From a Cyberpunk-inspired Honda scooter, to a thoughts boggling Yamaha R1 café racer, we’ve received just a little one thing for everybody this week. In different information: a Yamaha RZ350 goes on public sale, a documentary in regards to the late Jessi Combs launches, and a few bike nerds unbox a 40-year-old Yamaha for the primary time.
Honda Spacy 110 by Rainbow Moto Builder It’s no secret that we have now a mushy spot for {custom} scooters—which is why you’ll see them on these pages frequently. However though we wish to solid our web broad, we’ve by no means seen something fairly like this.
That’s proper: lurking beneath the bodywork of this sci-fi-inspired machine, is a scooter. Particularly, an unassuming 2012-model Honda Spacy 110.
In inventory type, it’s simply one other commuter scooter with generic seems to be, designed for doing little greater than getting from A to B. However Indonesia’s Rainbow Moto Builder noticed potential for extra.
Taking inspiration from the Cyberpunk online game sequence, the crew wrapped the Spacy in a full complement of hand-shaped sheet steel physique panels. It’s coated from head to toe with neat little touches, together with a plethora of vents and an array of fasteners that, from a distance, mimic the rivets on plane our bodies.
Poking out the entrance are two super-bright LED headlights, impressed by the titular character from the animated movie, WALL-E. Simply behind these, cutouts make means for a set of clip-ons, fitted with goodies from RCB and Rizoma. The ignition sits on the left stated of the primary fairing, with an upgraded speedo embedded on high of the tank cowl.
There’s a shocking quantity of element for such a humble donor bike. The tail part options an built-in LED taillight, plus a cowl that may be eliminated to accommodate a passenger. Additional down are rear units and upgraded passenger pegs.
Rainbow Moto Builder additionally bumped the engine capability as much as 135 cc, and put in an aftermarket exhaust. The Spacy rolls on new wheels too—however they’re wider than inventory, so the crew needed to work their magic on the forks and swingarm.
It’s a wild tackle a scooter, however we’re all for it. And it’s not the primary time Rainbow Moto Builder has finished one thing this excessive—scroll by means of their Instagram feed, and also you’ll spot a number of extra bikes that appear to be they rolled out of an animated sci-fi film. [Rainbow Moto Builder Instagram]
Yamaha R1 by Robert Catanese and FrameCrafters Some guys are blissful to slap a tail bump and clip-ons onto an outdated Honda CB and name it a café racer. However not Robert Catanese. His concept of a café racer is one thing that blends trendy efficiency with classic panache—like a Yamaha R1 repacked into a very bespoke chassis.
Primarily based in Chicago, Rob is a giant fan of each bike racing and {custom} bike tradition. He additionally has some fairly depraved contacts—like the daddy and son crew over at FrameCrafters in Union, Illinois. So this undertaking was by no means going to something aside from excessive.
Rob’s undertaking began out fully analog; a sketch on a serviette finished over beers with a good friend. Armed with that sketch, and a close to good 2012 Yamaha R1 donor, Rob headed over to FrameCrafters to spec out the remainder of the construct. In the long run, the R1’s motor, ECU and some key “geometry factors” have been all that remained.
The 182 hp four-cylinder engine now sits (as a burdened member) in a custom-made chromoly body. It’s not simply attractive both—Rob has an aggressive driving fashion, so the chassis was constructed to deal with that. The swingarm is a hand-made chromoly unit too, and all the pieces’s been nickel-plated as a nod to outdated Rickman frames.
FrameCrafters then tailored a Ducati 750SS reproduction fairing and tail unit to suit the bike, matched to a hand-made aluminum gasoline tank. An alloy air consumption hides beneath it.
Persevering with the efficiency theme, Rob threw a laundry record of unique components on the construct. It rolls on carbon fiber wheels from BST, and stops courtesy of Beringer brake calipers and Brake Tech rotors. Different upgrades embrace Assault Efficiency yokes, an Öhlins rear shock, GP-style foot controls from Vortex, and a bunch of Lightech and Motogadget bits.
Rob additionally fitted a {custom} titanium exhaust, and had the bike chipped and tuned. It now weighs 50 lbs lower than a inventory R1, and makes round 200 hp.
Better of all, it will get ridden on a regular basis. [Source]
On the market: 1985 Yamaha RZ350 For those who choose basic efficiency bikes over café racers, the oldsters over at Iconic Bike Auctions have a deal with for you. They’re at present auctioning off a 1985 Yamaha RZ350.
Certain, the RZ350 is probably the most iconic two-stroke that Yamaha ever made, nevertheless it’s nonetheless particular in its personal proper. For starters, it was one of many final two-strokes that Yamaha constructed, earlier than tightening emissions necessities began choking the market. The RZ350 made it by the pores and skin of its tooth, partly because of the truth that it featured one of many trade’s earliest catalytic converter-equipped exhaust programs.
It was a goer too, in keeping with Cycle World, who put it on their cowl in July 1984 and rated it a “good 10 on the enjoyable scale.”
Yamaha marketed the bike within the USA by hinging off the dependable ‘win on Sunday, promote on Monday’ gross sales mannequin. So the US-market RZ350 wore a yellow ‘speedblock’ livery, with Kenny Roberts’ signature on the fairing.
The instance on the market right here has 7,859 miles on the clock, and is generally inventory. The one apparent adjustments are an Allspeed exhaust, braided hoses and new grips.
The crew at Iconic have given the bike as soon as over, and word that whereas the tires are good, the fluids are recent and the electrics all work, there’s a carb leak that’ll want sorting. The bike ships with a handful of spares too, and a brand new battery’s been put in.
Judging by the close-up images on their itemizing, the Yamaha might do with a strong beauty clean-up too. However if you happen to’ve received just a little cash to spend, and may leap on it earlier than the public sale ends in three days, this may simply be the proper little winter undertaking. [More]
The Quickest Girl on Earth Generally known as “the quickest lady on 4 wheels,” Jessi Combs died tragically in 2019 whereas trying to set the ladies’s land pace report in a jet-powered automobile. Earlier than the deadly crash, she recorded a pace of 522.783 mph [841.338 km/h]—breaking a report that had stood since 1976.
Streaming now on HBO Max, ‘The Quickest Girl on Earth’ is a documentary that chronicles Jessi’s seven-year quest to interrupt that report, and displays on her extraordinary life. And her life certain was extraordinary.
Born in South Dakota, and obsessive about pace from a younger age, there’s nearly nothing that Jessi didn’t do throughout her time right here. She was an achieved racer, fabricator, artist, photographer and TV character. And though most of her achievements occurred on 4 wheels, she was deeply embedded—and intensely liked—within the bike scene.
She lived her life at full pace and, even now, nonetheless evokes others to do the identical. [Image source: The Jessi Combs Foundation]
Uncrating a brand new 40-year-old Yamaha SR500 Not too way back, our associates at Silodrome reported on a model new, crated Yamaha SR500 that was going up on the market. That bike was really one in every of two, initially purchased by a gentleman again within the days when a producer would nonetheless allow you to assemble your personal bike. His intention was for him and his son to take up motorcycling collectively on matching bikes—however they by no means did, and the bikes stood.
One among them was not too long ago purchased by the fellows behind the YouTube channel, Beards and Bikes. As soon as they’d it in hand, they did what many people would secretly like to do, however may not be courageous sufficient to: they uncrated, assembled and began it. Within the course of, they needed to cope with all the pieces from mouse excrement to a lacking set of keys.
Pour your self a beverage, chill and indulge within the enjoyable beneath.
