At present’s {custom} bike scene is a melting pot of outdated and new methods. Conventional handcrafting strategies coexist with software-based design and trendy additive manufacturing processes. And typically—like within the case of this impossibly elegant Yamaha SR400—they collide.
Moscow’s Copper Chopper constructed this hardtail bobber nearly completely from scratch, utilizing a tube bender, lathe and welding machine. However earlier than builders Alexey and Igor put hand to metallic, they designed the body, and ultimately the entire bike, utilizing the 3D design software program Fusion 360.
Copper Chopper’s been going for about six years, and initially began as a sideline gig with a mantra of “purchased, constructed, ridden after which bought.” However the guys took the enterprise full time this yr, and, in consequence, have began taking over commissioned work. This SR400 is their first shopper construct, and it’s one hell of an entry into the world of professional {custom} work.
You possibly can rely the off-the-shelf components on this Yamaha on one hand. Alexey and Igor began with a inventory SR400 donor, a Lowbrow Customs entrance wheel, a rear sprocket-brake setup and a headlight from FNA Customized Cycle. The remainder is their very own handiwork.
The SR400’s engine has been transplanted right into a inflexible chrome steel body, with a {custom} girder-like entrance finish. Your entire chassis is remarkably slender—which is precisely what the blokes had been aiming for. “It needed to be as slim as potential,” says Alexey, “as slim as Maxwell Hazan’s masterpieces.”
A scarcity of accessible components to execute Alexey’s imaginative and prescient for the forks meant that all the pieces, from the minimalistic yokes and handlebars, to the precise shock, needed to be fabricated. “We don’t have a milling machine,” he says, “so we needed to invent methods to repair stuff to the lathe and mill it there. That occurred all through the entire mission.”
The rear wheel is {custom} too. Beginning with a stainless-steel billet, Copper Chopper shaped the premise of the hub on the lathe, then welded on a set of laser-cut flanges and refined the half. It was designed to accommodate the sprocket-brake that they’d readily available, and add a custom-made chain tensioner.
The Yamaha sits on a {custom} middle stand when parked, and rolls on classic Avon and Firestone tires, entrance and rear.
Up prime is a tasteful twin tank association—once more, fabricated from scratch. The left aspect holds gasoline, whereas the suitable aspect is reserved for digital parts. To maintain issues tremendous sano, Alexey and Igor routed a lot of the wires contained in the body itself.
Equal consideration was given to the cockpit, the place the duo constructed an inside throttle and clutch. (Eager eyes will discover that neither of these are at the moment connected—the cables had been added after these photographs had been taken.)
Sitting behind the tank is a thin chopper-style seat. Copper Chopper formed the seat pan, and the rear fender, in-house, however had the leatherwork performed by a professional.
A home made chrome steel oil tank is tucked in beneath the seat. With a lot polished metallic already on the bike, Alexey and Igor didn’t wish to resort to rubber for his or her plumbing. So the entire gasoline and oil traces had been made by hand too, once more utilizing chrome steel.
Questioning the place the exhaust, foot controls and each final nut and bolt got here from? You guessed it: they had been additionally constructed from scratch.
It’s uncommon to discover a {custom} bike that was designed digitally, then executed with no single 3D-printed half… however right here we’re. If Copper Chopper preserve this up, they need to haven’t any hassle filling their order e-book.
