Main the cost this week is the bizarre mixture of a uncommon French classic scooter with a contemporary Honda powertrain. We additionally function a trendy Triumph Bonneville, a barely touched Ducati MHR Mille, and the shiny new MV Agusta Serie Oro 1000.
Bernardet x Honda hybrid scooter by Seb’s Atelier and Objet Marcant Having simply returned from a visit to Italy, the urge to purchase a basic Vespa or Lambretta is exceedingly sturdy. On the graph of life, age, and style are straight correlated with how a lot sense scooters make—even when they’re the oft-maligned phase of the two-wheeled world. They’re low-cost (-ish) to purchase, low-cost to run, and much more sensible than a conventional bike because of their onboard storage and lack of gears.
In the present day, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese language-made scooters are extra frequent than anything, however within the Nineteen Forties, manufacturing at a neighborhood degree was extra frequent. That gave rise to boutique European corporations like Bernardet. Based by the three Bernardet brothers, the corporate began by making sidecars in a small workshop simply south of Paris.
Efforts finally turned to creating scooters between 1947 and 1959. The our bodies and operating gear have been made by Bernardet, whereas the engines have been offered by Ydral, Marcel Violet, and (finally) Bernardet themselves.
Components from these manufacturers are arduous to seek out today, which makes outdated Bernardet scooters troublesome to take care of. That is the precise state of affairs that Seb Ledis of Seb’s Atelier and Marc-Antoine Giorgi of Objet Marcant discovered themselves in with this stunning 1952 Bernardet C50. Fortunately, that they had a plan…
Changing the unique 125 cc Ydral engine with one from a 1997 Honda NX125 was the answer. After many nights (and beers), the wedding between the 72-year-old scooter and the a lot youthful engine was full. The engine capability was the identical, however the Honda engine was greater than twice as highly effective and infinitely simpler to service and keep. Seb and Marc-Antoine additionally made a customized 12 V wiring loom and transformed all of the lighting to LED.
The engine is now operating a Suzuki carburetor and a customized exhaust. A Volkswagen Beetle gear selector mechanism was mated to the six-speed transmission (which appears like an entire hoot). A brand new gas tank was added above the rider’s knees, sitting in entrance of a diamond-stitched pink leather-based seat.
The wheels have been painted to match the seat and painted by hand Objet Mercant brand. The entrance fender is from a Vespa and the air flow vents on the rear of the physique are from a uncommon Manurhin scooter. The flat monitor handlebar’s pink glitter grips match the pink polycarbonate display screen.
It’s an exceptionally stunning artwork deco design that appears unimaginable with its 70-plus years of genuine patina. Our hats are off to Seb and Marc-Antoine for completely mixing outdated with new. [Source]
Triumph Bonneville scrambler by Reverie The 790 cc air-cooled Triumph Bonneville is a motorcycle that launched lots of people to the café racer and customized bike scene. The Bonneville lineup nonetheless exists immediately and is without doubt one of the greatest trendy basic choices on the market—but it surely’s additionally turn out to be extra highly effective, and, by extension, extra complicated and costly.
This gorgeous customized Bonneville scrambler from Reverie is predicated on a 2005-model Triumph Bonneville 790. The 790 cc engine has the distinctive sound of a 360-degree parallel twin, with two valves per cylinder, a pair of carburetors, and never a lot else. It’s a splendidly easy machine with all of the attract of a classic bike, however with out the oil leaks.
Reverie tore into the Bonneville, stripping it right down to its nuts and bolts. The body was nickel plated and the gas tank is customized made out of a carbon-kevlar composite. The rear subframe was chopped, looped, and completed with a customized leather-based and Alcantara seat.
The tank-seat mixture is decidedly desert sled, so alloy fenders have been mounted up excessive to match, together with a scratch-made high-mounted exhaust. The high-mounted exhaust highlights the gorgeous double-cradle body of the Bonneville, whereas the delicate nickel plating on the body units it off simply sufficient to distinction it towards the black and silver engine paint.
The entrance suspension was upgraded with rebound and compression adjusters, and the rear suspension was changed with longer, distant reservoir shock absorbers. The 19F/17R spoked wheels have been wrapped in Michelin Anakee Journey tires. The rider’s cockpit space was saved slim, with the speedometer embedded into the tank. The carbs have been re-jetted to swimsuit the pod filters and the oil cooler was eliminated, with the oil now operating by way of the body like Triumphs of yore.
The air-cooled Bonneville has been one of the cost-effective entry factors into basic motorcycling over time—so it’s all the time good to see a well-sorted one kicking round. [Source | Via]
On the market: 1985 Ducati MHR Mille Earlier this week, we profiled a showstopping café racer primarily based on the uncommon Ducati MHR Mille. However should you completely should favor the unique, there’s a barely-used instance at the moment on the market over at Iconic Motorbikes within the USA. And it’s as alluring as they arrive.
For those who’re not au fait with the MHR Mille’s historical past, we’ll fill you in. It begins with one of many biggest tales in motoring: Mike ‘The Bike’ Hailwood’s 1978 comeback on the Isle of Man TT.
Earlier than he retired from Grand Prix racing in 1967, Hailwood was one of the embellished riders in historical past with 76 wins and 112 podiums from 152 begins. He was additionally a grasp of the Isle of Man TT, with 14 wins and 19 podiums to his identify.
Nevertheless, it was his 1978 win on the Isle of Man TT that was probably the most historic. Hailwood had been retired from Grand Prix bike racing for eleven years however had continued to experience in non-championship occasions everywhere in the world. He shocked everybody by turning up on the 1978 Isle of Man TT with a Ducati 900SS offered by Sports activities Bikes, the UK-based Ducati supplier.
No one thought he would even be aggressive, not to mention win the race. Ducati themselves have been so impressed that they determined to launch the 900 MHR (Mike Hailwood Duplicate) to honor the person himself. It was right here once more that the attract of the Hailwood identify proved the naysayers unsuitable.
The preliminary run of 200 homologation bikes in 1979 offered out so shortly that Ducati determined to maintain manufacturing going till 1986. When it was throughout, Ducati had offered round 7,100 MHRs—making it the best-selling bevel-drive twin Ducati ever made.
The bike was initially a 900SS with up to date fairings (identical to the bike Mike rode to victory), however over time it grew in engine capability and further options have been added. The unique bikes have been supposed to be pure race replicas and didn’t even have an electrical starter or rubber footpegs.
The bike you see here’s a 1985 mannequin MHR Mille. Together with the bigger engine, the MHR Mille featured adjustable Verlicchi clip-on handlebars, up to date instrumentation, rubber inserts on the footpegs, a hydraulically actuated clutch, and an all-important electrical starter. It additionally featured a Conti exhaust and bigger Brembo brakes.
Round 1,100 MHR Milles have been constructed, they usually have been the final bevel-drive twins that Ducati made. This alone makes them extraordinarily fascinating machines.
This MHR Mille specifically is being provided on the market with simply 1.5 miles on the odometer. The bike is at the moment in Australia, having spent most of its life in Japan, and the final decade on the Australian Motor Museum. It’s protected to say that the bike has solely been began a number of instances in its life—so it’s begging to be purchased, serviced, and put again into motion. [More]
New MV Agusta Superveloce Serie Oro 1000 Given the selection of any sportbike from the final 5 years to place within the fictional Bike EXIF storage, I’d go along with the MV Agusta Superveloce. The retro-yet-futuristic design, the timeless livery, and the fabulous invoice of supplies have had me drooling over the Superveloce since its launch in 2020.
Beginning with the F3 800 as a base, the MV Agusta design crew wished to provide the fashionable sportbike some basic styling. The Italian model has a surprising historical past, so there was no higher place to attract inspiration from than its lineup of historic three-cylinder Grand Prix machines. Who knew that artfully draping Nineteen Sixties- and Seventies-inspired bodywork over a brand-new bike may end in such an outrageously handsome machine?
Now coming into its fourth yr of manufacturing, MV Agusta has simply unveiled the brand new Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro. And goodness me, what a factor it’s.
The very first thing that jumps out is the drop-dead attractive pink and silver paint, laid over the newly-designed fairings and bodywork. What began as easy and chic bodywork has, 4 years later, turn out to be extra angular and sharp. It seems to be simply as implausible as earlier than although, solely extra trendy—and nothing screams ‘trendy sportbike’ like massive ‘ol aero wings.
The rear finish is extra aggressive than the unique too, particularly framed by the quad-exit titanium exhaust system from Akrapovič. The brand new seat is leather-based and Alcantara, and titanium fasteners have been used all through the bike with reckless abandon.
Just like the premium Superveloce fashions MV Agusta provided up to now, the 1000 Serie Oro options carbon fiber so far as the attention can see (properly, most of it’s hidden underneath the paint, but it surely’s nonetheless there). The ‘1000’ a part of the identify denotes the engine’s capability, with the 1000 Serie Oro housing a 1,000 cc four-cylinder engine as an alternative of the 800 cc triple discovered within the F3.
Brembo brakes and electronically adjustable Öhlins suspension are featured at each ends of the bike. To go one step additional (and to justify the undeniably excessive worth the bike will appeal to), Pirelli developed a particular model of their Supercorsa SP V4 tire for the bike, which incorporates a pink sidewall stripe and pink Pirelli logos.
Restricted to simply 500 items, the 1000 Serie Oro is the perfect model of the Superveloce but. And identical to its predecessors, it’ll in all probability be offered out very quickly. [MV Agusta]
