Barigo Onixa 600 - Gallic Supermono

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After fawning over multi-cylindered complexities for the last few months, I think it’s time to take a step back and return to the basics – one big piston, a sporty chassis, and no extraneous nonsense to dull the fun. Big four-stroke singles were once the mainstay of racing and road riding the world over, with road-burning thumpers from Great Britain defining the genre and dominating the poles on track, off road, and on the street. But by the 1960s more powerful twins were taking over and stealing the public’s attention away from these simple but versatile singles. The demand for more power and more speed overshadowed the once mighty thumpers, which increasingly became relegated to off-road categories where their simplicity, light weight and ample torque were an asset.

There always remained a small but loyal contingent of enthusiasts who desired a classic sporting single, a simple, nimble and punchy machine that could dice with the best in the twisties without the complexity and superfluous doohickery of the be-cylindered tire vaporizers that dominate the spec sheets and the sales charts. They longed for a bike that harkened back to the good old days of sporting motorcycles, when it was you, the road, and one big piston slinging you down the road. But these folks didn’t want something that appealed to the typical rose-tinted nostalgia. They wanted something modern, something fast, and something that wasn’t a throwback.

David Morales' Honda 50 Magnum - Man-Sized Mini

Image Courtesy Peter Salisbury

While I’ve contributed to Pipeburn in the past (showcasing Julian Farnam’s fantastic Dirtbag Challenge budget-build CHOPPRD) my personal specialty is profiling unusual and rare production bikes. For a motorcycle to meet my criteria and be featured in one of my articles it must be weird, cool, and most importantly something exceptional that few have bothered to cover in any great detail. So while I enjoy a good custom as much as the next red-blooded motorcycle fanatic, I don’t often come across builds that really tick all the boxes to earn the Official OddBike Seal of Approval.

So when I got an unsolicited email from a kind fellow by the name of David Morales with pictures of a modified-beyond-recognition Honda Z50A monkeybike, I knew I had found my next contribution to Pipeburn and a custom machine that would be worthy of the OddBike designation. Behold – the 50 Magnum.

Read the rest on Pipeburn.com

Gilera CX125 - Beginning the Future

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Up until recently there was an interesting category of sporting 125cc two-strokes that dominated the European beginner bike market. Countries like Italy and Britain restricted new teenaged riders to 125cc machines as a “learner” category that was well catered to by most of the major manufacturers. These learner specials often had race-replica sport-bike styling and sharp dynamics to appeal to the masses of hormone-addled 17 year olds who wanted to look fast, even if their machine couldn’t have more than 15bhp by law. Four-stroke 125s were always available but the hot ticket up until recent years was always a rip snorting two-stroke that could be derestricted once you had completed your learning period. While the four-strokes and two-strokes made the same power when restricted, the smoker could be uncorked afterwards to unleash the full fury of the mighty single – as much as 35-odd horsepower, manic power in a machine that scarcely cracks 250lbs with a full tank of fuel.

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Most of these learner specials are by and large inspired by their bigger stablemates – thus you could get a miniaturized Yamaha YZF-R, Honda NSR/CBR, Aprilia RS, or even an 8/10ths replica of the iconic Ducati 916 sold as the Cagiva Mito. There was, however, one notable exception to this rule where a manufacturer went all in and gambled on producing a totally unique design that would break the mould. Gilera produced what was possibly the weirdest 125 sport bike of all time – the short lived and radically-styled Gilera CX125, which would quickly earn a status as a cult special that had some of the most futuristic design to ever grace a “beginner” bike.

Gilera is one of those unfortunate cases of a once-great marque that has recently fallen into obscurity and the realm of the mundane. Gilera was once a mighty force in motorcycle competition, producing some of the most advanced Grand Prix machines of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Gilera today is a mere footnote in the history of Italian motorcycle brands and a feather in the cap of parent company Piaggio, who debased the once-storied name it by slapping its logo onto a series of dull scooters. It wasn’t always so.

Gurney Alligator - All American Oddbike

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There have been many attempts over the years to “revolutionize” motorcycle design in some form or another. The basic elements of modern motorcycle design are quite conservative, and have been around for decades. You rarely see anything except hydraulically damped telescopic front forks and monoshock rising-rate rear suspensions. Some attempts have become curious and complex diversions, like the Bimota Tesi and Vyrus hub-centre steering setup or the Yamaha GTS single-sided front swingarm. Some have found success on the track, like the Britten V1000 with its radical suspension setup, or on the street, like the BMW Telelever and Paralever front suspensions.