Voxan Motorcycles was founded back in 1995 with the aim of establishing itself as a contender in the global sport market. Started by Jacques Gardette, Voxan brought two seasoned names onboard to design the French moco’s machines. Renowned GP designer and builder Alain Chevallier – who sadly passed away last October – designed the Voxan frames while expert engine builder …
Custom Paint – 1985 Cagiva Alazzurra 650
Post Listing Update: This Cagiva was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. In the early 80s, Cagiva was producing some quality small-displacement bikes but they needed some help cracking into the big bike market. They bought Ducati in 1985, used the design for the Pantah, and created the Alazzurra. If you don’t mind a bike that’s been repainted, …
No Reserve – 1980 Suzuki GS1000S Wes Cooley Replica
Post Sale Update: This Wes Cooley rep sold for $5,300 after 31 bids on eBay. The Suzuki GS1000S – unofficial “Wes Cooley Replica” – is recognized as one of the Hamamatsu-based manufacturer’s many legendary machines. The GS1KS saw success in AMA competition nearly right from the start and was the predecessor to the now iconic GSX(R) machines. Wes Cooley would …
Pair of Roemar 125 Racers
Roemar is a name you’ve probably never heard – up until a few days ago I hadn’t either. The Roemar name comes from the last name of the man behind the marque – which was Roelofs – combined with Maren-Kessel, where Roelofs was based when creating these machines. I recently got the chance to speak with the founder’s son Theo, …
“The Wrench” – 1980 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead Custom
Long before modern electronics were found inside motorcycles, it was just the rider, the bike, and a couple of wrenches. I’ve never been a huge fan of what I like to call “Gimmick Builds”, but this custom shovelhead gets a pass as far as I’m concerned. The build quality and attention to detail on this one-off Harley are nothing short …
Needs Some Work – 1971 Speedway Silver Shadow
Post Listing Update: This Silver Shadow did not get any interest at the opening ask of $3,000. For many minibike collectors, the Silver Shadow is as good as it gets. Speedway called it the world’s fastest mini-cycle thanks to a 12.5 horsepower Sachs 2-stroke motor and a weight of just 147 pounds. It’s also incredibly rare – I’ve seen estimates …
Diesel Power – 2009 Kawasaki M1030M1
Post Listing Update: The seller lowered the asking price to $14,000 from the original $30k but that still wasn’t enough to attract any attention. KLR fans, take a close look at that motor. If it looks different than what you’re used to, it’s because this is a diesel-powered Kawasaki built by Hayes Diversified Technologies for the US Marine Corps. Hayes …
Pristine AHRMA Two-Stroke – Yamaha RD400 Racer
Building on the success of its popular 200, 250, and 350 RD series machines, Yamaha introduced the RD400 in 1976, continuing to produce variants of the model until 1980. The Japanese air-cooled two-stroke wasn’t just a favorite on the street, but the RD400 was a go-to choice for many when searching for a race platform. The 398cc Yamaha was seriously …
WRENCHMONKEE #69 – 2003 Harley-Davidson XL 883R Cafe Racer
Harley-based cafe builds are very hit or miss for me. The American machines don’t lend themselves particularly well to this genre of build so it takes an extensive transformation to really get it right. Though this example may at first look like just another one of the many cafe builds floating around these days, it boasts a couple of subtle …
Track ‘n’ Trail – 1975 Can-Am TnT 175
The Can-Am TNT series was one of many dirt-oriented bikes produced during the short but very sweet lifespan of Can-Am. An acronym for Track ‘n’ Trail, the TNT bikes shared the same chassis and engine as the MX bikes, but utilized lower compression for easy riding traits on trails.
Italian Two-Stroke – 1968 Cimatti C100
Though Cimatti Motorcycles was founded in 1937, it would be well over a decade before it produced its first motorized two-wheeler. The marque was started by Marco Cimatti, who won a Gold Medal in cycling at the 1932 Olympics. Despite the company starting up in a turbulent period economically, the bicycle manufacturer managed to beat the odds and remain profitable. …
2003 CCM 604 Supermoto
Based out of the UK, Clews Competition Motorcycles is a niche manufacturer that owes its start to the failure of BSA’s racing division – Alan Clews was looking to build a better motocross bike and he snapped up anything he could from BSA after they shut down the competition department. A tumultuous history ensued – Clews sold the company in …
1977 Laverda 1000 V6 Prototype
The 1977 Laverda 1000 V6 Prototype is quite possibly the most interesting bike I’ve ever featured on Bike-urious. Despite the concept for the bike stemming from the questionable idea that was to bring an automotive engineer onboard to design a V6 race engine, it’s still a genuinely awesome machine. This bike doesn’t appear to have the same kind of notoriety …
NCR Leggera 1200 Special Tribute – 2008 Ducati Hypermotard
NCR is unobtanium for most of us, but it doesn’t cost anything to simply lust after their wares – and lusting is all I can do with this exotic called the Leggera 1200. It started as a Ducati Hypermotard but thanks to extreme fettling it produced 30 more horsepower and 16 more pound-feet of torque. More impressively? It weighs 295 …
Mokka X Phylia Build – 1980 Peripoli Oxford Custom Moped
Small-displacement customs are some of the most fun builds. Their lower-price makes them smaller investments and therefor more accessible to your average rider or builder, when the donor-bike is dramatically less-expensive, you have more funds to play with. There have also been some particularly interesting collaborative builds between custom moto-shops and various (non-moto-industry) companies such as the TW Steel X …