No matter how fine a motorcycle may look, the most important aspect of a bike will always be how it feels, how it fits your frame, fits your life, and the experience of the ride. Unfortunately sometimes the bike you have dreamed of, just isn’t the right bike.
Dan first featured on the Bike Shed after he assembled his seemingly perfect bike, a distinguished, Vincent inspired Triumph Bonneville cafe racer named The Black Prince that drew the crowds at the BSMC Event II. Dan loved that bike, we loved that bike, but it didn’t fit, it was too heavy and the riding position a little too prone for london traffic, with a heavy heart Dan let the Black Prince go.
He formed an image of a new dream bike that would better cater for his needs, “I wanted a scrambler stance and above all it needed to be light…like super light!”. Then, as fate would have it, his imagined steed simply appeared before him in the street, “I live near Shepherds Bush and luckily one of the only Japanese small capacity bike importers is just down the road, I walked past a 2005 Kawasaki TR250 which, although looking rough, looked perfect for me in terms of lightness and stance.” A deal was struck and Dan rode off on his rare little Kwacker.
The TR250 was never officially imported to our shores, the Japanese market kept all of the 250 4 stroke singles to themselves. It spawned many cracking customs in its homeland but remains a splendid looking bike off the shelf, (see the above picture) taking inspiration from the glorious Yamaha XT500 the TR nails the vintage twinshock scrambler look whilst adding modern reliability. I have been taken with the design of the TR for a number of years and came close to buying one, until I sat on it. We come back to fit and feel, the kawasaki is light, low and nimble, regrettably not adjectives often attributed to me, Dan however, after riding it around in standard trim for a few weeks, knew he had found a perfect fit.
After his exploits customising the Bonnie, Dan was never likely to leave the bike in its standard form despite its rarity on the streets of London. He decided to contact Benny at Boneshaker Customs after being impressed with the companies 125cc Mutt, he wanted to see what they could do with his double capacity machine. “He’s a great guy, I told him my budget and he told me what the deal was. He obviously builds super expensive bikes but for everything I wanted changing he said “with an expensive build I’d do this, with your build I’d do this”. As I say he calls a spade a spade.” As you can see, Benny got the job spot on.
The more you look at the bike the more subtle alterations you discover. Dan changed the bulky original speedo for a motogadget unit with the help of Will at CRC and had the paint applied by Tony at Cyclesprays in Surrey who also applied the paint to Dan’s Black Prince. His perfect bike may have changed, but the colour choice is constant. The rest of the work was done by Benny, “I cant recommend him enough, he talked me through it all and made sure I was happy. I vividly remember discussing indicator options at length! He was patient to say the least!”
“The tyres were my biggest worry” says Dan who questioned the ability of such aggressive looking tread on the road, but the TKC 80′s proved reliable as ever. The pictures were taken in Epping Forest and at the Robin Hood Gardens estate in Tower Hamlets, with the new rubber the bike can happily tackle either terrain.
“I feel this bike is the perfect commuter, I may drop one tooth on the front sprocket which will help a bit more at the lights but the fact that I feel like that, that I can properly control it and nip around London quick, is a massive bonus for me.”
Dan has discovered one more upside in his new perfect bike, the Cafe Racer required constant cleaning to look at its best, whereas his new Kawasaki scrambler wears its dirt well, allowing Dan’s OCD some time off!
Congratulations on finding your new perfect bike match Dan, long may it last, but we will look forward to seeing the next one…
via The Bike Shed
