The article profiles an Italian motorcycle customizer named Stefano Venier and his secret partnership with his 85-year-old grandmother Livia. They have worked together for years, with Livia secretly funding Venier's motorcycle modification passion. The article describes one of Venier's recent custom builds, a Diabola V35C, built at his shop Venier Customs in Italy with custom hand-made parts.
The article profiles an Italian motorcycle customizer named Stefano Venier and his secret partnership with his 85-year-old grandmother Livia. They have worked together for years, with Livia secretly funding Venier's motorcycle modification passion. The article describes one of Venier's recent custom builds, a Diabola V35C, built at his shop Venier Customs in Italy with custom hand-made parts.
The article profiles an Italian motorcycle customizer named Stefano Venier and his secret partnership with his 85-year-old grandmother Livia. They have worked together for years, with Livia secretly funding Venier's motorcycle modification passion. The article describes one of Venier's recent custom builds, a Diabola V35C, built at his shop Venier Customs in Italy with custom hand-made parts.
The article profiles an Italian motorcycle customizer named Stefano Venier and his secret partnership with his 85-year-old grandmother Livia. They have worked together for years, with Livia secretly funding Venier's motorcycle modification passion. The article describes one of Venier's recent custom builds, a Diabola V35C, built at his shop Venier Customs in Italy with custom hand-made parts.
SECRET VENIER CUSTOMS MOTO GUZZI Iron & Airs Roots
RUST TO LUST Bike Build Giveaway
KISMET Wrench Techs CL360 DIG? WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE ISSUE THREE.
SUBSCRIBE NOW. IRONANDAIR.COM/MAGAZINE
AUGUST 2012
Issue Two FEATURES 8 50 LIVIAS SECRET MOTO ARTISAN Stefano Verniers Moto Guzzi Raccias Michael LaFountain
24 56 HAND BUILT IN BROOKLYN FROM RUST TO LUST E3s Honda CB750 Dime City Cycles and Iron & Air Bike Build Breakdown
34 66 BUILDING UP DOWN UNDER KISMET Australian Builder Ellaspede Wrench Tech Racings Honda CL360
OPEN ROAD DEPARTMENTS
88 4 THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL US LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER The Lowside Step Up for a Friend Brett Houle
100 76 LIVE FREE AND RIDE FROM THE GARAGE What the Hell is Iron & Air? Heartbreak Cycleworks
92 COOL SH!T Product Reviews
IMAGE Jose Gallina. Read about Jose, our featured photographer, on page 20 and see more of his work throughout this issue. 1 STAFF BRETT HOULE Publisher
MICHAEL HILTON Editor/Senior Writer
MICHAEL LONGVER Technical Director
SONIA MECUM Community Manager/Writer
ADAM FITZGERALD Creative Director/Writer
REACH US CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Iron & Air Tim Newell 67 So. Main Street Travis Holland Concord, NH 03102 Jason Paul Michaels ironandair.com facebook.com/ironandair CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS twitter.com/ironandair Jose Galinna, Jesse Hawk, David Browning, Tammy Law, Pete Maresco, Ben Slavin, Neall Dollhopf, Andy Krumtinger, ADVERTISING Lou Dalgarro, Milk Animation, Michael Hilton advertise@ironandair.com RESOURCES STORY & PHOTO SUBMISSIONS Images from Live Free and Ride courtesy of submissions@ironandair.com Charlie St. Clair and Jennifer Anderson from the book Laconia Motorcycle Week available for purchase here.
ADVISORS Josh Nason - Freelance Writer David Mucci - Moto-Mucci Jason Paul Michaels - Dime City Cycles Shane Rivet - Rivet Restorations Daryl Villenuva - Bandit9 Bill Bryant - Biltwell, Inc.
Iron & Air is a magazine for lovers of classic, cafe racer & custom garage-built motorcycles - inspiring daily through design, engineering, culture & the open road.
ISSUE TWO | AUGUST 2012
2 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012
IMAGE Tammy Law for Ellaspede. Read about Ellaspede in this issue on page 34. 3 Letter from the Publisher
THESE GARAGE-BUILT MOTORCYCLES ARE MUSIC TO OUR EARS.
Im still amazed at the debates that ensue over motorcycles. Youd be amazed at how many bike submissions we get And for a guy that eats, sleeps and breathes images of the from our fans each day. Mild-to-wild, Hondas to Guzzis. next build, Im taken by the double-edge sword such strong 1000cc to 200cc twinstars. Guess what? They all rock. No opinion can be. On one-hand, it fosters discussion unlike no need to shit on any builder or his build. Give feedback, be other, perhaps only a close second to the wide world of sports. constructive, offer opinion - but leave the negativity at the And just like in sports, arm-chair quarterbacks love to let door. Better yet, next time you get the impulse to declare you know theyre there. Every industry that attracts a crowd what a builder should or shouldt do to the ride they spent of passionate folks will produce experts by the truckload. their hard-earned money on, send us yours. Well post it A simple post of a garage-built creation to our Facebook for our crowd of 30,000 plus, and hope they all gracefully wall on any given Sunday and well step back, plug our ears provide feedback to you. and cover ourselves from an ensuing explosion. And then were surprised. Floods of comments and likes tally up faster In this issue, were showing off a killer garage-built Moto than Burt breaking a speed record at Bonneville. You like Guzzi, a Honda reborn from the inner streets of Brooklyn, it...who knew? Because when I saw it, I felt the front forks pay homage to the history of motorcycling in our home state were lowered a tad much. And that seat? Damn that has to of New Hampshire, and meet a couple of twenty-somethings be hard on your ass. Firestones? Again? And please - dont who put a new spin on a classic 70s scrambler. We celebrate get me started on the virtues or non-virtues of pipe-wrap! all of it.
In launching Iron & Air, we partnered with our good friends So when you see someones ride, remember a quote from over at Dime City Cycles in a one-of-a-kind tear-down of a friend of mine who I declare is a kick-ass guitarist/ a rusty CB750 and rebuild-it giveaway (you have entered musician who gets to say who makes the best noise? Its to win it, right?). As we rolled out the promotions, we took all music. So to you builders out there putting your hearts our protective stance. Heck, not everyone likes Cafe Racers. and souls into your rides - keep a thick skin and dont stop Some argue what a true Cafe Racer is. And a Honda? Pfft. making music.
And then a flood of positive comments came rolling in.
Entries piled on high and deep.
Brett Houle Publisher Iron & Air Magazine
4 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012
Photo courtesy of Helrich Motorcycles showing the ladies Iron & Air Vintage Edition tee shirt.
Get yours at shop.ironandair.com
LIVIA S 8 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012 SECRET WORDS Michael Hilton IMAGES Milk Animation
FEATURED BIKE 9 S tefano Venier has a secret that hes shared with his grandmother for many years. The secret is that, since a young age, hes been modifying motorcycles, mopeds and scooters...and grandma Livia has been saving money, funding and supporting Stefanos passion, all the while knowing the rest of the family would be against it.
Venier, now 33 and grandma Livia, now 85, are
still in cahoots together. Shes backed him with the necessary resources to start Venier Customs Inc. and build bikes such as this Diabola V35C.
Working out of their shop in Pordenone, Italy,
Venier and master mechanic, Ivan Delle Vedove strip down each bike to its essential elements and then rebuild them with custom hand-made parts such as tanks, fenders and brackets. They fashion whatever is necessary to achieve a perfect result. No ABS or plastic on anybody parts, everything is fabricated out of steel or aluminum. Other parts like seats, paints, levers from artisanal Italian shops and companies.
We work on very unique motorcycles, says
Stefano, and we believe that the only way to do it right is by hand making all the details. Our intent is to shed all the problems and artifacts that mass production gave to these incredible machines. Often times beautiful motors and frames were covered up by cheap and undeveloped parts.
10 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012
FEATURED BIKE 11 12 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012 FEATURED BIKE 13 U sing multiple hand sketches and photoshop renderings, theyre able to visualize a striking design, hone in on the specific elements and then execute the physical creation in a way that demonstrates great artistry and mechanical ingenuity.
Commenting on the look of the Diabola he says, We
used glossy black paint everywhere and left the motor with its patina. We basically just washed it and figured that it was helping the design to have a compact look using all black - it actually came out right.
Come out right it sure did and now were happy to
let the cat out the bag so Stefano and Livia can show off the fruits of their long time secret to the world. n
See more at www.venier-customs.com.
14 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012
FEATURED BIKE 15 16 IRON & AIR AUGUST 2012 FEATURED BIKE 17 OPEN ROAD 115
