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Practical answers, ideas and stories from Throttlefolio. Start with a subject, or look for a specific question.

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.