If you’re a keen biker with a taste for retro style, you might well have heard of Filippo Barbacane, the multi-talented founder of Italian bike customiser Officine Rossopuro. He’s built up a reputation in custom bike circles for producing commissions of the highest order, but this one’s a little different. With no specific end customer in mind, Barbacane had a blank canvas on which to express his creative thoughts.
Often in such situations, many months (and sometimes years) go past before schemes turn from proposal to reality, so it was a pleasant surprise when Classic Driver was offered a test ride on the first, completed Hesketh 24 last week.
Sleeman and his team have so far received seven firm orders and will begin building the first of the 24 production machines in time for late-December delivery, but the opportunity to get a ride in before the grim English winter descends was not to be missed - especially since we were blessed with idyllic biking weather on the day in question.
“A friend and I headed north to take a look at a Kawasaki W1,” Prust told Bike Exif. “While we were there, we saw a rolling chassis and a pile of parts sitting on a bench in the corner. It was a 1949 Indian Scout with a title that the owner had had for 17 years.” After convincing the owner to part company with the bike (or parts thereof), Prust put the project’s wheels into motion, quite literally.
The former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz made his Revival debut, proving particularly popular with the enormous crowds. He rode the original 'Featherbed' Manx Norton together with Rodney O'Connor in the ever-eventful Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy, fighting his way through the field to an impressive fourth place in Sunday afternoon's race.
Based in the historic town of Angers in western France, Midual will build a mere 35 Type 1s, destined for Europe only and priced at a staggering €140,000 each. Making its European debut at Salon Privé this week, it's said to take inspiration from French and British vehicles of the 1930s and 1950s. Suffice to say, there are tactile and intricate details in abundance – that cluster of analogue instruments atop the frame, for example.
Elegantly reworked by the folks at Clutch Custom Motorcycles in Paris, the most obvious change to the standard bike is the new handcrafted fuel tank, squared off and finished in a stunning (if slightly deeper) shade of British Racing Green, reflecting the bike’s English roots. But the modifications go so much further.
Classic Cars / Modern Sports Cars / Motorcycles
Portland-based photographer Lanakila MacNaughton developed an interest in motorcycles in her early twenties. Ever since, she’s documented her passion and its associated culture through her Hasselblad’s lens. She’s the mind behind ‘The Women’s Motorcycle Exhibition’.
