Ride Apart have made an entertaining video reviewing bikes for city riding. Featured is the Cleveland 250cc caferacer, Honda CBR 250 and the Suzuki DRZ 400. Whichever bike is your favourite would depend on your riding style and taste but the guys in the video do make them look like a lot of fun.
A photojournalist friend of mine lent me his lovely Canon 1d Mark IV and a 300mm f2.8 lens to play with on this day at the Phillip Island race track. It was a steep learning curve as I’m more a portrait shooter rather than a sport shooter, however, I did come back with some images I was quite happy with. The Sidecar races were a real surprise for me as to how much I enjoyed photographing the riders hanging on with their helmets nearly scraping the ground. Hope you find something you like too.
Click on the images for a larger, sharper view.
The Phillip Island Classic Bike race has been and gone for another year featuring some very tasty retro and classic race bikes. It was a privilege strolling through the pit lanes chatting to enthusiastic builders and riders who welcomed questions about their bikes and races. Here are some images I took that represent some highlights of what was there. I also tried to capture more images of the riders this year as they were often as interesting and colourful as the bikes they rode. All rights reserved on these images. More images of the actual races to come!
I had to share this from Return of the Cafe Racers’ Facebook page. Are you a one up or two up person? I have a friend who loves nothing more than to ride with his wife on the back of his Harley, while others I know would rather ride with their partners next to them on their own bike. I love the look of a cafe-racer but I guess when you bolt a solo seat on your bike, it becomes a pretty clear statement. What you prefer?
A great gathering was organised last Sunday to bring together custom bikes and scooters in a massive ride ending up at Kustom Lane Gallery in Hawthorn. A few of the bikes there were featured in the Oil Stained Brain exhibition from the previous week but there were also plenty of other gorgeous two wheeled machines to enjoy. The people there were generally very inviting and willing to chat about their customised rides while others enjoyed the entertainment and sunshine.
I decided to edit these photos in black and white as it was like stepping into a different time in history as you entered the closed off lane; literally full of classic Nortons, Ducatis, BSAs and much much more. Check out the images below.
Saw this beauty parked near my bike outside the Oil Stained Brain custom bike exhibition. I’m planning to feature a photo shoot and story on this bike in the near future from Mischief Maker. For now you can have a little taster. Stay tuned.
I had the pleasure of attending a Melbourne custom bike show organised by a group called “Oil Stained Brain” at the 1000 Pound Bend Gallery. The organisers are Jimmy Goode who runs Kustom Deluxe and Geoff Baldwin, of Return of the Café Racers. Both guys are deeply passionate about the custom bike industry and feature a wide range of interesting work by independent builders.
The show was a well populated by black leather clad bikers, rockers and guys with very neat hair. It was the first of hopefully many shows featuring builds from local and interstate bike builders. It also features films and artworks on bike culture as well. Some highlights include a very steampunk styled 1974 Shovel head with a pneumatic front suspension and a glass bottle fuel gauge, a beautifully restored BMW R1000RS with just the right amount of modern bits, and an iron clad 2008 KTM 250 EXC-F. It was an impressive exhibition considering the small but strong subculture of custom motorcycle riders in Australia. To be honest, some of the patrons rode up on some pretty sweet machines as well. It was a proud day to be a motorcyclist and I hope to see many more events put on by the passionate folks of Oil Stained Brain.
I haven’t seen Craig in awhile and it was great to cross his path yesterday at the “Oil Stained Brain” custom bike show in Melbourne. Craig is a custom bike builder under the name Mischief Maker. He builds beautiful, street legal cafe racers that are a thing to behold. I’m planning on documenting some of his builds in the near future but for now I just wanted to show off my photograph of the man behind the bikes.
