed with only the best parts and […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: October 11, 2016
About a year ago I’ve stumbled upon a custom motorcycle from Meat and Grease. A small workshop in Belgium owned by two IT guys who needed some time off the desk. So they’ve decided to start building motorcycles next to their day jobs. In september I’ve featured one of their first bikes, […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: August 11, 2016
The BMW R nine T is one of the most beautiful (and powerful) modern classic bikes out there. A real retro bike with the classic BMW air cooled boxer engine but full of modern technology. The model was introduced in 2014 and was a direct success and a full worthy add to the BMW […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: June 23, 2016
Today I received an e-mail from Mauricio Tavares (friends call him “JT”) from Johannesburg, South Africa. Together with a friend he created something very cool, based on a 1999 BMW R1100R. Really worth to share this bike and it’s story! Mauricio worked for many years in the “corporate jungle” and a couple […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: May 24, 2016
The BMW R-series is one of the most used cafe racer base bikes, and that’s for different reasons. They are cool, reliable, stand out for (German) quality, are rideable and powerful. And those air cooled 2 cylinders just sound awesome. Not forget the fact that there are tons of them still […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: April 27, 2016
Smoking advertisments & motorsports go way back. Who does’t remember the red & white Marlboro F1 McLarens and Ducati’s or the blue Gauloises Yamaha’s? But since smoking isn’t healthy anymore, the advertising of tobacco was prohibited. But especially the Marlboro marked cars and bikes where the most recognizable. Luis Bertelli from […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: November 16, 2015
Founded in the summer of July 2013, Diamond Atelier had a clear vision on the custom motorcycle scene: they want to build the next generation of café racers. Their third build was this awesome looking BMW R100R Café Racer and we have to be honest: it looks damn good! Their first build, a […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: January 1, 1970
BMW Cafe Racer is one of the most sought-after custom motorcycles. Google it and you’ll find tons of results. Since the custom bike scene got his big revival, the BMW R-series or “Airheads” are one of the most popular base bikes for cafe racers. And that’s for multiple reasons. They’re extremely reliable, […]
- By Casper van der VenPublished On: January 12, 2024