The following article was originally featured in July 2025, however, the story doesn't end there. Registration is open for the 2026 Edition of the Builder’s Best Custom Motorcycle Show for this year’s BMW MOA Rally in Essex Junction, Vermont. This year’s competition remains an inclusive arena, with ...
The year was 1975, and the writing was on the wall for the Brits. Decades of industry dominance were coming to a close in the blink of an eye as multi-cylinder options from Japan proliferated. Honda had rewritten the book with the CB750, Suzuki had the 70 hp GT750 and the Kawasaki Z1 had solidified ...
Italian sculptor Giordano Loi transforms a 2008 Yamaha MT-01 into a radical street fighter with carbon fiber bodywork and far more aggressive intentions.When the Yamaha MT-01 arrived in 2005, it felt like Yamaha had built a motorcycle from two completely different design briefs. At its heart sat a m...
In the seaside city of Pescara, nestled within Italy’s rugged Abruzzo region, Filippo Barbacane has been playing a long game. When he started his craft in 1993, the Italian 'custom' scene was a ghost town, mostly restricted to mimicking American cruisers through grainy magazine photos. There was no ...
In the windswept coastal town of Husum, Germany, Holger Breuer of HB-Custom continues to cement his reputation as one of the world’s most proficient customizers for the Honda NX650 Dominator. We recently caught up with Holger to admire his Teutonic 1920s-style BMW R69S, a build that showcased his ab...
In the far east of Germany, Zwickau sits, a city where the air has smelled of two-stroke premix and industrial ambition for over a century. Known as the ‘City of Automobiles,’ it’s the birthplace of Audi and the infamous Trabant. But for those who grew up in the rural stretches of the former GDR, th...
As we crest the hill of another week and look toward the weekend's horizon, it’s time to raid the archives for our latest Flashback Friday. This week, we’re winding the clock back to March 2025, a month that saw Bike EXIF trade in high-concept futurism for a masterclass in 'Newstalgia.' From Austral...
The 2026 AOTOS Flux X26 Pro high-performance e-bike combines Class 2 legality with 100Nm torque and 2000W peak off-road performance.The e-bike space has exploded in recent years, with everything from svelte pedal-assisted commuters to snappy play bikes and full-fledged electric motos. The options ar...
When Royal Enfield launched the Hunter 350, it wasn't just releasing a motorcycle; it was providing a gateway into the brand for a younger, urban audience. Built on the 349cc J-platform, the Hunter is a punchy, agile roadster that trades the stately poise of the Classic 350 for a more responsive, st...
Once a teenage dream machine, this RD350LC returns as a nostalgic hybrid with sharper handling, a bigger engine and a classic Yamaha livery.If you had a bike in the shed and a television in the mid-1970s, there’s a good chance you were dying to get your hands on a liquid-cooled Yamaha two-stroke. Ya...
In the pantheon of motorcycling, few names carry the weight of MV Agusta. The Varese factory doesn't just build motorcycles; they build "Motorcycle Art." It’s a bold marketing claim, but one backed by a pedigree that is statistically unmatched. From 1956 to 1974, MV Agusta dominated the 500cc Grand ...
As the frost begins to retreat and the riding season beckons, we find ourselves looking back at a particularly vintage-heavy month in the archives. March 2024 was a period of high-contrast brilliance on Bike EXIF, bridging the gap between small-capacity Thai street-scramblers and meticulously engine...
Mention of a themed custom motorcycle conjures visions of bad reality TV choppers, and sends us into convulsions. But this scrambler is a theme bike with a big difference: It's so tastefully executed, we didn't realize there was a theme. Until builder Chris Tope revealed the story behind it.Chris wa...
In the world of custom motorcycles, we often talk about "career changes," but Jochen Heinrich’s transition might be the most enviable one we’ve heard yet. After four decades navigating the sterile halls of the banking sector, Jochen traded his spreadsheets for a set of spanners. It’s a return to for...
In the early 1970s, the Triumph Trident T150 was a machine caught between two worlds. With its 741cc transverse triple producing 58 bhp and a top speed north of 115 mph, it had the heart of a champion. Yet, it struggled to maintain its footing against the "Superbike" onslaught from Japan. By 1...
When Ducati first pulled the silk off the Diavel in 2010, the motorcycling world didn’t quite know where to file it. It was a 162-hp brute that combined the long wheelbase of a cruiser with the rake and trail of a superbike, wrapped in bodywork that looked like a muscular middle linebacker in a tail...
Based in Washington, D.C., Andrew Jett of Jett Design Garage operates at the intersection of fine art and engineering. Having studied design in college, Jett’s philosophy is rooted in the concept of the ‘focused experience.’ For him, a motorcycle isn't a collection of specs; it’s a creative medium u...
In the world of electronic music, Girts Ozolins is a titan. As the founder of Erica Synths, he spends his days designing modular synthesizers that are as raw and uncompromising as the industrial soundscapes of his home in Riga, Latvia. But when the soldering iron is cold, Girts translates that same ...
My father was fond of the saying, “If you want a job done right, do it yourself.” And that’s the first thought that popped into my head when I saw this sublime Kawasaki W650 desert sled from England.It comes from London-based Rick Hannah, who builds under the amusing moniker of Dirty Dick's Motos.Ri...
When BMW Motorrad unveiled the R12, the motorcycling world saw a cruiser-adjacent roadster with a massive 1,170 cc heart. But for those who remember the golden era of the Paris-Dakar, the silhouette seemed to scream for something more adventurous. The R12 G/S is BMW’s factory nod to that heritage, b...
For the crew at Mosko Moto, a motorcycle is less of a trophy and more of a passport. Based out of White Salmon, Washington, Mosko was founded on a singular, frustrated question: Why is there a chasm between the high-tech, weight-conscious gear used by mountaineers and the clunky, overbuilt luggage a...
If Harley-Davidson has a "holy grail" engine, the EL Knucklehead is undoubtedly it. Produced between 1936 and 1947, the Knucklehead— named for the distinct shape of its rocker boxes—represented a massive technological leap for the Milwaukee firm. It was Harley’s first production overhead-valve (OHV)...
In the windswept coastal town of Husum, Germany, often called the "Grey City by the Sea", the air is thick with salt and heritage. It is here that Holger Breuer of HB-Custom operates, a builder who has spent years proving he is anything but a one-trick pony. We’ve seen him tackle everything from ral...
So you like old Harleys, do ya? Well, clearly you do, as February’s stats don’t lie. Relax, your secret’s safe with us, and every member of the Bike EXIF staff has at least one old HD in the stable in addition to the daily drivers. While February’s numbers confirm a trend we’ve been n...
When Indian Motorcycle unveiled the FTR 1200 in 2019, it was a rare moment when a manufacturer actually listened to its fans. For years, we had begged for a street-legal version of the dominant FTR750 Scout Racer, and Indian delivered a high-spec, 120 hp V-twin, trellis-framed hooligan. It was a bik...
The 1999 Harley-Davidson Softail occupies a sweet spot in the Milwaukee timeline. It was the final year of the venerable 80-inch Evolution engine, a motor prized by purists for its mechanical simplicity, housed in a chassis that mimics the clean lines of a vintage hardtail. It is a canvas for those ...
Marketed towards the ‘serious adventure rider,’ and aptly named the Trailhead, Scorpion was pretty direct about the purpose of this lid, but what makes an adventure helmet an adventure helmet? The list is exhaustive, but in short, a good ADV helmet is like a multi-tool—it needs to be able to do a li...
We'd love a glimpse inside Max Hazan's head. His machines are elegant and visceral, and we’re left wondering how he actually builds these functional sculptures. But what's really mind-blowing, is that he usually makes them up as he goes along.The latest Hazan Motorworks creation has the lines of an ...
