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olivereliott · 5 years

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Revealed: The Top 10 Custom Motorcycles of 2018

What a year it’s been for the custom scene. With so many great bikes crossing our radar, it’s almost impossible to pick out any personal favorites.

So it’s just as well that our annual Bike Of The Year roundup is purely data driven. It’s based on page views, incoming links, and the number of social media shares. As always, it’s also weighted according to how long ago the bike was featured.

A couple of interesting points to note: If we weren’t dealing with customs here, two factory bikes would have made it into this list: the Indian FTR 1200 and the Husqvarna Vitpilen. Interest in these machines, which look as good as many ‘full customs,’ is intense amongst our readers.

The café racer style, so dominant five years ago, has drifted back into the genre soup. Only one CB café racer made it into our list this year. Flippant categorization in general has dwindled away: we’re seeing more and more bikes that can’t be pigeonholed, and the rise of the tasteful restomod.

And that’s fine by us—especially if it means we can say goodbye to ridiculous terms like ‘brat tracker.’ (Or indeed ‘Ducati Scrambler Café Racer.’)

So here are the ten bikes that revved up our servers and social media channels in 2018. Enjoy.

10. Honda CB750 by Caffeine Custom Just as we were thinking the days of the classic CB café racer were over, along comes this low-slung CB750 from Brazil. Caffeine Custom is run by a couple of friends from a shed in the mountains, but the clue is in their backgrounds: one is an automotive designer, and the other is a graphic designer. Between them, they’ve nailed the stance and style and lifted this bike well outside the usually tired genre.

There is nothing radical going on here, but the changes that Bruno Costa and Tiago Zilli have made to the 1979 CB750 are impeccably judged. The bike is lowered, there’s a beefy 18” Comstar wheel at the front, the rear end is nicely chiselled, and the controls have been pared down to the minimum. Anyone thinking of putting a grinder to a CB should examine this machine very closely before flicking the switch.

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9. Harley Sportster 48 by Rough Crafts Winston Yeh is the king of consistency. Since the early days of Bike EXIF, he’s been churning out hit after hit—so it’s no surprise to see his return to our Top 10. This time it’s with a Sportster that looks like no other: squared off, blacked out, and with the stance of a sportbike.

With Öhlins suspension, a titanium exhaust, and wheels and bodywork crafted from carbon fiber, this Forty Eight tips the scales at 40 kilos lighter than stock. The geometry is closer to a Buell than a Harley, and the vibe is streetfighter rather than cruiser, but it’s still instantly recognizable as a Rough Crafts build.

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8. Harley-Davidson Super 10 by Jackson Burrows We’re not quite sure what’s most amazing about this vintage Harley: the jaw-dropping craftsmanship, or the fact that it’s Mr. Burrows’ first attempt at building a bike. It started life as a tiny 165 cc racing two stroke, and ended up as the proverbial work of art. The motor is slotted into a 1964 Harley-Davidson Scat frame, and there’s a 1948 pressed steel girder fork up front.

It’s probably the most obsessive build that we’ve featured all year, with every milimeter crafted to perfection. Jackson lists Ian Barry, Shinya Kimura and Chicara Nagata as his influences—and if he can keep this up, it won’t be long before his own name belongs in that super league.

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7. Yamaha SR500 scrambler by Daniel Peter Chicago-based photographer Daniel Peter loves SR500s: he’s built four so far, in his spare time. At first glance, it’s a relatively straightforward hot rod—with a heavily tuned engine boosted to 540cc. But Daniel’s also added Kawasaki ZX6R forks, Gazi shocks, 17-inch supermoto rims and an aluminum swingarm.

It’s the finish that sets this punchy little machine apart though. The aluminum Yamaha XT500 fuel tank looks spot-on with a delicious white-and-yellow paint scheme, and the ancillary parts are entirely practical—from the fenders front and rear to the heavy-duty serrated footpegs. This is a custom meant to be ridden hard.

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6. 1957 Harley Sportster replica by UFO Garage We fell in love with the concept and execution of this Sportster as soon as we saw it, and we’re glad our readers loved it too. The idea was simple, and supported by Harley-Davidson España: take a late-model Sportster and make it look like a late 50s ironhead.

In practice, it’s a complicated trick to pull off, but Spanish builder Efraón Triana managed it—using replica wheels, fenders and handlebars, and an exhaust system that mimics the lines of the original. A 1957-era tank and seat unit have been subtly modified to fit. An optical illusion of the highest order.

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5. Honda Grom by Cole Mishler Engine swaps are a rarity in the motorcycle world. Sure, we often see later-model or higher-capacity motors being installed into a same-marque chassis. But we rarely see high-performance motors squeezed into completely different vehicles, car-style.

That’s the kicker with this incredible Grom electric motorcycle, which is now juiced up by a Zero FX lithium ion powerpack. (It helps that the builder works for Zero and this was a semi-official project.) ‘Grom Reaper’ has almost as much torque as a Sportster 1200 now, plus Öhlins suspension and a 55-tooth rear sprocket to keep things under control. Electrifying stuff.

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4. Watkins M001 This Polish-built engineering masterpiece was probably the most radical bike we featured in 2018. It’s the work of an industrial designer from Gdańsk, who prefers to be known as ‘Jack Watkins.’

The powertrain is from a BMW R1150 RT, but almost everything else is built from scratch. The one-off front suspension has around a hundred components, including more than a dozen bearings, but the bodywork is just two sheets of steel, lazer-cut and cleverly bent to fit in place. ‘Genius’ is an over-used word, but applicable in this case.

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3. Triumph Thruxton by Rogue Motorcycle The power of social media and the street cred of Hans Bruechle, better known as HandBrake the Artist, blasted this Australian Thruxton into the top ten. This article got a solid ten thousand engagements on Facebook alone.

The builder was Rogue Motorcycle’s Billy Kuyken, who met Bruechle by chance at a moto show. The graphics are eye-catching, and the handling gets an upgrade via Suzuki GSX-R1000 forks, but the real clever stuff is at the back. Billy binned the back half of the frame, installed a skateboard deck on top of a hidden seat pan, and fabricated a monoshock conversion to make it all fit. We love the rear lighting—a converted Stellar skateboard deck with with LED lights instead of wheels.

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2. Ural coffee cart by See See It’s ironic that Thor Drake, the lofty proprietor of See See and a leading light of the custom scene in the Pacific Northwest, has only ever built one café racer. But this Ural cT with a hefty 50 kg La Marzocco espresso machine in the sidecar went viral—and global.

See See also installed airbag suspension, a hand sink, a cooler, a coffee grinder, a mains-level electrical system and more. We’re used to seeing these Russian-made contraptions modified out of sight, but this one really takes the biscotti.

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1. Honda Cub by K-Speed In 2018, Honda gave the Super Cub a huge raft of updates. It was a significant move, because the Cub is the world’s bestselling (and probably best-loved) two-wheeler.

Thailand is home to a factory that builds the new Cub, so the local Honda distributor decided to give the latest model to K-Speed to rework. It was an inspired move, and K-Speed came up with an equally inspired custom.

K-Speed’s enigmatic owner Eakk set the design direction, and went for a ‘modern retro’ feel. The vertical fairing remains, but the rest of the bike has been stripped back and heavily modified, with new bars and minimal lighting and controls. The blacked-out rims are wrapped with chunky ‘sawtooth’ tires.

Remarkably, K-Speed finished this build in just 30 days. And it got over three times as many page views as any other bike we showed in 2018. Proof that after six decades and more than 100 million production units, the appeal of the humble Cub still endures.

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POSTSCRIPT It’s been fascinating to sift through the data while compiling this year’s awards. Many of our personal favorites just missed the cut: we saw bikes from Hookie, Krugger, Auto Fabrica, BAAK, and Smoked Garage get pipped to the post by the tiniest of margins, along with ICON 1000’s Suzuki Bandit.

Most surprising of all: there’s only one BMW in the list, and it looks nothing like a BMW. Has the airhead bubble finally burst?

Finally, there are several people we should thank. Like the builders and photographers who dazzle us daily with their skills. And our generous advertisers, who keep the servers humming smoothly, and the site free for you to read.

We must also say a huge thank you to our readers: you’ve made Bike EXIF the most widely read custom motorcycle site in the world. Let’s catch up again in a few days, when Wes will reveal his Editor’s Choice for 2018 (and data be damned).

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miamibeerscene · 7 years

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A Beer Lover’s Guide to Albuquerque’s Wells Park Breweries

Bow and Arrow Brewing in Albuquerque’s Wells Park neighborhood. (Credit: Efrain Villa)

April 13, 2017

The landscape in Albuquerque, New Mexico, does not prostrate to subtlety. Ten-thousand-foot peaks rise high above the urban valley’s east side, petroglyph-etched volcanoes flank the city to the west while the Rio Grande Bosque, a lush strip of cottonwood forest, lines the oldest neighborhoods in town.

With a setting this striking, it makes sense Albuquerqueans (Burqueños, if you’re in the know) would also have a flare for the dramatic.

(MORE: 10 April Fool’s Day Pranks from Breweries)

“Albuquerque is a place of bold people, colors and flavors,” says Jesse Herron, a local entrepreneur whose company, Albuquerque Tourism & Sightseeing Factory, offers various city tours, including a craft beer excursion aboard a 14-passenger bicycle. “We like our food spicy and flavorful, and so it’s obvious for our craft beers to reflect our bold character.”

However, that boldness is not always on showy display. Hidden within former warehouses along defunct railroad spurs and retired machinery, edgy breweries share real estate with maker spaces in the industrial neighborhood of Wells Park, which abuts downtown and the city’s original settlement, Old Town.

“Downtown and Old Town get all the attention from tourists,” says Herron. “But Wells Park’s breweries capture the understated spirit of today’s Albuquerque.”

Here’s our walkable guide to Wells Park’s breweries.

Bow and Arrow Brewing Company

Bow and Arrow opened its doors in February 2016 after years of planning.

“I had to jump through extra zoning hoops to locate here,” says Shyla Sheppard, owner and CEO. “I was committed, though, because it was also an investment in my own neighborhood.”

Built in the former Chaparral Electrical Warehouse, the award-winning architectural design elements of this brewery and taproom meld the industrial vibe of the neighborhood with the earthy tones and textures of the Southwest.

Upon entering, you walk through a short corridor with a series of windows into the brewery that progressively widen as you near the cavernous tasting room. “We’ve created a sense of anticipation with those glimpses into production because we want to foster appreciation for our craft,” says Sheppard.

During happy hour (Monday-Thursday, 3-6 p.m.), the suit-and-tie crowd from nearby downtown can be found mingling at the long tables underneath rustic chandeliers. There is also an upstairs area, complete with a kitchen, available for private parties. Throughout the building, Native American themed art is displayed. The brewery’s logo itself is part hop cone, part arrowhead.

The nods to indigenous elements do not end with décor. A glance at the menu reveals names like Sun Dagger Belgian-style Saison and Hoka Hey India Pale Ale, “hoka hey” being a Hidatsa indigenous expression that translates to “get ready.” For some homegrown flavor, try the Flint & Grit English Mild Hybrid, an English ale hybridized with local roasted blue corn. There is also a kombucha/lager blend for unconventional palates.

(MAP: Find a Brewery)

Tractor Brewing Company

From Bow and Arrow, walk south on Sixth St. two blocks. Turn east on Haines Ave toward Fourth St. Head south on Fourth St. for half a block. Tractor Brewing Company is on the left.

This brewery began in 1999 in the nearby town of Los Lunas and relocated its entire 15-barrel operation, vintage tractors and all, to a vacant furniture showroom in Wells Park in 2014, after negotiations fell through to secure the then-empty site on which Rio Bravo Brewing Company now sits.

Tractor Brewing in Albuquerque’s Wells Park neighborhood. (Credit: Tractor Brewing)

The brewery is well known for its support of local arts organizations through its Beers for a Better Burque Program. Regular community events here include live music, poetry slams, open mic nights, movie nights and Art Fight, which is a live art competition. The monthly rotating artwork on the walls is from local artists and it is worth noting the brewery does not collect a commission from art sales.

“Community is a strong component of everything we do,” says Tim Torres, quality assurance manager. “Even our relationship with the food trucks is part of that. We get to solely focus on what we do best, brewing and serving beer, and they provide delicious food to our customers.”

As for the 24 beers on tap, Torres is especially proud of the Pilsner #15 and Milk Mustachio Stout, which he says is “full of flavor and character and people really like the visual density when we put it on nitro.”

A barrel-aged sour debuts in spring.

(MORE: Are Experimental Hops the Future of IPA?)

Rio Bravo Brewing Company

From Tractor, head two blocks east on Hannet Ave. to Second St. then head two blocks north. Rio Bravo Brewing Company is on the right.

Established in 2015 in a former Firestone Tires plant on a sprawling 14,000 sq. ft. site, almost half of this brewery and taproom is outdoor patio space. On warm days, the beer garden is bustling with people, but things get significantly sparser when temperatures drop.

The owners, Randy and Denise Baker, are serious about their motto: “Live Bold.” From the tournament-size shuffleboard to the enormous fans above the bar, nothing about this place is small.

“With the jelly jar lighting and rolled trusses, this place feels like a huge Post-World War II bunker and it’s definitely way bigger than we planned, but it works,” says Randy.

Going big was not without challenges. “We tried for days to scrape off all the old, green paint from the floors and finally gave up,” says Randy. “But people always compliment the green floors now. It also got us to recycle some green tables that a local restaurant, Dion’s Pizza, was getting rid of.”

Expect to find strong flavors on tap. The Level 3 is a nuke-strength hoppy IPA (7.5% ABV, 110 IBU) and the Grab ‘Em by the Putin Russian Imperial Stout boasts a sensational 13.5% ABV. For the less brawny, the Randy Shandy hits the spot. Also worth a taste is the popular Piñon Coffee Porter, a collaboration with the New Mexico Piñon Coffee Company.

(MORE: Estimated Blood Alcohol Content Calculator)

Dialogue Brewing

From Rio Bravo Brewing, Dialogue Brewing is a two-block straight shot south on First St. Created by artists, film-makers and restaurateurs, this six-month-old brewery and taproom is part Burning Man dreamscape, part industrial minimalist experiment.

Dialogue Brewing in Albuquerque’s Wells Park neighborhood. (Credit: Efrain Villa)

Virtually everything under this 1920s warehouse’s bowstring roof is handcrafted to be greater than the sum of its parts. White birch and bamboo elements contrast against metal panels, light projection mapping and local artists’ works. Even the bar stools are distinctive, created through CNC machining, which is a process that combines computers and woodworking.

Despite modern conveniences like USB charging outlets, you will not find a single television screen.

“We left TVs out and created this cool community space so people socialize,” says Ian Graham, head brewer. “We’ve even had lyra hoop and aerial silk performances because these days it’s not enough to just make good beer, you also have to look good doing it.”

Efficient use of the small footprint was imperative. The seven-barrel system’s fermenters create a wall that separates the production area from the taproom. Outside, a small patio is decked out with six towering Rebar “tree” sculptures that also provide group seating. The sculptures weigh more than 7,000 lbs. and were buried eight feet into the ground to structurally support the 40 feet that jut out aboveground. Plans are in place to add plants to the tops of the sculptures to complement the $8,000 worth of exotic and native species currently planted.

The place is a feast for the eyes. “There’s even a hidden sculpture of the Sandia Mountains underneath the bar,” says Graham. “Basically, our staff put their hearts and souls into every detail of this place. They’re amazing and everyone is Cicerone Certified so they can educate our customers.”

Of the 12 beers on tap, sours and German-style lagers are the specialties of the house. The Belgian Citrus IPA was the runner-up in the Specialty Category of the National IPA Challenge.

“It’s expensive to produce that style because the hops come in at the end so we have to use more, but it’s worth it,” says Graham.

(MORE: What is Craft Beer?)

Marble Brewery

From Dialogue, walk south on First St. five blocks to reach Marble Brewery. This is the oldest brewery in the neighborhood, and it is a badge of honor for locals to say they knew Marble “before it was cool.” It has won at least nine GABF medals since 2011.

The small, original taproom, rumored to have been behind the city’s first food truck/brewery collaborative model, has been completely gutted and now sports a rooftop deck, outdoor stage, heated patio and the Abuelo Goyo mural by Nuezz, which is likely the most Instagrammed wall in town.

On a hot summer evening, it is common to see a line of hipsters, baby boomers and multi-generational families eagerly waiting to get inside. The incongruous crowd of people is at the heart of Marble’s success; it is truly a brewery for everyone.

So grab a beer, they are all good here, and end your brewery tour where this neighborhood’s brewing history began.

Efraín VillaAuthor Website

Efraín is a photographer, actor, writer and global wanderer whose endless quest for randomness has taken him to more than 50 countries in five continents. His writing has appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition, the Good Men Project, TravelWorld International Magazine, Zymurgy, as well as Spanish language publications. While not running his consulting firm in Albuquerque, he is busy devouring exotic foods in faraway countries and avoiding adulthood while wearing the least amount of clothes possible. His travel stories dealing with the messiness, humor and beauty of cultural collisions can be found on his website: Aimless Vagabond Read more by this author

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