EL DIABLO

El Diablo is an amazing online magazine dedicated to the picturesque world of hot rods, bobbers, the wrench culture and art. Containing some of the best pictures on the net, El Diablo is based in Spain and most of its articles are written in Spanish. That's not a big problem though, as you'll be too busy drooling over that special bobber or that cool hot rod to notice...
By the way, that hot Vespa I put on as 'Bike of the Week' comes from El Diablo.

BIKE OF THE WEEK #8

This week's Bike of the Week is something a bit different. It's a rather special Vespa called 'Vespeeed', created by Devil Inside Cycles in Spain. Pretty amazing work there, what do you think?...

Competition Entry #7

The next entry to the competition is somewhat special. Find out why...

My SR500 story

by Reiner Kiehn

In March 1978 the first containers full of SR’s 500 started rolling into the harbor in Hamburg and started a peaceful invasion. More than 38.000 units were sold in Germany in the following 20 years and over 20.000 are still on the road today. As the highly desired successor of the iconic enduro XT, the SR was thrown in the midst of a multitude of bi-cylindrical ‘starter’ bikes and finely engineered 500’s. It was clear from the start though, that the SR would find plenty of fans who preferred a more traditional approach to motorcycling and were looking for a worthy successor to the likes of the Horex Regina and the BSA Gold Star. How did the SR become a cult bike with its simple air-cooled, 2 valve engine, without a fancy aluminium frame and mono shock?

Reiner Kiehn will never forget that Spring of 1978. Having inherited the passion for English bikes from his uncle, Reiner had already ordered the ‘Brit-bike from Japan’ the previous Winter. Due to some bureaucratic delays, it wasn’t until April that he could pick up his SR. The 20th of April was the official date. 30 years and about 40.000km later his SR is still in original condition.
Considering the numerous trips across Germany with wife and luggage, his trusty SR never let him down (something BSA riders could only dream of).

Here is another of the many bikes in Reiner's stable. A very nice BSA inspired SR500.

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...