With the rise in popularity of events like The Race of Gentlemen, the 45" flathead WL and WR Harley Davidsons have become once again a quite sought after motorcycle due to the amount of abuse those fantastic old motors can withstand. Originally being produced mainly for military use during the second World War these mighty mini motors were on the frontlines for several years. However after the war ended the civilian market was flooded with several of these great bikes that have since survived all these years later to still be ridden today. After being bitten by the 45" Flathead bug after coming home from an exciting weekend on the shores of Wildwood, NJ for the races last year we sought out a good friend back in the midwest Billy "Mumbles" Miller who has been holding onto a rather interesting 1946 WL Flathead.
'm sure most people wouldn't think to take a stock bike and turn it into another stock bike but in a friendly build off that's exactly what Keith Carlson of Indiana did with his 1978 CB550. He had a long time love affair with the CR500's and the 1986 model caught his eye more than any other so he wanted to know what a Honda street bike would look like transformed as a tribute and this beautiful restomod build was born. We caught up with Keith at a local bike night and took his bike aside to get a better look at some of the neat elements of this CB turned CR.
Sure, you may have heard of the muscle car wars of the 1960s but what about the muscle bike wars of the 1980s?
That’s right! Here in America, the 1980s were significant for many reasons (some that we shouldn’t be so proud of) and the decade of excess and innovation spawned some fascinating creations in both the automotive and the motorcycle world. Chief among these exercises in excess was none other than the subject of this deep dive; the Yamaha VMAX.
If you own a Honda CBX, then chance's are you've heard the name MR CBX. Lucky for us, the man himself, "MR CBX" lives just 30mins from our headquarters. We took a trip out to his shop to learn more about the business and checkout their incredible collection of motorcycles. Needless to say we spent a couple hours talking shop and sharing stories of all things vintage. Expect to see many more features coming from this shop, he has quite the collection of rare bikes that will have you all drooling!
There’s a certain kind of pain that only shows up when you’re deep into an old bike project at midnight, covered in grease, running on bad coffee, and telling yourself this time it’s all gonna seal up right. I know because I’ve lived it. A lot of us have. You finally wrestle the engine back into the frame, hook everything up, hit the starter, and the thing barks to life like a bad ass machine that’s been waiting forty years for another shot. You stand there grinning like an idiot.
Then you see it.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Oil. Fresh oil. Sneaking out from a gasket surface you swore was good.
