Competition Entry #6

Today's entry is a badass Yamaha SR scrambler from Ralf in Germany (surprisesurprise). Very nice!


I bought it last autumn for about 300€ in parts at e-bay. I had to rebuild it completely. The engine has a new piston, a TM36 carburetor, K+N-filter, new valves and so on ... I cut off the last end of the frame and welded in a kind of a half circle. The wheels are powder coated with new spokes. The seat is made of leather. I only finished the bike a few days ago, therefor I can't say anything special about the performance.

Congratulations to Ralf for his new bike then!

BIKE OF THE WEEK #7

Honda Monkey....slightly modified...

Competition Entry #5

Entry number 5 also comes from Germany. I don't know his real name, but on the German SR forum he's known as kuddel666. 


Let's hear what he has to say about his bike...


I bought it when I was 20 and it was my first bike! I didn't want to drive these boring plastic bikes without character and soul like my friends did. I also like to give bikes , cars and (in the early days) 50ccm "Mopeds" my personal touch to show that this is MY bike , transforming it exactly the way I image a bike has to look like. I've seen nice custom SR's around and wanted to build my own bobber, but then I got an XS 650 , and now I spend the whole time building it. When I'm not working on the XS I ride the SR, which is the reason why it is not radically chopped or customized. Last year I rode 20.000 km and every meter was fun. I only had one forced stop because I ran out ouf fuel ;-) The Bike never disappointed me and until my XS is finished I will drive the SR without any changes.


And here she is:

Competition Entry #4

Next in line is Nils with his highly decorated Yamaha SR500. The bike is very neat and I especially like the rear brake cooling holes, very cool (I might steal that idea from you)....but the name of the bike, "Vibrator", is a bit curious....or is it just me?!

Kudos again for the high quality of pictures. All you guys are either professional photographers or rich enough to hire one! jelousyjelousy...

My name is Nils, I'm 44 years old and live in the South of Germany, near Lake Constanze.
This is my second custom SR 500. I bought it in 2009 for 500 Euro. It stood in an garage for 18 years and had only 31.000km on the clock. I changed the engine for an other better one.
I built it up in 3 months,...about 300 hours of work to complete and is now ready for the strict German TÜV. I wanted the look of a real Cafe Racers, not 100 % polished alu and paints. My SR is an "old" looking race bike, isn't she?

In 2010 she placed 37th out of 100 at the Custombike Reader Competition at the Custombike Fair in Bad Salzuffeln.In Autum 2010 I got the 3rd place at the Cafe Racer Competition in Glemseck organized by MO Bike Magazine.
In January 2011, the bike was one of the 10 best custom bikes on the Bike Trade Fair in Friedrichshafen.

Built during the winter 2009/2010, the frame was cleaned up and powder coated in black satin. The fuel tank is WBO Alu BSA style, clip-ons by Fehling, head lamp from ebay, GFK fender, handbrake pump from a Suzuki GSXR 600, steel reinforced brake lines, second brake disk came from a XS 650. The carb is a Mikuni TM 36, rearsets by LSL, The rear brake has been opened for better cooling (8 hours of work) and the rear brake light comes from Hein-Gericke. Seat was made by a friend.

Competition Entry #3

Our next entry comes from Poland, but resides in Bangkok. His name's Maciek Klimowicz and his not only a bike lover but a talented photographer as well. I'll only post a few of the great pictures of his Kawasaki GTO, but if you want to see more, hop over to his blog www.skokwbokblog.com.

There is also a pretty funny video of him 'kissing the asphalt'.....sorry Maciek :-))

Maciek's story:

There's a beautiful machine on the third floor of a completely empty parking lot in my apartment building. It glitters in the sun setting over Bangkok. I'm so tempted to turn the engine on and give it a spin. And I do. After all, it is my. My first motorbike.

It is 9 years old and has over 24 thousand km on the odometer,125 cm ³ two-stroke engine, two cylinders and 9 seconds to 100km/h. It's fuel tank is decorated with a Kawasaki GTO logo. I bought it for 10.000 Baht from a Canadian guy, who recently left Thailand having spend the last 10 years of his life here. He arrived to the land of smiles a decade ago for a holiday. He left with a wife and a child, leaving a house and a motorcycle behind.

GTO is an Asian classic. I see them everyday on the streets of Bangkok – roaring, spitting smoke, doing their job. Used by delivery men, postmen, and not so long ago, by police too. That makes it a perfect bike for this part of the world – spare parts for this model are available everywhere and any mechanic will fix it with a hammer and a screwdriver. Provided that the motorcycle breaks down at all .The chances are limited, as GTO is said to be very reliable and my bike is in an excellent condition (in contrast to most of the GTO's I encounter on the streets of Bangkok)The previous owner bought it brand new from a shop. 10 years changed my Kawasaki into a vintage motorcycle. 

Competition Entry #2

Our second entry comes from another German called Thomas. He introduces us here to yet another nicely restored SR. No complaints from my side, after all it's my favorite bike...

The bike comes with a moving story, but lets hear it from him:  

My Name is Thomas Grad, I’m 45 years old and I’m live in a sleepy hollow nearby Cologne, Germany.

I’m a big motorbike fan and I own a Kawasaki Z1000 (2008) , a Yamaha SR500 2J4 (1982) and since one week a Triumph Trident T150V from 1972 ( my Café-Racer Winter-Project for 2011 J )

The SR500 is a heritage of a girlfriend of my wife who died of cancer very young in 2009. In remembrance of her I promised my wife to make something special out of this bike.

So I started the rework by dismantling the bike completely and built it up piece by piece.

The frame is double powder-coated, the wheels are hand polished and new black finished.

The engine has a first class work-on and there are a lot of fantastic accessories. To name a few:

-A complete Rizoma Handle bar with Rizoma Mirrors.

-Magura Hydraulic Clutch-System

-Magura Brake-Unit

-Motogadget Speedo with m-Unit

-Kellermann LED turn-signals

-Supertrapp Silencer

-LSL Footrests

-New Chrome- ore hand-polished Parts

There’s a lot more to mention but the list would be too long …

I think I have created a wonderful bike with a mixture of 80s charms and today’s technology and I did not brake my promise to make something special out of this bike.

The following picture was taken in my hometown just a few days before the wall with the graffiti was torn down to make place for a new shopping mal.

You're lucky to have a wife that gives you the green light when it comes to spending money on a bike. Unfortunately, my wife's traffic light is constantly stuck on red...

Competition Entry #1

Our first competition entry comes from Marc in Germany. His entry consists of not just 1 bike, but 3! They are all Yamaha SR's, but each one is different. "Same same, but different" as they say here in Thailand. 
Great little bikes Marc. What's next? A 'Panzer' SR?


Wish you many happy km's with your little darlings!


Here is what Marc has to say about his bikes:


First up, the "junkyard resurrection", a build-up from junk on a '81 frame. Quite original, no work spend for optics, but the technical side is alright and reliable. It was built in a few months just to get parts out of my way...





My first SR build-up was the "Little Black One", started with a '80 frame and the vision of a cool, low bike. Life had some surprises for me at that time, so it took nearly 5 years to get that thing on the road.  I compensated a lot of lifes low-checks with building this bike, so it's important for me and it truly has some kind of soul.
Tech: 2-disc brake and triple-trees XS650, dragbar, switches from russian URAL, fueltank Honda XL250, forwarded controls, Harley aftermarket seat and fender, both modified, SRX600 swingarm, VS750 shocks, 16" rearwheel from xs400. Had an 535ccm engine and a TM36 carb, but engine has some trouble with the cylinder head bolt...
Love to ride that bike, feels great...  and was on exhibition, "Custombike2010" fair last year here in Germany, biggest bikeshow in Europe. We had a lot of fun there...

 

Actual project is the "Surfin' Bird", some mixture of bobber and cafe or something...  21" in front, 18" rear, fueltank Honda CB250, seat all handmade from sheet metal and leather. Handlebars from CBX550, frontlight HD Sportster, hand-made rearsets, rear light will be a small lucas-styled lamp, frame is from '81.

I WANT YOUR BIKE!

Hey guys!

I thought it would be a good idea to post some amazing new bikes on my little blog, but not just any bikes. I want bikes with a story, with the faces of their proud owners and with all the (im-)perfections only REAL life bikes have.

I WANT YOUR BIKE!!

Ok, not really your bike, just some lovely pictures of it. It would be great if you could say something about it, too. Where does it come from? Where is it going? Let us peer into the deep recesses of its soul. Tell us all its dirty little secrets.

And to make it all more interesting, I thought to stage a little competition. The winner will win a super amazing awsome 'something' that I promise to ship anywhere in the world. Last entry day will be the 25th of September. I'll be the judge and nominate the winner the day after. Sorry, my blog is not a democracy...

Get those cameras flashing and keyboards working and send your pics&story to soundstream1111@gmail.com and I will publish them here on Omega Racer!


EDIT: I'd like to remind all participants that an interesting story (not just the bike's specs) is just as (if not more) important  as the photographs.

ciao

Claudio Castiglioni rides on in Heaven

It's a sad day for the world of motorcycles, as the man behind such great brands like CAGIVA, DUCATI and MV AGUSTA, died this morning at age 64 after a prolonged illness.

Claudio Castiglioni, or simply Mr. Claudio, as he liked to be called by his staff, was the creator of motorcycle icons such as the MV Agusta Brutale S, the Ducati Monster S4 (one of the many versions), the fabulous 916, the fuel injected Monster 900 and the MV Agusta F4 who was voted the world's most beautiful bike.

Such a passionate biker will undoubtedly ride on in heaven.
RIP

Here is the official press release:

Claudio Castiglioni's death - MV Press release