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.
Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av Bike India.
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Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av Bike India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tussle for Supremacy
Having watched the racing action from afar during the first two rounds of the Honda Idemitsu Talent Cup (HITC), we got a chance to take a closer look at the proceedings in round three. Here is how the weekend zoomed past
Multiple Winners
The third round of the TVS One-make Championship saw the emergence of multiple winners as the favourites struggled to do the double-race win
The Title Fight Becomes More Intense
The weekend at Mandalika turned out to be a spectacular display where the title contenders, Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, locked horns while Marc Márquez's and Enea Bastianini's chances at the title diminished
Andrea lannone is a WSBK Winner
Nicolo Bulega, Andrea Iannone, and Alvaro Bautista headlined the weekend for their respective Ducati teams as they blew past the competition on their Ducati Panigale V4 R motorcycles
Italian Domination
The weekend at Cremona saw the Italian, Danilo Petrucci, dominate his home race astride his Ducati
Bastianini Shines in Final-lap Thriller
Just like the previous race at Misano, this one also served up a thriller but for very different reasons. Here is how it unfolded
No Dearth of Drama
Marc Márquez had to wait for 1,043 days for his 60th MotoGP race victory, but his 61st race win only took another seven days
Kolli Hills on an NX 500
We rode from Bengaluru to Kolli Hills astride a Honda NX500 and it was a memorable ride for many reasons
For the Easy Life
Triumph India believe there is a market for a friendlier version of the Speed 400. Here is what you should know about that version, called the Speed T4
The Star Reborn
We finally got our hands on the new BSA Gold Star 650 and took it for a long spin. Here is our first impression