We have a particular affinity for modern Vespa scooters around here. Our founding editor, Chris Hunter, used to commute on one in Sydney, I used to commute on one in Cape Town, and our good friend, Winston Yeh, bops around Taipei on his (a black one, naturally). But we wouldn’t have the first clue on how to customize a modern Vespa. They’re cute enough as they are, begging to be lightly accessorized rather than heavily modified. It takes a lot of imagination to look past the iconic bodywork and see something radically different. Luckily, Adam Eldridge has imagination in spades. Based in Aust ..read more

On paper, the late-2000s Honda CB600F Hornet is a great bike; a lively four-cylinder middleweight, widely praised for its rideability and reliability. But in the flesh, it’s hard to get excited about. Like most of Honda’s naked bikes, the steadfast Hornet lacks panache—which makes it prime material for customization. This Honda Hornet café racer comes from Sébastien Vernaison in France—a part-time custom builder that works as Seb Kustom Motorcycle. He bought the bike a few years ago, customized it, and then decided to put it back under the knife to add even more swagger. And we’re glad he did ..read more

As Taiwan’s relatively young custom scene continues to flourish, we have the privilege of watching plucky startups become established players. Take Twentytwo Custom; this custom Suzuki TU250 Grasstracker is only their seventh build, but it perfectly showcases their skill at turning lightweight commuters into spicy little scramblers. Twentytwo is the custom arm of the Taiwanese moto culture and apparel brand, Persist Motorcycle Company. Working in collaboration with the custom workshop Tough Tracker, the crew’s forte is customizing sub-500 cc UJMs with a deft mix of modern and vintage flair. A ..read more

Marc Holstein might be German, but he’s a massive fan of Japanese culture—and an even bigger fan of Japan’s spellbinding motorcycle scene. The ace photographer splits his time between Frankfurt and Tokyo, is a regular face at the uber-popular Mooneyes show, and has been behind the workshop doors of some of Japan’s most enigmatic custom builders. Marc’s latest adventure took him two hours northeast of Tokyo, to the picture-perfect coastal town of Oarai for the annual Oarai Sun Beach Sand Flat’s race weekend. Now in its second year, the Oarai Sun Beach Sand Flat’s event is a throwba ..read more

The most unlikely custom motorcycle tops this week’s assortment of machines; a Ducati Indiana flat tracker. We also profile a Honda Transalp from Bolt Motor Co., a cheeky Yamaha XSR155 scrambler, and an ex-Barry Sheene Suzuki TR750 that’s up for auction at Bonhams. Ducati Indiana ‘Von Tracker’ by Francis Von Tuto History may have forgotten the Ducati Indiana, but those who lived it aren’t so lucky. There was a time when all the Italian marques all wanted a piece of America’s ‘factory chopper’ pie, with Moto Morini, Moto Guzzi, and Ducati all vying for a slice. The Ducati Indiana was particul ..read more

Before Ducati took the Monster in a lamentable direction by removing its signature trellis frame and swathing it in plastic, the Ducati Monster 821 was the best new Monster you could get. Stacked alongside the smaller, air-cooled Monster 797, and the totally bonkers, liquid-cooled Monster 1200, it was more refined than the former and more manageable than the latter. The 821 was a perfectly proportioned package, packing a 112-horsepower wallop, and dripping with Italian swagger and brutal elegance. This custom Ducati Monster 821 pulls back some of that elegance, and dials the 821’s inherent br ..read more

Our friends at Malle are nothing if not adventurous. When Robert Nightingale and Jonny Cazzola aren’t designing impossibly stylish motorcycle luggage from their London HQ, they’re out on the road testing that gear during the myriad events they organize annually. Events like the epic Great Malle Mountain Rally. The Great Malle Mountain Rally is a supported 2,000-kilometer [1,243-mile] regularity rally, stacked with around 100 riders of custom, classic, and modern-classic motorcycles. Running over six days, the event starts in Austria and ends in Monaco. But what makes it so ambitious, is that ..read more

They say that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but no one bothered telling Earth Motorcycles that. The Slovakian custom shop has just built an elegant and somewhat alluring café racer out of the most unlikely donor; a Yamaha Virago. It’s not that Yamaha Virago café racers are uncommon—they’re just really hard to get right. In stock trim, the Virago boasts one of the most awkward layouts in modern motorcycling. So it takes a shrewd approach, and a little left-field thinking, to massage it into shape. Earth Motorcycles circumnavigated those challenges, by choosing to highlight a ..read more

Motorcycles are becoming more complex by the minute. All the technological frou-frou that the modern market demands makes it harder to create heritage-focused machines with clean lines and minimalistic styling. Released today, the brand new Indian Scout is a refreshing take on the tension between modern and classic. The Scout moniker is one of the oldest in motorcycling. First used on the 1920 Indian Scout, it has been associated with legends like Ed Kretz and Burt Munro, and the Indian Wrecking Crew that dominated AMA racing in the 1950s. The 2025 Indian Scout taps into this heritage in ever ..read more

VTR Customs leads the charge this week, with an aggressive take on the gigantic BMW R18. We also look at a couple of kits for the retro-fantastic Yamaha XSR900 GP, the special edition Triumph Trident Triple Tribute, and a spunky Kawasaki ZXR400 SP that’s currently on auction. BMW R18 by VTR Customs VTR is at it again. The Swiss BMW specialist workshop has a knack for transforming brand-new BMWs into mad neo-retro customs. This time, they’ve worked their particular brand of magic on the monstrous BMW R18 cruiser. Dubbed ‘TRACK8716,’ VTR Customs’ R18 takes the classic drag-cruiser vibe and cra ..read more