We’ve loved watching the rise in popularity of restomod builds in recent years. Generally, restomods are considered to be vintage bikes that remain relatively true to their original aesthetics and silhouette, but have been brought into the 21st century with upgraded suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, and engine management / performance.
A few years ago, we mainly saw this kind of customization applied to vintage superbikes, such as the builds of AC Sanctuary and dB Customs, but we’re happy to see more builders giving the same treatment to vintage dirt bikes, dual sports, and roadsters.
Here is our list of the Top 10 Restomods we featured in 2022, based on traffic and engagement, listed in alphabetical order by builder.
• AC Sanctuary: Kawasaki Z1-R
• Atlanta Motorcycle Works: Kawasaki GPz1100
• Bald Anthony: Yamaha RZ350
• Bandisca: Yamaha XS650
• Kevin Borough: Honda CB750
• ForPlay Racing: Yamaha RD350
• Loko Dream Factory: Honda XR600R
• Steel Bakery: Honda CB750
• Roy Welton: Kawasaki Z1000
• Workshop43: Yamaha XT500
BikeBound’s Latest Restomods…
Marfil Moto: Suzuki GS550 Resto-Customs - Magic Middleweights: Two Suzuki GS550s from Poland… In 1977, Suzuki introduced the GS550, a smaller sibling to the GS750, which Cycle World called “a lithe and hot-blooded tiger that’s our pick for Best of Breed, […]
Best of Both Worlds: Honda “CB500R” Café Racer - Ellaspede EB1236: 1973 Honda CB450 x 2013 CBR500R… The Honda CB twins of the 1970s remain some of the most beloved Japanese vintage motorcycles of all time — and with good reason. They offered riders […]
Showstopper: Honda CB750 Restomod Café - A Show-Stopping 750 Super Sport from Never Ending Cycles… Ask anybody who builds custom motorcycles for a living, and they’ll tell you the client has a pretty significant impact on how much they enjoy a […]
Explosive Cocktail: Bandit-Powered Suzuki GSX1100 - Loïs Ambiehl’s Bandit 1200-powered GSX Street Monster… In 1980, Suzuki introduced the 16-valve GSX1100E, boasting a 1075cc four with the company’s highly-vaunted TSCC (Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber). The result was an even 100 bhp at […]
Restomod Reborn: Kawasaki KZ1000MK-II - 1105cc Kawasaki KZ1000MK-II by AC Sanctuary… The Kawasaki Z1000MK-II appeared in 1978, largely as a response to the Suzuki GS1000 and Honda CB900F. Known as the KZ1000MK-II in some markets, the machine had beautiful new […]
Senna Superbike: Honda CB1000 Super Four - CB1000 Big One from Cus’Tom Motorcycle… Over the years, motorcycle culture has been blessed with a handful of hilarious and highly entertaining comic strips and series. In English, we’ve had everything from Ogri to Andy […]
Joy Machine: Kawasaki ZR-7 Cafe Racer - “I decided to build a café racer with knee-down potential.” Introduced in 1999, the Kawasaki ZR-7 (aka ZR750F) hit the market as an affordable naked bike that harked back to the inline-four UJM machines of […]
Torakusu XT: Yamaha XT500 Street Tracker - Jean-Michel Atlan’s street tracker, reimagined 40 years later… In 1877, Japanese entrepreneur Torakusu Yamaha, the third son of a samurai of the Kishu-Tokugawa family, founded Nippon Gakki Company in order to manufacturer reed organs. Torakusu’s […]
Born on the Track: Suzuki GSX-R1100 Restomod - The 34: Jean Damien’s 1988 GSX-R1100 Kevin Schwantz Tribute… The original GSX-R was nothing short of a motorcycling revolution, a road-legal rocket that blew away old notions of what a street-going sportbike could be. Every […]
Stunning SRAD: ’98 Suzuki GSX-R750 Resto / Mod - 90s Supersport Stunner from Ammar Çeker x Mim Moto… In 1985, Suzuki revolutionized modern superbiking with the original GSX-R750, hailed as the world’s first street-legal “replica racer” — basically a racebike for the street, […]
Back in Time Treatment: Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 “Slingshot” - Summer of ’89: Retro-modded GSX-R1000 from Cafe Rider Custom… When you take a vintage machine and upgrade the performance with modern technology while retaining most of the original look and silhouette, we call it a […]
Greasy Hands, Clean Bike: Honda CBX Restomod - Modern Retro CBX1000 from Dubai’s Cafe Rider Customs… In 1978, nearly a decade since releasing the world-beating CB750, Honda unleashed the CBX1000, a brawny six-cylinder superbike with dual overhead cams, six Keihin carbs, and […]
Smoky Runner: Yamaha DT125R Restomod - BCKustoms returns to his two-stroke roots… The original Yamaha DT-1 250 Enduro and the long line of successors it spawned remain some of the most popular, influential motorcycles to come out of the 1960s. Here […]
Rothmans Restomod: Honda NSR250R Special - 70 hp, 254 lbs: Two-Stroke Race Replica Restomod from Japan… Built from 1987-1999, the Honda NSR250R was a street-legal two-stroke race replica powered by a liquid-cooled 249cc 90° V-twin with Honda’s power-valve system and nikasil-sulfur […]
Sinister Restomod: 1216cc Suzuki Katana - Blacked-out Super Kat from dB Customs… When the Suzuki GSX1100 Katana appeared on the scene in 1981, it looked like nothing else on two wheels. Suzuki had enlisted German designer Hans Muth to design […]
