MASTERS AT WORK: HARLEY-DAVIDSON STREET BUILD OFF, JAPAN

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Despite the often-impenetrable language problem, we’re always keeping an eye on the Japanese custom scene. Even though the Western ‘alt moto’ scene is exploding, the top-flight Japanese builders are still setting the pace.

In Japan, Harley-Davidson has been running the same dealer-based Battle Of The Kings contest that we’ve seen in Europe. But it’s the Street Build Off competition that has made our jaws hit the floor.

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Five of Japan’s top custom workshops were given free reign to tear into the Street 750, and the results are frankly incredible.

The judges were Brad Richards, Harley’s design director, Frank Savage, a Harley styling manager, and industrial designer Dais Nagao, the only Japanese member of Harley’s design studio.

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BIKE XG750 Flat Tracker BUILDER Hideki Hoshikawa, Asterisk.

None of these builders will stop at anything to get the effect they want, but Hoshikawa has gone to the ultimate extreme—building a complete new cro-moly frame.

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The suspension gets an upgrade too, with classic 43mm Ceriani forks up front and a cutting-edge Öhlins TTX GP shock out back. The wheels are Roland Sands’ increasingly popular Del Mars—19 inches both front and back—shod with Dunlop DT3 race rubber.

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BIKE Street Fighter XG750 Turbo BUILDER Kaichiroh Kurosu, Cherry’s Company

We’ve already covered Cherry’s XG750 Street 750, and it’s still one of our all-time favorite custom builds. The one-off bodywork is inspired, but only the icing on the cake—virtually every part is a one-off.

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The girder fork is custom made, and so are the bars and even the wheels. But the most radical mod is to the engine: it’s turbocharged, complete with intercooler and all the attendant piping. A true tour-de-force of custom building.

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BIKE Gunslinger BUILDER Masayuki Sugihara, Luck Motorcycles

Closer to the mainstream of traditional custom building is this rigid-framed machine from Luck. The Street 750 engine is visually much cleaner than your usual Harley chopper motor, and in this case, it’s the surrounding metallurgy that provides the fireworks.

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There’s a girder fork here too, but in a minimalist style, hooked up to a 19-inch Kim Tab wheel steered with the help of custom drag-style bars. The rear rim is a chunky 16 inches, and the engine gets a boost from one-off ‘mushroom’ intakes, a drag-style exhaust, and an auto-tuning ThunderMax ECM.

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BIKE Zonnevlek BUILDERS Yoshikazu Ueda & Yuichi Yoshizawa, Custom Works Zon

There’s an air of elegance about this ‘digger’ style Street 750, which has a single-cradle frame and completely new suspension front and back. The vibe is functional, with an eye on the drag strip: There’s a 19-inch W&W wheel up front, and a 15-inch Rocket Racing rear rim.

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The fuel tank has been moved to the seat cowl, permitting a low-slung fake front tank. Poking out is a jockey shifter, with the clutch operated by the pedal you’d normally use to change gear. And the name ‘Zonnevlek’? It means ‘sunspot’ in Dutch. Don’t ask us why.

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BIKE The Other One BUILDER Tatsuya Fujii, Duas Caras Cycles

Duas Caras is in Nagoya, the battleground of custom bike shops in Japan. Fujii-san is a multiple award-winning builder, and this machine has the most contemporary feel of the five Build Off bikes.

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The front end is from a Buell S1, with a custom tubular swingarm hooked up to the back wheel. The wheels are 18-inch RSD items, with brakes from Performance Machine—who also supplied a free-flowing air intake. it looks like there won’t be much back pressure from the ultra-short exhaust system, but a Vance & Hines Fuelpak FP3 module extracts maximum power from the engine. The custom bodywork isn’t showy, but it has a timeless air to it. This is one custom Street 750 that is unlikely to look ‘dated’ any time soon.

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So which bike took home the honors? Decisions, decisions…in the end, Brad, Frank and Dais picked the Custom Works Zon build (below).

What’s your call?

Harley-Davidson Japan | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Hiromitsu Yasui

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Battle Drift: Mustang Vs. Lambo

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Larry Chen 

When Vaughn Gittin Jr. calls, I always pick up enthusiastically. Usually, it’s because he’s planning another one of his ‘fun having’ projects, and of course I always do my best to tag along for the ride. This time was no exception.

The concept was actually very simple: two drivers drifting a pair of cars on a touge mountain road in Japan; the hook, however, was something a little more special, and the video below will show you why…

I present to you Battle Drift, ‘A symphony from hell!’ Or at least, tire-burning hell.

The guys at Monster Energy are friends of ours, and they were kind enough to invite me out to Japan to cover the antics of these two lunatics.

While I’ve been embedded in plenty of special video projects before, this was different. It was a much smaller and tighter crew, and for once my name was going to be in the credits. How awesome is that?

I wanted to take you guys behind the scenes as well as give you a little more insight into the production process other than what you’re able to pick up from just watching the video.

Monster Energy has become pretty big in Japan in recent years, so it was only fitting for them to sponsor Daigo Saito and kick things off with an epic video.

And why not debut the most badass drift car on the planet with some serious style. It’s most definitely the Lamborghini from hell…

CHAPTER TWO

The Venue

Reimagining The Fiat 500, Maxi-Style

It was probably 15 years ago that a little Fiat 500 emitting the most unnatural of sounds overtook me coming out of a Shuto-ko toll booth. There was a big ‘Powered by Honda’ sticker across the back window, which I believe explained why it sounded exactly like a high-revving Japanese bike engine. It was so fast off the line and it just machine-gunned through the gears leaving me absolutely stunned.

I’ve never seen that car again, nor have I been able to track it down online. But now I think I’ve found the next best thing: the Team Ciociaro Corse 500 Maxi.

This is the automotive equivalent of putting a car on a strict diet of anabolic steroids and cocaine-laced slabs of meat. And that meat will have to be accompanied by a spicy Wasabi sauce, as this particular machine has been given a bit of a twist thanks to the man that imports the model into Japan, Takada-san.

So what are we exactly looking at here?

In essence, it’s beautifully simple – the nostalgic 1950s lines of the original Fiat 500 mated to a chassis and power-train developed for high speed corning. It’s called the 500 Maxi.

Despite having road registered the Maxi in Japan, Takada-san primarily uses it for hill-climb events, and with 180hp in a 630kg body with widened front and rear tracks, you can imagine how much of a little weapon it is!

As you might expect, there’s very little that is carried over from a production-spec 500. In fact, it’s only the front windshield and lights that remain, as the entirety of the FRP exterior is custom-built in two large main pieces that are moulded to resemble a muscular take on the 500 body shape.

The front end sports a large air dam and grille section, while a pair of quick-release pins keep the composite bonnet in place. The roof scoop is purely to supply air into the cabin, and if that isn’t enough you can slide open Lexan side windows for extra cooling. As they are in many vintage race and rally cars, Vitaloni mirrors are held in position with a support bar, otherwise they’d fold downwards at speed as the hinge isn’t strong enough to hold them up. That’s Italian engineering at its finest right there!

Both the front and rear cowls have integrated blistered and vented fenders to contain the increased tracks and tiny O.Z. Racing wheels (14-inch front and 15-inch rear).

These are shod in Continental Sport Contact 2 tyres, 195/40 at the front and 225/40 at the rear for massive levels of grip.