Tag motorcycle

You know the drill. Once we’ve processed the data and published our ranked list of the year’s best custom motorcycles, I throw it out the window and pick my personal favorites. And it’s never easy.

2022 has been a good year for the custom scene. My short list started with 42 motorcycles, all of them winners in their own right. In the interest of fairness, I then eliminated any bikes that already made our ranked list, and whittled the selection down.

The result is an eclectic list of customs that all stand out for their creativity, ingenuity and overall radness. As usual, they’re listed alphabetically by the builder’s name.

Dive in, and sound off in the comments if you agree (or disagree) with any of my choices.

Cheyne Speak’s Suzuki TS185 Kicking us off is a custom bike with one of the wildest liveries of the year. Australian custom builder

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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’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