Membership
Shop by Vehicle
Track Order
Contact Us
Timeless style plays a big role in the custom motorcycle scene. Whether it's a modern interpretation of a classic motorcycle, a bike built using traditional techniques, or a build that honors an iconic design from decades past. This month we have three timeless customs that adopt each of these approaches. A modernized interpretation of a Honda CR750, an outrageous pink Nor-Cal-style chopper, and a faithful resto-mod of a Kawasaki Z1.
Ziggy Moto Honda Honda CR836K
"Creative director by day, bike builder by night, virtual builder in between." Featuring a mix of 3D renders and moto lifestyle imagery, the Instagram account Ziggy Moto has amassed an impressive 320,000-plus following. The man behind Ziggy Moto is Paul Drake, founder of the UK design agency JDO Global.
"I'm an industrial designer by training, but I've designed global brands for over 20 years," says Paul. "But my love for bikes has never wavered. ZiggyMoto is my little side project, a humble hobby that lets me chase my creative dreams without any grand ambitions."
Many of the motorcycles Paul posts on Ziggy Moto only exist in the digital realm. But he's proven he has the ability to turn them into jaw-droppingly good road-going motorcycles. One such project is his Honda CR836K.
"It all started when I saw my buddy AndyGoodBits' collection of classic CR750s," Drake says. "Those bikes were pure art in motion. I set out to create something reminiscent of those legends, but somewhere along the way, it took a more modern twist."
"It's a Frankenstein's creation, cobbled together from spare parts and salvaged remains, like a patchwork quilt of motorcycle history," Paul explains. "At its core, is a 1972 Honda CB750. Well, at least the engine is. The frame, well, it's a '77, and it had seen better days. Even the swingarm came from a track-damaged Ducati 749!"
Beyond the frame and engine, most of the Honda is ex-Ducati. Similar to the swingarm, the fork, wheels, brakes, and suspension all hail from the same 749. Fitting them presented plenty of challenges but the most taxing was the fabrication of an all-new subframe that supports a progressive linkage Öhlins monoshock. His hard work clearly paid off.
Paul also reworked the Honda's iconic inline-four engine, bringing its power in line with modern sport bikes. The changes have bumped capacity up to 836 cc and if you open the cases you'll find performance pistons and a hot cam. Fueling comes courtesy of Keihin CR carbs and there's a custom four-into-one exhaust system that snakes out from the belly pan to tuck in neatly beside the beefy swingarm.
While all that is an impressive feat in itself, it's the bodywork of the CR836K that is truly impressive.
"I used Cinema 4D to create the designs and then painstakingly 3D printed them piece by piece. It was a labor of love," says Paul. "The prints weren't strong enough to use, but they served as excellent molds. Believe it or not, my trusty iPhone moonlighted as a 3D scanner to help me fit everything together. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done without breaking the bank!"
Paul's crowning achievement here is the trick headlight setup. "I've always believed that bikes look better without a headlight, especially if they're built for the track," he says. So with the flick of a switch, this Honda converts from a track bike to a road bike thanks to a very fancy rotating LED headlight assembly. Pure art in motion is what Paul wanted and that's precisely what he's achieved.
Moto Marinelli Harley-Davidson Panhead chopper
Despite a 6,250-mile gap, Italian bike builder Mirko Marinelli has built a career based on the motorcycle culture of Northern California. Since 1976, Mirko's father has been restoring and repairing motorcycles and he took an interest in them from a very young age. Mirko's desire to learn more about custom motorcycle culture led to the discovery of the Nor Cal chopper scene and the work of artists and builders like David Mann, Ed Roth, and Tom Fugle. Inspired by their work, he honed his skills in welding, sheet metal shaping, and molding so he could build his own Nor Cal-style Choppers under the title of Moto Marinelli (Instagram).
Mirko now spends his days building and repairing Harleys for customers and occasionally gets the chance to build a bike for himself. To help foster the Italian chopper scene, he recently teamed up with Fabrizio Croce, the founder of the Eternal City Custom Show in Rome. This year, Mirko introduced the Colosseum Chopper Show to Fabrizio's event in order to encourage local builders to display their creations. As an incentive to enter, Mirko teamed up with Mooneyes to offer the prize of a trip to Japan to display a bike at the 2023 Yokohama Hot Rod Show in December. Seeing as he created the event, Mirko barred himself from entering, but to encourage others to take part he decided to build a promo bike.
Mirko's chopper was built around 1963 Harley-Davidson Panhead V-twin with a top four-speed ratchet gearbox. The motor belonged to fellow chopper club member Riccardo Elia and was pulled out of his battered old Bobber for the project. To kick things off, Mirko gave the motor a full overhaul to bring it up to show quality. It was then mated with a modified rigid Paughco frame. Along with tweaking the dimensions of the frame to suit his vision, Mirko has extensively molded the frame to blend the other parts of the bike into the design for a more organic and cohesive look.
Beyond the frame and rims, this entire bike was handbuilt by Mirko. Starting with the front end, he fashioned a brakeless hub and laced it to a 21-inch rim that's been wrapped in Avon Speedmaster rubber. The springer fork is entirely bespoke, once again made by Mirko's hands, and features a high-mount tracker-style handlebar wearing nothing more than a set of grips and a throttle sleeve. The one-off heavily sculpted fuel tank is molded onto the chassis and wears a fuel cap Mirko machined from scratch. The seat pan, rear fender, and sissy bar all flow on from the frame, too, and there's a custom oil tank beneath the all-white leather king-and-queen seat.
Gear changes are managed by a foot clutch and hand shifter on the left side of the engine. The foot controls themselves are unsurprisingly custom, too, as is this slash-cut exhaust that sits snugly between the frame and wall of the rear tire. Looking at this bike, there's no ignoring its garish graduated pink paintwork completed by Mirko's go-to painter, Riko Kustom Paint. It's not a color for anyone who doesn't like attention, but let's face it, choppers aren't built to blend in!
Mirko displayed his Panhead at the show alongside the entrants and, even though he was not a contestant, the Mooneyes crew also honored him with an invite to Japan. He, of course, gladly accepted.
AC Sanctuary RCM Kawasaki Z1
Located in Kashiwa in the Chiba Prefecture, AC Sanctuary (Instagram) specializes in resto-modding classic Japanese motorcycles. They describe the process as "from real into radical" and label each of their builds as part of an RCM (Radical Construction Manufacture) series. Since the workshop began in 2000 they have built over 600 such motorcycles.
Building an RCM bike is no simple task. Each project sees a donor motorcycle, which is usually a classic Japanese model from the 1970s or '80s, rebuilt from the ground up with close attention paid to performance. One of the most popular models to pass through the AC Sanctuary workshop is the legendary Kawasaki Z1. Case in point is this bike, RCM 602.
At the time of its production, the Z1's engine dramatically outperformed its handling. Well aware of this, AC Sanctuary has developed its own way of overcoming the issue. The process begins with a series of modifications that reinforce the frame to stiffen the entire structure. Next, they upgrade the suspension using modern components. In this instance, the owner's budget was limited so rather than using premium new parts they opted for refurbished secondhand alternatives.
A custom steering stem was fabricated and then this Z1 was fitted with the complete front end (fork, fender, brakes, and 17-inch wheel) from a ZRX1200R, Kawasaki’s Eddie Lawson homage muscle bike. The ZRX additions continue in the rear, where you'll find a matching wheel and brake. They've been installed with the aid of a wide aluminum swingarm by performance parts manufacturer Sculpture. The ZRX wheels are sized for modern sport bike tires, so the Z now rolls on 120/70R17 and 180/50R17 Metzeler Sportec rubber. Öhlins twin rear shocks round out the suspension upgrades.
Although legendary in its day, the Z1's 903 cc inline four lacks the punch of today's sport bike engines. So to bring this bike up to spec, AC Sanctuary gave it a thorough overhaul. Internally, you'll find a bevy of new OEM components and some tried and tested performance modifications. The engine's capacity now sits at 1,045 cc after having the cylinders re-sleeved and performance pistons fitted. The crank has been modified, too, and the intake and exhaust valves tweaked. Fueling is managed by Mikuni TMR 36 mm carbs and exhaust gases are expelled via a blacked-out Nitro Racing stainless steel exhaust. Finally, to help keep things cool, there’s a Nitro Racing oil cooler kit with braided lines.
To complete the build, this Z1 received a few tasteful aftermarket upgrades, too. These include a handlebar and tail tidy kit by Daytona Japan, Nitro Racing rearset foot pegs, and a Daytona RCM concept seat. One of the owner's requests with this project was to retain the bike's classic look, which AC Sanctuary has certainly achieved. All of the bodywork and lighting uses original or reproduction parts and the paintwork is a classic Z1 Candy Yellow/Green scheme.
