Revival Cycles brought the Handbuilt Show back to Los Angeles this year and I had a chance to stop by to check it out for my first time (I missed it last year). Here were some of my highlights!
The main show every year is in Austin the same weekend as MotoGP, and I’ve been a big fan for a long time. Over the last few years they’ve been incorporating more cars which isn’t something I’m particularly excited about but it’s presumably raising attendance. I particularly enjoyed the Barracuda…
Bob Janashak had a 1964 Chevrolet Cheetah Tribute on display.
His info card said that it utilizes a ’64 Chevy 327 motor rated at 415 horsepower/408 foot-pounds of torque with Holley Tri-Power carbs, a Tremec 5-speed transmission, and a total weight of just 2,125 pounds!
In no particular order, here are some bikes that I thought were interesting (not necessarily good, just interesting):
Bhumemoto’s Wasp III, a custom take on a Yamaha XS650 Special II.
The Bruv Superior, a 2007 Triumph Thruxton 900 built by Corban Gallagher. He called it a “modern tribute to British bikes of the 1920s and 1930s.”
The Resume, a 1979 Honda CB750F built by Greg Dubbe. It features a Suzuki Hayabusa front end, Ducati 748 rear end, hydraulic clutch conversion, and Mikuni RS34 carbs.
Brunhilde, a 1971 BMW R75/5 build by John Lorette. He said it went “from a barn find to fully custom in only 2,500 hours of hard work.”
How’s that for a front end?
Nick of Time, a 1948 Harley-Davidson Panhead built by Frankie Klepadlo.
Galila, a 1979 Harley-Davidson FL built by Aaron Elliott. “Handbuilt” components include the gas tank, oil tank, stainless steel handlebars, mid controls, and exhaust.
I didn’t catch the details on this one but it’s built around a 640cc KTM LC4 single cylinder engine.
The Stator, a 1000W electric scooter built by Nathan Allen. He says that five have been built, he sold the design to a company that says they’re putting it into production but it doesn’t seem like they’ve made any public updates for a while. I typically don’t care for electric scooters but I thought the design of this was quite slick.
Khan, a 1989 Yamaha FJ1200 built by Duane Ballard. He says it’s “handbuilt from the frame up” and that he did everything himself in a home garage except for the paint, which was done by Pete “Hot Dog” Finlan.
Steady Garage brought wild builds based on the Grom and Dax.
Check out the Chimera Engineering braced swingarm. This bike is all about overkill!
Speaking of overkill, the most interesting section to me was probably all the crazy bozosoku builds – there were some fun unexpected details and I love folks who don’t take themselves too seriously.
This started as a Toyota Cressida.
I featured this Honda CB400T for sale in the summer – one surprising detail is that it has a Beringer front brake setup!
We started with four-wheelers and I want to come back to them because there was an interesting display from Meyers Manx, which has seen a rejuvenation of sorts in the last couple of years. In addition to offering “remasters” of classics like the Dune Buggy or Resorter of year’s past, they’ve also announced an EV variant. But the most interesting option at the moment is a limited series of radial engine-powered buggies that will set you back a hefty $119,500 to start!
The radial engine is built by a company called Radial Motion out of Australia. The motor uses a combination of custom pieces as well as combusion internals from a GM LS1 V8 – here are some vehicles that utilize it today.
The base specification puts out 130 horsepower and almost 130 foot-pounds of torque – about 2-3 times what the original Manx could offer.
Here’s what the first production Radial Motion engine sounded like as I’m sure you’re curious:
Continuining the theme set in the Thailand Picture Intermission…the people say don’t ride stock!
Have any favorites?