The venerable Yamaha SR400 has been custom-made in each manner possible—which is a testomony to each the plucky little single’s longevity and its versatility. This 1988-model comes from Ken Ken Bikes in Taiwan, and it’s the proper instance of this. It combines the stance of a road tracker with the sensibilities of a chopper, to create one thing actually distinctive and charming.
Based mostly within the port of Kaohsiung, Ken Ken Bikes is the one-man-operation of Ken Ken Jung. He isn’t quick on creativeness, and his portfolio spans myriad makes, fashions and {custom} construct types.
“The type is a mixture between scrambler and tracker,” says Ken. “We saved it old style with some new concepts. Nearly 70% of the elements on the bike are handcrafted.”
The excellent news for Ken, was that the Yamaha SR400’s engine was in an honest situation; hooray for Yamaha’s legendary reliability. Many of the work occurred on the surface, the place he fitted a Keihin carb and a pod filter. Among the engine’s unique patina continues to be current, however different bits have been cleaned and polished.
The SR400 stands just a little taller now, due to a set of forks scalped from one other bike, and aftermarket rear shocks. Ken wrapped the fork uppers in {custom} made sleeves to bulk up the entrance finish, and constructed a flat headlight nacelle that blends tidily with it.
The unique hubs have been relaced to a set of 19F/18R wheels. Ken determined to maintain the drum brakes at each ends, however fabricated a ribbed aluminum cowl for the best aspect of the entrance hub. The trials-style tires are from Shinko.
Subsequent, Ken went to city on the body by lopping off and rebuilding the subframe. It’s a minimize above your common cut-and-shut job although, and is plagued by tidy particulars. Word the top caps and recessed fasteners on the rear fender struts, and the drilled dress-up plates on the body gussets.
Sitting up prime are a custom-made gasoline tank, seat pan and rear fender. There a touch of the SR400’s unique design within the gasoline tank’s silhouette, however the complete association is refreshingly distinctive. The tank flows neatly into the seat, which is separated from the rear fender by a boxy tail ‘bump.’
Tucked into the body triangle under the seat is a bespoke battery field that reveals off extra of Ken’s creativity and talent. Just like the entrance hub, it’s adorned with ribs—this time echoing the pleated stitching on the {custom} seat. Ken additionally fabricated a sump guard for the Yamaha, new mounting plates for the foot pegs, and a number of different stuff that he’s in all probability forgotten to inform us about.
The few off-the-shelf that the SR wears match proper into the vibe that Ken has created. These embrace a set of flat tracker bars from Bratstyle Japan, foot pegs from Posh Japan and grips borrowed from a SYM Wolf 125. A single mirror sits subsequent to the highest yoke, with vintage-style micro switches adorning the bars.
Bullet-style flip indicators sit simply behind the higher shock mounts on the again, and on a {custom} mounting bar simply in entrance of the engine. The taillight’s finned housing is a {custom} half—and the bike even encompasses a sensibly-located license plate mount. Ending issues off is a sublime high-mounted exhaust, working up the left aspect of the bike.
The bike’s earned the nickname ‘Tiger Shark,’ so Ken opted for a livery to match. Executed by Jeffrey’s Ending Contact, the paint job is supposed to imitate a row of shark fins. The impact is carried all the best way to the rear fender; sitting in between is upholstery by Chac Leather-based.
Ken’s Yamaha SR400 has simply the best steadiness of slick and uncooked finishes, with an easygoing nature that belies simply how a lot work went into it. We’d trip it—and present it off at our native hangout—in a heartbeat.
Ken Ken Bikes Fb | Instagram | Photographs by 蔡宗蒲 | With due to Saoirse Tien
