John’s Ryca

One of the best things about having a mid life crisis is that everyone knows it means you can go out and get yourself an inappropriate motorcycles and do something unwise with it, and that’s exactly what 51 years old John Elbrow from South West London decided to do when he joined the small group of those-in-the-know who have built themselves a RYCA cafe racer.

The desire to build a cafe/tracker/bobber came first and it was Google that led John to the RYCA concept, and he loved the fact that they allowed him to build his own machine by providing everything he needed to customise to his own donor bike.

It took John less that a week to find the donor on eBay, a Suzuki 650 Savage. It was cheap but it was also a non-runner, so he certainly didn’t make things easy on himself, but he did enlist some useful help along the way. John decided he didn’t want to take us through the story of the build in detail, but if you want to know about the RYCA idea and spec check them out on their website where you can see what the fuss is all about.

We’ve only seen a few of these over the last couple of years, but the common thread across all these bikes is not the bike itself, but the look on the owner’s faces when they tell you they built the bike themselves from a RYCA kit; pure pride and personal satisfaction.

There are a few details to add, however. The frame was powder-coated by Willow Powder Coating in Mitcham with additional parts powder-coated by Posh Wash in London. The forks and carb servicing were done by MotoWard in Sussex who also supplied the Ballastic Battery. Factory parts were by Steve Jordon. The engine cases were polished by Alexander and Sons Engineering in Sussex. Paintwork is by B and R Autos in Brentford.

John also has a few extra thankyous, to Charlotte, his nephew Al Elbrow from SurreySpeedShop. Also the guys at RYCA; Casey and Ryan were only an email away.

“The bike has turned so well, its a really engaging ride,and always turns heads thats maybe because of the noise. If anyone would like to know about the bike or us check out Surrey Speedshop“

from THE BIKE SHED