Martin Hodgson

1 week ago | pipeburn.com | Martin Hodgson

By Martin Hodgson on June 18, 2025 Motorcycle manufacturers, if you’re listening, we have a word of advice. There is a custom bike builder in Australia who, time and again, has shown he can literally turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Now, in past generations, this might not have been such an in-demand skill; the ’60s, for example, were filled with showrooms of beautiful machines.

1 week ago | pipeburn.com | Martin Hodgson

By Martin Hodgson on June 16, 2025 It’s the 1970s and the engine war is over, the British twins have been killed off and the motorcycle world is all about the multi-cylinder. Kawasaki was one of the manufacturers responsible for that gigantic shift and the Z1 was emblematic of this new and exciting era. So, what on earth was the big green company thinking, when in 1976 they introduced an all-new KZ750, with of all things, a parallel twin as the powerplant?

2 weeks ago | pipeburn.com | Martin Hodgson

By Martin Hodgson on June 13, 2025 As people who are as crazy about motorcycles as most of us here, we can develop an annoying habit of naming to anyone in earshot, the make and model of each and every bike that rides past us. Bonus points when you know the year of manufacture and other tidbits! But when the photos of the motorcycle before you came through, I had absolutely no idea what it was, not even a clue as to which company might have built the donor bike.

2 weeks ago | pipeburn.com | Martin Hodgson

By Martin Hodgson on June 10, 2025 The Trident name has been a part of the Triumph family for six decades and many expected that when it was finally revived it would naturally take its place in the company’s all-conquering Modern Classic range. But when Triumph unveiled the new Trident at the London Design Museum, it was anything but a retro-remake, and frankly, it was the right move.

2 weeks ago | pipeburn.com | Martin Hodgson

By Martin Hodgson on June 9, 2025 Japan is not just one of the world’s largest producers of motorcycles, but it’s home to a whole host of the best custom motorcycle workshops on the globe. The chopper scene has simply never stopped growing, resto-mods are big business and just about any style you care to name, there’s a company doing incredible things. But cafe racers have never been a big deal in Japan and there are only a handful of workshops that focus on them exclusively.