Magazine

A powdercoating company opens in Spain

17 October, 2019 by caferacer Leave a Comment

If you are motorcycle builders or just amateurs and you live in Spain, you are in luck. Metalcolors is a company specialized in powdercoating for motorcycles.

With facilities in Madrid and Malaga, Metalcolors offers a wide range of services for individuals and companies. In addition, they have extensive experience, since they were formed in the US where this type of paint application is most used in sectors such as automotive or nautical.

What is powdercoating

Powdercoating is ideal for restoration, modification and customization of motorcycle parts. The application in parts such as chassis, tires, spokes, screws, suspension bottles, springs, handlebars and a long etc… is essential to achieve a correct finish. In addition, it provides a hardness and resistance that traditional painting does not give.

The method

The method of applying powdercoating begins with a chemical treatment and sandblasting, and then goes on to a wash and dry. Once the pieces are dry, the parts that should not be painted are carefully covered and protected. Coated parts, powdercoat is applied and when necessary, primer and / or final lacquer is applied for better quality and protection. Finally, the piece goes through an oven where the paint dries at the necessary temperature and time.

The Metalcolors work process includes both the collection and delivery of parts to the customer. This is important, since they can accept jobs from anywhere in Spain. This is achieved through courier or personalized collection. In addition, the process of packing the pieces is quite professional and safe, getting the customer to receive their order with complete peace of mind.

The magic of powdercoating is the finishes. There are many types, such as smooth, rough, metallic effects, glitters, matt, chrome, textures, etc … Currently they have 250 finishes and effects in stock and more than 6,000 on request.

So from here we encourage all motorcycle builders to use powdercoating. We want to continue seeing these wonders of two wheels and surprise us with their finishes.

“Red Baron” Cafe Racer takes off with a vengeance

16 October, 2019 by caferacer Leave a Comment

Cafe racers are on the rise these days. Roll down to your local watering hole, and there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll see a grimy cafe’d CB750 or SX650 with enough duct tape on the seat to make a decent lean-to. Grabbing a little 70’s flair is as easy as kicking some life into a cheap Japanese craigslist find, hence all the would-be rockers that have sprung back onto the scene with a vengeance lately. Sure, trends are a dime a dozen, but carefully crafted motorcycles? Well, they’re much harder to come by.

Which brings us to Red Baron, the cleanly rendered Dyna Low Rider-based cafe racer you see here, named to pay tribute not only to the famed German World War I flying ace but also the favorite Spanish rock band of all time, the builder told us. Beginning with one of Milwaukee’s best all around Big Twin cruisers, Fran Manen of Lord Drake Kustoms has done something truly amazing, both in concept and execution.

How this Cafe Racer “Red Baron” was made

All customization is rebellion, but taking a fundamentally good Dyna and turning it into street-stalking cafe racer is almost off the wall. “It’s possibly one of the first Big Twin cafe racers in U.S.,” Fran points out, adding that he feels the model is undervalued in the United States. Deraked with shortened forks and taller external reservoir shocks, Red Baron’s conservative factory geometry has been pushed to its limits with quicker steering, more weight on the front wheel and room for increased lean angles, the likes of which a stock Dyna couldn’t dream of.

And why 80, you ask? “It’s the same number of victories the Red Baron himself earned,”

While the XLCR paved the way for Sportster owners who lusted after a little more lean, this sort of chassis treatment is new to Big Twins. Fran only arrived in the United States to set up shop in Miami four years ago, but he has a strong sense of mechanical history and he’s clearly brought his own flair to the machinery we hold so dear on these shores. Take a look at how far the the Vance & Hines pipes are angled up, a testament to the serious changes that have taken place to the stance. It’s an eye-catching detail, and one that lends a unique profile to a bike that came out of the factory with such radically different intentions.

The lines of the bike become even more racy thanks to the addition of spoked DNA wheels, a 19” hoop in the front and an 18” in the rear. Spokes and rims are color matched to the aggressive black and red color scheme that’s evident in small and large details all over the bike, from custom engine covers and panels to the fork legs and even a horn cover proudly emblazoned with Lord Drake Kustoms’ initials.

The theme is carried over to custom number plates, with the number 80 carefully cut into the panels and then filled with accenting black mesh. And why 80, you ask? “It’s the same number of victories the Red Baron himself earned,” Fran puts simply. The fork brace received a similar treatment, with contrasting black mesh laid under the hole in the brace itself.

More fabrication was required in shaping the bodywork, a key feature on any cafe build. The tail section was done in house at Lord Drake Kustoms, from shaping and molding the tail itself to adding foam under the seat cover for a little more comfort than those tape-slathered cafe bikes I mentioned earlier. Fran even grafted in a slick LED taillight along the back. The tank was modified with a custom dash panel, and then painted carefully to pull the two-color paneled paint scheme in a flowing line from the tank to the seat and across the tail. A bikini fairing adds a hint of wind protection for the rider, while helping create the clean, tapered profile that most cafe racers seek.

Bars are a pair of beautifully machined Roland Sands Design clip-ons, mounted above the top triple tree for a racy but reasonable riding position. The mid controls were retained, and for good reason: you can’t really hustle a bike like this through the twisties with your legs fanned out in the breeze, dragging your pegs on every apex! RSD was also the source for other modern details, like the Clarity Line cam and clutch covers that unwrap some of this bike’s internal workings.

Speaking of those workings, the already substantial 88” Twin Cam was left in a relatively mild state of tune. So how is this bike supposed to live up to its racy billing, you ask? Good old-fashioned power to weight ratio, the credo that any true cafe racer lives by.

Just as Baron von Richthofen brazenly ventured into unknown territory, this Red Baron stepped onto the stage to do battle at the longest running custom bike competition […]

Why add power when you can simply strip weight? With the absence of so many Big Twin accessories, the Red Baron’s power plant motivates the bike respectably. Remember, most cafe builders start with 350’s, 400’s, maybe a 750 if they’re feeling aggressive. Red Baron’s packing almost twice the displacement of a 750!

That being said, a little more air in and out never hurts. Those Vance & Hines pipes I mentioned are responsible for the exhaust side, while an S&S tuned induction system draws air in through the larger 58mm S&S carb. And it wasn’t just the engine breathing hard when Fran brought the bike to Daytona this March to compete at the world-renowned Rat’s Hole show.

Just as Baron von Richthofen brazenly ventured into unknown territory, this Red Baron stepped onto the stage to do battle at the longest running custom bike competition—the Rat’s Hole Show—during America’s prestigious national scene—Daytona Bike Week—for the first ever showing of a machine built by Lord Drake Kustoms. And thanks to the bold choice of platform and artful execution, Red Baron took first place in the Cafe Racer category.

Rock on, Red Baron. Manfred Von Richthofen would be honored.

Red Baron Specifications

Name: Red Baron
Owner: Fran Manen, Lord Drake Kustoms, Miami, FL
Builder: Fran Manen, LDK

GENERAL

Year, Make & Model: 2001 HD Dyna Low Rider
Assembly/Builder: LDK
Timeline: 6 weeks

FORKS

Year/Model: 2001 H-D Narrow Glide
Builder: H-D
Type: Telescopic
Triple trees: H-D
Extension: 3” under

ENGINE

Year/Model: 2001 Twin Cam
Displacement: 88 C.I.
Lower End: H-D
Pistons: H-D
Cases: H-D
Heads: H-D
Cams: H-D
Lifters: H-D
Carb: S&S 58 mm
Air Cleaner: S&S
Pipes: Vance & Hines
Ignition: H-D

TRANSMISSION

Year/Modifications: 2001/None
Primary Drive: Chain
Secondary Drive: Belt

FRAME

Year: 2001
Designer/Builder: H-D

ACCESSORIES

Bars: RSD clip-ons
Risers: None
Fenders: LDK
Gas Tank: Sportster, modified by LDK
Oil Tank: Stock
Headlight: Modified by LDK
Taillight: LDK
Speedo: Stock, bracket fabricated by LDK
Pegs: Performance Machine
Electrics: H-D
Seat: LDK
Fork brace: LDK

WHEELS/TIRES

Front Wheel: 19” DNA Fat Daddy
Front Tire: Metzeler
Size: 19” x 100
Rear Wheel: 18″ DNA Fat Daddy
Rear Tire: Metzeler
Size: 18” x 160
Hubs: DNA
Rotors: DNA
Brakes: H-D

PAINT

Bodywork/Molding: LDK
Painter: LDK
Color: Fire red and black
Powdercoating: LDK

BMW K100 RACE: the unique urban Cafe Racer

15 October, 2019 by caferacer Leave a Comment

Fran Manen (owner of Lord Drake Kustoms) told us about this BMW K100 RACER: “Perhaps it’s one of the least attractive models for LDK, when it comes to doing a work of customization; That is why it was a small challenge to make the final result aesthetically pleasing for both the client and the entire LDK team.”

Currently the BMW K are one of the most demanded motorcycles to customize. Specifically, this model is a K100 from 1984 and arrived in excellent conditions at the mechanical and aesthetic level, so basically we didn’t have to worry much about updating the motorcycle mechanically, as is often the case with motorcycles of this type. He practically went into action and immediately began to disassemble it to see how something aesthetically beautiful and sporty and something Racing could be done.

Perhaps it’s one of the least attractive models for LDK, when it comes to doing a work of customization; That is why it was a small challenge to make the final result aesthetically pleasing

How was made this BMW K100 RACER

Once naked, the first thing that Fran Manen did was modify the front suspension to lower it and give it a more aggressive touch with the installation of semi-handlebars and an oval-type headlamp.

The entire rear part has been trimmed and modified to install a tailor-made tail, making the back part slightly raised. This position could be accentuated a little more thanks to the new air bottle damper, which is somewhat longer than the standard one.

The exhaust has become a 4: 1 with supertrapp tail, which has given it a very powerful sound.

Finally, the entire motorcycle was dismantled to paint the chassis, engine, tires and practically the rest of the pieces with black tones or a combination of red, gray and silver in the case of the tank and the rear tail.

All this was decorated with numerous details, among which stand out the flashers and led’s pilot, seat with hand-made upholstery, details on the rear wheel, speedometers and rev counter, license plate support, etc …

This motorcycle has been transformed into the workshop that Lord Drake Kustoms has in Malaga (Spain); and in a few days you can see it rolling through the streets of Marbella from its owner.

Photos: Álvaro Manén

The “Envy” of Cafe Racer motorcycles.

14 October, 2019 by caferacer Leave a Comment

“Finally, and after several very hard months and many hours of work, I have actually made a project that had been around in my head since 2013 when I finished the famous Red Baron in Miami (USA), although with so much crossing the puddle that separating the USA from Spain, it has been very difficult to focus on a Cafe Racer project like this, ”Fran Manen (owner of Lord Drake Kustoms) tells us.

Fran explains: “You can’t imagine the emotion and nervousness I feel every time I approach this motorcycle, which I have finally finished .. I don’t believe it! I still feel a tilt in my stomach when I see her.

This work is the summary of a stage of my life, my concerns and my aspirations, a cafe racer tribute dedicated to all those people who during all this time have been part of my family, social or work environment … and that I have decided capture it on a motorcycle. We wanted to pay tribute to the famous “Boardtracker” with that peculiar style, so vintage, but giving it a current look; and I think the resulting mix has lived up to our expectations … at least it’s something totally different.

“We wanted to pay tribute to the famous” Board-tracker “with that peculiar style, so vintage, but giving it a current look”

The colin, the tank, the handlebars, the back, the front mask, the fender or the front grille; These are some of the pieces that have been made exclusively for this motorcycle. Note that all wiring is internal (inside the handlebar, chassis, etc., etc.). In addition to the endless details, the Twin Cam engine has been embellished with a set of transparent covers, with leather details on the footrests, handlebars or on the front face itself with the integrated headlamp.

The number “76” was very easy to choose. For such a special motorcycle it could only be a number with special significance, and what better than the year of birth of a very important person for me and responsible for Lord Drake Kustoms being today what he is: my wife.

“The acceptance and response of the public with this motorcycle is being incredible, to the point that it has already received two orders to make two units with a design similar to that of the“ Envy ”

This cafe racer motorcycle was finished on March 10 (LDK owner’s birthday) … “Best impossible gift,” Fran tells us. It was presented to the public a few days later in Spain in the Motor Show “MotoMadrid 2016” at the stand and by the magazine “Biker Zone” and “Classic Motorcycle”. In the coming months (and if it is not sold before) a small tour of LDK promotion events in Europe (Paris, London, Slovenia, Austria or Germany) will be some of the places where “ENVY” and Lord Drake Kustoms will be present during 2016). Fran tells us that the acceptance and response of the public with this motorcycle is being incredible, to the point that he has already received two orders to make two units with a design similar to that of the “Envy”, which will go to English lands and the East Next.

And remember: “Envy” is bad, very bad, “envy” kills. Don’t envy anything or anyone, just work hard and everything will come … transform envy into inspiration and motivation … that’s the secret!

Technical data

Base: Harley-Davidson Fat Boy 2001
Engine: H-D 1450 cc a Twin Cam carburetion
Modifications in …
Chassis and swingarm.
Transmission converted to chain.
Hydraulic clutch.
Inside wiring of handlebars and chassis (clutch, accelerator, brakes, electrical installation, etc.).
Front suspension: Change of bars, bottles, internal springs and +3 seatposts.
Rear suspension: Lowering kit.
Wheels: Fat Daddy wheels 21 “front and 18” rear.
Exhaust and air filter.
Handlebars, hand controls, odometers, switches and indicator lights.
Fuel tank, rear seat, seat.
Oil tank and hoses.
Transparent covers in motor and primary.
Front mask made of metal and lined in leather.
Brake discs, front brake caliper.
Side dorsals, exhaust trim, front numbers.
Headlamp, rear turn signals on swingarms, front turn signals on seatposts.
Covers seatposts (Racer) with leather interior.
Fuel and oil cap.
Foot controls.
Paint in tank and colin, powder coating on the rest of the motorcycle; Chrome and gold bath in several pieces and many other things …

Softail Springer “SDT Vintage” by LDK

11 October, 2019 by caferacer Leave a Comment

One day the world will run out of things to do with a Softail, but there’s no sense of that happening any time soon.

We shouldn’t be that surprised. Folk around the world have been changing bits of a tiny range of motorcycles for generations now, and still keep coming up with new combinations of parts! Okay, some bits won’t necessarily be original, but then a good custom bike is always more than a combination of its parts.

Springer "SDT Vintage" by Lord Drake Kustoms

Take this simple Springer Softail as a case in point. No rose-tinted, retro pastiche this, it looks aggressive with its steep stock rake, and that short flat hugger mudguard foreshortens it further: it’s on the short side of squat and spoiling for a fight. In fact anything that might visually stretch it out a little has been modified!

The powdercoated hot-rod red DNA Fat Daddy wheels with blacked-out spokes do nothing to soften its lines but tie in nicely with the blacked-out Springer forks and the red race number on the round oil tank, and the abraded and distressed steel of the tank beneath a layer of semi-gloss clearcoat lends it a purposeful look.

Why’s the oil tank black? Because it’s right! Commissioned by SDT Graphics and built by Lord Drake Kustoms, whose work we’re seeing more of, it’s an example of the sort of cross-over styling that is resulting from new ideas coming across.

Fran Manen has got a name for himself locally as a café racer man, and a builder of low, lean Triumphs but he likes to wrong-foot those who would typecast him. We’ve seen his Rat’s Hole-winning Dyna, 883R Sportster Racer and it was always going to be to see what he’d do with a Softail.

It’s as close to an ‘old school’ custom as you’ll get from LDK, and is based on a 2005 FLSTSC – a Springer Classic – which was specifically chosen because he didn’t want to use “typical and cheap aftermarket Springer forks”. It had to be authentic: it had to be more authentic and more radical. It also came with black forks already, which was a bonus.

There’s nothing much that hasn’t been messed with in some form or other and having stripped the bike down far enough to get the original oil tank out – leaving just left the motor in, and even that lost its covers while they were refinished – he lopped the fender horns off and got busy.

The engine covers were the easy bit: lose the chrome and apply a textured black powdercoat, and finish them off with RSD’s ‘Clarity’ covers: there was no place for chrome on this machine and it’s a miracle the fork springs and damper came out unscathed.

The tighter rake of the FL forks combined with the 120/70 Avon Venom wrapped round the 21-inch rim to pick the front end off the ground and set the stance, and with a set of near flat bars in place of the near beach bars of the original bike, one of the primary triangulation points was in place: the top of the headstock.

Yes, technically, the top of a headstock is the top yoke which is physically in touch with the steering heads bearing’s cone, but visually here it isn’t. Springers don’t have a highly visible slab of cast or billet aluminium to guide the eye, and you choose where you want the eye to be drawn to. Here it is the handlebars, as though they were bolted to a notional top yoke.

With a lower tank, those flat bars would look like drag bars on straight risers – which, technically they are – but by lifting the modified XL tank above the frame, using a neat trick to hide the production economies of a part of the frame that was never intended to be seen by the public, its spine is visually raised, and indeed you eye is drawn to the top line of the tank which flows from the bars to the rear wheel spindle in a single curving arc: the second triangulation point.

The straight line from headstock to spindle is often held as a panacea: a throwback to the days of rigid frames and inherently right! And while not cast in stone, it works more often than not and Fran has got that line with a difference: while most such curves are gentle, the SDT Vintage is aggressively steep. It’s punctuated only by the minimal solo seat – upholstered in the same leather that Ferrari use to trim their cars – fitted rigidly and sympathetically aligned.

To keep the bike level, height has been added at the rear, and the overall effect is of a bike that was already compact looking even shorter!

What bodywork LDK didn’t make, they modified to get the lines they were after, which included the tank and its raised mount, the ignition relocation bracket, the oil tank with all fittings and the entire seat. And while they ordered-out when dressing the motor with a few RSD bits – in the form of rocker boxes and the air cleaner on the fuel-injected 88B motor to match the clarity covers – they also made the wrapped short exhausts which play along with the ‘short’ theme, barely reaching the transmission.

The speedo relocator, halfway down the front leg, on the primary side came from Joker Machine, as did the LED indicators and the shifter link – you can’t make everything, or at least it doesn’t make much sense to when the right bit is available – and you might spot there’s still a trace of the original Springer Classic in those Vintage footboards, except they would have been the squarer Electra Glide type rather than these half-round ones.

And the simple tank has been finished off with a simple graphic, even if it has been topped off with some contrast-cut RSD billet.

All-in-all, not your average Softail custom, and it’s certainly not your average Springer Softail, but who wants average?

And it’s not a Café Racer either … at least not in the conventional sense, or even the emerging style. Well, not stylistically: I reckon it’ll lend itself to that head down, hunched over stance: well, a man has got to have his vices.

But old school? Well, old is relative. It’s going to be interesting to see whether this style makes it across the Atlantic, but with LDK has set up a European operation in southern Spain, there are at least be one outlet promoting such crossover customs.

Data Sheet

Original motorcycle: H-D Softail Springer Classic FLSTSC
Year: 2005
Builder: Fran Manen
Company: Lord Drake Kustoms
City: Miami, FL (USA)
Engine: 88 Twin Cam 1,450 cc
Exhaust: LDK
Oil tank: LDK
Handlebar: LDK
Rear mudguard: LDK
Filter: RSD
Tires: DNA Fat Daddy (16 “back and 21” front)
Tires: Avon
Front Suspensions: Springer
Rear Suspension: trimmed 1 inch
Fuel tank: Peanut 3.3 gallons (modified by LDK)
Tank base and location on: by LDK
Seat and base: by LDK
Repositioning reels: by LDK
Painting and rest of finishes: by LDK
Others: RSD caps, Leds flashers, relocate speedometer, H-D Vintage footrests, Avon cuffs …