There’s no denying that I’m a huge fan of Axel Budde and his custom motorcycle outfit, Kaffeemaschine. Axel flew onto my radar many years ago, and has continued to impress with his elegant interpretations of classic Moto Guzzis. Today we’re looking at KM37—a 1981 Moto Guzzi SP1000 wrapped in an Alfa Romeo-inspired livery.
The SP1000 shares its frame design with that of all the great Guzzis of yore. Designed by Lino Tonti and first appearing in the 1971 V7 Sport, the Tonti frame was in production (in one Guzzi or another) all the way up until 2013. I’ve been lucky enough to have ridden a few Tonti-framed bikes, and the telepathic handling is nothing short of amazing.
Axel is also a fan of the lithe triangles that make up this legendary chassis.…
The Malle Mile is an event filled to the brim with quirky motorcycles. But if there’s one thing you wouldn’t expect to see there, it’s a three-wheeled BMW R100 wrapped in vintage automobile-like bodywork.
We spotted this fabulous oddball while wandering around the Malle Mile’s festival grounds last month. It looked strangely at home against the backdrop of the Lincolnshire countryside, with its retrofuturistic sci-fi vibe. Naturally, we had to find out more—so we tracked down the builder, Tim Cumper.
Tim’s a prototype model maker by day, but he works on custom bikes and furniture after hours. His workshop name is especially apt, given how wild his imagination is; Cumpert Contraptions.
“The three-wheeler was inspired by pre-war racing cars, which I am a big fan of,” he tells us.…
Like any good factory café racer, the Ducati SportClassic doesn’t beg to be customized. It’s stunning in stock form—and, with a 992 cc Desmo L-twin mounted in its trellis frame, has more than enough go to match the show. Little wonder then that it’s so sought after on the second hand market.
If you do manage to get your hands on one, you could happily leave it as is—or personalize it with a few select mods. Or you could follow Jeff Soucek’s example. His SportClassic looks almost original at a glance, but it’s actually packing more mods than your garden variety café racer.
All you need to know about Jeff is that he’s based in California, loves Ducatis and has a background in aerospace engineering.…
