Biff
1974 Honda CB125
Brat Café Racer
Jan Sallings’ passion and craftsmanship has a way of touching everyone he meets. Before Jenny Spelts, friend of the Sallings family, met Jan, she had no interest in motorcycles whatsoever. It didn’t take long for that to change once she laid eyes on JMS Customs’ café racers. In 2016, Jenny worked with Jan to build a bike of her own—the nifty, retro 1974 Honda CB125 brat café racer known as Biff.
I do not have a long history with motorcycles at all. … I was actually a little afraid of them and thought they were dangerous. Silly me! When I saw what could be done with them and how they can look as classy as a café can look, I was in.
Jenny Spelts
In the summer of 2015, she bought the perfect starter bike—a 1974 Honda CB125. Its light weight and short stance made it ideal for learning to ride. Plus, the bike was already in running order, so she could start riding right away.
Initially, Jenny didn’t really care to turn it into a show bike, she just wanted to ride. She rode it through the summer, but in November, she was forced to park it. "So after having some trouble getting it started we figured there was some transmission issues. … I knew I had to take the engine off so I decided to just strip it down and customize the whole thing,” she said. Over the winter and spring, she and Jan worked together on Biff from Jan’s shop.
I was given a manual and pushed to figure it out. Of course whenever I needed fabricating, welding, or just some help when I got stuck on some issues, Jan Sallings was there to help.
Jenny Spelts
One of Jenny’s favorite aspects of café racers is their individualism, so she took the opportunity to personalize her own. Her personal style drew influence from the 1950s—namely rockabilly fashion and classic cars—and she designed Biff accordingly. The rockabilly style is typical feminine ‘50s fashion with an edge, combining the wholesome playfulness of the decade’s mainstream fashion with the angst of old-school rock and country music. Jenny evoked a similar dichotomy with Biff by applying the iconic ‘50s color scheme—mint green, cream, and chrome—to the aggressive brat café racer form. The result is one keen motorbike fit for a greaser.
Specifications

- Donor
- 1974 Honda CB125
- Engine
- Stock
- Head and cam modified to fit ball bearing and bushing
- Transmission
- Stock 4-speed
- Pistons
- +1mm oversized
- Carburetors
- Stock
- Air Filters
- Cone filter
- Exhaust
- Custom megaphone exhaust pipe by Jan Sallings
- Ignition
- Stock breaker-point ignition
- Starter
- Kick
- Frame
- Detabbed and smoothed stock frame
- Custom rear hoop by Jan Sallings
- Front Suspension
- Stock
- Rear Suspension
- Stock
- Front Wheel
- Stock
- Rear Wheel
- Stock
- Front Tire
- 2.75 - 18 Michelin Gazelle
- Rear Tire
- 3.00 - 17 Michelin Gazelle
- Front Brake
- Stock, painted disc brake
- Rear Brake
- Stock drum brake
- Headlight
- Stock, converted to 12V bulb
- Taillight
- Mystery 50s-style taillight
- Fuel Tank
- Stock fuel tank with custom paint and decals by Jenny Spelts and Jan Sallings
- Seat
- Custom seat by One-Up Moto Garage
- Handlebars
- Clubman handlebars
- Hand Controls
- Stock
- Foot Pegs
- Stock
- Foot Controls
- Stock
- Speedometer
- 2.5" chrome speedometer with white face from Dime City Cycles
- Miscellaneous
- Custom perforated aluminum side panels by Jenny Spelts and Jan Sallings
Builders


Big thanks to
- Whitworx Fine Metal Finishing, LLC
- One-Up Moto Garage
- Custom seat.