I love the show American Chopper. And I also enjoy the show Biker Buildoff. However, these are, obviously, all about choppers.
There was one guy, a Brit, on the buildoff who did something with Ducatis. But he was making them into choppers... Monster Garage had someone similar as well.
My point is. I have not seen a whole lot of custom Sport Bikes. Truly Custom, not just a fancy paint job, some decals, and wheels.
I have searched high and low for custom plastics for sport bikes, to no avail. I have also searched for people who are heavily modifying and customizing these kinds of bikes, again, to no avail.
Does anyone have more information on this matter, or is there discussion to be had on this topic?
I want to purchase another 2000 ZX9R ( I sold mine last year ) or get a new Yamaha R1. However, I don't just want to slap on some stickers, hand grips, and paint. I want it to be truly custom.
Are people just avoiding customizing these bikes to the extremes because of their speed and power? Or is it because we Sport Bike Lovers have not had the Renaissance that choppers had back in the 60's? Let's start it if so.
The thing with sports bikes is they are sports bikes. They aren't exactly the sort of thing you can mess around with that much without affecting performance/speed. Unless you do what that guy did and make it look like someone puked on a wet picture of a Ducati. It makes me want to cry to see that sort of thing.
Most people who customise do it themselves. Used to do the same thing to Minis when I was a younger lass. You fiddled with broke ones until you worked out where everything went, then you fiddle around some more until you get something a bit different and then you make it work.
Sports bikes aren't the safest things on the roads. I don't think I'd fancy taking one out that had been fundamentally modified by someone else. You don't have airbags on those things if it all goes horribly wrong. Choppers aren't so bad, you aren't throwing those around corners quite so fast or so horizontal. You know?
However, the idea of creating a product which replaces stock plastics is a good one.
That's my idea...
I figure it would be really cool to manufacture some aftermarket plastics which you could bolt right into the stock locations but that are very different.
Off the top of my head, I thought of Dragon's Scales, perhaps an embossed picture, maybe even a really jagged plastic motif.
I understand it's dangerous to modify them when they are supposed to be so fast, but I still think that it would be refreshing to see one that was massivly different than the norm.
yea you cant really modify a street bike like you can a chopper. street bikes are meant to do one thing and one thing only. GO FAST. you cant mess with the frame on a street bike like you can with a chopper. what you can do is upgrade the motor add nos and turbos, then you can drop the ride height and put a longer swing arm on it but thats mostly for drag purposes. depending on the bike it self you can do brake upgrades and stuff like that. and you can always buy after market fairings and shark skins.
Are people just avoiding customizing these bikes to the extremes because of their speed and power? Or is it because we Sport Bike Lovers have not had the Renaissance that choppers had back in the 60's? Let's start it if so.
and i do believe the best answer to this question is the way the bike it self is built. the only thing that you cant change is the frame it self. and the frame has to be the way it is. with a chopper you can build the frame at home, and get a custom frame license or what not. with a street you cant. they come stamped from the manufacture and the only place you can get one is from the manufacture or some one selling one. and the bike it self is designed to do what is susposed to do.
i call bullshit on that i have chopped street bikes. and as to american choppers they are just over hyped cake decoraters here is the real deal right here: The Donor bike: The Donor bike after i get ahold of it: Frame is started: Checking for the 10th time that the angle is right: Steven stealing the old motor mounts.... this is how we do it! Motor is in: Getto Mock up:
seat pan MONGO LIKE BARS! steven and josh doin the real work Dreaming back to work the girder forks and bars you can kinda see the pipes in this one as it sits now
1. unless i totally miss understood what he meant by street bike thats not the type of bike hes talking about. what you have is a old cruiser
2. you didnt modify the bike it self, yes you took parts off the original bike but you took a cruiser and turned it into a chopper, by using the motor, tranny, neck, forks and tires.
please dont take what im saying as knocking what you did.
1. Don't diss American Chopper 2. I like what you did, and am impressed with your skill I would also like to see the finished product.
I want to see someone do heavy modification to a bike that looks more like this:
The topic seems to have reached its peak, or finale, as we have all discussed how modifying a two wheeler built to travel at high velocities and operate through powerful gravity defying moves is not the best idea.
So I shifted my focus a little bit to what we could do to a motorcycle like this in order to make it look truly custom beyond just paint, chrome, polishing, and stickers...
Trying to revive this thread, as a lot of people seem to have missed the boat.
There is ABSOLUTLEY a market for customizing a "crotch rocket". Unfortunately the most widely available part seem to to focus on the Hayabusa, but there truly are things you can do to them. And no offense intended, but I question if the people who day you can't do antyhing to the frame, etc. really ride. Else, they'd know.
Obviously, the first step most people would see is custom paint. Any auto body shop or guy good with an airbrush should be able to get fabulous results and really make your bike stand out. Just make sure you do the whole skin, as a clear coat that simply gets masked will look good for a few years, but then begin to shrink, bubble, peel, and flake. Very not cool.
Second obvious step on a full fairing bike: lights! Whther you go neon or LED, just check with your local authorities. Here in Tucson, on a bike, you can pretty well get away with it. They'd prefer you not use red or blue, since those are emergency vehicle colors, but anything else goes. Tuner cars get pulled over for underglow kits, but the cops don't hassle us on bikes, becasue they make us more visible and potentially reduce accidents. Hell, they put reflectors on bikes from the factory for that very reason!
Another common mod: custom, and lengthened rear swingarms. The 'Busa in particular can't handle for crap anyway- it's a straight line machine. So why not go long and low? Make it a show bike! Beside, the longer it is, the more it will act like a natural wheelie bar, and help focus engine power toward going faster, rather than lifting the front-end.
Custom headlights and skin can be done, typically by the same guys who do custom speaker cabinet enclosures for tuner car cousins.
ANYTHING can be chromed.
Check out Super Streetbike. Either the magazine, or the website. Find out what going on in your local scene. But there's no need to declare the thread "dead", simply find people who know what to say!
I love how you didnt mention anything about frame modifications, which you say are run of the mill. cosmetic stuff is one thing, but frame modifications are a whole other mess of work.
I love how you didnt mention anything about frame modifications, which you say are run of the mill.
Really? Gee, thanks! I love how you put words in my mouth, and insinuate things I never said! That's cool, too! I'd like to call you a dumbass, point out that I see no evidence of riding a motorcycle on your profile, and tell you to STFU at this point.
But I highly respect the Blues Brothers quote on your profile (half a pack of cigarettes, etc.), so I'm going to calm myself and answer you rationally here.
First, if I didn't mention anything about frame modifications, than how did I say they were "run of the mill"? Seriously. Think before you type. And no, I didn't mention them. I talked about lengthened/chromed rear swingarms. But since you mention it, here we go...
Frame tech 101: A triangle will offer more support than a square. This is because a square can fold at two corners and bend into a rhombus easier than a triangle will bend out of shape, provided the strength of the welds are equal. This is why Ducati markets it's "trellis frame", which really just means a lot of little triangular reinforcements. I haven't spent a huge amount of time under the skins of the Japanese "big 4" bikes, so you'll have to check for yourself and decide if what I say from this point on is applicable.
Frame mods on the the typical Harley-based chopper are relatively easy, because cruiser frames, quite frankly, suck. I stress the word relatively there, because you still need some skill to weld correctly. Personally, I only cut. I'm not a good enough welder, and I know it. And geometrically speaking, any Harley rider would have to admit that the frame is a piece of crap for anything resembling spirited riding. It just doesn't have the reinforcement or even natural strength offered by a sportbike frame. It's too long, simple, and torsionally unstable.
However, that makes it PERFECT for simply cruising in a relaxed manner, and easier to chop and customize. Unfortunately, most "choppers" are just as original as any other American bike maker, and simply knock-off the same damn-design over and over again, like Harley's pushrod V has been cloned a thousand times before. Isn't anyone sick of ape-hangers yet?
Ok, so we've established that a sportbike frame would be difficult as hell to modify because of the trellis action, right? Let me go a step further and say that sportbike would look fucking retarded with a springer front-end and ape-hangers. And do you really need to change the rake/trail of a bike for it to be considered "custom"?
Let's go really simple here: Due to frame dynamics Harley knock-offs go custom on the front end, but most all have the same boring hardtail. Sportbikes tend to the leave the front alone, but wind up tricking out the back end.
Beside, the backside is what most 60hp Harley owners will see, anyway.
So yeah, frame work is a "whole other mess of work", but I would argue that the majority of chopper riders don't do it themselves anyway. They buy pre-fabbed kits, or pay somebody who's actually got the skill to do it. And then they get the same cosmetic Arlen Ness bullshit.
And no offense intended, but I question if the people who day you can't do antyhing to the frame, etc. really ride. Else, they'd know.
this is what I was referring to. most of your post concerned basic cosmetic stuff, similar to the bolt-ons and shiny bits on "tuner" cars. For the most part, someone building a "custom" bike is going to buy a frame, not modify their existing one or build one themselves. The average enthusiast, working out of their garage, will be limited to the cosmetic and bolt-on customization, as with cars. yeah, I dont ride. I used to ride dirt bikes, and I rode my friends BMW once, but I prefer 4 wheels. that doesnt mean I dont know a decent amount about physics and such.
I keep wanting to get a bike (an old Triumph most likely) but I don't really have the money for it. I live in the city, so it'd be nice to have something easy to park and all, but I promised my mother I wouldnt get a bike. eventually tho, I'll get one. maybe I'll see if I can buy one of my godfather's Ducatis.. he's got something like 10 Ducatis up in Maine.
I haven't mentioned it here, but if you check my recent journals you'll see I just totalled my Ducati. I cried. Seriously. But I've been bike shopping again myself. Buell's can be had for dirt cheap (never buy one new, they depreciate by almost half after only two years), but Triumph parts can be had for cheap on eBay, too, if you want to try to build it yourself...
I've seen some wicked parts for those things... Kinda the sportbike equivilent of all the Arlen Ness parts for Harley riders, but still some really nice parts...
And while it's not Japanese, I'm seriously thinking my next bike will be a Buell. This means we get to actually test some sportbike customization!
