With North American streetbike sales lingering in the toilet, manufacturers are growing increasingly clever when it comes to increasing sales and broadening the market. It’s taken years for the OEMs to realize that simply cranking out big-bore machines has limited appeal beyond the Baby Boomers who’ve long desired heavyweight motorcycles. Milwaukee’s Harley-Davidson, for example, have…

Been busy tearing into the crashed Ducati 999 track bike as of late, discovering some fascinating mechanics behind this 170 MPH road missile. Having read a hardcover book about the creation of this, the bike unfortunate enough to relpace Ducati’s iconic and much-beloved 916/9996 series, the 999’s futuristic styling was not to everyone’s tastes. The…

Rocket Garage of Italy whipped up this 999-based beauty. Bellisimo! Streetfighter styled customs have long been one of our faves here at CRM. The audacious, bold idea of resurrecting a crashed sportbike into a unique, fast-moving special is borne of pure mechanical practicality and a can-do approach to customizing that we all admire. Just recently,…

With less than one month remaining before the 11th Annual Reader’s ride-In Custom Bike Show, we’re gearing up to see some of our regular show entries again this year. For several of the past few events, starting back when the event was still being stages as party of Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio, Dave Williams…

More than once in recent years folks have asked me why continue to pursue knowledge in the classic motorbike field, especially when motorcycle sales are in the collective toilet in the U.S. and the demographic who remembers when Nortons and Triumphs ruled the roads is quickly becoming a non-riding one. One explanation is practical: if…

Our on the West Coast, BMW custom parts specialists and CRM pals at Oshmo (www.oshmo.com) have put together a pretty cool Summer Sale on some choice bits to make your air-cooled R9T twin really roar. These guys have done for both new and late-model BMWs what few have in the past- found a bolt-on means…

We’ve been going through images of previous Reader’s ride-In Custom Shows trying to determine whether any of the highly skilled builders who’ve won past awards will be back this August 11. We came across this amazing piece of classic Honda workmanship that rolled in completely unexpected two years ago. The owner was youthful Andy Frederick…

As regular readers will know, CRM shies away from running start-to-finish build stories unless the motorcycles in question are constructed here in our home garage. Many folks contact us eager to share pics of their machines from the moment customization begins to the proud day when that tetanus-shot inducing pile of rusted metal becomes a…

We received word today of the passing of a longtime CRM pal and superb custom motorcycle builder, Cyril Huze. Huze relocated to the U.S. from his native France with a deep appreciation for the American V-twin scene, having worked for years at some of Europe’s top advertising agencies while keeping an eye on the motorcycling…