Ride and Restore builds a Zed-powered Moto Martin for a Game of Thrones star…
In 1970, Georges Martin — a French industrial designer who drew his inspiration from 1970s competition race bikes — founded Moto Martin (pronounced Marteen) in the port town of Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. Soon he was producing hand-built motorcycle frames and bodykits for various superbike engines, wedding Japanese performance with European taste, style, and chassis technology.
Moto Martin’s approach was similar to kit makers like Britain’s Harris Performance, Holland’s Nico Bakker, and Italy’s Bimota.
“Moto Martin was something akin to a French Bimota; the boutique firm dropped the latest engines of the day — in Martin’s case primarily from Japanese manufacturers — into bespoke frames, adorned them in unique bodywork, and then tacked on the latest and greatest track-focused running gear.” –Bike-urious
Of course, this was an era when the high-performance inline-fours from Japan were outpowering their spaghetti-like frames. Racers and sport riders soon found that a Moto Martin-framed machine handled much better on the circuit and street.
What’s more, the frames could be matched with bodykits inspired by café racer and endurance racing designs…and the company even produced their wheels and suspension! Today, Moto Martin builds are highly prized, and it’s fairly rare that we happen across one.
This Kawasaki Z1000J-powered Moto Martin comes from our new friend Christian Bell of Ride and Restore, who started the Pott Shrigley-based workshop during the pandemic:
“The business was a near instant success…over the past six years we have restored what must be hundreds of bikes, mostly 70s-90s Japanese models, and helped countless customers with individual parts of their own projects such as blasting, fabrication, paint etc… Currently we have a team of three and always have 5+ custom bike builds on at any one time.”
The bike you see here was originally built in the late 2000s by the USA’s Santiago Choppers as a 90s streetfighter, though the frame dates all the way back to 1983…said to be hand-welded by Georges Martin himself.
The engine is a Z1000J unit — the 998cc Zed four that arrived in 1981 to meet new Superbike racing rules — while the running gear is modern GSX-R. In 2024, none other than British actor Simon Norbury (Game of Thrones) purchased what was left of the bike.
“We were contacted by Simon to make a new wiring loom for the bike as the existing loom had set fire after years of being messed with and left the thing in a really poor state. Simon did what most people do when they come to our shop…spent loads more money than he originally intended to and the project turned into a full redesign!” -Christian
Simon and the Ride and Restore team have gone for much more of a classic Moto Martin look: “big fairings, mental geometry, and wide stance.” The massive front fairing is a Moto Martin signature piece, while Simon himself made the tail unit in his shed!
“The tail piece is a real one-off, moulded from bits of chopped up old Suzuki fairings. The customer still has the mold and I’d really like to make some more when we get time.” -Christian
The Ride and Restore team have their own parts manufacturing brand, Nabspeed Components, and the bike is running Nabspeed yokes, rear sets, and dashboard produced in-house.
Due to budget overrun, they eschewed a wild 80s paint scheme in favor of a plain white base that could be painted over later…only to realize the bike looked amazing that way, especially after adding the S.E.V. Marchal-inspired cat’s eye decals and yellow headlights. The bike was soon christened “Ghost 8” — Simon’s favorite number, and a nod to those round yellow headlights.
With Mikuni smoothbore carbs, a hot set of cams, and a performance exhaust, Christian estimates this Zed-powered Ghost is making around 120 bhp. So what’s it like to ride this Franco-Japanese beast?
“Absolutely terrifying and not particularly comfortable…but that’s the whole point, right? The throttle is an on/off switch and the power is a real kick…but man you just don’t care because it’s so bloody exciting.”
Christian was honored to be invited to showcase the bike at last year’s Worship Moto Show, where we first laid eyes on it. Bravo to Christian, Simon, and everyone who was involved in bringing this fire-breather back to life.
Below is our full interview with Christian about the build. Photography credits go to our man Roberto Garagarza (@roga______/) for the Worship Moto Show shots, and Christian himself for the ones in front of the Ride and Restore workshop.
Moto Martin Z1000: Builder Interview
• Please tell us a bit about yourself, your history with motorcycles, and your workshop.
Hey, my name is Christian. After years in engineering of various forms mostly doing stuff that didn’t inspire me, I started a business called Ride and Restore during covid. The aim was to turn my motorcycle hobby into a full-time business and offer restoration services to the public as I noticed there was a bit of a gap in the market for the things involved.
The business was a near instant success…over the past six years we have restored what must be hundreds of bikes, mostly 70s-90s Japanese models, and helped countless customers with individual parts of their own projects such as blasting, fabrication, paint etc.
The other side of the business has always been custom bike builds and modifications…and over the past three years this has grown to be most of our turnover and nowadays we take on way fewer restoration projects.
Currently we have a team of three and always have 5+ custom bike builds on at any one time. We have invested heavily in equipment over the years and our shop is really well equipped to do everything in-house!
Recently we started a manufacturing brand called “Nabspeed components” (named after the old disused “NAB” quarry our industrial estate is on) and we make our own clip-ons, yokes, rear sets and bespoke parts in-house on a HAAS CNC milling machine amongst other manufacturing equipment.
Our workshop in Pott Shrigley (just outside of Macclesfield) is a really special place surrounded by some amazing scenery and riding roads. I pinch myself going to work every day, custom and classic motorcycles have become my life and I’m really enjoying my work…even when some bikes really test you!
• What’s the make, model, and year of the donor bike?
This is a genuine Georges Martin frame…..hand-built by George himself in 1983. If you know who he is, it’s a really special bit of kit. Sat on top of a Kawasaki Z1000J motor, with GSX-R running gear. Genuine Martin tank and front fairing, plus a custom tail fairing made by the customer in his shed; it’s fantastic that the client was able to add such a defining part of the bike and the shape is really unique.
• Why was this bike built?
So…first of all we aren’t going to take FULL credit for this build…the bike was originally built in the late 2000s by Santiago Choppers in LA, California. It was built in a typical 90s streetfighter theme and our client purchased (what was left of it) around 2024.
We were contacted by Simon to make a new wiring loom for the bike as the existing loom had set fire after years of being messed with and left the thing in a really poor state. Simon did what most people do when they come to our shop…spent loads more money than he originally intended to and the project turned into a full redesign!
• What was the design concept and what influenced the build?
The theme was the same that most of our bikes end up being…endurance racer, our favorite type of custom bike. To us, bikes are for racing and going fast, and with that engine, you don’t have much choice.
This bike in particular was inspired by the endurance racers of the 1980s, and the fact it’s a French frame, so the nod to S.E.V. Marchal: cat’s eye decals and yellow headlights.
We absolutely love our Jap muscle bikes and classic race bikes, and so does our customer, combined with the classic “Martin” flair: big fairings, mental geometry, and wide stance.
• What custom work was done to the bike?
Being that the frame is kind of a one-off sort of thing, every part of the bike is custom-made. Nothing is “bolt on” and everything has to be made to fit. The tail piece is a real one-off, moulded from bits of chopped up old Suzuki fairings. The customer still has the mold and I’d really like to make some more when we get time.
The biggest challenge was making a frame for the front fairing to fit properly and not wave about when riding…it’s a big old thing when you’re next to it! We spent ages adjusting it until we were happy with the position — it’s such a defining “Martin” feature.
It’s fitted with our Nabspeed yokes and rear sets and dash setup. We also made a full brand-new custom wiring loom for the bike.
• Does the bike have a nickname?
We originally intended on giving the bike a really cool 80s inspired paint scheme…but in the end the budget went quite a bit over as the project progressed, and we ended up deciding to paint the bike in a white base that could be added to later.
We quickly realised that the bike looked fantastic like that, and after we tinted the headlights yellow the anthropomorphic characteristics came out…so the yellow eyes on the white body christened the name “Ghost 8.” The 8 being Simon’s number of choice based on it being the symbol of eternity and balance…perfect for a timeless motorcycle.
• Any idea of horsepower, weight, and/or performance numbers?
We didn’t tune the motor so we really don’t know…stock these motors churn out around 100 bhp so with the added Mikuni VM33 smoothbores, exhaust, and cams, I would expect the bike to be circa 120bhp at a guess…it really does feel something like that when you open her up.
• Can you tell us what it’s like to ride this bike?
Absolutely terrifying and not particularly comfortable…but that’s the whole point, right? The throttle is an on/off switch and the power is a real kick…but man you just don’t care because it’s so bloody exciting.
• Was there anything done during this build that you are particularly proud of?
We had never done a bike show before and halfway through the build Gary Inman, the genius behind Worship Moto Show in Leeds, asked us to bring it to the show along with another bike we built.
I’ve always been quite critical of my own work and to be invited to the show and receive so much great feedback on the build, I’m really proud of myself and the team behind the bike. It’s been really motivating and pushed me to create more!
• Is there anyone you’d like to thank?
Honestly, the customer and owner of the bike, Simon Norbury. He really has been an absolute gent from the start to finish. People like him make my job a dream and I’m really happy to say he’s become a good friend. He’s let us keep the bike in our reception over winter which has been fantastic to be able to showcase our work to new customers who come in. It’s always a talking point!
Also Gary as mentioned above, thanks for having us at Worship!
Follow the Builder
www.instagram.com/rideandrestore
www.rideandrestore.com
www.nabspeed.co.uk
Worship Moto Show Photos: Roberto Garagarza (@roga______/)
When these great motorcycles from Moto Martin, Harris Performance, Nico Bakker and Bimota arrived, I was very young and behind the Iron Curtain. So without the possibility of getting any information about these great machines. All the greater was my interest and admiration for these “garage companies” who managed to improve almost perfect Japanese motorcycles. Every preserved and maintained piece is a great testimony to that unique time.
This is a GREAT piece. The builder is a remarkable story. Under-rated talent and unique accomplishment.
Love the proportions and style of that era.