Wrench Kings Suzuki GS450L

“Guys!! Is the Suzuki still for sale??” That’s the question we received a couple of months after we sold the Suzuki GS450L he was referring to.
So no, the bike he was looking for was long gone. But of course we can make something that looks alike. Not exactly the same, as each bike should have its own unique features, but something similar.

Rens, that’s the guy we’re talking about. A very friendly bloke who lives at the west side of The Netherlands, the glasshouse area of Holland (you know, where you get all your beautiful red tomatoes from…).
Rens was very particular on his wishes; the triangle underneath the seat not too open and vintage blue and yellow colors on the tank. And with that basis we started.

Searching the Kingdom we found a perfect Suzuki. It required some on-the-spot maintenance to get her up and running again (old petrol and very dirty carbs), but the bike itself was in a perfect condition. No rust anywhere and hardly any mileage on the odo. A rare find in a country as wet as Holland!
We drove the bike back via country side villages and back roads, as we didn’t want to be seen on it in its original state… Kidding, it just makes for a fun drive and we had all the time of the world!

We stripped her, cleaned her, chopped everything off that wasn’t required and powder coated everything that was left over. We dare to say that the bike in its current condition is better than original (and a hell of a lot better looking!).
And driving! What a nice machine it is now!! The Tarrozi pegs are placed to fit with the new seating and this definitely adds to the handling. Flat through the corners and more than enough power to have a race feeling!
The Japanese builders boost about their original design and the road handling features already. “Because the low placement of the handle bars and the rear set foot pegs, the rider is put into a racer position when cornering” (not our words). We replaced the original high handle bars with low tracker handle bars and placed the pegs higher and more to the rear, which makes it a completely different type of bike. The old chopper is transformed to a classic racing machine now, perfectly suitable for people with average height.
The sound of the bike is typical for the air-cooled, two cylinders, four stroke engine. You’ve got to love the sound! But at the same time we managed to reduce the sound in such that you will still be able to attend the neighbour’s barbecue.

The main modifications on this bike are:
A complete blacked out look whereby really everything is powder coated.
Customized sub frame to fit the seat
A custom box underneath the seat for the ignition key and light switch
A new wiring loom whereby the visible wires in front are made of classic fabric material.
All electric components hidden underneath the seat
Clear and visible battery, purposely kept on its original location
Clean handle bars, with only a custom switch for the blinkers
Slick shorty dampers (with additional modifications to reduce the sound)
Of course a Wrench Kings paintjob on the tank
Progressive rear coils
Tarrozi foot pegs, including a custom brake and gear system
Lowered and more progressive forks
A shitload of subtle custom brackets (blinkers front and back, blinker switch, speedo, electric components, etc). And of course these are all powder coated as well.
In other words, a complete new bike! Rens needs a few weeks to recover from a busted knee, but we’re absolutely sure that he will have a blast of a time with it! Summer is coming!!

Up to the next build! We’ll keep you posted!
Pictures are taken by Bas Duijs (Facebook: @Basduijsphotography Instagram: @Basduijs). Bas is a master in portraits and film stills and with his graphic design background he has a clear eye for concept, light and detail. For more info on his work visit his website at www.basduijs.com.

First published by rocket-garage

Le French Atelier Suzuki GSX-R 750

Suzuki's GSX-R has been tearing up race tracks and suburban streets since the mid-eighties. It was the first motorcycle to be considered a "racebike that could be ridden on the road" and was the first bike to use an aluminium box frame construction. It was a reliable, fast and light weight option compared to the bikes being produced by the other big Japanese motorcycle manufacturers and the GSX-R badge is still available in Suzuki's 2014 lineup almost 30 years on. With the current trend in custom motorcycling I like to call the "retro renaissance" motorcycles like this '91 model GSX-R are starting to get the attention of custom workshops. Workshops like Le French Atelier who completed this Suzuki GSX-R 750 Cafe Racer last month...

"We began building bikes 3 years ago, at first it was for just for ourselves, but we began to receive more and more encouragement from our friends and people we met to do more. We had a little workshop near Versailles, so we decided to improve and expand it. Soon afterwards guys started to contact us to make bikes for them. At this time we decided to create Le French Atelier. But for us, our business must be a passion, we make bikes with love and for the sake of perfection and innovation. We care about the details, if something is not good enough we start it again. We start with a design that we can use to create a beautiful bike, with a retro style and appears new. That’s why  we always start by stripping each bike and refurbishing, repainting or replacing any worn parts."

"For the GSX-R our idea was to create a pure cafe racer with this historically significant and sporty base. The 1991 GSX-R 750 had a fully enclosed fairing but our design was to open it up as much as possible to create a neo retro look. The build began with a complete disassembly of the motorcycle. We cut of the rear part of the frame and made a custom tail end designed to accommodate all the electrical components (battery, relays, cdi, etc). To mount the tail we constructed a new rear loop and added a reinforcing cross member. At this stage we also custom made the taillights and a custom leather saddle to sit on the aluminium base plate."

"The engine was completely disassembled. We rebuilt the cylinder head for reliability and basic power improvements and then fully repainted the engine in satin black and changed all the fasteners to stainless steel. Conical K&N filters replace the airbox and the "slingshot" carbs were rejetted and tuned to suit. The bikes triple tree was also reworked to house a mini speedo and integrated LED warning lights and a Bate’s style headlight was custom mounted. To finish the bike off its frame was painted using an epoxy satin black and finally the tank and tail were finished in satin grey."

The Le French Atelier crew will be launching their new website just before Christmas, but in the meantime you can take a look at their Facebook page to see what other tasty projects they have underway in the workshop.

Le French Atelier    |     Photography by Vincent Amar

Want to grab some cool custom motorcycle gear and accessories?
Head over to  100mph.com.au 

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Outsiders Son of a Beach

There’s something undeniably cool about ripping along a beach on a bike. Be it Burt Monro racing the greasers on his Indian, the madness of the Le Touquet Beach Race or even Guy Martin sweating his gonads off on a push bike on Pendine. It’s such an odd thing to be doing for the majority of us that it’s fascinating. The engineer in me cringes at the idea of sand in places it shouldn’t be but gosh darn it looks like a hoot and half.

For their sixth build, Outsiders were commissioned to create a way for their surf instructor/life guard friend Lex(calm down ladies) to get to the beach; with his board. A new rider licence limited the donor to just 125cc, so a Suzuki GN125 with a mere 3000kms on the clock was found in the back of a garage. Eager to get his hands dirty, Lex helped tear the bike down into piles of do and do not want. One pile was considerably bigger than the other…

The design brief was about affordability and durability, whilst maintaining enough beach-cruise cool. Whilst trying to keep costs to a minimum the frame had to be modified. The original chopper style seat rails were replaced with more horizontal ones and, ingeniously, the rear loop was cut and shut from the original bike’s cruiser handlebars. Small LEDs were selected for the indicators and housed in yet more discarded handlebar.

The surf board rack, a must have for Lex, was bent up and secured to main frame spars. Far enough out so as not to obstruct control function or movement on the bike. Though getting on from the left might be a little ticky! Renthal bars and Oury grips give some scrambler style and fork gaiters keep the sand out of the suspension. Alloy mudguards front and rear keep the sand out of your teeth.

With the engine barely run it there was no need to break into it, so a thorough service and tune up was completed before a smaller airbox and thorough re-jetting ensured the bike was running sweetly; making the most of its meagre capacity. The silencer was also swapped out for something with a bit more rumble at the end of the sweeping manifold.

The seat is a real centrepiece of the bike. Created by the Eindhoven based RachelSarah, it’s the first seat she’s done for Outsiders; I can certainly see more work coming her way. Crisp stitching, sensible padding and that beautiful wave motif down the sides. An Outsiders tag is the finishing touch, surprising how the smallest of details can make such a difference

Being a first bike and one that would spend the majority of its life going to the beach, not just on it, the wheels and tyres were kept on the sensible side. By all accounts the little engine struggles a bit in the sand anyway so the decision was made to stick to road biased rubber. The bike now runs rims from the rear of a GN250 at both ends, increasing width and reducing diameter.

Heavy duty powder coat and stainless steel are used throughout the bike to ensure it survives the worst the Dutch coast throws at it. Delivered to Lex at the end of a long weekend piecing the bike together all parties were thrilled with the outcome; the Outsiders being rewarded with a surf lesson. What more can you ask for?

First appeared in http://thebikeshed.cc

Hans Muth and the Suzuki Bandit FatMile

Now here’s a blast from the past. Suzuki Europe has jumped on the custom bandwagon and released images of a very tidy Bandit 1250, nicknamed ‘FatMile’. And one of the names behind the project is none other than Hans A. Muth, the legendary designer who rose to fame as BMW’s chief of styling.
Muth’s first association with Suzuki was nearly four decades ago. After leaving BMW, he set up the design team that created the original 1981 Katana—one of the most controversial motorcycles of all time.

The Bandit could never be called a design icon, but it’s much loved in Europe. It’s Suzuki’s equivalent of the Yamaha XJR1300: a reliable big-bore streetbike with bucketloads of character. The basic design hasn’t been updated for years, so it’s the ideal candidate for a custom job.
Young designer Daniel Händler did the bulk of the work on the Bandit, and a fine job he’s done too. The biggest change is a GSX-R front-end swap, including the triple trees, forks and brakes. The forged alloy wheels are from high-tech German specialist PVM, and the brake levers are from cult Swedish brand ISR.

The power output of a Bandit is very conservatively rated at 98 hp, but this one is probably putting out closer to 120. There’s an ECU remap and the stock headers are now hooked up to slinky Urban Killer mufflers from Cobra, another German brand.
The rear frame has been modified with a steeper kick-up, and clad with a custom fiberglass tail unit. There’s a matching belly pan too, but the tank is stock—apart from the leather panel upgrade.

The paint is in Suzuki’s classic blue and white colors, with Kellermann (lighting), Rizoma (grips, pegs) and Motogadget (speedo) providing the finishing touches.

FatMile will be officially unveiled this weekend at Glemseck 101, the biggest café racer festival in Europe.
It might not be as radical as the original Katana, but it’ll be much faster—and some would say easier on the eye, too.
Images by Sven WDMYR at Wheels of Stil | Suzuki Germany | Glemseck 101

The post Hans Muth and the Suzuki Bandit FatMile appeared first on Bike EXIF.

THE METAL SCORPION – SUZUKI GSX250 ’01 (#7)

Notice- this is a Indonesian text translated with Google.. Sorry for all mishmashes 

As an employed of an advertising agency and a lot to do with things that are art turns when determining the impact on the concept of detail in building a motorcycle. That applies to Prasetyo Wibowo called Bowo, the concept of a firm with a detailed rehearsal when he wanted to discuss at the workshop STUDIO MOTOR. "Imagine to play with body art section Engrave Mas, definitely looks more artful. Importantly double seater as long I may occasionally ride with my wife  ... ", said Bro Bowo 

The initial process started by removing the shirt carrying motor to switch places with bodi made from aluminum materials 3 mm covering the tank, spatboard spatboard front and rear. Finishing touches from working bodi given art engraving done by Bro Eddy Dharma, his motives personally selected by Bro Bowo motif combinations and Tribal Scorpion Flame. Sector legs are also quite get enough variation frontal, front shock telescopic shock carrying motor replaced with Upside Down copotan Suzuki GSXR-750 complete with master and labelan Tokico front calipers. Used front section of the double disc 300 mm labelan PSM Racing. As for handmade swing arm made from seamless pipe material that is in harmony with 1:25 Inch rear shock absorber OHLINS 340 mm. Master and rear brake calipers Nissin selected products with aftermarket discs 240 mm. For selected wheel rim wheels TK Japan 17X3.00 17X3.50-Inch Inch and matched with tires 120/90-17 and 130/80-17 Shinko E705 on the front and aft. The selected steering handlebar riser Fatbar complete with her. Pamungkas some part accessories installed to support this view of the end of the motor, aftermarket front and rear lights, clip on handle bars, and the application of custom exhaust 2 in 2 compounding Flash Custom Muffler.

Finished process of the motor, dubbed THE SCORPION METAL is enough to make her the mpu satisfied. "Retreat from the target processing time no problem Mas, anyway I understand if this is work of art, but the result was fitted with what I dreamed for this ...", said Bro Bowo saw Suzuki GSX250 his final form after the make over. With the legs are stocky and also play a prominent art engraving on the body is natural that the final look of this bike is much more aura. Positive responses also came from every person who happened to come to the workshop STUDIO MOTOR Suzuki GSX250 when looking at this, especially when viewing the results of the manual sculpture on the body. Young Blood Old Soul Brother!

SPECIFICATIONS
body Custom by STUDIO MOTOR Custom Werkz
Engraving Art by Eddy Dharma
Upside Down Suzuki GSXR-750
Velg Depan TK Japan 17X3.00 Inch + Shink0 E705 120/90-17
Velg Belakang TK Japan 17X3.50 Inch + Shinko E705 130/80-17
Master +Kaliper Tokico
Disc PSM
Shock Belakang Ohlins 340 mm
Filter Udara Koso
Exhaust Custom by Flash Muffler Custom