Booger

This is Booger (the English Bulldog), the guys is my buddy Dave "Voodoo Vintage" Roy. Dogs are cool.

The Mothership

This impressive thunderstorm cloud called a supercell. Such colossal storm systems center on mesocyclones -- rotating updrafts that can span several miles and deliver torrential rain and high winds including tornadoes.

Autum Minion

Autum are a US based group of designers that are producing some fine men’s accessories — wallets and slips for your iPad and MacBook Air. Their latest addition to the range is a sleek black cruiser called the Minion, and it’s no show pony.

UNSANE - "Scrape"...ouch!

Mercedes-Benz Biome

This is the Mercedes-Benz you'll aspire to own in, say, 2310. The bright white concept looks like it belongs on the set of Star Trek. Yet the Biome was actually designed at the German company's design studio in Carlsbad, California. There's room for four-passengers inside, or so we're told, and the seating position is in a diamond format.

The best part is that Mercedes-Benz says the Biome can be grown from seeds, and not built in a traditional factory. It sounds crazy, but that's part of the fun with any dream car. Using genetically modified trees and powered by something called BioNectar4534, Mercedes-Benz says the Biome's bio-fiber cloth body would be grown organically, and on the road, the car would emit pure oxygen. The Biome reportedly would weigh only 875 lbs.

It will be several generations before anyone starts pondering the spec sheet for a genetically-built Mercedes like the Biome

Praise the Lowered

Barhopper

Tribute to the Misfits

Fresh Sporty

Image stolen from the ZON

Ducati art

Christian Klein is a skilled lathe operator and a craftsman engineer. He’s also a Ducati fan, and rides a red 900 GTS. In the cold German evenings, he drifts towards his workshop, inhabiting what he calls his ‘parallel world’. And it was in here, a few years ago, that Klein decided to build a light and quick café racer. So he created a custom frame, using high-strength, low-alloy steel. That bike is now finished, and it’s a work of art. The rear is unusually narrow, with the seat being merely two sections of foam rubber inset into milled aluminum plate. The exhaust winds through the frame under the seat unit, and was created using a home-made tube bending machine. The motor is from a Ducati 350 Scrambler, which Klein rebuilt and treated to a port and polish job. (It’s a very reputable motor, as far as singles go: in 1967, it was even selected to power the Swiss military’s Condor A350 motorcycle.) Attention to detail is everywhere, from the foot controls to the single rear (CB600-based) shock arrangement, and even the hand-made screws and locknuts. The forks, in case you’re wondering, are from a Yamaha RD. And the result is simply wunderbar.

El Diablo Run 2011

el diablo run 2011: Tentative Schedule for 2011: "Alright... Yep, we're going to give this thing a go. Nothing official yet, we have some stuff to lock down but the tentative dates you sho..."

Nice Knockers!

Last weekend in San Antonio at the Scotish Rite temple.

Matchless 1931 Silver Hawk 593 cc 4 cyl ohc

Having fun with Adolf

Cool little '73 XS650

See more at xs650 chopper.com

Smooth V-Rod

Jason Wonder will build you a bike only if you promise you’re really going to ride it. And owner Ricky Powell enjoys his Wonder Customs Rev-2 to the max. It’s a lithe concoction wrapped around a beefy V-Rod motor, and an excellent showcase for Wonder’s fabrication skills. There’s nothing that doesn’t contribute to going, turning or stopping. The fuel-injected 1130cc water-cooled V-Rod motor is fed by an external high-pressure pump and regulator mounted behind the hand-formed gas tank, with cooling handled by a custom radiator. Noise is kept to tolerable levels by a simple stack of diffuser discs at the end of each exhaust header; the engine can be tuned by adding or subtracting discs to complement the reprogrammed ECM. The motor internals were untouched—115 hp (86 kW) is enough for most folks—because Powell wants his machine to be rideable. Showa forks and hand controls (pirated from a Ducati superbike) work well with the Works Performance rear shocks. And keeping everything under control are Brembo brakes attached to HogPro Daytona wheels, shod with Metzler 240/18 and 120/19 ME rubber. It’s a far cry from a bloated showbike, with the sinuous exhaust hugging the side of the engine and its curves reflected in the lines of that lovely tank. To my eyes, this is a textbook example of how to build a Harley custom.

Saturday Night

Bone appletit!...that's French

Dallas MC Show

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

What were you riding when you were 13 years old? In 1953, Californian kid Bobby Sirkegian was racing in the equivalent of the NHRA Nationals, so I’m surprised he’s not a household name in motorcycling circles. Bobby used to campaign this Triumph Thunderbird dragbike, “Pretty Boy II”: as a teenager he was a successful drag racer, before taking the flat tracks by storm and becoming the 1957 AMA Novice Champion. By 1960, though, Bobby’s track career was over—curtailed by his father’s untimely passing, and the need to look after the family motorcycle business. Today Sirkegian (below) is 71, but he’s held on to his racebikes all these years. “Pretty Boy II” is a 1952 Triumph Thunderbird 650 dragster, restored by Bobby himself, and it’s going on the auction block this coming weekend.

1973 BMW R60/5

I’ve always had a soft spot for 1970s BMWs, but I haven’t seen anything quite like this slash-five before. It’s owned by Frenchman Gaëtan Pillaud, and he calls it a ‘Clubber’—a mix between a clubman and a bobber. The bike started life as a 1973 R60/5, which means it has an aircooled 599cc boxer twin motor, shaft drive, and a kickstart mounted on the back of the gearbox. It’s got a Trackmaster tank and seat sourced from eBay, military-spec Firestone ANS tires, and café racer clip-on bars from LSL. Gaëtan dropped the forks at the front to improve the bike’s stance, and fitted custom shocks to keep the back end under control. The alloy rear fender was made by French motorcycle legend George Martin, and the exhaust is an authentic Dunstall. If the headlight, almost dwarfed on this bike, looks familiar, that’s because it’s from an AMF-era Harley shovel. Even the wiring harness has received attention—it’s sheathed in woven cotton in true vintage style.

Oh Rats

Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker

This guy is cool

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, the Swiss adventurer who has already flown across the English Channel using a winged jet-pack, pulls off another exploit by flying two aerial loops in a new version of his invention