The Best Custom Motorcycles in the World, June 19th 2014

Welcome to The Week in Bikes, your weekly Cliffs Notes version of the best new custom bikes in the world.

Hageman Motorcycle's 2014 Yamaha Star Bolt
You've got to be equal parts talented, confident, and crazy to go all out customizing a brand new bike. Fortunately, Greg Hageman is exactly all of that. The best part about this bike isn't the slick transformation from off-the-shelf normalcy to take-my-money righteousness, or even the fact that every single modification is easily undoable, thereby allowing you to keep the factory warranty. He's actually building the pieces as a kit so you can do it in your own driveway. Seriously, you can grab 'em on eBay.

GT Moto's Charity Raffle Honda CB450
This is the ultimate father-daughter build. George Tsingos and daughter Sofi set out to build a bike that could be raffled off to support cancer research. (George was diagnosed with cancer.) They went with the CB450 both because it was light, and because the engine was small enough to allow them to get creative with the rest of the bike. Check out their site (above) for more on the bike and the fantastic build quality, then grab yourself a raffle ticket while you still can.

Burly Brand's Harley Sportster 883
Burly has spent years building up a rep as both a fabricator and a retailer. This bike belongs to Burly's owner, who essentially pieced together his own DIY kit comprised of in-house parts like a drop kit up front for a more aggressive stance and a custom rear seat. He then added a spate of aftermarket goodies like the handlebars, wheels, and the lights.

H/T: Silodrome

Federal Moto's Norton 850 "Ace"
A trio of guys from Edmonton, Alberta, came together and decided to start their own shop, and their biggest decision was to go for an English bike—they say Canada is flooded with old Japanese bikes. They proceeded to remove every single spec of metal that wasn't critical to the running of the bike, and ultimately shaved off nearly ten percent of the total weight. Everything from the fenders to the lights has been changed on this one. It's worth a closer look.

H/T: Bike EXIF

Kingston Customs' Triumph Scrambler 900 il Sardo
This bike was built to kick off a Triumph festival in Austria, as an homage to the days when Steve McQueen used to ride similar bikes for days on end. The entire frame was stripped down, polished to perfection, then nickel-plated. It's been simplified, too: with a lot less electrical wiring and excess metal, it weighs nearly 100 pounds lighter than the original.

Sartorie Mecaniche's Atacama Seicento
The impetus for this Italian garage's Yamaha started with a super-cheap 1980s endurance bike that Sartorie's owner saw potential in despite it's weak suspension and poor brakes. Flash forward a few years, and you've got a bike with a modern Honda front suspension, Kawasaki Ninja brakes, a 60-year-old fuel tank from an Italian junk yard, and a fresh coat of paint straight from the BMW catalog. For good measure, it's even got a Ducati fender and a keyless ignition system.

Auto Fabrica's Triumph Scrambler
Amazingly, this is Auto Fabrica's first commissioned bike; their previous rides were all labors of love for the group of automotive and graphic designers. After a few simple tweaks to slim the bike down and make everything look more clean, they set out to replace every single part that Triumph was economically forced to compromise on. Lastly, they rounded everything off with an in-house exhaust.


Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor, and for once he's not sure which is the best bike of this bunch.