Of all the questions I get about the bikes we've built, it's safe to say half of them are about Sunny's XV750. In fact this late bloomer of a Virago was the motivation behind Bob Ranew's XV920 build — one of Classified Moto's current projects. The odd thing is that suddenly in the Richmond area, Viragos have become scarcer than...than...uh...a mouse at a cat convention? Anyway, the drought appears to be over and there are no less than six suitable Viragos ranging from 535cc to 920cc within a 100-mile radius of the state capital. If you've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these highly malleable '80s gems, now is the time. Search Craigslist and grab one yourself for a great DIY summer project. Of course we'd rather you let us build you something fun, famous and Classified. If you wanna, email john@classifiedmoto.com and we'll release the hounds.

Big news. Classified Moto is now Classified Moto, LLC. Not sure that means a lot to the world at large, but it feels like progress to us. To keep up the buzz, Adam Stockton, owner of our gnarly Yamasaki XS750 is hard at work on some design-o-licious limited run screen printed posters. Some of which will feature photographer Adam Ewing's Classified XS650 and our delightful Bulgarian friend and co-worker Tania Staykova. She arrived at the studio straight from a day of super-intense ad meetings and breezed through a five-hour photo shoot like a pro. Many thanks to Tania and both Adams for pulling it together on short notice. Stay tuned for the goods this spring when we open our online store. Custom bikes, lamps, posters, apparel and other highly Classified items. In the meantime, keep up with us here and on Facebook. (Photos: Adam Ewing)

Chez Classified has been a busy place this holiday weekend. We had a crazy grab bag of stuff going on — visits from fellow gearheads Clay and Erin Rathburn, Ric Bergstrom and Jason Ledford, front end swappage, tank prep, bimmer treasure hunting outside of town with Mr. Ownby, dirtbike tuning and sporadic Nerf gun battles throughout. Cindy even came by to help in the lamp department. We got Adam Stockton's XS750 replacement tank stripped, brushed and ready for nickel plating. I took lots of measurements relating to the XV920's rear end mods. Ruled out more rear tire options for the CM185 and did some more work on Brandon's Virago. And this was kind of fun — we placed a small ad on Chris Hunter's amazing moto blog BikeEXIF. Just doesn't seem right to keep all these Classified Motos and Moto Lamps to ourselves! Overall, a good full weekend. And now, I shall pass out.

Inked Magazine is slated to do a write-up on what's quickly becoming the most buzzed "department" at Classified Moto — lamps, aisle 2. Editor Rocky Rakovic quizzed us on the operation and gave it the thumbs to appear in the April issue if all goes well. We're super excited to get our hands on a copy. No idea what to expect, but I'm thinking, perhaps, an Inked model sporting a tattoo of one of our lamps. While sitting on one of our bikes. That's what I'm talking about.

Also, hitting the newsstand soon is an article on Sunny's "Reciprocity" XV750 in the next issue of Iron Horse Magazine and another piece on the Classified Moto Lamps in British eco lifestyle and fashion magazine Recognise (with an "s" because it's quite bri'ish). March issue.

If you decide to skip all the press you can just pick up a lamp HERE.

I hesitate to even put this on my purty l'il blog. But since it hit Pipeburn, BikerMetric and a few other fine sites, I've gotten a lot of comments on Sunny Zhao's XV750 and I thought it was time to remind the motosphere where we started. I do miss the '80s tank art from time to time, but overall, I think we did the world a service with this one. Opinions may vary. I only regret that Adam Ewing couldn't have shot the "before" as well as the "after".

The current lineup of Classified Moto projects is getting pretty intense. Two Viragos, a CM185, a Moto Guzzi and finally a gnarly CB750 mono with CRF super moto running gear heading north of the border in late spring. It came together with no trouble on my MacBook, so obviously it'll be smooth sailing in the garage, right?

A couple of days ago I went ahead and started an official Classified Moto Facebook page. Up 'til now I've just been using my personal page for moto-related stuff. For all you Classified Moto regular visitors, feel free to post pictures of your own projects, tell us about events and, of course, tell your friends about us and 'Like" us if they like us. Stay tuned for some more nice additions in the coming months, including a sweet spring event, a new Classified Moto page on Etsy.com (to replace our temporary arrangement) and some great builds.

Today marked the official kick off of the Classified XV920 R6R build. There was excitement in the air, although it was just me. I took a bunch of stuff off the bike and determined the ride height based on the '09 R6R front end. Call me crazy, but these bikes have a great silhouette from a modification point of view. And a chain drive to boot. Based somewhat on Sunny Zhao's Reciprocity XV750, this one is for photographer/art director Bob Ranew of North Carolina. He's already having a blast with this build — using his art direction skills to articulate what he's looking for. I LOVE stuff like this, and love to see people getting psyched about their bikes. We have a long way to go, but I can tell it's going to be a fun ride. 

An inquiry was made to the Lamp Division of Classified Moto yesterday. "We need pictures of your moto lamp, asap." They said that, and not much else. But after some digging, we found out that it's for a pretty amazing new digital publication bankrolled by a mega-media icon. Thanks, KPow for the background info. Anyway, I have sufficiently made more of it than necessary, but it's an otherwise slow news day here. Thanks to Adam Ewing for the fancy shots on short notice.

By the way, stay tuned for some news on the latest Classified build — Bob Ranew's XV920-R6R, as well as updates on Ms. Cairo's peppy little CM185.

Tonight marked a milestone as we put the finishing touches on the 20th Classified Moto lamp built since October. This one is bound for Montreal and is part XS650, part Honda CB (900 I believe). Next one ships to Barcelona. I wish Adam could have worked his magic on it, but it's out the door in the morning so the iPhone had to do. If you just have to have Lamp No. 22, go pick it up here.