Martin Gomez from Argentina is a 3rd generation biker so it was no surprise to his family and friends that he set up on his own, building bikes. Bunch of Five Garage has completed its first project, a 1981 Kawasaki GPZ550. Well, a box anyway, with GPZ550 written on it, Martin hoped that the rusted, grubby and grease encrusted metallic skeleton presented to him was in fact Kawasaki’s venerable half-litre four banger.
Inspired by dirt and street trackers, Martin stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the contents of the box, powder coating and painting in black as he went. All nuts and bolts have been replaced rather than scrubbing up the old ones, up-close the attention to detail and finish is really rather good, especially for build no.1.
Stripped and rebuilt carbs suck through K&N style filters and wide-bored two-into-one megaphones improve the Kawasaki’s theme tune. As there are no instruments or dash, a mission control switchboard on the left side takes care of the electrics with battery cut-off, ignition toggle switch and a push button start. If you’re devoid of the theatre of kickstarting it’s good to have a pre-launch sequence, rather than a hum drum press-and-go.
We presume Corpses From Hell featured somewhere in the inspiration for the tank, which was painted by a local tattoo artist onto bare steel before a few coats of lacquer. Nice artwork which makes the boxy shape blend neatly into the rest of the bike.
With Brat and Tracker seats getting ever thinner Martin has opted for the non haemorrhoid inducing option with some foam under a stitched brown vinyl, note the nice dimpled detail at the rear (of the seat, not Martin). It looks comfy enough to take him to Tierra del Fuego and back without a doctors visit. New shockers were fitted just to be sure.
Up front, bars with a relaxed, classic tracker geometry were fitted, with trick, adjustable levers and gummy grips. It all adds up to a clean look and ultimately, a very usable machine.
Martin is very pleased with how his first effort, The Indian Rabbit, has turned out and is already underway with the next Kawasaki, a 1976 KZ750 twin. The custom scene is growing rapidly in Argentina and customers plentiful, if Bunch of Five Garage carries on like this we’re sure they will be back in The Bike Shed before too long.
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