We’ve sorted them from biggest to smallest this week. We start with a Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 café racer from India, then take a look at the new Aprilia RS 125 GP Replica, before finishing off with a Piaggio Ciao Deluxe moped from the USA.
Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 by Rajputana Customs The list of custom shops that Royal Enfield has collaborated with over the past few years is long and illustrious. For their latest release, they handed a Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 over to Rajputana Customs and told the Indian workshop to go wild.
Rajputana responded with a radical café racer that, while it may not be particularly practical, is certainly eye-catching.
Not content to deliver something mundane, the Rajputana crew started cutting up the stock frame and mocking up various ideas. But they eventually realized that the stock frame just wasn’t going to hack it—so they started from scratch. With a new headstock secured in their frame jig, they built an elegant frame that feels more like modern art than traditional motorcycle design.
A new tubular swingarm was fabricated too, hooked up to a brawny shock via custom linkages. Moving to the front, Rajputana lowered the forks, while upgrading their internals. The Shotgun’s cast wheels were swapped for laced items, wrapped in Pirelli slicks.
Custom yokes sit up top, with a handmade headlight nacelle sitting between them. There’s more custom bodywork further back, gracefully tucked between the bike’s double frame rails. A svelte saddle and flush-mounted gas cap emphasize the skinniness of Rajputana’s design.
The bike also wears clip-on bars and rear-set foot pegs, creating an extremely committed riding position. Rajputana kept the stock controls and switches, to retain at least some of the bike’s OEM parts.
The Shotgun’s aggressive stance and ultra-sleek bodywork earned it the nickname Jetstream. Driving the point home is a pair of burly exhaust headers, termination in slash-cut ends.
The svelte layout also amplifies the Shotgun’s best feature—the beautiful 650 cc parallel-twin engine that powers it. Finished in black with contrasting stainless steel hardware, it adds retro style to this otherwise futuristic café racer. [Source]
Aprilia RS 125 GP Replica ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,’ has been the mantra of many a motorcycle manufacturer over the years—but what exactly they’re selling varies. You can’t, for example, buy the Aprilia RS-GP that Marco Bezzecchi piloted to the second step of the podium at the Dutch GP earlier today. But you can buy a 125 cc replica of it.
Entry-level race replicas are nothing new. Many countries allow riders as young as 16 to start out on 125s, so brands like Aprilia produce featherweight bikes with beginner power and MotoGP style.
Available mainly in Europe, the Aprilia RS 125 is powered by a 124.2 cc single-cylinder motor, good for 15 hp and 11.4 Nm of torque. Weighing 144 kilos [317.5 pounds], it sports modern amenities like ABS, traction control, a six-speed electronic transmission, and a twin-spar aluminum frame. Wrapped in a full fairing and designed with proper sportbike ergonomics, it’s quite a looker.
The Aprilia RS 125 GP Replica takes all that and wraps it in a modified version of the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP livery (one of our favorite liveries on the grip. It’s a mostly black affair, dominated by bold Aprilia logos and sharp red and purple accents. And since it’s a race replica, it’s splashed with the team’s sponsors’ logos too.
If you’re an Aprilia MotoGP fan hunting for your first bike, the RS 125 GP might just be the ticket. You’ll need to smash your piggy bank though—it’s currently priced at €5,899 [around $6,915] in its home country of Italy. [Source]
Piaggio Ciao Deluxe by Josh Griffith Josh Griffith has an ambitious goal; to set a land speed record at Bonneville aboard a classic moped. That sort of endeavor takes gumption, planning, and lots of cold, hard cash. So, to give himself a jump start, Josh built and raffled off this 1974 Piaggio Ciao Deluxe to raise funds for his land speed attempt.
First released in the late 60s, and branded as a Vespa in the USA, the Ciao was a 50 cc moped pitched at younger riders. The base model was a barebones scoot with no suspension. The Deluxe model added a leading link front fork, a spring under the seat, and turn signals, with a metal ‘lunchbox’ holding the requisite electrical bits.
Josh took his 74 Ciao and redesigned it as a mini Vespa of sorts, taking inspiration from the Mod movement of the 60s. Up front, he added custom leg shields and a fly screen to add some body to the otherwise bare moped. He also fitted a chromed luggage rack, with a cluster of auxiliary lights.
Under the hood, Josh rebuilt the Ciao’s engine with Polini cases, a Malossi cylinder, and an upgraded intake, carb, and clutch. Now at 65 cc, and exhaling through a Polini exhaust, the fresh motor is twice as fast as the old one.
The Piaggio Ciao’s tiny solo saddle was swapped for something cushier, wrapped in a cheeky red and animal print cover. Finally, the bodywork, and most of the chassis, were powder-coated in metallic British Racing Green.
The Ciao is cute enough on its own, but this one has a unique charm. Think of it as the mini-Vespa that Piaggio never made. [Josh Griffith Instagram | Images by Jessica Szabo]
