Stunning CB customs unveiled at Wheels and Waves

Honda have unveiled 12 stunning new custom CB1000R builds at the Wheels and Waves festival as a celebration of 50 years of the inline four, which began in 1969 with the original CB750.

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The machines have come from all over Europe to Biarritz as part of France’s leading custom motorbike show. Inspiration for the machines has come from far and wide, including endurance racing, the Paris-Dakar and even the humble monkey bike. These are just a few that caught our eye.

Our personal favourite was the madcap Africa Twin-styled CB1000R. The ultimate dune-blaster has a CRF450 front end, with a massive single front brake disc and an anodised four-piston caliper.

The Swiss-built machine also has a funky four-into-one exhaust with a stubby carbon-fibre end can. The bike is littered with stylish touches such as a custom rear seat cowl, new headlight and super-high mudguard, aluminium handlebars and tiny LED indicators.

The ‘CB1000R-adical’ from Fuhrer Moto, Switzerland, was also a huge crowd-pleaser, thanks to its innovate and excessive use of carbon fibre.

The expensive, but stylish black stuff has been used to create a new bellypan, bespoke Rotobox carbon wheels and of course the CeraCarbon Ultralight forks – entirely made of carbon with a ceramic coating on the stanchions. Then there’s the carbon Akrapovic exhaust.

The ‘Dirt Endurance’ custom was inspired by the classic Bol D’Or racers. It’s been built with a radical custom fairing that was created just for this bike, etched with nods to the history of the brand including a ‘48’ to honour the foundation of Honda in 1948 as well as a quote from found Soichiro Honda. The exhaust is now a split level affair while the air filter mount has been 3D-printed! That said we’re not so sure about those knobblies.

A special mention should go to the Alfredo machine built by Hakuba Motos from Spain, as part of Honda’s dealer customising concept. Built as a tribute to the great ‘Fast Freddie’ Spencer, the machine has been designed to go that little bit quicker, with relocated controls and a bespoke handmade exhaust system with an SC-Project race can.

It’s also sporting a set of numberboards, but this time for practical reasons, as Honda entered it into the Punk’s Pike hillclimb at the event, where it made the knockout stages of the post-75 drag race.

Visit the Wheels and Waves website for more information and tickets.

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Royal Enfield customs unveiled

Royal Enfield have revealed six custom builds based on their 650 platform, and a Himalayan built to withstand a zombie apocalypse at the Wheels and Waves event in Biarritz, France.

A collaborative build between BAAK Motocyclette and Royal Enfield has created a reimagining of the Interceptor 650, blending old and new styling.

Two more Interceptor builds have been built specifically to take on the Great Malle Rally 2019. Both have custom-made Harris chassis parts and long travel suspension to improve the long-distance potential of the base bike.

Three Continental GT builds explore the relationship between form and function, with a track version from Harris Performance, a drag bike from Sinroja Motorcycles and an endurance racer from Rough Crafts.

Finally, the MJR Roach Himalayan was inspired by dystopian video games and is designed to survive anything. Modifications include chunky tires, a formed aluminium single sided swingarm, and even a Garret turbocharger!

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First published: 25/06/2018

Moto Guzzi, Yamaha and Indian all unveil new bikes at Wheels & Waves 2018

Hand-built, one-off, specially-commissioned, custom bikes from Yamaha and Indian along with a brand new, limited edition version of Moto Guzzi’s V7 retro roadster were among the highlights at the recent Wheels & Waves in Biarritz, south-western France. 

Although the weather was unseasonably poor, with the rain lashing the event forcing some of the stalls and exhibits indoors, it didn’t dampen the creativity on show, in what has become one of the world’s leading custom bike events, reknown for its surfing vibe, street culture and hipster fashion.

Aside from the bikes motorcycle sprints took place in the hills overlooking the Atlantic; ride-outs took in the local scenery, custom shows and bands attracted the crowds and tattooists and clothing stalls made their marks.

But it was the new bikes which were probably the stars of the show. Yamaha used the event to unveil its latest, one-off ‘Yard Built’ custom project – a heavily modded XSR900 built by locally-based Dab Motors’ which was largely built using cutting edge 3D printers.

“Yard Built is often seen as the place where we honour the past, and maybe rightly so,” said Antoine Clémot, Yamaha Motor Europe Motorcycle Product Manager. “But we also use it as a laboratory of sorts. Dab Motors is embracing technology that is light years ahead of so many other builders and that’s thrilling to see.”

Indian, meanwhile, unveiled a stunning new, one-off flat-tracker called ‘Shrimp’, based on its Scout Sixty and built by San Marco and Phonz of Anvil Motociclette. The name comes from it being inspired one of Indian’s earliest heroes, Albert ‘Shrimp’ Burns, who began racing at just 14 in 1912 before he was tragically killed at the age of just 23.

While Moto Guzzi went even further still be using the event, and the backdrop of its own custom show, to unveil a a brand new, limited edition version of its popular retro roadster, the V7.

V7 III Limited unveiled at #wheelsandwaves in #biarritz. Just 500 numbered units! #motoguzzi #guzzi Discover more https://t.co/qOX629d6Ls pic.twitter.com/acM6uncAzn

— Moto Guzzi (@motoguzziclub) June 16, 2018

The new V7 III Limited is the most luxurious and exclusive version of the 750cc V-twin yet and will be limited to just 500 units. It’s distinguished by its chrome-finished tank complete with black leather, vintage look strap, carbon fibre side panels complete with unique badging, saddle with old school style stitching, billet aluminium fuel cap, carbon fibre front and rear mudguards and more. The price for the new Limited is pegged at £8999. 

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First published: 27/04/2017

The fun & good vibes of Wheels and Waves 2017 continues

Registrations are now open to enter the Punks Peak hill climb at this years’ Wheels & Waves festival in Biarritz. 

The hill climb has become one of the highlight attractions to the festival, where riders battle it out on vintage machines up the side of a mountain that overlooks the ocean. If you want to enter though, you’d better be quick as places are limited to a maximum number of just 64 riders.

Now in its sixth year, Wheels & Waves has grown to become one of the key events on the custom and retro motorcycling calendar.

Alongside some of the best custom bike builders in Europe will be all the manufacturers who have a heritage or retro motorcycle in their range, Indian, BMW, Harley-Davidson and Yamaha, with their Yard Built motorcycles will be but a few of the brands with a presence there.

Taking place between June 14-18, this year promises to bring the streets of Biarritz alive with the thunder of engines as people from all over the world descend on the idyllic south-western French town.

The event combines the worlds of surfing and motorcycles (the hint is in the name) and celebrates both throughout the course of the 5-day festival.

There will also be Flat track racing and Indian, who are one of the lead sponsors of Wheels & Waves, will be putting a lot of weight behind racer-turned-custom-guru Roland Sands, who will be racing alongside Dimitri Costa on Indian motorcycles. The chaps over at Young Guns motorcycles will also be racing on the Indian that they’ve been preparing in anticipation of the event.

Surrounding all the live action will also be film screenings, live music and a central hub where you can see some of the latest creations from some of the top fabricators in Europe, alongside a host of machinery brought along by some of the big manufacturers too, just in case you need to fing a blank canvas for your next project.

The festival also has a large emphasis on the surfing element too, with surfing and skating competitions running throughout the 5-days duration of the festival too. Legendary surfer-turned-musician Tom Curren will also be attending and performing on Saturday June 17.