We’ve sorted them from greatest to smallest this week. We begin with a Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 Café Racer from India, then check out the brand new Aprilia RS 125 GP Duplicate, earlier than ending off with a Piaggio Ciao Deluxe moped from the USA.
Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 by Rajputana Customs The listing of customized outlets that Royal Enfield has collaborated with over the previous few years is lengthy and illustrious. For his or her newest launch, they handed a Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 over to Rajputana Customs and advised the Indian workshop to go wild.
Rajputana responded with a radical café racer that, whereas it might not be significantly sensible, is actually eye-catching.
Not content material to ship one thing mundane, the Rajputana crew began reducing up the inventory body and mocking up varied concepts. However they finally realized that the inventory body simply wasn’t going to hack it—so that they began from scratch. With a brand new headstock secured of their body jig, they constructed a chic body that feels extra like trendy artwork than conventional motorbike design.
A brand new tubular swingarm was fabricated too, hooked as much as a brawny shock through customized linkages. Transferring to the entrance, Rajputana lowered the forks, whereas upgrading their internals. The Shotgun’s forged wheels had been swapped for laced gadgets, wrapped in Pirelli slicks.
Customized yokes sit up prime, with a home made headlight nacelle sitting between them. There’s extra customized bodywork additional again, gracefully tucked between the bike’s double body rails. A svelte saddle and flush-mounted fuel cap emphasize the skinniness of Rajputana’s design.
The bike additionally wears clip-on bars and rear-set foot pegs, creating an especially dedicated using place. Rajputana stored the inventory controls and switches, to retain a minimum of among the bike’s OEM components.
The Shotgun’s aggressive stance and ultra-sleek bodywork earned it the nickname Jetstream. Driving the purpose house is a pair of burly exhaust headers, termination in slash-cut ends.
The svelte format additionally amplifies the Shotgun’s greatest characteristic—the attractive 650 cc parallel-twin engine that powers it. Completed in black with contrasting stainless-steel {hardware}, it provides retro model to this in any other case futuristic café racer. (Supply)
Aprilia RS 125 GP Duplicate ‘Win on Sunday, promote on Monday,’ has been the mantra of many a motorbike producer through the years—however what precisely they’re promoting varies. You may’t, for instance, purchase the Aprilia RS-GP that Marco Bezzecchi piloted to the second step of the rostrum on the Dutch GP earlier in the present day. However you should buy a 125 cc duplicate of it.
Entry-level race replicas are nothing new. Many international locations enable riders as younger as 16 to begin out on 125s, so manufacturers like Aprilia produce featherweight bikes with newbie energy and MotoGP model.
Accessible primarily in Europe, the Aprilia RS 125 is powered by a 124.2 cc single-cylinder motor, good for 15 hp and 11.4 Nm of torque. Weighing 144 kilos (317.5 kilos), it sports activities trendy facilities like ABS, traction management, a six-speed digital transmission, and a twin-spar aluminum body. Wrapped in a full fairing and designed with correct sportbike ergonomics, it’s fairly a looker.
The Aprilia RS 125 GP Duplicate takes all that and wraps it in a modified model of the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP livery (one in every of our favourite liveries on the grip. It’s a principally black affair, dominated by daring Aprilia logos and sharp purple and purple accents. And because it’s a race duplicate, it’s splashed with the crew’s sponsors’ logos too.
For those who’re an Aprilia MotoGP fan searching on your first bike, the RS 125 GP would possibly simply be the ticket. You’ll have to smash your piggy financial institution although—it’s at present priced at €5,899 (round $6,915) in its dwelling nation of Italy. (Supply)
Piaggio Ciao Deluxe by Josh Griffith Josh Griffith has an bold purpose; to set a land velocity report at Bonneville aboard a traditional moped. That form of endeavor takes gumption, planning, and many chilly, laborious money. So, to present himself a bounce begin, Josh constructed and raffled off this 1974 Piaggio Ciao Deluxe to lift funds for his land velocity try.
First launched within the late 60s, and branded as a Vespa within the USA, the Ciao was a 50 cc moped pitched at youthful riders. The bottom mannequin was a barebones scoot with no suspension. The Deluxe mannequin added a number one hyperlink entrance fork, a spring below the seat, and switch alerts, with a metallic ‘lunchbox’ holding the requisite electrical bits.
Josh took his 74 Ciao and redesigned it as a mini Vespa of kinds, taking inspiration from the Mod motion of the 60s. Up entrance, he added customized leg shields and a fly display screen so as to add some physique to the in any other case naked moped. He additionally fitted a chromed baggage rack, with a cluster of auxiliary lights.
Below the hood, Josh rebuilt the Ciao’s engine with Polini circumstances, a Malossi cylinder, and an upgraded consumption, carb, and clutch. Now at 65 cc, and exhaling by a Polini exhaust, the contemporary motor is twice as quick because the outdated one.
The Piaggio Ciao’s tiny solo saddle was swapped for one thing cushier, wrapped in a cheeky purple and animal print cowl. Lastly, the bodywork, and many of the chassis, had been powder-coated in metallic British Racing Inexperienced.
The Ciao is cute sufficient by itself, however this one has a singular attraction. Consider it because the mini-Vespa that Piaggio by no means made. (Josh Griffith Instagram | Pictures by Jessica Szabo)
