Suzuki boardtracker from Motor Rock
It's getting hard to keep up with all of the superb builders out there, especially the work being done in Japan. Ian sent me a note after seeing an article in Motorcycle News about a Suzuki Board Tracker from a shop called Motor Rock. It's beautiful work. Look closely and you'll see a really short little swingarm on the back of the frame. Cool.
When I jumped over to check out their site, I saw, this isn't the only bike that deserves attention. Their gallery is full of good stuff.
Custom Kawasaki from Motor Rock
There's a lot of high level custom work being done in Japan but you have to dig around to find it. These guys are definitely worth a few minutes your time.
Thanks, Ian!
Link: Motor Rock
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Nice stuff. A little splash of yellow metal here and there will qualify some of this work as “steampunk”.
The square tires handle like junk, so why are they so vogue now?
Finally, does the micro swing-arm have any potential on performance bikes? You can 4-bar the design to create artificial hinge centers while keeping the un-sprung components super light and super stiff . Anyone done that yet?
Very nice work going on. Very clean and minimalistic.
Paulinator, you’d have to use twin outboard shocks on the rear then, very out of fashion…
-todd
there have been some 4 link frames like Pro-One did but not real common. The Japanese are very technical and sticklers on detail. I had the priviledge of working with Keiji Kawakita’s daughter for part of a summer while she studied at S&S and they are very gifted people. His bike is in the Sept. issue of Cycle World. The bikes pictured here are more of a showcase of talent from there. In some cases the square shape tires aren’t all bad as many places the bikes will not see high speeds or a lot of turns so handleing is not always an issue as much as a cool differnt look being presented. Kinda like where I live a hardtail is a distaster but out west you can ride forever.
That Suzie is just hot. I’m usually not a fan of a targeted retro bike (I still don’t like the bars so much). But this bikes seems to make it clear that it’s builder had many daydreams about it even before putting pen to paper or hammer to metal. Very nice.
If you talk to high school age kids like my son and the handful of motorcycle savvy kids in our very small town, this is the sh*t. They dont want pro street harleys, fat ugly cruisers from any marque, crotch rockets or radial tires. Any bike, the cheaper the better is a likely candidate for a donor. The old firestone tires are symptomatic of the rejection of anything to do with factory bikes and bolt on customs. I think we are going to see an explosion of young bike builders that will put a 21 century spin on the same ideas of individuality sparked in the hotrods of the 40′s and 50′s.
Interesting designs and the quality of engineering looks fantastic – I bet the Kawasaki-engined bike has a huge turning circle with those bars though.
I really dig the suzuki boardtracker. I’m 22 and looking for my next project bike now that I’m running my 1980 Yamaha XS850 triple cafe/tracker mut.
I would love to take a smaller displacement old single or parallel twin and make a custom framed minimalist bike like this.
Does the short trailing rear suspension negatively effect chain length? Or does the tensioner/idler take care of that?
You have a cripple tripple? Cool!!!
I could see a short link set-up like this causing wheel-squat under hard ecceleration. All depends on angles. A short 4 bar set-up could effectively simulate linear movement – or any pivot point/radius you want (within travel limits).
disclaimer – i’ve never designed MC suspension yet.
p.s. In life u get what u pay for and my oppinion here is free.
Todd, lay the shocks under th rear frame triangles – think bell-cranks.
David,
Let’s hope this is true. I’m tired of these overspecialized bikes that are too heavy or overpowered or really only desinged for tracks.
Paulinator you are funny, if you look at the pictures you will see that the tires aren’t square, they are perfectly round, it is just a retro tread pattern. I am not even sure those are retro tires, if they are then they have been cut round.
I think these bikes look fantastic, go to the gallery and poke around:
http://gallery.me.com/royal58#100107/Motor69-Z750LTD-03&bgcolor=black
The look on these is just incredible, wish I had one.
Take a look at this insane linkage, that is mind-blowing quality and attention to detail, as well as being freaking cool:
http://gallery.me.com/royal58#100107/Motor69-SR-Full_Order-06&bgcolor=black
Anybody know what is going on there? Is it just the rear brake, on a hand lever, with the clutch?
It’s a hand clutch and gear shift, Miles. It appears as though they’ve left the foot control for the shifting linkage in there as well.
Miles, Some high level fabricating. Stunning. For the record, I really like that 40′s hot-rod w/ “square tires” look and I get your point – they are rounded (best of both worlds). Now how about some raised white lettering?