Tag Archives: classic bike

More Power to the People

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First appearing here over a decade ago (in fact it was one of our earliest posts!), the Honda CG 125 continues to be one the great mobilisers of the people. Whilst many assume the most influential vehicles are the Toyota Corolla, the Volkswagen Beetle, or the Ford Model-T, this humble Japanese moped has moved people than probably every other private transport method combined.

First produced in 1976, the Honda CG 125 is still being made today, and units built forty years ago are still carrying entire families, shops, and livestock the world over.

This beautiful Technic recreation of the world’s greatest people mover comes from Master MOCer Nico71, who has updated his decade-old design with newer parts, excellent presentation, and building instructions so you can create it for yourself.

There’s much more to see at Nico’s Brickshelf gallery; join the millions of people who ride a Honda CG 125 every day via the link in the text above!

More Clamps

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Suggested by a reader, RGB900 has furthered his clamp-based approach to building motorcycles, with a whole suite of styles and types constructed capitalising on LEGO’s various clip pieces.

Each is a brilliant demonstration of clever design over parts quantity, and there’s lots more to see at RGB900’s photostream. Click the link above to clamp your eyes on all of RGB’s bikes.

The Clamps!

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Today’s second two-wheeled creation (we’re supposed to be a car blog…) proves you don’t need a billion pieces and to know the secret Brothers Brick handshake to see your brickwork blogged.

RGB900‘s chopper uses only a few dozen parts, about a third of which seem to be of the grippy clamp type (the Brothers Brick would probably know what they’re called though…), deployed in numerous clampy ways.

There’s more of RGB’s clamping to see on Flickr – click the link above clamp your eyes on his creation (or the other link for more bonus clamping!).

LEGO 10298 Vespa 125 | Set Preview

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The single most Italian thing possible is a pretty girl on a Vespa (you’re welcome). Cue the brand new LEGO 10298 Vespa 125 set, the latest officially-licensed vehicle to join LEGO’s 18+ range. And it looks gorgeous.

Constructed from 1,106 pieces, most of which are the lovely light blue used to such great effect with the limited edition 77942 Fiat 500 set, 10298 measures around 35cm long and features working handlebar steering, a folding kick stand, removable engine cover, and even a brick-built helmet and bunch of flowers.

Available from March 1st, 10298 will cost around $99 / €99 / £89, and we love it. You’ll have to build your own pretty girl for authentic Italian completeness though.

Hash Brown

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We’re on two wheels today, thanks to Jonathan Elliott and this lovely BMW R80 ‘Cafe Racer’ motorcycle. There’s a brick-built boxer engine, single-shock suspension, and shaft drive constructed from the five-hundred carefully chosen pieces, a good few of which are brown. And brown bikes look ace. Ride to the cafe via the link above.

70cc

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…is all you need to move yourself about. And – as anyone that’s familiar with transport methods in many Asian countries will know – not just yourself, but your spouse, children, family dog, and shop. All at once.

The Yamaha 70cc scooter is one of millions and millions that form the backbone of much of the world’s travel, and this 1974 example perfectly captures the simplicity of the real thing.

Built by Marco Gan of Flickr, just a handful of carefully chosen pieces have been used, some of which might be held together by magic.

Climb on board (along with three others, a box of live geese, and shop selling delicious snacks) via the link above, whilst we ready a rather marvellous building competition that celebrates vehicles just like this one…

Printed Discs

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3D printing has changed the way things are made forever. Prototypes, one-offs, and recreations of long-lost parts can now be produced at a fraction of their previous cost thanks to computer-aided-design and little plastic granules.

Inevitably we’re now seeing 3D printed pieces appear in Lego creations too, including this one by regular bloggee Horcik Designs. Horcik’s cafe racer motorcycle uses a (very cool looking ) 3D printed front brake disc, which fits perfectly to the front wheel.

Steering, suspension, a piston engine, and a foot-peg operated two-speed transmission also feature, with these all built from standard LEGO pieces.

With LEGO themselves regularly creating new and bespoke pieces for official sets, we’re taking the stance that a model using a custom part doesn’t preclude it from appearing here.

You can see more of Horcik’s cafe racer at both Bricksafe and Eurobricks, the latter of which shows another of his creations that’s has gone (quite a long way) further down the 3D printing route…

Back in the Dnepr

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This wonderful creation is a KMZ-Dnepr K650, a Soviet Ukrainian motorcycle based on the 1930’s BMW R71. Whilst this version is 650cc, early bikes were fitted with a 98cc Wanderer engine design taken from Germany as part of reparations for World War 2, before KMZ’s own much larger 650cc was used for the rest of the design’s long production run.

Of course the BMW bit of the KMZ-Dnepr pre-dates war reparations, as the Soviet Union officially licensed the design from Germany before the two countries later went to war. In fact Germany and Russia held talks about becoming allies, with only Hitler’s ideological greed preventing Stalin from agreeing. Had they found common ground then this TLCB Writer would probably be typing this in German.

Fortunately Hitler and Stalin didn’t team up, and Germany invaded the Soviet Union just a year after the deal to license the BMW R71 was signed. This led – rather oddly – to the bike fighting on both sides of the conflict; the BMW version for the Axis Powers and the Soviet IMZ-Ural copy for Russia.

Production of the KMZ-Dnepr version shown here commenced in Ukraine in 1946, and continued right up to the fall of the Soviet Union, with both civilian and military versions produced. This beautifully presented replica of the KMZ-Dnepr K650 comes from KMbricklab, making their TLCB debut, and depicts the German-Russian-Ukrainian bike in both civilian and (awesome) military two-wheel-drive sidecar variants.

Gorgeous detailing and clever building techniques are evident in abundance and there’s lots more of KMbricklab’s superb build to see at their ‘KMZ-Dnepr K650’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to make the jump to Soviet-era Ukraine.

*Today’s lightly butchered title song.

Nice Tan

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White LEGO bricks, like nerds, don’t particularly like strong sunlight.

The gradual yellowing of white pieces exposed to UV is subject to much debate within the nerdier corners online Lego community, from applying hydrogen peroxide to restore parts to their original hue, to – more nerdily – sealing bricks inside darkened rooms or even never taking them out of their box. Which is quite fantastically pointless.

Cue previous bloggee seb71, who has not only allowed his white pieces to yellow, he’s positively embraced their ageing.

Seb’s brilliant classic motorcycle deploys some properly yellowed Technic wheels, matching their sunlight-induced cream to a seventies-tastic brown and white aesthetic for a beautifully period-correct look.

There’s more of Seb’s well-tanned classic bike to see at his photostream, click the link above to take a look and then get out in the sun – it’s good for you and maybe even your LEGO bricks too.

Bookstore Cafe

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Ah, the cafe in the bookstore; the place to go to meet attractive hipster girls whilst trying to look intelligent. “Yes I did enjoy ‘Infinite Jest’, although I found it strayed towards a wandering narrative in places… Can I buy you a coffee?”

Cue seb71‘s ‘cafe racer’ style motorcycle, which is pictured here on its own but forms part of some rather lovely bookends (see, it all makes sense).

Built for a challenge on a French forum (which if he isn’t French makes this so hipster it hurts), Seb’s motorcycle captures the ‘cafe racer’ style superbly, and there’s more to see of both it and the bookends of which it is part on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look, and if you’re reading this in a bookstore cafe you can pretend you’re exploring the romanticism of classical transportation in France if you’re asked, before buying that attractive hipster girl a coffee.

Fifteen Horsepower of Fun

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We’ve featured some very cool, very fast motorbikes here over the years. The Honda Mini Trail ‘Monkey Bike’ is not one of them.

However we would take this diminutive 125cc practical joke of a motorcycle over literally any other two-wheeled machine, because it’s hilarious.

Powered by a 15bhp 125cc engine (or engines even smaller), Honda’s Mini Trail is not going to win any off-road competitions, but it going to make the rider look very funny, and that’s reason enough for us to love it.

This near-perfect Technic replica of the Mini Trail 125cc comes from ianying616, and we can confirm that with a TLCB Elf strapped atop, it’s just as funny as the real thing. Click the link above for 125cc of fun!

Hog-on-a-Harley

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The U.S. police seem to have a tough job at the moment. Guns are everywhere, the right are protesting something about how masks are un-American, and the left are setting fire to stuff because that definitely eradicates racism. Definitely.

Still, they do at least get some cool kit. Well, Peter Schmid‘s cops do anyway, being equipped with this wonderfully fat Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Delightful detailing and decals abound and there’s more to see of Peter’s creation at his photostream – click the link above to take a look.

Not a Car

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But it is yellow. And excellent. This lovely ’80s ‘cafe racer’ motorcycle comes from previous bloggee tango-zero. There’s a detailed engine, rear suspension, and a beautifully replicated front telescopic fork with steering. See more on Brickshelf.

750

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Another day, another Elf returns to TLCB Towers, and this time with something delightfully simple. Entitled ‘A Japanese 4-Cylinder 750cc Motorcycle from the 1980s’ this is tango-zero‘s Japanese 4-cylinder 750cc motorcycle from the 1980s. There’s only one image, it’s slightly grainy, and we love it. Head to Brickshelf via the link above to see it in full-size, alongside a few other lovely Model Team motorbikes from the same builder.

Shafted

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Motorbikes, like pedal bikes, tend to use a chain to transfer power from the engine to the rear wheel. However they’re usually (but not always) slightly more powerful than the average human, so the chain is often the weak point. Plus it can eat trouser legs and flick oil all over the place, thus the shaft-drive was developed.

Working in the same way a car’s driveline does, the chain is replaced by a rotating shaft and a gear assembly, which makes a shaft-drive more expensive and heavier than a chain, but better in pretty much every other respect. Plus it sounds a bit rude.

Flickr’s František Hajdekr has chosen the latter option for his Technic BMW-esque motorcycle, a brand that has used shaft-drive designs for much of their range (including the R 1200 GS Adventure immortalised in the ace 42063 Technic set). Working steering, rear suspension, and a seat made from Batman’s chest also feature, and you can see more of František’s shaft-driven bike at his photostream via the link.