Bike EXIF

Bike EXIF is a showcase for the world's most exciting custom motorcycles, from cafe racers to bobbers to street trackers

1. Speed Read: WalzWerk’s 35th anniversary BMW boxer and more

   
   The German custom powerhouse WalzWerk has just marked its 35th birthday in the best way it knows—with a handsome BMW boxer bobber. A Frenchman in Morocco takes on the world with a Honda XL 125S, an Indonesian custom shop builds a Honda Trail replica out of a Suzuki, and a Japanese privateer builds a sharp Yamaha SRX600 café racer.

   
   BMW R80RT by WalzWerk Marcus Walz is unstoppable. His shop, WalzWerk, built their 1,000th custom motorcycle just over two years ago, and they’ve just hit another significant milestone—their 35th birthday.

   To celebrate, the German outfit has designed a new limited edition BMW boxer bobber, based on their made-to-order Schizzo custom series. But you’d better act fast if you want one, because almost all of the 35 units they’re building are already spoken for.…

2. Project RR50: A Barnstorming BMW from Obsessive Compulsive Design

   
   Anyone who’s ever built something will tell you that inspiration can come from the strangest places. In the motorcycle world, it could be a headlight bucket, paint chip or a set of old bias ply tires. For builder Bret Crandell it was something as simple as a 1977 Florida State Inspection sticker that set the tone for his 1966 BMW R50/2 build. While he sought to honor the life his project bike had already lived, the barn-find Beemer proved to be the perfect canvas for a few of his racier ideas as well.

   
   Bret hails from Flint, Michigan, which he affectionately calls ‘a post-industrial wasteland city,’ and, he recently quit his full-time gig at Chrysler to pursue his passion. His business is Obsessive Compulsive Design, specializing in the development and manufacture of custom motorcycle parts.…

3. The 1972 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV: The Superbike to End All Superbikes

   
   The motorcycle world was in the midst of an arms race in the early 1970s. Performance was king, and manufacturers were locked in a battle to build the fastest, most exhilarating machines for petrol-crazed riders. Honda had just dropped the CB750, a smooth, sophisticated four-cylinder revolution that brought superbike power to the masses. Yamaha was refining its two-stroke RD series and Suzuki had its triple-cylinder weapon in the form of the GT750—AKA the ‘Water Buffalo.’

   
   Kawasaki wasn’t as interested in refinement. Beat to the punch on the four-cylinder, Kawasaki bet everything on two-stroke performance and set out to build the fastest bike the world had ever seen—something that would leave the competition coughing in a haze of blue smoke. The pinnacle of this effort was the 1972 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV, a 750 cc, three-cylinder two-stroke that redefined what speed meant on two wheels and permanently altered the course of the superbike segment.…

4. Monochrome Maschine: A 1979 Moto Guzzi Le Mans II by Kaffeemaschine

   
   Axel Budde’s work is impossible to miss. His shop, Kaffeemaschine, focuses solely on classic Moto Guzzi models, turning them into elegant machines that are impossibly cool, highly refined, and built to be ridden.

   Based in Hamburg, Germany, Kaffeemaschine recently buttoned up this monochromatic charmer for a client who wanted one of the workshop’s signature GT tourer builds, but with a few twists. “He wanted a Kaffeemaschine GT, but a little more in the direction of a scrambler,” Axel explains. “And he wanted most of it black.”

   
   Further to those requirements, Axel’s client asked that the donor bike be the same age as him—so Kaffeemaschine sourced a 1979 Moto Guzzi Le Mans II. With the Le Mans on the bench and an established template to work from, the crew turned their attention to their customer’s most challenging requested…

   “The biggest issue was the fuel tank, as he wanted a different design,” says Axel.…

5. A Little Laughter Goes a Long Way: A Chat with Drew from Bixby Moto

   
   Motorcycles are fun, right? Having fun is one of the most important aspects of motorcycling. There really is no other excuse for throwing our fragile meat sacks atop a steaming engine with wheels and rocketing through space like a game of Galaga, sans lasers and no extra lives. It’s fun.

   That’s where Bixby Moto comes in. Bringing a bit of levity to the often overly-serious culture of motorcycling. To break up the monotony of scowling mugs, airbrushed flames, and duck faces. So we decided to dig a little deeper and found the opportunity to catch up with Drew of Bixby Moto to ask him about the meaning of dreams, a little fashion advice, and what bull testicles taste like. Also, our joke funnel was a little dry.…