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The bike
The bike
What the words mean. Bike types, the styles people argue about, and the engine terms on the advert.
Motorbike questions, answered.
Straight answers to the motorcycle questions people actually type into a search box: what a cafe racer is, what cc means, why a bobber looks the way it does. Free to read, and honest…
What are the main types of motorcycle?
Sports and superbikes, naked roadsters, cruisers, tourers, adventure machines, off-road bikes, and retro styles like the cafe racer and scrambler. Seven broad families, none of them…
What is a cafe racer?
A cafe racer is a stripped-back retro style with low clip-on bars, a solo seat and a lean, 1960s 'race to the cafe' look.
What is a scrambler motorcycle?
A scrambler motorcycle is an on/off-road style with a higher-set exhaust, a more upright stance and dual-purpose tyres built to handle tarmac and rough ground alike.
What is a bobber motorcycle?
A bobber motorcycle is a minimalist custom style with a shortened, or bobbed, rear end, a solo seat and bodywork stripped back to the essentials.
What is a naked bike?
A naked bike is a roadster motorcycle with little or no fairing, an exposed engine and an upright riding position built for everyday use rather than the racetrack.
What is a streetfighter motorcycle?
A streetfighter motorcycle is an aggressive naked bike, usually a sports bike stripped of its fairings and fitted with wide handlebars in place of clip-ons.
What is a superbike?
A superbike is a high-performance sports motorcycle built for speed and track-style handling, a broad, generic term rather than one specific model or make.
What does cc mean on a motorbike?
Cc stands for cubic centimetres. It's the unit used for an engine's displacement, meaning the volume its pistons sweep, and it's the figure UK vehicle law uses to record engine size.
What is a chopper motorcycle?
A chopper motorcycle is a heavily customised bike with raked-out, extended front forks and a long, stretched stance built for maximum visual impact.
What is the difference between two-stroke and four-stroke?
The names count piston strokes. A four-stroke completes its cycle in four movements of the piston; a two-stroke does the same job in two, so it fires twice as often at the same engine speed.
What is a tourer motorcycle?
A tourer motorcycle is a bike built for long-distance comfort, usually fitted with a full fairing, a tall screen and hard luggage for carrying gear over distance.
What is a cruiser motorcycle?
A cruiser motorcycle is a relaxed, low-slung bike with feet-forward footpegs and a riding position built around comfort and torque rather than outright speed.
Your bike
Your bike
The machine in your own garage: how to photograph it, and how each style of bike gets drawn.
How to Photograph Your Motorbike for a Print-Worthy Shot
To photograph your motorbike well enough to print, you need three things right: the angle, the light, and the background. A phone camera is plenty - the Paint Shop checks resolution…
The gift
The gift
Buying for someone who rides, when they already own every tool and two pairs of gloves.
Motorbike gifts when time is short
A favourite bike photograph gives you a personal starting point, even when you have left the gift late. Check the delivery estimate first; if the print will follow the occasion, make…
Motorbike Gift Ideas: 15 Gifts for Motorcyclists
Start with the rider: a favourite road, a racing interest, a bike they have built or a ride you share. Compare fifteen artworks below, then choose a mug, poster or larger presentation to…
Motorbike Gifts Under £50 That Riders Actually Keep
Under fifty pounds, the strongest motorbike gift is a print: of the rider's own bike, or of a road they know. It is personal, it hangs where they see it daily, and you can see exactly…
On the wall
On the wall
Sizes, frames and formats: what the paper actually is, and how big it needs to be.
Motorbike canvas prints
Canvas solves one problem that a framed print cannot, and that's glare. There's no glass in front of it, so there's no window reflected back at you. That's the difference between a…
Framed motorbike prints
A framed print does one thing a poster can't: it arrives finished. For a gift that matters, because a rolled print quietly hands the person receiving it an errand and a bill they didn't…
Great Roads: the five, and who each one is for
The roads are real and the paintings are not photographs of them. Each one is an original composition of a place a rider would recognise, with a single machine in it for scale and no…
Motorbike posters
A poster is the flexible option, and the reason isn't price. It's that you keep the framing decision. Hang it in something you already own, build a set over time, or swap what's in the…
Race Day: five posters for races that never happened
Every race in this series is invented. That sounds like a limitation and it is the point: a real livery pins a poster to one season and one sponsor, and it stops being current almost…
Is 50x70 cm A3?
50 × 70 cm is larger than both A3 and A2. An A2 print will not fill a 50 × 70 frame on its own, but it can be displayed in one with a suitable mount.
Motorcycle Wall Art Ideas: 9 Looks That Work in Real Rooms
Most motorcycle wall art fails the room it hangs in. The poster that looked right in the showroom photo turns out to be a marketing shot of someone else's bike, in a livery that dates by…
Print Sizes and Framing: A3, A2 and 50x70 Compared
50 × 70 cm is larger than both A3 and A2. Compare the paper sizes, check your wall or existing frame, then choose an unframed print, framed print or canvas.
More guides and references
The Workshop
Guides on buying, gifting and hanging motorbike art - from photographing your bike for a print to picking the right size and frame, and gift ideas sorted by who, budget and occasion.