Ecuador with Bikes part 3

The next morning we woke up well rested and tucked into an enjoyable breakfast at our hostel. Josh oiled the bikes, and then we were off on the third day of our adventure. The route out of Baños was beautiful and took us through green winding roads. Shortly out of the city, we hit a traffic jam which was caused by failing debris that had slid down the rock face.

On our way to Puyo we decided to stop and see a waterfall Lauren had heard about called Pailon del Diablo which means “Cauldron of the Devil”. Since we had all of our things with us Josh elected to stay behind and watch the bikes while Lauren and I went down to check it out. The waterfall was pretty amazing and Lauren got some great shots from above by crawling through a small cave that climbed about 20 ft up from the viewing landing.

While Lauren and I were hiking around viewing waterfalls, Josh was bored back at the bikes and decided this would be a great time to buy me a gift - a small Hello Kittyesque tom tom drum, which I found elaborately strapped to my bag for the rest of the ride. Hilarious.

After exploring for a bit we were back on track, riding through the Amazon Basin jungle. We stopped in Puerto Misahualli to see the local mischievous monkeys - our friend who used to live in Ecuador said that she had her earring stolen out of her ear without even noticing, so we kept our distance. The day had been pretty sunny up until then, but while in Misahualli clouds began to drift in so we decided it was time to leave.

As we neared our final destination for the night, Papallacta, we began to ascend in elevation again, and it began to get cold, drizzly and darkness began to fall. After some close calls winding around slow moving semi trucks on 2 lane roads, one of which we had to pass on the right side next to a ravine, we finally made it to Papallacta, a small village only a few hours drive from Quito that is famous for its thermal hot springs and spas.

Unfortunately the hotel that we had planned on staying at was presumably booked for the night, which was upsetting. As we left in the cold dark we wondered if our drenched, muddy attire had played a factor in none of the rooms being available for us.

Fortunately we found a cute little hostel with a restaurant inside almost immediately and went in and asked about rooms for the night. Through our broken Spanish and the innkeeper’s non-existent English we determined prices and also we came to understand that she wanted us to bring our bikes in for the night and park them in her little restaurant so they wouldn’t be stolen. The rates were fairly reasonable and there was also a hot spring swimming pool in the back. It was a great deal and we agreed to take the rooms.

We had a delicious dinner and some kind of weird corn thing with cheese called Choclo con queso and then climbed into our swimsuits for some thermal spa time. It was wonderful after a long, cold day of riding. After that we went up to our freezing cold rooms and went to sleep in anticipation of our last day of riding.

Ecuador 2013 - Bikes Day 3 from adventuresofjb2 on Vimeo.

tomorrow part4

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Kawasaki W650 ‘Superrench’ – Angry Lane

Written by Marlon Slack.

For the last few years French brothers Ben and G have been running Angry Lane, a Hong Kong-based store specialising in bike parts and all manner of low-key riding apparel. Keen to expand their business they’ve moved into modifying motorcycles, hoping their creations will act as a showcase for the products they have on hand. Now 16 bikes in, they’ve produced this unusual Kawasaki W650 dubbed ‘Superrench’ – a slammed down tracker that ticks off the motorcycle axis of evil – polished aluminium, header wrap and Firestones – and still comes out looking fantastic.

This W650 had originally been imported from Japan by a local motorcycle workshop. ‘The mechanic had tried to modify it himself, and failed’, the brothers say. ‘Then shop owner called us to see if we’d be interested in taking it from there.’ The response from the brothers was an unequivocal ‘Hell yes!’ On inheriting the failed project they also took on the customer, an Uzbekistani ex-patriot who had a simple brief, ‘Just make it low and compact, for the rest you can do whatever you want.’ It was just the kind of vague guidelines the brothers wanted to hear.

Unlike many, Ben and G don’t wax lyrical about their approach to customizing bikes, being firmly of the belief that anyone can turn out special custom. ‘If you are passionate and have some creativity, you can easily turn an average looking motorcycle into something with more style’. They’re probably right, but I think they’re being a little humble. Especially when considering a new distraction at Angry Lane, a new shop dog dubbed ‘Clutch’. The Bug-eyed, gremlin-eared French bulldog had developed a penchant for munching on motorcycle sidestands, so much so that the brothers made up a steel bone for him to chew on instead of the W650.

Dog underfoot, Angry Lane started their work by lowering the bike 2 inches at the front and rear, fitting a short fiberglass fender over the standard front wheel before capping the rear with a modified Moon Eyes cover purchased from the United States. To keep the whole bike close to the deck, a slim AN-BU custom leather seat was mounted behind a polished, slab-sided tank.

Underneath the new seat and tank combination, the gorgeous W650 engine hasn’t had too much work lavished on it, with the undersquare bevel driven beauty offering limited returns on more serious engine work. A fat Megaton 2 into 1 exhaust was fitted, coupled with the appropriate jets and a pair of K&N air filters. But that’s about it in the engine department.

The front end is a different story, with the stock instrument cluster and headlight being ditched in favor of Biltwell grips on MX controls, Grimeca master cylinder and a PIAA ‘extreme white’ driving light. Tucked in behind the headlight cowl and in front of the shaved top triple clamp sits a ubiquitous Motogadget mini speedometer. The ignition unit was detached and mounted into the new bent aluminum sidecovers.

Despite the interferences of Clutch, Angry Lane have made a neat little custom W650 that’ll serve as inspiration for anyone lucky enough to be kicking around on one of the best built and most underrated motorcycles produced in the last 20 years. And they’ll make it a little bit easier to modify, with plans to put up the dimensions of their aluminum work on their website when it relaunches soon, a nice, rare touch in the sometimes secretive world of custom bike building.

[Photos by Jason Bonello from Velocity Image] via PIPEBURN

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