Customized bike builders usually get requests for machines that both replicate or, on the very least, draw inspiration from ones that they’ve constructed earlier than. However what occurs when a buyer likes certainly one of your earlier initiatives, after which deviates from the supply materials with a completely completely different donor bike?
That is the problem that Cowboy’s Firm confronted lately. 5 years in the past, the Taiwanese customized store constructed a customized Kawasaki ER-6F with a unusual brat vibe that turned the bottom bike’s idiosyncrasies into options. Their newest shopper wished one thing in the identical vein—however this time, the canvas was a Kymco Okay-Rider 400.
Bought predominantly in Asia, the Kymco Okay-Rider is a 399 cc commuter with fashionable, aggressive styling. However lurking under the edgy plastics are a trellis body with some fascinating curves, an asymmetrical swingarm, and a parallel-twin motor—just like the elements of the Kawasaki ER-6F.
That is as a result of the 2 bikes are vaguely associated. Due to a collaboration between Kymco and Kawasaki, the Okay-Rider acquired its engine and a few of its engineering from the ER-6’s little sibling, the Kawasaki ER-4N. It is from a carbon copy, however the DNA is obvious.
These similarities labored in Cowboy’s Firm’s favor—as did the truth that the bike had already been disassembled once they acquired their fingers on it. (Its proprietor had began engaged on it himself, however needed to shelve the undertaking when work acquired busy.)
With the skeleton of the Okay-Rider on their workbench, the Cowboy’s workforce instantly famous that its body and swingarm have been remarkably elegant for a motorcycle of this ilk. Step one was to manufacture a brand new, leveled subframe with sufficient house for a two-up seat. Cowboy’s went a step additional, including a neat pillion seize deal with that may double up as a tie-down level for baggage.
Subsequent, the workforce reduce up the OEM gasoline tank. Retaining simply the ground and gasoline pump, they fabricated a brand new reservoir with a sculpted design that fits the bike’s revised silhouette, with out sacrificing capability.
The fenders are handmade items, too, as are the brackets that maintain them in place. The headlight is housed in a customized nacelle, whereas the taillight is tucked beneath a chromed hood, styled after the fender-mounted flip alerts you see on classic automobiles.
The Okay-Rider is suffering from small one-off particulars. Chromed plates fill within the entrance body triangles, whereas additionally holding a pair of flip alerts. Additional again, liquid-like chromed components cowl the gaps beneath the seat, with an identical guard floating above the rear shock on the right-hand aspect.
Cowboy’s additionally modified and repositioned the foot controls for a extra snug journey, and constructed a bracket to carry an Apple CarPlay-enabled dashboard that is additionally linked to rear- and forward-facing cameras. Low-slung bars, contemporary grips and mirrors, a Tough Crafts gasoline cap, and Continental TKC80 tires full the setup.
The Kymco’s alluring paint job is a tribute to the Chinese language 12 months of the Snake, which not solely occurred whereas the bike was being constructed final yr, but in addition coincides with the proprietor’s start yr. The serpentine particulars embrace the airbrushed scales on the perimeters of the gasoline tank, a ghosted snake graphic up prime, and a snake head cleverly labored into the ‘C’ of the Cowboy’s emblem.
Based on the Cowboy’s crew, the Okay-Rider is not practically as widespread because the model’s different small-capacity commuter bikes in Taiwan. However with daring customized examples like this one, that would change.
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