The Black Belt. An achievement only acquired through intense training, practice and passion. A sign of ones dedication and fortitude and yet a thinly veiled warning, do not mess, you will lose. It is a title that this bike bares with pride, for its owner is an instructor in Krav Maga, a self defence system developed for the Israeli Military that combines various martial artforms for real world situations. This bike is a two wheeled manifestation and tribute to its pilot’s craft.
Black Belt was built by André Pinheiro out of his newly established Reborn Custom Motorcycle workshop. Hailing from Porto, André came to London at 18 to study Automotive Engineering at Kingston University before returning to Portugal to work for Audi. Changing his life to start Reborn motorcycles has been a project firmly routed in his mind for many a year and in 2013 André took the plunge and embarked on his new mission, to build exclusive and unique motorcycles.
Black Belt is based on a 96′ Honda CB750, these later CB’s are proving solid donors and are yielding some mighty compelling results. André’s starter bike was in good shape and the engine was fine, but in the pursuit of perfection it was rebuilt and painted anyway. The carbs were rejetted, a new exhaust was specifically fabricated and the rear shocks dropped a few inches.
André chopped and rebuilt the rear frame to accommodate two different tail sections that he describes as Sport and Classic. Sport is single pilot mode and Classic allows for a plus one. The rear lights are a Tron esque row of LEDs that work with either set up. The central box, dashboard and seat units were all hand fabricated out of aluminium by André.
The front visage of the bike is where André got creative. Can you guess the origin of the super snazzy front cowling? It houses the Motogadget instrumentation and sits above the LED halo ringed headlight. Figured it out yet? It came from the helmet of choice of the owner, Shark’s curious take on an urban warrior come computer game character’s head protection, the Shark Raw. The chin guard and goggles have been inverted and reimagined to form the screen and instrument housing. Brilliant. We would love to see a head-on shot with the rider, chin on tank, in a matching (correct way up) helmet.
The brake and clutch lines are shrouded by a black webbing that would be befitting of the equipment within the gym in which the bike was photographed. André’s creativity and originality for the face of the bike can only be applauded.
Heidenau k73 super rain tyres stick the beast to the road and complete its hardcore yet practical personality. The all black finish, flavoured by flashes of red, gives the CB an almost Knight-Rider “Kit” style, and considering the vigilante appropriate skills of its rider, suit the bike perfectly.
André would like to thank Tzi Design’s Tó Zé and Alfredo Zuzarte for the paint, Motoluar for electrics and Diogo Losa for the photographs.
We hope to see more from Reborn Customs here on the Bike Shed. Meanwhile see more of André’s work onFacebook
