Built Free Digi edition 120419

jonathan gauthier Ø france
Califo rnia dream
As the owner of the famous 4H10
blog, Jonathan Gauthier has seen a
few customs. But making is different
to looking. He reveals how he
created this Guzzi California
words & Photography D a v i d
M a r v i e r
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jonathan gauthier Ø france
This Guzzi is my first classic motorcycle.
I was riding modern road bikes but I
started to look at those old classics and
fell in love with them. Fortunately, one
of my father's friends had an old Guzzi
in his garage which he wasn't riding any
more. I went to see it and discovered
a real ugly pink and blue chopper. It
was actually a 1979 California but the
original engine had died and the guy
had replaced it with an 850cc Le Mans,
upgraded to 1000cc >
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jonathan gauthier Ø france
Left: Jonathan lets the
Guzzi stretch its legs
beside Lake Como in
Italy after a 300-mile ride
Above: A group of
Jonathan’s mates joined
him for his ride. This is
Claire, a florist from Paris
I still recall my first miles on it.
It was crazy. Well, horrific really.
The engine was so strong and
behaved so differently to the
modern Japanese four-cylinders
bikes I was used to. It was a bit of
a shock, but in a good, exciting
way. There were small oil leaks,
but it was mechanically sound and
everything worked. But then there
was the look, which was awful!
Still, I bought it straight away and
started working on it to make the
bike of my dreams.
This build has had several lives
– when I changed my mind I
started back at the beginning each
time. I learned how to do my own
mechanics, painting, electrics and
managed to learn how to stay calm despite complicated issues. The
bike had a lot of electrical problems and sometimes switched to
ghost mode with no lights on while everything else was running.
The first version was a JPS style, but not very well done – it had a
bad paintjob and cheap parts. It was not the best idea I ever had. At
that time, I wasn’t riding a lot, but each ramble gave intense
sensations. And that’s the point right ? A radical, brutal and unique
motorcycle. Your own.
After a while the mechanical issues started to surface so I decided
to re-build it. I found an endurance tank with a real badass look. I
gave it, along with my helmet and the seat, to talented artists friends
in Paris telling them, ‘do whatever you think is cool’. And they
created something crazy.
The endurance tank is very long and quite thin and the city ride
was very painful – every bone in my body remembers it well. So,
even with all the love I had for it, after a while it ended up in my
garage and I didn’t touch it for a while. But then I realised that
despite my frustrations, I’d had so much fun with this bike. I really
wanted to feel the good vibes of this glorious engine again so I
decided to re-customise it, with more mechanical skills, more design
ideas and more experience.
First mission: get the engine out of the frame. I was looking for
something more comfortable, more easily rideable but still with a
unique look. The forks were a mess – the internals had been cut so
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jonathan gauthier Ø france
Left: Jonathan and his
Guzzi (right) coped with
the miles easily. The only
worry was crosswinds
Below: There are worse
views. This is crossing the
Alps into Italy
Above: Long, low and
reassuringly stable
each bump was a painful jolt. There just wasn’t enough travel.
The issue was that the fork was 40mm diameter and most Guzzi forks are 36
or 38. I already had the wheels, the front light supports, the calipers and I did not
wanted to change everything. The only 40mm fork I could find were on the
California models but they were way too long for the cafe racer stance I was
looking for. So I had to ask to a specialist called Barnabé from La Boutique
Italienne to adapt several parts from a Le Mans and a T3 to create a custommade
fork set-up that works perfectly.
For the wheels, I decided to make solid covers, like racing bicycles. The
difficulty was creating something cool but safe and the front gave the most
problems. The first attempt didn’t work because the brake calipers touched the
alloy shroud. I had to bend them enough to have around 2mm of clearance.
The engine was in good condition so didn’t need a rebuild but it looked rough
so I took it out of the frame, cleaned off all the flaking paint and repainted it
black. I replaced jets and seals in the carb to get a smoother throttle action. The
exhaust system is custom made and has no decibel killers. It’s loud!
I had an alloy tank and seat custom made – and shortened the subframe to
suit. Then the frame was epoxy painted. The fairing is Guzzi.
I fitted electronic ignition, a high power coil and a Motogadget M-unit blue.
There’s a special battery box with a solid-state battery. It’s also got a Motogadget
speedo.
I wanted to relocate the fuse board and rear brake master cylinder (which are
under the side covers on Californias) to get narrower covers. The fuses weren’t a
problem because of the Motogadget system but the rear master cylinder was a
pain. It is a small detail that nobody will see, but the side covers took a long time
to sort out.
A few weeks ago, with a bunch of friends, I did a 300 mile ride on small
Italian mountain roads. It was a fantastic route and it the perfect place to test
this new motorcycle. It was a pleasant surprise: the bike was easier to ride than I
first thought when we left Paris. The engine works well and didn't burst into
flames. I was a bit scared about the wheels and crosswinds, but as the bike is low
and long, there was no problem. I just had to be careful on bridges while
overtaking trucks but it was fine and the look is perfect.
Impetuosa, as I’ve dubbed it, is alive and good to ride!
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4h10.com

jane motorcycles Ø new york / usa
This DRZ 400 by
Jane Motorcycles
is the antidote to
New York traffic.
Trouble is it's a
thief magnet too
Words & photography
By Greg Moss
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jane motorcycles Ø new york / usa
Below: The exhaust
routing cleverly
follows the frame
rails so it all-but
disappears. Tank
flares take in radiator
It’s a wet grey morning in
Williamsburg, the cool up-andcoming
neighbourhood in Brooklyn,
New York. There’s not a soul around
– the locals must be sleeping off the
night before. Then comes the sound of a single
cylinder four-stroker, pop-pop-popping from
underneath the riveted pillars of Williamsburg
bridge. Swinging round the corner, foot out
motocross style comes Alexander Dimattio, bike
builder, clothes designer and co-owner (along
with Adam Kallen) of Jane, NY’s coolest
motorcycle shop and brand. He’s astride Jane’s
latest build, an urban supermoto based on a
2015 Suzuki DRZ.
The brief for this build came from a client
who, after having the DRZ for a year, wanted
the bike to be turned into a Mad Max-style
rat-rod, and as cool as that may have looked,
thankfully Alex and James had other ideas and
stuck to their principles of having free reign over
customising bikes. So after some guidance, a
vision of a supermoto style urban bike was put
into action.
I ask if there was any temptation to deviate
from the supermoto look – I can’t help but think
that a lot of bike builders, especially in Europe,
would have taken it down the route of making it
a street-tracker, lowering the stance, raising the
bars, adding race plates. However, it’s refreshing
to hear Dimattio and Kallen’s approach draws
little influence from current trends: “We’ve been
in this business for five years now so we should
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jane motorcycles Ø new york / usa
be a little bit ahead of the curve.
We make clothing and build
motorcycles for ourselves, so our
style is whatever we’re into.”
For such a stunning-looking bike
it’s surprising how simple the
design process was. The bare bones
have stayed the same, with the
suspension, swingarm, brakes and
motor left un-tinkered. Even the
gleaming gold rims are stock.
However, it has been given a much
needed cosmetic makeover: “We
changed from the top, gave it new
clothes,” says Dimattio.
Starting with the tank which was
built to fit the client’s 6ft3in frame
and provide a little more comfort,
the angled indents provide some
much needed leg and knee room.
Heading forwards, and possibly my
favourite detail of the bike, is the
massive searchlight-style, 8-inch
diameter headlight, which caused a
few issues at first as Alex explains:
“Making that headlight work was
not the easiest thing because it’s so
big and it has a strange curve that
makes it look a little weird, so it
looks like a chopped off elephant
tusk. But it actually flows with the
line of the bike.
“We had to figure out a more
streamline tank that would fit
around those radiators and then
you end up with a bike that’s a
little wider so you don’t want to
put a tiny headlight on it. We love
that headlight, and the tank kind
of formed the rest of the bike.”
On top of the headlight sits a
basic setup with a Motoscope Mini
LED speedo (by Motogadget).
Handlebars from Rizoma also
include their dinky indicators
tucked into the bar ends. With the
client’s comfort still in mind a new
subframe was built to create a more
comfortable ride, with the new
contoured hump sitting further
back than the standard setup on
the DRZ. The new subframe also
neatly conceals the exhaust: ‘The
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jane motorcycles Ø new york / usa
exhaust system was based around
us not wanting to have to see an
exhaust system, so we followed the
frame rails. I’m not a big fan of
under the tail exhausts but we
needed that length to get the back
pressure to make the bike run well
– so keeping it along the frame
rails with a tiny little exhaust kept
it out of the way.”
In the flesh it looks perfectly
balanced, as if it’s come straight
off the factory floor intended for
the back streets of NY. Riding it
through Brooklyn and Manhattan
must be an absolute hoot.
After we’ve finished grabbing
some shots out on the streets we
retire to Jane’s headquarters, a
cool cafe/store/lounge, filled with
their latest clothing line and an
eclectic collection of bikes. I grab a
coffee and ask Dimattio where his
build style stemmed from: “It’s just
a style from growing up in New
York city, riding dirt bikes as a kid
and then riding sport bikes. So if
you take those and mush them all
together you wind up with my
aesthetic. If you bring me a 400cc
bike, the only correct thing to do
to it in New York is to make it a
supermoto.”
Before I grab my kit, ready to
catch the subway to JFK airport
and on to Blighty I have one last
question: how does it feel charging
through the streets and
underpasses of NY on the DRZ?
“It’s loud and extremely
comfortable. It’s a 400 so I mean
it’s not going anywhere that fast
but it sounds like it is! It’s perfect
for New York streets except for the
fact that if you leave it alone
someone will steal it!”
janemotorcycles.com
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