Victory Powered XYZ by Allmond Cycle Design

Roger Allmond, who we last saw when he built his Ducati powered T Bob, just finished his newest bike, the XYZ (named after XYZ machines who sponsored the build). The XYZ is powered by a 92 inch Victory V-twin engine from Victory U.K. sitting in a handbuilt aluminum frame. Not many details yet but it looks like a real bruiser of a streetfighter. Another custom builder creating real motorcycles instead of extended choppers, I like the trend. Now when are the manufacturers going to take their cruiser engines and start doing this themselves?

Radial Engine Motorcycle at Oshkosh

When we last looked at the radial engine powered motorcycle by JRL Cycles, it was a bit short of finished. JRL mounted their engine longitudinally instead of transverse as Jesse James did. It looked interesting then but it’s always nice to see the finished bike.

Chris Beytes of South Elgin, IL., one of The Kneeslider’s readers, was up at the EAA fly in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin and almost ready to leave last Friday when he came across the bike. He snapped these photos and tried to get the guys from Rotec to fire it up but they are saving that for Sturgis. After looking it over, Chris says it appears to be very well engineered. I think they might have done well to add heat shields on those exhausts, either that or you wear some sort of asbestos leg protection. And how about that open belt on the left? Ouch! Looks nice, though.

Big Twin Racers Production Motorcycle Kit

Just got this photo from Curt Winter showing the production kit version of his Big Twin Racers American sportbike. We’ve mentioned Curt’s bike before, it’s powered by a RevTech 100 inch engine and six speed tranny with Ceriani inverted forks and a frame designed and built by Curt. There seem to be a few differences since the last photos so I’m getting some more info from Curt to find out what the current configuation actually is, plus a few details on price.

With the release of the Wakan 1640 last week, Roland Sands building his various sport customs powered by big V-Twins, plus Curt’s efforts and who knows how many more, this is definitely a trend and it’s one I like. Big torque engines with sporty handling, yep, that’s a trend I can live with.

Wakan 1640 - New French V-Twin Motorcycle

A new motorcycle company from France? It looks that way and their first bike is pretty sweet. Wakan Motorcycles has produced the Wakan 1640, a single seat, V-Twin powered sport bike built around the AC Cobra idea of dropping a big American powerplant into a sporty European frame.

Joel Domergue, the man behind Scorpa, a company known for some excellent trials motorcycles, and an expert trials rider himself, figured it was time to sell the company which left him with some cash in his pocket and ideas in his head. Actually, those ideas had been floating around for years but, busy with Scorpa, he didn’t have the time to do anything with them. Now, with free time and a bit of capital, he went to work.

The Wakan 1640 starts with a single spine oil carrying frame, a 54 inch wheelbase, with inverted Ceriani forks mounted at 22 degrees. Power comes from a 100 cubic inch S&S V-Twin producing 115hp and 115 foot pounds of torque and those horses are moving a motorcycle that weighs only 390 pounds with oil, no fuel. The engine sports a single Keihin flatslide carb that gets ram air through a blower type scoop situated above the airbox cover. The fuel tank is below the seat, molded to double as a sort of rear mudguard with the filler mounted on the tailsection.

The engine has been dynamically balanced to reduce vibration plus the bar end weights help and the result is a much smoother bike than you might expect.

Braking chores go to a single 340mm front disc with a six piston caliper, which first road tester, Alan Cathcart, calls, “OK” but which might need to be tweaked a bit for serious stopping power. Cathcart also says the handling is similar to the Buell Firebolt XB12R but performance from the S&S V-Twin is definitely a step up.

The first 15 bikes are scheduled to be produced by October for €28,000 ($35,000),but as production ramps up the price is expected to fall quite a bit. The next 100 bikes for 2007 will retain the Keihin carb but afterwards, fuel injection will be necessary to meet Euro 3 emissions requirements in 2008.

This is no prototype bike, it’s ready for production now and pre orders are already trickling in. They’ve kept the bike totally under wraps during the three year development time and these first stories show a complete bike.

This is another move, now by a European, in the same big torque, sport bike direction we’ve been talking about for the past year. If you’re a bike builder starting out, you might want to forget the chopper direction and think sport bike. The Wakan 1640, … I like it.

Link: Wakan Motorcycles via Motoblog.it

Custom R1100GS inspired by bull

Now this is a proper, old school custom. Builder Klaus Beutler based it on an R1100GS, which, we suppose, makes it some sort of supermoto. In the finest tradition of many a homemade bike before it, function and comfort are thrown out the window in the name of style. We admire Beutler’s commitment to his theme — not a part looks catalog purchased or fails to gel with the components around it. The tail unit looks painful but does incorporate the rear lights, though we’d worry about the miniscule hugger flinging all sorts of detritus straight at your backside.

Yacouba Galle's Bestiale concept

Amounting to little more than custom bodywork on an MV Augusta Brutale chassis, Yacouba Galle’s Bestiale concept is nonetheless a significant bike. Essentially a declaration of intent, Galle wants to use this concept to launch his career as a designer.

We like the way he uses Street Fighter–inspired design themes, like the kicked-up tail and flat headlight housing, integrating them into a more mature look. It brings a welcome edge of aggression to the Brutale beneath it; previously so feminine it felt limp-wristed.

Yacouba works as a journalist for Moto&Motards magazine in France and is also the man responsible for the insane KTM Super Duke launch video. We predict big things.

Suzuki UK release Bandit 1250 Street-Fighter

Suzuki UK release Bandit 1250 Street-Fighter

In an attempt to bolster slowing sales of the 1250 Bandit, Suzuki UK have released the Street-Fighter special edition. Equipped with flat bars, a seat cover and a race exhaust – all popular owner modifications – it nevertheless retails for the standard £5499. Begging the question: why don’t these kinds of bikes come with parts like this as standard