My XJ "Eight Ball" cafe-racer

Hi again! So I decided to create here a thread of my building of XJ cafe-racer .

I sold my XJ400 in 2007 and expected never to see it again in my garage. But 2 years later this bike returned back to me, being a little bit crashed here, and more than bit smashed there, and in completely non-functioning condition after non-fatal road accident. The former owner (of the bike) knew about my search for custom bike creation base. As a result the disassembled XJ-400 was back, and waited for a couple of years in the corner of my garage, before I started constructing this cafe-racer. Meanwhile, it is a long story, so would you wish so, I could try to give the full version later.

A little summary information:



XJ400 4G0 modified frame.

XJ600 51J engine modified with XJ600 Diversion cylinder block (which has lager cooling fins than stock one ) and manual cam chain tensioner. Ported and polished head channels. Also was rebuilt, polished and custom painted.

4in1 Sebring exhaust.

Kawasaki KZ650 fuel tank with QSPS fuel gauge tank cap and Suzuki GS750 fuel petcock.
Modified Honda XL600R steel swingarm.




36mm FZ600 front fork with modified air pressure system. Lower triple - XJ600 51J, upper - FZ600.

Kawasaki Zephyr 750 air pressured fully adjustable rear shocks modified with Honda CB400 Super Four springs.

Modified rear 17" tubeless spoke Honda XL600RM wheel.
Tubeless spoke front wheel with 17" Honda XL600RM rim, Yamaha XV750 hub, custom made "Central Wheel" spokes and XJ600 51J brake disks.

Pirelli MT60 140/80-17 rear tire and Pirelli MT90 120/90-17 front one.




Yamaha FZ6 front calipers and master cylinder with Hel steel braided brake lines.

Honda XL600RM rear drum brakes with EBC grooved shoes and custom drive.

Custom made:

- front fender;
- seat (with aluminum base);
- fiberglass rear tail;
- electrical box (steel box with aluminum and rubber side covers);
- footpegs;
- license plate mount unit and chain guard;
- aluminum pod filter covers, turn signal mounts, oil cooler mount;




6 1/4" Bates style headlight. Daytona mini turn lights.

Custom made rear light unit with hi-power LEDs.

Acewell "all-in-one" digital dashboard.

Custom made clip-ons and mirror.

Motollana fatty 7 pleat fork gaiters with custom lower mounting clamps. Motomi classic grips.

Custom paintwork.

 

Under Construction

 

Awesome work. If I had to pick a nit, I would question the use of DS tires, but otherwise it is very impressive.

 

Wow ! That's beautiful.

Interesting to learn that diversion pots will fit a regular 600 engine. Did you keep the chain guides and just use the diversion tensioner ? I'm also looking for a box section swinging arm for 'xj598'. I believe the radian one will fit but they are quite rare in Europe. What mods did you have to make to the XT swinger?

Well done - looks fantastic.

 

Great work, looks really awesome

 

Thanks!


Bigshankhank: Yes, I know. But there are many different directions of cafe-racer’s evolving recently. So this bike was never planned as pure-blooded cafe. The closest style is maybe “cafe-tracker”.


a100man: That was interesting experience. If shortly:

- Cylinder head gaskets of both engines has identical part number;

- Oil channels and dowel pins positions is same on both blocks, so XJ600(FJ600) cylinder base gasket also suitable;

- Original cam chain guides were kept , but rear one is need to be a little bit modified;

- Diversion cylinder block and XJ600 crank case also needs to be little hand cut;

- XJ600 rear cam guide pin's plug need to be replaced by lowered one, so pin will be shortened too;

- Diversion tensioner became too long for setup and by this reason will be converted to manual mode one with additional body modification.

Swingarm is XL600R, not XT600.

- Frame was cut a little wider in axle points (I didn’t precisely measured);

- Swingarm inner sleeve was bored to XJ axle diameter;

- Shocks mountings were welded to swingarm.

But I have no information about adopting stock XJ wheel to this swingarm.

 

They're the only thing that look a bit out of proportion to the rest of it

One of best conversions I have seen

 

Ah OK . I wondered if it could be done with the bottom end in tact but if you had to widen the crankcase I guess you had the engine apart. Correct ?

 

a100man: No, you don’t need bottom end' separation. It’s hard to explain all that thing with my English knowledge. But I’ll try to explain it with a few pictures.

All modifications that I made were related to difference between slope angles in the cylinders. Diversion cylinder block’s angle is lager then XJ600 one. So, when you try to put Diversion block on XJ bottom, you see that the rear part sits right on the pin plug of rear tensioner.

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_1771.jpg

You can cut a bit of cylinder block in the tensioner area, but that’s not enough, you need more low plug:

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_1921.jpg

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_2055.jpg

Also you need to cut a bit of crankcase surface in order to get access to operate with the tensioner: for instance, to install the tensioner, and to tighten its lower mounting point.

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_1990.jpg

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_2082.jpg

All that things were installed more close one to another, but it works after all.

You may find below the photo of modified rear guide.

http://moto.kiev.ua/users/gazzz/cafe_project/xj/part5/IMG_2129.jpg

As you can see, it’s just a contact point lowering.

I didn’t make a modified tensioner' photo. I may take it later, if needed.

 

And here I was thinking how neat the tires looked. This is super cool.

 

I don't think there's anything on this one to dislike. IMO Good job, looks fantastic.

 

Many thanks for the detailed description. Diversions are common here whereas the xj600f is less so . and bores are often worn
or rusted - good to know there's another option to refresh the top ends ! Thanks again.

James
'

 

Thanks, I am glad you like it.

a100man: Not at all, I've got the same difficulties.

And I think it's time to post some detailed photos:

 

I hope, I haven't bored you

 

nothing boring about your work. I love the 8 ball graphic on the tank, the way it is all snap rings. I also love that oil temp guage. where can I find me one of those? the chain link foot pegs are cool too.

CN

 

i think i'm in love!

 

this is an inspiring work of art gazzz, how many hours did you clock in?

 

Absolutely sick. Seriously, nice work and pics.

 

Thanks to all!

cyclenoob: I've bought that gauge many years ago on Louis.de
https://www.louis.de/en/artikel/md-oeltemperaturanzeiger-diverse-fahrzeuge/10034700?list=36432234

But you also could find them on ebay with shipping to USA:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=oil+gauge+yamaha+xj&LH_ItemCondition=1000&_from=R40|R40&_vxp=mtr&_osacat=10063&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xoil+temperature+gauge+yamaha+xj&_nkw=oil+temperature+]gauge+yamaha+xj&_sacat=10063

Smit: The answer will be between “more than I had” and “less than infinity
But seriously, I've spent a lot of time creating and building the bike: from imagining and designing its parts, to performing metalwork, as well as rebuilding some parts, assembling the whole bike, and finally making pictures, and so on, - but I never measured the time spent. I think it's impossible due to the discrete process.

 

thank you. it truly looks like a labor of love, props to you again.

CN

 

I have never written a story in English before, but, even so, I took a risk to write about my cafe-racer creation in few parts. I'm just putting a first two tedious parts here and hope I'll not be beaten

As i wrote earlier, I sold my XJ400 in 2007, and expected never to see it again in my garage. But 2 years later this bike returned back to me, being a little bit crashed here, and more than bit smashed there, and in completely non-functioning condition after non-fatal road accident. The former owner (of the bike) knew about my search for custom bike creation base and proposed me to get XJ back.
So this story begins six years ago, with one slightly mad winter drive. It was an early morning when me and my old chap kicked out rear seats from his car, and started our two hundred and fifty kilometers run. It might be a short distance, if not overnight snowfall which continued for all that day, that made a trip much longer.


But my friend is that type of guy, who rides or drives clear and fast all vehicles with at least two wheels attached, so we were in point of destination in time.
Over there we participated in a quest named “How to shove a motorcycle into the little car's trunk”, which we've completed successfully.





Here is the car owner, proud of his car’s capacity:



Our way home was also under a snowfall, while a great deal easier due to our pleasant cargo.


After detailed check of the bike I completed the list of parts that were more or less destroyed, and needed replacement:

• Front fork tubes;
• Dashboard and ignition switch;
• Rear shocks;
• Headlight;
• Tank ;
• Rear plastic tails and lightning’s;
• Seat and luggage rack;
• Handlebar.

And frame’s rear part needed to be repaired.
At that time I also bought a quite a few of XJ550 parts and during month I completed all emergency works .
Even simply stripped bike looked interesting, but…


… terribly ordinary. And I was aware that my technical and designing skills were insufficient so I decided don’t rush...

 

Part 2.

The only place where I could work was a corner of my friend’s garage. All my wrenches and tool could be fitted in the one red toolbox. And I was enough skilled as mechanic, but not as good as I wished.


In fact, if all your fiends are motorcyclists, you have no problem in enhancing repairing skills. That wasn’t thoughtful decision, but since winter 2009 I began take in repair different bikes. Works were ranged from rebuilding / fixing / assembling brakes and suspensions, as well as carburetors cleaning to engines overhauling.

More of those repair works were quite ordinary ones, nevertheless giving me a lot of practice, experience, and also ideas of what tools I exactly needed. But some of works were very interesting in addition, such as tune-up of my own Kawasaki Zephyr’s engine with Wiseco' forged pistons:


Or such as Honda CB750 F2 SOHC 1978 engine overhauling:



And so on and so forth…



All money have been earned on those repairs were spent by me on buying wrenches, tools, measuring tools and all other stuff needed to do repairing works better.



When you are riding at least 10K miles a season (from Spring till Winter), and also when you are some kind of photographer, you will be ready to spend a lot of time for all that and on keeping your bike in excellent condition also



So time flies fast when you‘re having what to do. And I had. There were an employment, the family, the friends, a motorcycle riding, a photographing , as well as my additional mechanical works, not mentioning other few…
Also, all that time I collected different motorcycle parts. Some of them where intended for my Cafe –Racer project:



Others of them I have bought due to their rarity, intending to apply them in future projects:



But progress of “Eight Ball” was still a real turtle slowly-like. I had a few new sketches, but hey where far from perfect as this one:


But I have done nothing serious in this case. And so my life went likewise until year 2012...

 

X-ceptional!

 

Thanks!

Part 3:

Year 2012 began straight with another one buying trip under snowfall.

That time I planned to buy some XJ600 51J parts, including engine, carburetors, exhaust and electrical system in working condition.

As result I have got enough parts to compile something different from the original XJ400. And, according to the spirit of original Cafe Racer's creation, enhanced. There were: to use better chassis, more powerful engine, all those improvements that guys done with their bikes in sixties and what I thought to do with my old XJ.

Practicality was another reason in my constructing. Clear triangle of frame and lack of front mudguard always looks good, but only before first ride under rain. I had thousands of miles under rain showers and hundreds even under snow falls, and that’s exactly the point of my mind, that minimal weather protection of rider and pod air filters should be always available.And maybe it's very cool to ride motorbike without front brakes, and get kicked by seat on every road pothole, but I prefer to have good working suspensions and brakes.

But back to the story. I did compilation of chassis, including front wheel recombination, as quickly as possible.



I made that new sketch in April, and it was viable, as for me. But there were many unsolved questions, because I used too many different parts from different motorcycles of even different manufacturers. And I needed more place for my works and expanded arsenal of tools, so in June 2012 I moved to my own garage.

There was a lot of time spent on initial clean-up and furniture rearrangement. It was hard work but it was worth it. Since that time my garage became to me something like my own shelter.



You can be a good mechanic but, it does not necessarily means, that you are a good metalworker. I tried to be a good one. I hadn’t professional tools such like tube bender or sheet bender, but if you want to do something, you do it anyway.
I invented metal template to made tail tube.




And clip-ons were lower triple from another bike in a previous life. And so on.



You find a way in which work may be done and you do it, and you can be easily hooked on this.
Also there still were design questions. The gas tank looked attractive, when it was scraped red and a bit rusted. But in simple black it did become ugly:



And then, suddenly after much thoughts was a turning point of the project. That was like a lightning flash in the night, when design of bike became close to his current view.



Year 2012 was full of events. I have got my own garage and finally began to work with my first serious project. And there were friendswhose opinions supported me in my work.

 

So, the main line of my cafe's design was found, and then became the time for bike detailing.
There was Winter 2013. I had a lot of ideas, such as unusual mirror assembled from various mirrors parts, or wire box's aluminum covers cut by Dremel tool:





Some of ideas required new tools, like a bench drill.



And here is result. Stainless foot pegs with 47 holes being drilled in each of them:


Some of the earlier made parts were remade with more accuracy, and became more functional.


That was a point, many parts were maid twice. Once just to perform their function, and secondly, to be better looking and working.
I never worked with fiberglass and also had no time to learn how it should be done properly. So I made full sized model and ordered tail's making. When it was ready I made all needed parts and then tail part of frame was welded. Here I have to say that almost all welding works were done by one of my chums, a very good welder.



In beginning of April 2013 all my earlier ordered parcels arrived. There were a lot of parts: gaiters, grips, dashboard, gas cap with fuel sensor, turn lights, headrace bearings, tap repair kit, different original parts, and so on. The geography of my purchases widened: USA, GB, Australia, France, Germany, Thailand...



And then my cafe-racer project was temporary interrupted by another work needed to be done. It was the Yamaha SRX-600. Nice single cylinder bike, but was in ass handed guy bad hands previously. As a result SRX was totally overhauled in my garage, beginning from engine overhauling to suspension, a bit enhanced with another motorcycle's adopted units .



That bike required a lot of my time, thinking and efforts. There were a several special tools developed, and also a lot of cleaning, polishing and wrenching works. To be exact, I can say: those work became an independent project finally.



SRX-600 was finished by the end of the Summer, and I returned to Cafe-Racer project.
I finally solved question with front fork. The main obstacle was that current fork's (XJ600 51J) tubes were covered with points of rust. Another one was ugly looked upper triple. To be precise, it was the ugliest top triple I have ever seen. That'swhy I bought FZ600 front fork with triples. It had the same tube's diameter and brake calipers mounting points. But it' top triple looked rather greater. In addition it had air pressure system and Yamaha Variable Damper as a bonus. As you might guess, I rebuilt fork: replaced bushings and oil seals, totally polished outer tubes.





Next was another portion of metal works again. After that I designed integrated tail light. The trick was in combination of the vintage car's amber glass, Red HI-Power Leds and hand cut aluminum rim.





Upon successful completion I had to do another pivotal piece of work, the seat. Without digging into much details, the seat base was made from 3mm aluminum with stamped strengtheners and additional reinforcing steel patch.



I designed seat model up to seams positioning. Then custom seat maker made seat in line with my model.





It folowed by construction of different smaller units, such as rear brake drive, centering of rear wheel to longitudinal axis of frame and so on and so forth...
The Year 2013 was coming to the end, and unfortunately, so the peaceful and stable life in Ukraine.
The anti-government clashes erupted in Kiev, were do I live and work, so project was interrupted again.

 

This is amazing

 

good stuff man!

 

Thanks

New day, another part of the story.

Year 2014 hadn't brought stability for Ukraine either. But people get used to everything, so in Spring I returned to my project and decided to finish it anyway.
The only few important parts weren’t completed yet. Thus, I designed and made a new version of the front mud guard, chain guard, lower gaiter clamps and pod filters covers. Steering limiter and seat lock base were welded to frame:



And suddenly it turned out that the Cafe-Racer was ready for road testing.



Firstly bike was tested for steering limiter sufficiency in garages area. My friend, who performed as welder, also has been practicing motorcycle gymkhana. So he just sat on the bike and proved that limiter is good enough



After that I had no choice but to organize the Track Day. I involved several friends, including that one, who superbly rides on everything capable to be ridden, and we went to old Kart Circuit. I got a dozen laps at first, and enjoyed my bike so much! It occurred to me, I'll be better with my camera, whereas my chap - on the Track.



So I took a camera, gave cafe' key to my friend and Show begun. After a pair of warming laps he ridden like hell.







I do not actually consider myself a videographer – I am a photographer, in addition my hands were trembling with excitement, but I've shot the video the best I could.



The Track Day triggered one of the final project’s stages: total bike repainting and rebuilding of parts, which weren't rebuilt earlier.
Fuel tank, front mudguard and tail were gone to the painter first, so the question of tank's logo beaconed automatically. Basically, it could be the Yamaha logo, but what relation it had to the project by the end? Therefore I began designing my own logo. I am not professional designer, but with a couple of friend's advises and comments I found the right idea and made it.







While first portion of parts was in painting, I took out engine and placed it on the working table.



It’s well known, old engines need at least inspecting and rebuilding of a top end. I got a minimal kit (gasket set and rings) for that in last couple of parcels.



But this engine I have prepared for repainting, so it was completely disassembled.



Thorough inspection of components had shown that all of them were in good condition, except of a bit rusted metal clutch disks and a slight deviation from norm in first cylinder measurements. It was out-of-round in 0.07mm while specification limit was 0.05mm.



I was forced to research of the XJ600 51J cylinder block replacement, and defined it to be interchangeable with Diversion 600 one. That was possible with some modifications related with cam chain adjusting system. And Diversion block had lager cooling fins as a bonus. Therefore, I bought cylinder block on ebay.

Cylinder head inspection also revealed a need of light porting.



That was usual work which I did without problems.



When parcel with cylinders arrived, I did all needed measures to be sure in bores good condition.



But they were near perfect condition.



I performed all needed modifications to install new cylinders in my engine, after that I cleaned engine and prepared it for glass blasting.



Engine looked very nice and clean after aforesaid procedure and was ready for painting.



Project progress gained momentum and seemed to be on full throttle…

 

Top notch work! My favorite modified XJ. You're an inspiration sir.

 

Love the paint work the engine work. It's all just mind blowing.

 

Thanks again.

 

Penultimate chapter of the "Eight Ball" creation story:

The flames of war in the East of my country were yet another reason, which has reinforced my works on the project. I am not so brave to volunteer, but should I be mobilized, it would interrupt building the cafe-racer for indefinite period. Up to never finishing it.

Therefore I dedicated all available time to the project.

After being glass blasted, the engine was painted and later I baked it for a few hours in foiled cardboard box with approximately 160-170 C.





The last portion of metal details were made or remade. Useless pieces of XJ400 frame were cut and last welding works were done. Only a few words, but a tone of work.



Some parts I prepared and gave for being zinc-galvanized.




Other ones (including frame) - for being sandblasted and painted in several batches.



First units were completely finished, and that was a damn nice feeling. Even if that was the only seat lock:




Or oil cooler adapter with turn signals bracket.



Parts looked especially great when collected together.



Engine assembling was a next stage after all chassis parts were painted or gone to painter. First, I assembled a cylinder head, which surface and valve seats were cut up to normal condition earlier.



Then was a time to work on crankcase, step by step.




The trick of an easy crankcase halves joining is in transmission shaft binding to lower half with a plastic cable tie.



Subsequently I prepared cylinders to installation.



Also the cylinder head was ready to be installed in its place later.



Soon engine was ready for camshaft installation and valve clearance.



There was a question with valve shims. I was forced to replace at least a half owing to valve seat cutting. But there were no shims even in the Yamaha local store. Or should I put it: "especially in the Yamaha local store " because they never have parts you need. But I wouldn't be myself, if I didn't try to find an alternate way. In fact I found out that old BMW F650GS have the same to XJ400-550-600 shims. And there were a lot of them in Local BMW store and they were even cheaper then Yamaha shims on Wemoto.com.

Another tone of work to be expressed "in couple words" was engine cover polishing.




I think, this cover and opposite one are sand casted. They were chromed initially, but for now partly lost coating, so I had a reason to remove residual chrome completely. Grooves were there originally, but they were additionally milled, while chrome removed.
Yet one feature I added.



Then I repacked clutch.



And engine was ready to installation.



Actually I had to shoot photo of disassembled bike before. So I did some assembling works with such units like a wire box or rear shocks and so on. After I made that photo, I installed engine in frame. Or, to be precise, I put the frame on the engine, that was much easier.



Chassis was built part by part. New bolts, nuts and washers were used everywhere, except wheel, swingarm, engine axles, and other specific hardware. Last chassis bearings were changed.




Cable routing and wiring demanded a lot of my attention and efforts, but I'll tell you about features of "Eight Ball" electrical system next time.
All cables and wire jacks were placed on right places sooner or later. I installed braded brake hoses and made a couple of clamps to attach them to fork.


During above mentioned works the last feature was added to paintwork. That was a motto of this cafe-racer: "Eight Ball. As above, so below.". You can see it on first page of the thread.

I made a few final works, such as fuel petcock rebuilding or grips replacing... and suddenly bike was ready. I realized it even not after I started engine at first time, but when I caught myself with shooting camera one misty morning.



The Author expresses his gratitude to close circle of friends, who helped, listened, watched, adored, criticized, advised, and even hurried him up.

 

.. and you have a day job !!??

Thanks for the full story - really impressed by all the work and detail, congratulations. If I can get my 51J to start I'll be happy !!

Cheers
James

 

Great bike, and great story! Inspirational.

 

the center stand looks to be hanging low while it's being ridden... is the spring tight? you don't need any sparks

 

Yep. I earn my bread as IT specialist from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM, 5/7.

I used central stand temporary in purpose of assembling and so on. I had no intentions to use it after bike finished, you can see that on photos from this thread's first page. Actually this is a XJ600 51J (FJ600) central stand, which is also shorter than original XJ400(XJ550) one.

 

So, it's time to write about wiring, electrical and so on features of my bike.
A couple words about wiring box first. I made it as a dual purpose thing. Box would do both: to protect pod filters from water and mud and to contain battery, CDI, starter relay, fuse box end their connectors. Relay rectifier was mounted on its front side also.



Here is interior view of box.



As you can see, I made a set of self - locking rubber plates for battery fixation and protection. Box is pretty tightly packed, but all things and wires have their places and could be serviced easily.



The horn location is another feature. I located it under the frame, above engine, were it sounds loud and is invisible at the same time.




Next point is wire and cable routing. The only place for all connectors is between frame and tank, so it was difficult enough to locate all of them there. And XJ600 wiring does not designed to be fit to XJ400 frame. So I rerouted wiring three times at least and cut it here and there, but found place for all connectors at the end.




But routing is not only useful, but It looks good too, in my opinion. I routed and grouped all wires, cables and hoses with all accuracy in this case and made their lines as clear as possible.



The speed sensor wire looks a bit ugly, when it wrapped around brake line.



Dragging wire through thin rubber hose is my solution.



The last, but not the least feature. Custom tale needs custom lighting. I made my version using old car amber glass, handmade frame an handmade lighting unit. Lighting unit consists of Hi Power LEDs (tail light - 2x1W and Stop light - 2x3W ) and handmade polished aluminum reflector (work as additional radiator for LEDs also).



Completed version from another side:



Hi Power LEDs shines really bright but need drivers, which regulate amperage for LEDs properly work.And these drivers need to be placed somewhere and be a bit protected from water and vibrations. I made special aluminum platform, mounted to frame via rubber bands for this purpose.
Also I made aluminum cover for tail bottom side.



The only thing left to be described. This is a custom license plate light. After long thoughts and experiments I made it using part as follows: 1W LED, a pair of spark plus rubbers, a couple washers, a piece of heat-shrink tubing, a glass, one turn signal wire rubber and plastic washer with rectangle hole in it.



Glass and washer are clamped in longer rubber.



Whereas LED - in shorter one.



After that we can join all pieces in one using heat-shrink tube.



A couple of mountings, and undertail space is ready:


Bottom view:



And one at work:


That's all. I hope, it'll be useful for you.

 

I began to write this material on free blogspot platform. Meanwile one friend of mine from France advised me: "If you began to write on blog, it would be better if it wouldl be your own." As last Friday I had some free time, so I registered www.gazzz-garage.com, rent a hosting and installed Wordpress engine there. I made simple design and copied information from my blogspot account, posted some additional photos, and from now on I plan writing and posting photos there. Not only about XJ of course, but about all my other projects, rides and events related with motorcycles.

 

Masterpiece! Your creativity with making the best out of what is available is impressive.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

omg I could look at that all day. I absolutely love it.

 

Thank you for such pleasant comment. I also posted five additional portions of working process photos on gazzz-garage.com and planning to add another two parts this week.

 

Good Lord, do you want to move to USA and work for us? Maybe I can sponsor you for green card or whatnot..........

 

We here have a strange war on east of our Country and not less strange peace on the rest of it territory. Economic decline hit us quite hard and may hit much harder. And maybe emigration could the only way to continue my life's work, but I still have unfinished business here and of course it's hard to get used to the idea of emigration.

And yet one reason. I built only one custom bike and I want to build at least a couple to be sure I am good customizer... So I have a two projects in work right now.

 

He wants to make sure he's good first. Are you freaking kidding me?! You belong in a professional custom garage. This work is outstanding on every level.

 

Yeah... +1 to what BaldWonder has to say. So much good stuff to look at, I don't even know where to start with the compliments! And in the face of uncertainty and danger in the Ukraine! The custom foot pegs alone are better than my whole bike! Beyond amazing! The side project that took you off your project looks pretty good too! Hope your new site works out for you, but doesn't keep you away from this one. We need to see more projects from Gazz Garage, XJ or otherwise!

 

I have a couple of daughters that are single.

 

Bmarzka

 

Gorgeous bike, incredible vision and craftsmanship, and great story too. I love that it was well written but still had those little idiosycrasies that made me read it with a Ukrainian accent in my head. "Nice single cylinder bike, but was in ass handed guy bad hands previously." cracked me up.

Your bike makes me want to push my cobbled-up-hack-job pieces of shit off of a cliff and find a different hobby.