Meet Beto

The latest bike to come out of Austin's Revival Cycles is truly global: its name is Beto, and it's pretty much equal parts Japanese, Italian, and Texan, and accordingly it's both modern and retro depending on how you look at it.

They formed all the body panels over blocks of wood just like any old-school coach-builder, they built all the fasteners themselves, and they re-engineered two different bikes to make this thing work. Yet, stylistically, the brushed and angular metal has a distinctly classic cafe racer feel to it.

But once you dig into the mechanics of it, you'll find that the front suspension's all 2007 Suzuki, modified to fit the drum brake which matches the rest of the bike, which is a 1975 Moto Guzzi, one of Europe's oldest continually-existing bike makers.

Out back is where you really see what this bike is: style — the old-school frame and the heat wrapper on the stainless steel exhaust are epically vintage; and substance — the mesh panel on the drum is there to let the drum stay cool while protecting it from debris that you definitely don't want getting in there.