Moped Monday

 

Image - Unknown

#MopedMonday #MiniMokik #MiniMokikStella #CCCP #Soviet #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Single-Speed Street-Bike

So one warm, sunny, summery day a couple of years ago I was working in the 'shop when it occurred to me that if I had a bicycle, I could cycle to the newsagent (about 2km away) and buy an ice-cold Coke.

My attention span being what it is, I stopped what I was doing and went to the shit-shed to see what I could find. What I found was the remnants of a '90s aluminium-frame mountain bike and some other junk.

I set about stripping down the frame, quickly realising that that was the only part worth keeping, and so began a confusing journey of buying parts online to discover what would and wouldn't fit.

Bicycles have evolved to be much more complex and varied since I was a teenager. For example, fitting the 22 mm motocross handlebars to the the steerer tube of the aluminium forks required a handlebar clamp off a modern BMX. Which is simple in retrospect but quite frustrating to learn from scratch!  

So yesterday, two years, many start-stops and many hundreds of euro later I finally finished the thing, cycled to the the newsagent and got myself that ice-cold Coke!

Images - Mercenary Garage

#MountainBike #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Careful

Careful is my middle name...

Image - via rowley__the__lowlife

#Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycle #MotorcycleGarage  

Copilot

 

Image - Unknown

#Chopper #SafetyThird #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Superlight/Superscura

To my eye, the 1992 Ducati 900SL Superlight is a contender for most beautiful motorcycle ever built.

On its release in 1992 the motorcycle magazines raved about it's beauty, character and handling while decrying the cost (In the UK the 900SL sold for £8,000 while a GSXR1100N was £6,500).

For me, it was love at first sight. But this was a machine so rare that I never expected to even see one in real life and so I determined to build a really nice replica, one day. 

However, somehow I ended up owning one. About 20 years ago I became custodian of Superlight #474, a first edition model in red, with the desirable Marvic composite magnesium wheels. 

I don't know thing one about being a custodian and the Superlight  no longer resembles the beauteous yellow creation in the above pic. It now looks like this...

It is without doubt much Lighter, and with a 1000cc Dual Spark motor it's a bit Superer. But like they say, the years have taken a toll...

Last year we hatched a plan to race the thing at the Glemseck 101. However, it wasn't a very good plan and the bike wasn't finished in time and we didn't go. So for 2026 we're hatching a new plan. Hopefully this one will be better.

Watch this space... 

https://www.mercenary.ie/search/label/Project%20Superscura

#MatteBlack #SharkEyes #DucatiSuperlight #Ducati900SL #Ducati1000DS #DucatiSprintBike #DucatiDragRacer #DragSuperlight #DucatiSprintRacer #Superscura #MercenarySuperscura #DucatiSuperscura #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage #Glemseck101 #Glemseck2026 #RocketRaceClub #MercenaryEngineering #PunkRockEngineering

Chopper

Look at this awesome thing! Just look at it...

Image - Unknown

#Chopper #ChopperBicycle #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Be Punk

In this age of performative ignorance and cruelty, be Punk.

Image - Unknown

#Punk #BePunk #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

HDATMM

I went to see Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man in an empty movie theatre on its opening night in 1991. It didn't get a lot of publicity in advance of its debut and what reviews there were, weren't good.

But I had to see it. And I came away torn. On the one hand I felt it was cheesy, but on the other it was deeply, deeply cool. So it has always had a special place in my heart, of which I've always been slightly ashamed.

I've watched it many times, but not for many years and so I chose to watch it again a few nights back. And the strangest thing happened...

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, seen through mature eyes and in the context of all that's going on in the world right now, is a great movie! Not just okay or good. Great!

It's well acted and fast paced and nicely shot. It doesn't rely on CGI explosions and a dozen mega-star actors and superhero franchises to churn out cookie-cutter blockbusters. It's its own thing. It's now closer in time to the bikesploitation movies of the late '60s than it is to the fucked-up future we now inhabit and yet it still feels futuristic and fresh.

And strangely, it's somehow lost the cheesiness that had made me ashamed to love it, in its place a newfound gravity. There is depth to the principal characters that had previously eluded me, which reveals more about their relationships and motivations.

Ultimately, it is a movie about love and friendship and finding your own way in life. And some 35 years after its release, I feel Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is owed a reappraisal.

Read more - https://www.mercenary.ie/2013/05/harley-davidson-marlboro-man.html

Image - Unknown

#HDATMM #HarleyDavidson #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Date Nite

This is deadly...

#KhakiKid #SaintDemarcus #Moanbag #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Mercenary Superscura

So yesterday the Superscura sprint bike saw the light of day for the first time. It's still not finished or even running but it was great to get it out of the confines of the workshop and down off the ramp, to get a better sense of how it all hangs together.

The list of things to do is getting shorter. We're in the process of finishing the foot controls and I think after that, the only big fabrication left to do will be the exhausts.

And the last major hurdle will be resurrecting the ECU and getting the fuel injection and electrical systems up and running. And recommissioning the brakes, changing the fork oil and a hundred similar little jobs.

So in short, it's getting there.

Watch this space...

Images - Mercenary Garage

#MatteBlack #SharkEyes #DucatiSuperlight #Ducati1000DS #DucatiSprintBike #DucatiDragRacer #DragSuperlight #DucatiSprintRacer #Superscura #MercenarySuperscura #DucatiSuperscura #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage #Glemseck101 #Glemseck2025 #RocketRaceClub #MercenaryEngineering #PunkRockEngineering

Rose Mcgowan

 💙💙💙

Image - Unknown

#RoseMcgowan #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Aircooled

Image - via bringthekickback on Instagram

#VWT1 #VWSplitScreen #VWSplitty #VWBaja #HondaXL #HondaXL500 #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Happy

Image - AI

#DirtBike #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Range Anxiety

Custom electric powered Jerrycan Minimoto by bk42_cycles. The world need more of this sort of iconoclastic thinking!

Image - bk42_cycles

#ElectricBike #JerryCan #ElectricMiniMoto #PocketBike #PittBike #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Happy

Image - via ratbikebrazil on Instagram

#RatBikeBrazil #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage 

Spirit Animal

Image - Near Dark (1987)

#NearDark #BillPaxton #SawnOff #SpiritAnimal #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

You're Doing Just Fine

I don't know who needs to hear this...

#YoureDoingJustFine #PositiveAffirmation #Laserdisk #The80s #TheEighties #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Happy

Illustration - Oscar Römer

#Cyberpunk #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Wheelie

 

Image - Unknown

#Wheelie #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Ed and Ein

 

Illustration - Unknown

#EdandEin #CowboyBebop #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage