NÖHLINS: Dave Solomon’s 1327cc “Winter Hack”… Dave Solomon is the mad Englishman who founded Butchered Classics around a decade ago — an online community that “pays homage to all motorcycles registered 1990 or before, with […]
Tag: Muscle Bikes
Touch Too Much: 1428cc GSX-Powered Harris Magnum II
Keeping the Dream Alive: Jacko’s All-Motor Magnum… In the history of motorcycling, the United Kingdom is famed not just for its legendary marques but its small-batch chassis builders as well. Certain names are spoken […]
Big Bore Four: Yamaha XJR1200 Café Racer
A Reborn XJR from RV Workshop… After the introduction of the original Suzuki GSX-R in the mid-1980s, sporting motorcycles began to move quickly toward aluminum frames, monoshocks, liquid-cooled engines, and full fairings — the hallmarks […]
Ristretto: 1500cc Moto Guzzi Muscle Bike
Concentrated Power: Radical Speedshop’s Big-Bore Guzzi… When it comes to Moto Guzzi performance, one name stands out from the crowd: Radical Speedshop of Schwarzenfeld, Germany. The Bronold family has been building, racing, and marketing […]
V-Racer: Harley-Davidson V-Rod Café Racer
The first custom creation to roll out of Donut Garage… In 2002, Harley-Davidson released the V-Rod, the first of the VRSC (V-Twin Racing Street Custom) series — a line of muscle bikes whose 1131cc Revolution […]
Black ‘n Blue: Suzuki Bandit 1200 Café Racer
Rebuilt Muscle Bike from Brittany’s RV Workshop… Few bikes have earned the cult following of the Suzuki Bandit 1200. In 1996, Suzuki took the air/oil-cooled engine from the GSX-R1100, punched up the capacity, stuck […]
Mad Max: Yamaha V-Max 1200 Custom
V4 Beast from Lord Drake Kustoms… Back in the early 1980s, Yamaha wanted to develop a two-wheeled hot rod for the American market. They sent the project’s team leader, Akira Araki, stateside for research. “According […]
Pulls Like a Train: Yamaha XJR1300 Muscle Bike
“Proper Arm-Extender” — Shoogly Shed’s Custom XJR… The Yamaha XJR1300 was one of the last old-school muscle bikes, a big-block brute with twin shocks, a braced swingarm, and a beefy air/oil-cooled inline-four rated at […]
ALPHA: Kawasaki ZRX1200R Café Racer
Titanium-clad Zed from Alpha.Moto… The Kawasaki ZRX1200R remains one of our favorite machines of the early 2000s, a throwback muscle bike that took inspiration from the KZ1000R Eddie Lawton Replica of the early 1980s. […]
King Zed: Kawasaki “KZ1135” MKII Restomod
Kawasaki KZ1000 MKII from AC Sanctuary… The Kawasaki KZ1000 MKII was the 1979-80 version of the liter-sized Zed. It received some nice upgrades over the previous model, including fresh bodywork, larger carbs, electronic ignition, […]




