Earlier this month, we showcased a custom-built board tracker with an S&S Cycle motor, constructed as a part of the Japanese leg of the efficiency model’s Classic Tour. At the moment, we’re one of many bikes that shared the stage with it on the Yokohama Scorching Rod Customized Present—a surprising Panhead from Hiroshima’s Satomari Motorcycle.
Chosen to participate within the exhibition, Satomari founder Yusaku Sato was supplied his decide of S&S Cycle’s vintage-style V-twin engines to work with. “It was the primary time I might acquired such a proposal,” he tells us. “I used to be merely thrilled.”
Sato-san settled on the S&S P93—a 93-cubic-inch Panhead—and paired it with the body from a 1969 Shovelhead. Then he had the daunting activity of determining which course to take the challenge in.
“After a lot deliberation, a machine he’d constructed 10 years earlier, fitted with 23-inch wheels, got here to thoughts,” says our man in Japan, Kaz Matsumoto. “Of all his earlier work, he wished to recreate this most memorable bike utilizing present know-how and sensibilities. He additionally determined to include a racing really feel and new strategies that he had been eager to attempt.”
Step one was a drastic redesign of the 69 body. Yusaku fabricated twin high tubes that run shut collectively on the neck, progressively splitting earlier than merging with the inflexible rear triangle. A single beefy down tube sits on the entrance, with a novel asymmetrical subframe holding the motor.
The forks are modified FL-series models, held in place by {custom} yokes. Yusaku stretched the Harley’s wheelbase too, in order that he may squeeze in a pair of 23” rims. The wheels use chrome steel spokes, tiny drum brake hubs, and Shinko tires.
Draped excessive of the bespoke chassis is all-new handmade bodywork that pulls on myriad influences. The aluminum entrance nacelle was impressed by motocross bikes, whereas the scooped saddle and tail part are harking back to drag racers.
Break up gas tanks take heart stage, with a one-off oil tank wedged between them. Tying all of it collectively is a saddle with elegant upholstery that extends onto the tanks.
Satomari’s Panhead is dripping with artful particulars. The cockpit incorporates a particular center-mount plate with built-in clip-on bars and area for a Motogadget speedo. Eager eyes will discover the dearth of a clutch lever—the bike makes use of a foot clutch with a {custom} jockey shifter poking out behind the seat.
Bolted to the bodywork, simply in entrance of the shifter, is the receiver for a Motogadget RFID tag, mounted in a drilled encompass.
Different particulars embrace {custom} fuel caps and foot pegs, an open main from Belt Drives Ltd. with infinite drilled particulars, and a license plate bracket that is bolted on simply behind the first. The engine sucks air via a pair of velocity stacks, and makes noise via twin exhausts that sit on both facet of the bike and run ‘inside’ the body. (Though the exhaust system’s design is asymmetrical, the headers are equivalent in size.)
For the Panhead’s alluring livery, Yusaku known as on common collaborator Freestyle Paint. “When constructing a motorcycle from scratch, the 2 of them routinely journey between Shizuoka and Hiroshima and keep in a single day, rigorously contemplating the stability and coloration scheme earlier than portray,” Kaz tells us.
Gold leaf particulars pop towards the nice and cozy grey-green base—a coloration that Yusaku finds arduous to outline. “It is a mechanical coloration, like a machine instrument. However relying on the way you take a look at it, it could possibly additionally look cute—it is mysterious.”
Nicknamed ‘Lindberg’ after the legendary aviator, Satomari’s S&S Panhead debuted at Mooneyes to rave opinions. Then once more, we would not anticipate something much less from Sato-san.
Satomari Motorcycle | Facebook | Instagram | Photographs by Kazuo Matsumoto (Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Matsumoto-san!)
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