Retrobike Issue 37

LIKE any businessman, for Untitled Motorcycles’ main man Adam Kay, the customer is always right. If he or she wants to turn a brand new motorcycle into something more traditional, Adam’s your man. His take on the new Triumph Thruxton 1200 R on page eight, mildly customised as a classic café racer, is a perfect example. I’m a big fan of the style. Give me a new bike with a three-year warranty that looks like an old bike and I’m happy chappy, especially if it goes like an old bike too. Throw in extra points for lashings of chrome and a plummy exhaust. But the spell can be easily broken if you come across some real classic bikes on your travels. As respectful as the modern bikes are of those…

UNTITLED Motorcycles is a thoroughly modern custom bike workshop, born and bred on social media but focused on design and backed with the technical skills to punch out more than 100 bikes so far from their modest premises in north London and more recently their new digs in California. “I do this because I love it,” says UMC’s main man Adam Kay. “I’ve always loved motorcycles. I don’t know why as my family has no interest in them to the point that they really don’t like them. I just remember watching the first Mad Max film and wanting to ride all the bikes. “A few years ago I bought a BMW from Rex Martin, who was running Victory Motorcycles in Kentish Town. I asked him to help me rebuild it…

THE first Triumph Thruxtons were a limited run of souped-up Bonneville 650s homologated by the old Meriden factory from 1965 to race in production-class events in the UK. They were named after the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, a former WWII airfield and one of the fastest race tracks in the UK. Fast-forward nearly 40 years and the name was revived for a sporty version of the new look 790cc Triumph Bonneville, with a larger 865cc engine (later extended across the Bonneville range) to match the rear-sets and clip-ons. A fantastic bike in its own right, the new ‘900’ Thruxton attracted customisers by the busload and a deserved cult following. For those of us who believe the pistons in English parallel-twins should rise and fall together, it will always hold a…

ENGINE Liquid-cooled four-stroke parallel-twin with 90/270-degree offset crankpins; SOHC, four valves per cylinder; 97.6 x 80mm for 1200cc; 11.0:1 comp; multipoint sequential EFI; UMC custom exhaust; ‘assist’-style clutch to six-speed gearbox and chain final drive; 96hp @ 6750rpm CHASSIS Tubular steel cradle frame with twin-sided aluminium swingarm; 43mm Showa USD forks, 2 x four-piston Brembo monobloc calipers on 310mm floating Brembo rotors; 2 x Ohlins piggyback shocks, single two-piston Nissin caliper on 220mm rotor; Kineo wire-spoked wheels (drool) BODYWORK Custom seat unit and headlight cowl by Untitled Motorcycles; Motogadget speedo; paint by Image Design Custom BEST Striking custom that goes, stops and handles like a bought one NOT SO GREAT Exhausts will attract plod…

ONE of the great things about Ducati is that it builds a lot of different bikes around a relatively limited number of engines. Not all the bikes are winners, but the engines are always full of character and real-world performance, especially the air-cooled belt-driven big twins from 1989 on. Bargains abound. The early carburetted 900s were gems, the later fuel-injected 1000s even better. “GIADA AND NICO HAVE CREATED A GREAT-LOOKING CUSTOM BIKE FROM THE UGLIEST DUCATI EVER BUILT” “The idea was to have a very rideable motorcycle without an extreme riding position,” says Giada Rigolli, co-founder and director of Nico Dragoni Motociclette in northern Italy, of his latest build. A comfortable cafe racer? Is there such a thing? Giada, his partner Nico and their client figured an early Multistrada would…

ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke 90-degree V-twin; SOHC, two valves per cylinder, desmodromic actuation; 94 x 71.5mm for 992cc; 10:1 comp; wet sump; Marelli fuel injection, 45mm throttle body; gear primary drive to dry STM slipper clutch and six-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 92hp @ 8000rpm CHASSIS Tubular-steel trellis mainframe with modified seat sub-frame; fully-adjustable 43mm Öhlins forks with 2 x 320mm semi-floating rotors and four-piston calipers; progressive linkage Öhlins monoshock; 17-inch wheels, 3.5-inch front, 5.5-inch rear BODYWORK Tank, seat and headlight shroud by Nico Dragoni Motociclette DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1462mm; dry weight 196kg (stock) BEST Winding roads, track days, shows NOT SO GREAT Nothing! This one’s a keeper…