Archives December 2022

Meet Beijing’s young Zero Engineering motorcycle riders

Beijing's young Zero Engineering motorcycle riders
Miki is 26 years old, compact in size, but rides with a confident, easy strength. Her crew blasts around Beijing on near identical Zero Engineering Type 6 motorcycles; 92.63 cubic-inch S&S Shovelheads with Baker six-speeds.

The geometry of the Type 6 works for smaller riders like Miki. A rigid Gooseneck frame with a 33.2-degree rake drops the frame four inches from the street, and a mere 26 inches from seat to street. The classic Zero design Springer front end and larger 5.00-16 tires harken to a nostalgic past, while the bike’s modernized, long wheelbase and narrow width works wonders for squeaking through the old, narrow alleyways of Beijing.

Beijing's young Zero Engineering motorcycle riders
Life today in Beijing changes in unpredictable ways for young creative people like Miki. They must find their footing and pivot skillfully between past and present cultural and historical narratives. For Miki and her friends, riding their Zero motorcycles through the city

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Full out: the 2022 Chirihama Sandflats vintage beach race

Chirihama Sandflats vintage motorcycle beach race
Of the 800,000 miles of thoroughfare winding across the islands of Japan, there’s only one five mile stretch where you can drive a vehicle on a public beach (legally, at any rate). It’s called the Chirihama Nagisa Driveway, and for 363 days of the year, it’s a serene little strip of coastline and a popular destination for tourists and beach goers.

For two very special days of the year, however, that serenity is replaced by the sweet music of straight-piped race bikes, while this smooth patch of sand is converted into a drag strip like no other. We’re talking about the Chirihama Sandflats, of course, which we’re also happy to announce returned in full force this year, for the first time since 2018.

Chirihama Sandflats vintage motorcycle beach race
So what is the Chirihama Sandflats? Put simply, it’s an annual vintage motorcycle race where riders come to test their mettle, going full throttle on 70-plus-year-old equipment

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Country Cub: A DIY Honda CT125 kit from K-Speed

Custom Honda CT125 kit by K-Speed
It’s just a couple of days to Christmas—and if you still don’t know what to get yourself, maybe a kit to transform your Honda CT125 is the answer. After all, it’s been a long 365 days, and to be honest, you deserve it.

The Honda CT125 Hunter Cub is cute AF out the box, but if anyone knows how to mod the absolute daylights out of it, it’s K-Speed. This time around, they’ve used the CT125 as a test bed to develop a set of bolt-on parts, so that you can do it yourself. The only thing K-Speed doesn’t supply, are a few festive bevande to consume while you assemble your steezy steed.

Custom Honda CT125 kit by K-Speed
The transformation starts up front, with a K-Speed-designed fender and fender lift kit. This provides the necessary clearance for all the mud-slinging you’re definitely going to be doing with this thing. The fenders are available in different

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SuperScram: Crooked’s Royal Enfield Scram supermoto

Royal Enfield Scram 411 supermoto by Crooked Motorcycles
While many motorcycle brands are still struggling to meet manufacturing demands, Royal Enfield is flourishing. Not only have they been consistently releasing new models, but they’ve been commissioning some amazing custom builds as well. The latest is brought to us by Crooked Motorcycles in Germany; a Royal Enfield Scram 411 turned supermoto, with some impressive details.

Since the build was commissioned by Royal Enfield, the the project essentially had two goals. It had to express the creative drive of the builders behind Crooked, and it had to highlight the Scram 411 as a platform. This meant getting the most visual impact out of the design without really altering the stock bike’s geometry; a challenging feat.

Royal Enfield Scram 411 supermoto by Crooked Motorcycles
Royal Enfield’s 2022 Scram 411 is a variation of the brand’s popular light adventure bike, the Himalayan. The Scram essentially uses the same chassis, with some pieces like the crash bar removed, and a smaller

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Revealed: The top 10 custom motorcycles of 2022

The best custom motorcycles of 2022
The numbers have been crunched, and the results are in. And as usual, our annual roundup of the most popular custom bikes on Bike EXIF is both enlightening and eclectic.

The ten machines listed here are those that made our servers work the hardest in 2022. This ranked selection is purely data-based. We take our website stats and look at social media engagement, add everything up and voila!

By its very nature, our top 10 also acts as a litmus test of sorts for the custom scene. It tells us that the café racer trend is still alive and well, and that over-the-top customs have a place too, if they’re executed well. (Curiously, this year’s list is also devoid of any electric customs.)

Scroll through our selection below, let us know how it makes you feel, and happy holidays.

BMW R100 café racer series by Renard Speed Shop
10. Renard Motorcycles BMW R100 The fact that this list kicks

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