There is hardly an editor in the field of the Indian automotive media who has the ability, experience, and know-how to modify a motorcycle on his own. Nay, there is hardly anyone with the ability to tinker with a bike even to set a minor mechanical glitch right, blackening his hands in the process. Bike India Editor Aspi Bhathena stands alone in that respect. Here is the story of how he modified the Harley-Davidson Street 750 into a racer
THE FIRST TIME I rode the HarleyDavidson Street 750, I was very impressed by the bike’s easy-to-ride character, performance and handling. At that time I made a mental note that this motorcycle had the potential to be transformed into a very capable café racer. Therefore, it followed naturally that at the beginning of the year I asked Pallavi Singh and Vikram Pawah of H-D if they would give me a Street 750 for the customisation I had in mind. The answer was an instant ‘yes’ and they gave the bike after India Bike Week.
Now, it is common experience that a number of people customise motorcycles and make some very nice-looking bikes, but more often than not the customised version comes across as worse to ride than its standard iteration. I have been working on motorcycles since the age of 12 and modifying bikes for racing since the age of 19. For me customisation doesn’t mean just making a motorcycle look good and different but enhance its overall performance, be it handling, engine performance or outright performance, by weight reduction and better aerodynamics.
When I undertook the Project H-D Street 750 first it was going to be a café racer. Later I thought let’s go the whole hog and make a race replica of the XRTT raced by Calvin Rayborn. This Street 750 has been built as a tribute to one of the greatest Harley-Davidson riders of all time: Calvin Rayborn.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2017 من Bike India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2017 من Bike India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
A Friday Spent in the Right Way
TVS flew us down to the Madras International Circuit to attend the selection round for their Young Media Racer Programme. Read on to know how we got selected for it
Raging River
The River Indie is unique in a sea of electric scooters and, while there are plenty of fish in the sea, some are more noteworthy than others. Just how different is the River Indie? We swing a leg over it and take it for a spin
A Sharp Pocket-knife
The Yamaha YZF-R3 has always been close to many a heart. The latest one is no exception
'Racing Squad Introduction
Introduction The Aprilia RS 457 has been making waves. We follow up on our track test with some time in the real world
No Shortage of Style
The new Ducati Scrambler is possibly the best version yet but what more does the Full Throttle offer?
Green Blur
This piece is all about spending a few days with a true-blue (or, in this case, green) supersport
A Gentle GIANT
The Honda NX500 is one of the most accessible twin-cylinder adventure tourers available in the Indian market. We took a ride on one to find out how it performs
'V' for Versatile
The V-strom 800DE makes a departure from tradition in a noticeable way. We seek to analyse the upshot
Hamara Ather?
The Ather Rizta promises to be a family scooter while retaining the fun-to-ride aspect that is synonymous with the Ather brand. We take a closer look
READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD
Not one to stand still for a second longer than absolutely necessary, Ducati have upped the adventure bike ante once again with the DesertX Rally, a higher-spec and genuinely race-capable development of the excellent DesertX