Photo: Cindy Hicks

Change comes in all sizes. New pair of shoes — small change. New career/business/lease on life — extra large change.

One year ago last week, I got my walking papers from the ad agency where I worked for 11 years. It was like being punched in the face and knocked into the next room. Only the room was full of sweet motorcycles and some of the coolest people I’d never met.

What could have been a disaster of super-sized proportions, instead opened the door for Classified Moto, which might go down in history as the luckiest company on the planet.

From the day I got laid off and set out to make my living in the motosphere, I’ve had something to be psyched about on an almost daily basis — one of our bikes in a magazine, a killer road trip, an email from one of my heroes, a project wrapped. There’s a kind of constant gratification for us at Classified, and we’re trying our best to keep it going.

We’re about to unveil a new XS 650 and XV1100 and we’re working on a couple of Honda projects that will be tons of fun. We’ll soon be shipping the twin of Bob Ranew’s XV920R to Biker’s Cafe in Dubai. And we continue to explore new non-rolling designs — moto lamps, tables, screen prints and other cycle-inspired stuff. We’re weird like that. We’re still full-steam ahead on opening our shop/studio/cafe as soon as humanly possible.

And while we always have our eye on grand plans and what-ifs, we have some done-deals that we’ve been dying to talk about. No time like the present:

Season 4 of Cafe Racer TV on Discovery Channel’s Velocity Network. We’ll be on it. We were floored to be asked to participate and can’t wait to get started. The show has featured bikes and builders with credentials we could only dream of. It’s a huge, humbling honor, and we are STOKED. Filming starts in April and wraps this summer. Typical of the show’s format, we’ll appear throughout the season, wrenchin’, cussin’ and headscratchin’, eventually revealing our build to the world at large.

Of course, since Classified Moto is the luckiest company on the planet, the bike we’re building is for sci-fi heroine and interstellar badass Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar Galactica fame. (Starbuck, we won’t let you down.) With any luck, we’ll be delivering the bike to Katee on set in New Mexico this summer. Life is good.

We know this and other projects are going to delay our plans for a few things, including our European road trip we’ve been dying to pull off. Never fear, when we do it, it will probably be even better than if we’d done it this summer. That’s just the way things work around here.

Before I bring this one to a close and go back to neglecting my bloggery duties, I want to thank my trusty crew: Greg (recovering from a detached retina, wish him well), Betsy, Adam, Cindy, Ricky, DeeDee, Alex and the gang at Maxum Machine for staying positive and hanging in there. If it weren’t for people who know what they’re doing, I’d be sunk.

Also, a huge thanks to the legendary Wrenchmonkees for inspiring me to take an interest in motorbikes. The Monkees along with Deus, Blitz, Cafe Racer Dreams and a refreshing few other “alt-moto” outfits continue to keep things interesting on two wheels. We love what you do.

I’ll try to post more often, starting with some builds that we’re wrapping up. But for regular updates on all things Classified, visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for your support. We hope you’ll be with us on another whirlwind year. —JR

I think it’s been a month since I last posted to the blog. Inexcusable, except we have a good excuse. We’ve been hard at work building bikes and developing new recycled moto gear for your consideration. Just posted today in our online store you’ll find a Moto Café Table, a Moto Floor Lamp, a new Tania Tee and last but not least the long awaited Moto Build Request listing that will reserve your spot in the Classified queue.

In two days, we will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the timely demise of my advertising career. Getting laid off proved to be one of the best things that could have happened on our twisty, turny trajectory through the motosphere. For 363 days, we’ve been surviving — and even thriving — doing what we love.

Many thanks for the great support from you guys and gals as we figure this all out. We hope you’ll keep spreading the Classified word and enjoy taking the road less traveled with us.

I’ll write a proper anniversary post next week. It will include at least one new bike, one awesome piece of news, a celebrity, a detached retina and a portrait of two angry bike builders wearing matching pink sundresses.

For now, check out the new creations in our store. We hope you find something you’ve just gotta have. —JR

The best thing about working for yourself is being able to try whatever hair-brained idea you please. And a couple of months ago, we did just that.

With a small, highly mobile band of brothers (and sisters), we hit the streets of Richmond to film a 30-second TV spot for our strange little company.

Many thanks to Adam Ewing for the crappy footage, Devin Bousquet for the goofy edit, Bill Grishaw for the cheesy music and Jeff McManus for the dirty mix. And of course, we could not have done it without our difficult actors Patrick Biedrycki and Kristy Heilenday. Everyone dug deep to create a perfectly awesome train wreck of a commercial.

Look for it in unexpected places in the future — or the past — whichever comes first.

It’s been a shamefully long time since we’ve posted here, but we’ve been blitzed with orders since before the holidays. It’s a good problem to have, as they say, and you’ll get no complaints from us. That said we’ve been trying to figure out a reasonable way to handle new build requests and manage our waiting list.

As you can imagine, when someone asks me to work up a build proposal for them, it takes a lot of time. Definitely not like going into the Honda dealership and asking for a brochure. We try to design bikes that reflect the owner’s personality based on a pretty extensive back-and-forth with them. And as much as I love this process, it’s too time consuming to offer as a free service, when oftentimes the builds don’t pan out for whatever reason.

Boom. You know what’s coming next.

Starting next week, we’ll be charging for a full design and pricing workup for potential builds. The fee of $250 USD will cover our time to concept and estimate your Classified Moto build, and it will reserve your spot on the waiting list. New to the process is that you’ll receive a large format exhibit-quality printout of your dream bike complete with build specs and handwritten notes. And, the $250 will be credited to your build, provided you initiate it by an agreed-upon date. Seems fair enough, right?

Obviously this doesn’t apply to the build proposals already in the works. Look for the listing in our online store next week.

And please note that we still welcome all your general questions about potential builds, pricing, your own projects and the like. We don’t charge for that stuff, so keep ‘em coming.

— JR

PS: There is so much nutty stuff in the works at Classified Moto in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to see how we handle it…

I got my first job in the summer of 1983 — washing dishes at the Jamestown 4-H Camp just outside Williamsburg, Virginia. It was brutal, but in my 14-year-old mind it was worth every minute. For every unidentifiable mess I cleaned up, every fork I fished out of the trashcan, every second-degree burn I got , I was one step closer to my dream of building the ultimate BMX bike.

What I ended up building was a Hutch Pro Racer. What I really wanted was a “P.K. Ripper“. But as it turned out, the Ripper was above my pay grade and no amount of scrubbing and mopping could fix that.

As a kid, I couldn’t care less about team sports (Ok, I liked soccer) but was obsessed with bikes. And when I took notice of the BMX craze in the late 70′s, that was all she wrote. I would tag along to the grocery store to read copies of BMX Action and BMX Plus magazines in the aisle while my parents shopped. On special occasions when I actually got a copy, I’d read every single word and scrutinize the photos. Everyone in the pictures — even the people standing around watching the riders — was pretty much the coolest person I’d ever seen. It was hard to even imagine that Southern California was a real place, inhabited by all these fearless BMX warriors…

Fast forward to a few months ago when Classified Moto client Timothy McClellan and I were having one of our friendly boxing matches over the design of his Classified XS650. I would say no paint, he would say metal flake paint. He would say all black. I would say why? Me, tomato. Him, potato. Until finally he said, “powder blue.”

To look at the Classified portfolio, you might think pastels wouldn’t fly. But PK’s were powder blue (a lot of them were, anyway) and the coolest ones had black mags. Just like Timothy’s bike. Hmmm.

So we struck a deal. I would embrace his powder blue if he would let me pay tribute to the might Perry Kramer, SE Bikes and their game-changing P.K. Ripper.

The folks at SE Bikes have been great, sending us tons of historical references as well as factory graphics files so we can incorporate some of their iconic typography into the finished product. Be sure to check out the SE Blog to see what all the fuss is about.

As inspirational as the legendary PK is, it’s harder than I thought to do it justice. The blue frame on the XS helps, but there’s just no getting around that 650cc engine smack dab in the middle of the bike. Never fear, though. With any luck the “CM Ripper” will have all the attitude and presence of the original, even if it never drops in to empty pool.

Stay tuned for an oldskool photoshoot featuring both bikes in all their glory. Meanwhile, look for updates on the Classified Moto Facebook page and on Twitter (@johnryland). — JR

PS: Thanks to Greg Ownby and our dashing intern Manny for all the hours lately. And also to photog extraordinaire Patrick Biedrycki for stopping in to document our Monday. Much appreciated.

Some time ago, broadcast producer extraordinaire Christina got the urge to go two-wheelin’ right about the time our friends Rex and Norma were selling their pet project Honda. Arrangements were made, and the bike stayed in the family. And we made it our own pet project. Little by little we got to work cutting, unbolting, mixing and matching, until suddenly — a year later — we were finished.

Fittingly, as I write this, Christina is completing Day 2 of her M-Class license course. By 5pm she’ll be legal to hit the streets on her elegant Tiny Moto.

The bike started life as a faux cruiser that was visually ahead of its time. And by that I mean that even though it was a 1978 model, it looked very “eighties”. We swapped out the wheels for 18-inchers front and rear to give it a level stance. Then we removed everything that didn’t need to be there. The tank was snagged from an old Suzuki dirt bike and nickel plated to prevent rust. After some waffling on color, we decided to do a copper stripe on top of the tank. Worked out nicely and matches the seat crafted by our friend Roy Baird.

There are lots of little bits of personality on this diminutive moto, including a quick release nickel-plated basket that incorporates an old Cypress Gardens water ski. The taillight is made from a stainless steel fishing rod holder that I snatched from my ancient Aquasport before it went to boat heaven…

What this one lacks in power, it definitely makes up for in character. We’re psyched that it’s going to Miss Cairo. —JR

The Classified Moto ball has been rolling along at an alarming rate, hence the long delay in making a post here. I’m giving myself 10 minutes to call out some of the larger happenings between now and the holidays.

The December issues of both Top Gear Magazine (UK) and Playboy Magazine (US) will be running articles on Classified Moto. Booyah? Yes, booyah. Top Gear has 2.5 million subscribers in the UK with another 500,000 newsstand copies, and who knows what Playboy’s numbers are like. One thing is for sure, if you want a moto lamp any time in the near future, get your order in now. Both mags are slated to hit stands very soon. Playboy hits the press today. Lookout.

What about bikes? Well, Christina’s “Tiny Moto” Honda CM185T (above) has finally come to life. And Scott at Pipeburn.com just posted the full Adam Ewing photoset on his fine website. Check the pics out HERE.

Timothy McClellan’s “P.K. Ripper”-inspired XS650 sits waiting for a few key parts due in this week, and will start to snowball shortly thereafter. I’m trying my best to get his bike to him “while it’s still warm enough to ride”. Got cold here quick, though.

Other builds in progress are an XV1100 coming along nicely, an old GS750, a CB750F, Brant Shalikashvili’s Nighthawk 250 city bike, Mondial Creative’s KZ1000 and the most excessive XS yet, Eric’s Eleven. Needless to say, until we start knocking down walls and hiring an army of techs, we’re pretty much at our limit. I have a couple of build proposals out at the moment, but we’ll be cutting off orders before the end of the year until we get caught up. If you think you want a Classified Moto of your own, read our Build Inquiries Post and let us know soon. Once we stop taking orders, we’ll implement some kind of waiting list. Stay tuned for that.

And last, but certainly not least, we’re launching a new website any day now. The folks at Big River Advertising here in Richmond, have done a killer job pulling all our scattered stuff together into one great site. There will no doubt be some growing pains as we transfer, update, troubleshoot and optimize, but it’ll be worth it. This blog will remain up and running, but it will also be incorporated into the new site, as will a full gallery of all the Classified Moto bikes and adventures from the last year. Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for more on the launch.

There’s more, but my 10 minutes are way up. —JR

The bike is a 1982 Yamaha XS650 Heritage Special. The owner is a killer photographer. The combo landed us our first real recognition with a feature on Australia’s BikeEXIF.com in December of 2010. When Adam’s stunning shots hit the motosphere, suddenly it wasn’t just a few of us standing around looking at the bike, there were thousands of comments and opinions coming from all corners of the world.

It was weird and awesome. Since then, we’ve built a lot more bikes, but we’ll always have a soft spot for this one.

Having done a couple of front end swaps using sport bike forks, this one was a little trickier. In order to retain front and rear spoke wheels we decided to modify a Suzuki RMZ250 dirt bike front end then fit it with a sweet supermoto wheel and brakeset. We shortened the fork internals for a nice low stance and powder coated the rear wheel gloss black to match the Warp 9 front wheel.

Some sweet Woodcraft clamshell clip-ons were the ticket for the massive RMZ fork tubes.

The stock power plant responded well to some pod filters a free-flowing exhaust and some healthy jetting. Plenty of power for around town and interstate jaunts.

Special touches abound with some very Classified perforated steel side covers, gnarly tires and all-business look.

We like to give a hint of the bike’s previous life whenever we can, so we managed to save a strip of the old ratty red paint on the tank. A coat of gloss clear over the whole shebang slows the aging process to a crawl.

Look for more tweaks on this one from time to time, since bike and owner are near CM HQ.

The bike was our second to be featured on the premiere vintage and custom moto blog Bike EXIF where it was a big hit. Here’s the skinny on the build…

We took a rather well-kept 1982 XV920R and with much pain and suffering, performed not only our signature sportbike front end swap, but the rear as well — both off very late model Yamahas (YZF R6-R front and R6-S rear). Maxum Machine here in Richmond fabbed up a custom front sprocket/spacer to cope with the increased offset of the rear sprocket and wheel, now sporting a big fat 180mm tire. We stripped off many pounds of 1980′s-style funk from the nerdy looking cruiser, keeping it to a noticeably trim fighting weight.

We opted for top mounted hooligan bars over clip-ons after a lot of waffling by all parties. In the end, we can’t imagine what could be better. When you ride this thing, it feels like some kind of experimental weapon, like G.I. Joe’s personal assault bike. It’s a romping, stomping, elbows-up kind of thing. Pure fun.

Bob has taken it home to North Carolina, and it will be sorely missed. Hopefully visitation can be arranged. Before long we hope to film it in action, so stay tuned for more from the XVCMXX.

Our buddies at Mondial Creative here in Richmond, Virginia, blew us away recently with this video. On some random weekday, they followed us around as we scavenged, de-rusted, polished, welded, wired, boxed and shipped one of our funky fresh Classified Moto Lamps. The result was fantastic, we think.

Once again, we’re counting ourselves very lucky to be able to work with such talented creative folks as we carve out our alt-moto niche. Be sure to check out their other work, and expect to see more collaborations — both video and moto — in the near future.

There’s one waiting for you in our online store…