Dean Kawczak of LBF Cycles built a show stopper for the MetricTV Metric Revolution build off. Like all of the other participants, Dean was not given a choice in the bike he had 180 days to customize and what they rolled off the trailer was a brand new Suzuki GSX-R1000. Dean is only 24 years old but he certainly has a lot of ideas about custom sportbikes and he managed to get a lot of them into this beauty. There’s a lot of original thinking here, let’s take a look.
The very first thing most people will notice about the bike are the wheels, that’s not a reflection you see, those are clear Lexan wheels. The Lexan is one inch thick, sandwiched between two split rims. The wheels have perimeter brake rotors from Freddie Krugger of Krugger Motorcycles and on the rear is a 96 tooth sprocket from Ego Tripp who also made the wheel rims and hubs. Even with a 20 tooth front sprocket it’s still geared a bit low but hey, it does look pretty cool.
The bike has air suspension in the rear AND front. It also has almost invisible controls, you’ll notice there aren’t any of the usual cables and levers anywhere. Like choppers, the cables and wires are routed inside but where are the controls? The clutch is activated by twisting the left grip with a button shift from Pingel. The brakes are activated by thumb levers, front on the right, rear on the left.
There’s quite a bit more but you get the idea. This is a very impressive custom piece without all of the over the top chrome and paint usually associated with custom bikes. It’s actually a bike that focuses on fabrication, builder skill and ideas. I like that. It will be interesting to see what Dean builds next.
By the way, this bike is for sale, bring $100k.
Link: LBF Cycles
Related: Triumph Rocket 3 Custom
Related: Metric Revolution Build Off to Air on ESPN2
Another photo below:
Hugo says
Finally the “customizing” has reached sportsbikes and this one looks extremely cool. For sure there will be a wave of such bike which I can only encourage. And if I’m correct another cool detail is that the swingarm doubles as fuel tank…
Mayakovski says
Meh, 180 days, not very original, not very functional, not impressed.
Steve says
As a prototype or concept sort of thing, SURE. But let’s face it, all that control hocus-pocus is merely show-off bling-bling… what the Hell good is any of it for any other reason?!
When are some of these talented people going to be allowed to build something that’s for real?
(I say “allowed” because if they did they wouldn’t even get mentioned… all these shows spawn unusable monstrosities!)
chris says
ummm, perhaps we’ve all forgotten that motorcycles CAN be artistic expressions. i’m a total tech nerd when it comes to anything that involves an engine – performance being at the top of my list of important things. but THIS – this is beautiful. well thought out, painfully original, rolling sculpture. not EVERYTHING with two wheels has to be functional. just most of it. and aside from the controls, it doesn’t look like it would be outright horrible to ride.
kneeslider says
I put these customs out here to highlight builder skill and new ideas. If someone is going to actually win one of these competitions, they try to build a bike to win according to the rules laid out by the organizers. If the organizers said build a fast bike or a race bike or a touring bike, then you would get one. If the bike is supposed to be a custom, you get a custom, … kinda funny how that works.
The biker build off on Discovery which was won by Roland Sands this year had a competition portion as I suggested last year it should. The bikes were very different than the strictly show customs from the previous year.
I like the bike above because a 24 year old builder did a pretty nice job. Just like the Triumph Rocket 3 by MGS I wrote about earlier. It may not be to your particular taste but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a high quality build. Look at these bikes for what they are. They are like many of the custom cars you see by top builders, not fully functional under all conditions but still very nice. I appreciate the work and skill involved.
Gary Sacry says
I have to agree with Chris and the Kneeslider on this. This guy built a bike to the rules of TV show, and I’ll say it again, TV SHOW! When is the last time anyone saw anything at all that’s close to reality with regards to anything related to motorcycling (except for racing, of course). And while the bike is safely in the garage and I’m Going On and On….. When are we going to quit knocking what somebody else is doing and at least trying to find one thing about that chopper, sportbike, naked bike, supermoto, motocrosser, steetfighter, dual-sport, vintage, or whatever, that we can groove on!! Like Red Green says, ” We’re all in this together!”
Alex says
At least the idea about the rims is f***ing cool!
coho says
The whole f***ing thing is cool.
I like that the controls are different. It would undoubtedly have a getting-used-to period (like the turnsignals on a BMW only more so), but it might be better (or more intuitive), or it might not. It looks like it might be fun to find out.
And those clear wheels are the bomb.
rider1772 says
Alex: I agree totally with you, this part makes a lot more sense than counter-rotating rotor brakes, Honda’s periferal hub ( no spokes wheels, the hub is attached to the rim, yes that weird :p), or the constellation clockwork (literally) some guy advertises in this site. Funcional AND c
hoyt says
cool bike.
check out the recent comments section pertaining to the Metric TV post.
unfortunatley, these builders need to spring for an attorney to make sure what they’re about to engage in is legit.
bob says
well done custom.
practical?
nope.
cool.
yep.
ive seen those wheels and while i wouldnt want to try and keep them clean or scratch free, they sure look good.
Custom Motorcycle Enthusiast says
As a motorcyclist I appreciate all types of bikes. Riding anything on two wheels is something most of us who read this website would give up one of their kidneys to keep doing 🙂
After seeing pics of this bike I had to admire the styling of this youth. The mixture of smooth and hard angles are done perfectly.
It’s really great to see more custom chopper work being integrated with more modern designs and sportbikes. We all love the classics but with all the improvements in technology, one cannot hold back progress and it seems Dean will help usher in the new generation! Nice….