bikerMetric custom metric bobbers, choppers, and cafe racers by honda, yamaha, kawaski, and suzuki
today i received a nice email from a polish **** named slawek. he wrote, “you are one of few in US who write about metric bikes, only HD and HD!”
yes. bikerMetric is the worldwide destination for everything that isn’t what you can find everywhere else.
he claims to be 18 and “the youngest polish custom bike builder in europe.” i have no way of verifying this, although he’s been building bikes since 2006, which would have made him 13. prodigies have been known to come from poland. frédéric chopin, for one.
maybe obama can help him locate his birth certificate.
don’t ask me for mine. i’m an alien from the planet quiznos. i can take you there for only fifteen bucks. but you have to drive and be hungry.
all smarta**edness aside, slawek’s built a few cool bikes. he does everything from metal fab to paint.
[EDIT 05.02.11]
i’ve gotten a bunch of emails saying no, this bike is a ural. i am no expert on the whole bmw/ural/dneper thing so i have to trust the builder. i know more about *** bikes and learn about euro bikes as i go along with all of you. this is what he wrote to me about the bike today:
“musashi miaymoto” is another unusual project from the poros customs poland. 18 year-old designer slawomir poros jr. has often proved that building on the unusual bases is his domain and hallmark.
this custom was honored at the east european championship of custom bike building, earning fourth place in the custom category and second in the best painting category.
the theme of the project was miaymoto musashi, a legendary sixteenth-century japanese warrior. as a samurai he created his own school of fighting with two swords but his favorite killing tool was the wooden stick. from legends we can find that he has not lost any of his 60 documented fights. he won his first clash when he was 13 years of age.
it is symbolic of this project because at the age of 13 junior took part in the first contest and started construction department in his own team – poros customs.
as the base of the bobber two historic motorcycles were used, a bmw and a ural. as you might guess from the view nothing remaining the original. [note: maybe the internals are bmw in ural casing? i am unsure and honestly don’t have time to research this]
the frame was almost completely rebuilt, even ribs were added to the front and foot platforms. the head angle has also been changed and the motor was “slightly lengthened,” and the front suspension is made from scratch by poros customs.
“this bike, from start to finish, had to be 100% old school, so the traditional springer would not have been enough,” junior stated.
the heart is a bmw and the engine capacity was increased to 750cc. the exhaust and valve covers were custom fabricated by poros customs. for gases not heated the leg of the exhaust, a special “valve” was applied which opens only at very high speeds.
the handlebars grips, pedestals and seat are made of wood from india, remaining true to the musashi, who fought mainly with wooden sticks. other hand-made custom parts are the suicide shifter, brake fluid reservoir, front suspension, and engine covers.
that’s the best i can do while struggling with an obvious language barrier, folks. i’m working on getting more info and you can expect a little interview with slavek in the not-too-distant future. in the meantime, dig his work. it’s tasty like a fried egg sandwich after a hangover.
for more about slawek and his bikes, check out poros customs >>
Get the best of bikerMetric directly in your inbox, once a week, every week.
Looks like Ural, motorcycle made in Russia
What a way to honor a Great Japanese Samaria, A half Russian, and half German motorcycle. LOL
The young man has some skills. However I doubt this bike could be ridden, and I hate bikes that are not ridable. The way the rear shocks are laid down at such an extrema angle it must have 12 inches of travel, and be soft as a ripe banana. Every time you would hit a bump, it would bottom out. And that loop of pipe over the front wheel with the shock on it. What is the deal with that? I mean it has telescopic forks, and the way it is set up the shock would try to push it forward, and bend it. But it is pretty to look at.
TOOLS
i don’t agree, man. not sure how many “softails” and single-shock suspensions i’ve seen with the spring under the seat that have very similar angles, but i’d guess i’ve seen thousands. major manufacturers and custom builders can’t all be wrong. the only difference is this bike has 2 shocks on the outside instead of one inside.
I am talking about the two on the outside. they are laid down more then an old RM Suzuki motocross-er, and those things had 11 inches of travel. When you look at the geometry, and physics you will see that it would bottom out the frame on even small bumps.
I just can not get into bikes that are not/can not be ridden. Like having a gun you will not shoot. They are broken. It’s the same reason why Easyriders, and Iron Horse started to suck, so bad in the mid 80s. Show bikes, and models instead of real bikes, and Ol’ladys.
how about turning us on to some bikes that are ridden, and some road stories?
dude. i see at least 6″ of travel on the swingarm. you’re freaking out. also, i didn’t know you were a physicist.
as for bikes that are ridden, you’ve obviously missed about 98% of the motorcycles on these pages. seriously. settle down or find another site to visit because i won’t let one more negative post of yours go up again, tools. as i’ve told many, i don’t give a **** who you are or who you think you are. i don’t need the hassle of dealing with ********.
as for road stories, the p.o.s. i had “built” by “saint motorbikes” is still being worked on and was made to be a bar-hopper anyway, so don’t expect me to write about how cool it is was to ride a thousand miles with a bunch of bearded biltwell logo-wearing hipsters.
you’re all right sometimes, man. but much of the time your posts have words like “hate” in them and are filled with tons of judgment like you’re the all-knowing master of all that is custom motorcycle. all i do is post bikes and let ’em be. why is it when somebody wants to hate, when another disagrees, it just goes on and on and on? go to a message board (doh!) and be tedious with your lack of understanding. don’t do it here.
lastly, i do what i want. i don’t post baggers (ahem) and if i see something i like, up it goes. everything has value and nobody is the judge of what is and what isn’t a worthy bike but the man or woman who built it.
Trent you are right. I am an *******. the only thing I have ever been good at. LOL
Hate might have been too strong of a word. I do not hate the bike. It is beautiful, and as I said “the young man has talent.” I use to build show bikes, and cars, but became a slave to them. Could not ride, or drive them, for fear of damaging them. Having to keep them safe, and protected from the elements. I had to break free from that insanity. It controlled my life. i was putting them first.
I acquaint freedom with riding. However you will not find me find me in the Biltwell logo wearing hipster crowed. I ride everyday, and try to make every day an adventure. **** even stopping, for gas can be an adventure. My old battle scared Hondamatic get’s all kinds of attention.
I feel for you about the Freedom or Death machine not working. My bike is down right now. The carbs are soaking in cleaner as I type “1 gallon of cleaner, for 4 carbs, and all other related parts.” It sucks.
As for riding stories. i would love to hear about bar hopping in New Orleans. Now that is something I would love to do myself. **** I’ll bet you could make the hangover sound cool.
Love And Respect Brother
TOOLS
see? i knew you could do better, man. thank you.
i am an *******, too. i know i have that denis leary song on bM somewhere. if i don’t, shame on me.
the ForD was given to me with over 50 degrees of rake and some insane trail. THAT is unrideable. there is a post here where the builder says it has “about 45 degrees of rake” when he was putting it together after i queried in a phone call about the pix he was sending. i also asked for less than 7″ of trail. i got about twice that, which is just one reason why i talk **** about him.
in the next month her neck is getting cut, new handlebars will be put on along with new controls and maybe a leaf spring front end by metal head fab.
i want it done asap because i need to ride! i will have bar-hopping stories soon, i just won’t be on a bike. the woman who inexplicably loves me and i are taking a dirty south tour on our way to tampa for the dime city grand opening. look for pix and posts about that coming up next week.
peace out, tools.
Trent
**** that sucks. I did not realize the builder did that, but I would love some posts on the rebuild. Those leaf spring front ends are really cool. I would also like a post on how they ride, and handle.
If you see Joneycakes, and Juan at Dimecity Tell them Tools says “Duh Huh” they’ll know what I mean;-)
Be careful on the road to FL.
TOOLS