There’s a cycle storage place here in Auckland, NZ called “Bike Vault”. Basically it’s a place to store expensive motorcycles if you don’t have a garage.

Max’s cousin Colin is buddies with one of the older guys who runs it, so, one day Colin and I stopped over and they gave me a tour. It’s real legit inside. It looks like a newly built warehouse that’s sectioned off as inner “closets” and there’s a work-space area. Entire floor is fresh concrete with “shop epoxy coating” so if you spill shit, it doesn’t matter. Super nice and clean inside. Cycle mechanics wet dream i’d imagine.

Look at this for a better explanation of their idea. It’s pretty rad.

When I was there, I saw a ton of mint classic cycles. They had some really rare old cycles, including:
- Honda CX650 turbo,
- Honda CBX
- ton of old British stuff
- some race Ducati’s
- race Kawasaki’s

The guys who run this race older cycles in the “classic” division (or whatever the division is called) and they have a ton of crazy race parts for their old cycles. Pretty nuts. The one guy was showing me all their backup Kawasaki motors, everything’s custom. They make some of their own race parts.

- Take a look at their website.
- Also look at their Flickr for more pics of rad old cycles.

If and when you guys come visit me, this place, and also, Deus Ex Machina, are the 2 cycles spots that are a must-see. Both are within walking distance from my place.

-Ed

Since the weather in Philly is shit, I thought you guys might like to see what it’s like to ride a cycle around sunny New Zealand. It was a solid 75˚ yesterday.

This is my first time attempting on board filming, so if the quality sucks, deal with it.

This first vid is me cruising around Auckland city.

The second vid is me cruising around some back-roads in Auckland. You can’t really tell in the vid, but the hill and turns are pretty intense.

Both vids don’t really do it justice. It seems like I’m going super slow, when I’m actually going pretty fast. I dunno… weird.

-Ed

If you didn’t already know, Max has cousins from Auckland. His cousin Colin and I live pretty close to eachother here in NZ… couple mins down the road. A few months back he picked up a cb200 and rebuilt it into this sweet little cafe racer.

It’s finally running and now he’s dialing it in.

It was a pretty big jollapy when he first got it. He rebuilt the engine… the entire engine.

Seat kinda similar to my cb450 seat, but a tiny bit more slim. Red tank. Powder coated frame. Clip-on bars.

New Mikuni carbs and velocity stacks. They need a tiny bit more tuning. Still working on getting the jetting perfect.

This is Colin’s other cycle. A cg125 single cylinder that he’s teaching his g/f Gabby to ride.

This is a link to his full build thread if you wanna check out all the nitty-gritty stuff he did.

Side note – Colin is moving to LA in a couple weeks to race road bikes (geared pedal bikes) professionally for the next 6 months. Good luck.

-Ed

So, we’ve all heard of Deus Ex Machina from Australia. I dunno about you guys, but I wasn’t aware there was a shop here in NZ.

• Shop is right down the street from me. It’s super super nice!
• They have a “No Photos” policy, bummer. So I found a few pics on the web.
• The name is Shed 5, but it’s a Deus Ex Machina shop? Seems their branding is a little confused. No one in the USA knows what Shed 5 is. They should stick with Deus and keep it all consistent.
• Turns out it’s a full-blown retail shop. I was expecting something more like 4 guys working on cycles. Not 4 people selling products.
• Yes, they do have a workshop where they do restoration and custom builds. It’s in the back.
• I was expecting to be one of the only customers in there. I was wrong, it was packed with maybe 25 people. There’s a full Cafe inside too, with sandwiches and $14 Chicken Salads.
• Retail side is big and impressive. $14,000 motorcycles for sale on the floor.
• $480 – 3/4 helmets for sale.
• $800 – Schott Leather Jackets for sale.
• I really wanted to buy a t-shirt, but they were $114
• Behind the parts counter is a ton of custom stuff. Want a Cafe tank? They have it. Want a Cafe seat? They have it.
• I talked to 2 employees; a guy in parts, and a girl in clothing, both were really nice and friendly.
• They have about 30 cycles out on the floor. Everything ranging from refurbished Nortons, to Harley Cafe Racers, to vintage MV Agusta, to Honda Dream 50r
• Real impressive. I spent a bit of time looking at all the classic cycles on display.
• Wish I could’ve taken pics of the inside.
• They have 1 wall where they have about 15 vintage BMX bikes hanging up. Real nice!

Anyway, it’s a really rad shop. I imagine I’ll stop in every now and then to check stuff out, or eat lunch.
-ed

Woke up this morning and my cycle was knocked over. I keep it in gear, leaning the good way, so there’s no way it fell over itself.

Ton of shit is bent or broken including my left side plastic fairing which even though it’s kinda ugly, “was” in perfect condition. Fuck you asshole that knocked my shit over. I’m gonna fucking stab you in the fucking face with my fucking switchblade knife (i’m venting right now). FUCK YOU.