Home / Uncategorized / heiwa’s yokohama queen & fernando’s so-cal shadow

heiwa’s yokohama queen & fernando’s so-cal shadow

got a couple emails with a bunch of info and pix of two bikes from daniel at xtreme bikes magazine from spain ten days ago.

1958 triumph tr6 - yokohama queen | heiwa motorcycles

one of the bikes has been here before, but at the time i offered only a pic or two and not much info. it’s the yokohama queen by heiwa motorcycles in hiroshima. if i understand my japanese-to-spanish-to-english translation, heiwa is translated into the word “peace.”

yokohama queen | heiwa motorcycles

kengo kimura, the proprietor of heiwa motorcycles, makes most of his money transforming small displacement japanese motorbikes into clean brats, bobbers, and choppers. the yokohama queen, however, is a 650cc 1958 triumph tr6 motor.

1958 triumph tr6 bobber | heiwa motorcycles

as you can see, kengo eschews the current trend of flames, scallops, pinstripes and other embellishments in favor of a clean paint scheme set off by the two-tone, diamond stitched seat that accentuates the simplicity and sometimes raw look of the motor, front end, interesting gooseneck frame, and smaller elements such as the fender struts and brake light.

yokohama queen - girder front end | heiwamotorcycles

even though it’s been around for a couple of years, it’s a great bike and as always, click the pix to get the full-screen version.

yokohama queen - fender and tail light | heiwa motorcycles

the next bike daniel sent is the so-cal shadow built by fernando galán from argentina. it’s a honda vt600 motor in a southern california-styled chopper without the impractical 120-inch so-cal v-twin motor.

so-cal shadow honda vt600 chopper

according to fernando, building a custom chopper in argentina is an incredibly difficult and expensive process. to create this honage to the so-cal styled chopper, this 1993 honda shadow 600 needed a lot of one-off fabrication due to the fact that getting parts and pieces for a custom motorbike in argentina is an international effort because the country’s shops carry little more than windshields and saddlebags.

honda vt600 chopper from argentina

for what wasn’t hand made by fernando and his associates, elements were purchased from resellers of harley parts. the wheels, springer front end and headlight were all ordered and modified to a tall so-cal-styled rigid frame. the so-cal shadow’s paint included flames and gold leaf work to carry the southern cali theme without over-doing it.

argentinian so-cal shadow chopper

in the end, fernando put together a solid representation of a popular style while proving that even a small honda vee can be utilized to imitate a culture which generally uses much larger motors.

or whatever bulls**t you want to believe. it’s not easy to pull off this style with a bike that needs a radiator. the so-cal shadow is a very nice little honda chop.

so-cal shadow - 1993 honda vt600 chopper




Get the best of bikerMetric directly in your inbox, once a week, every week.
[wysija_form id="1"]

2 comments

  1. Fernando didnt build that bike, it was build by me Matt Choppers. It s a shame that the guy that just did the paint takes the credit on my work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDEOxUqp2Y

    • Hey Matt, can’t comment much on this as it’s from well before I had the site, but if you’re interested in getting new builds on here get in touch man.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

x

Check Also

honda gl160 chopper

honda gl160 chopper by k-kustom & tawonndaz garage

Today’s build is a Honda GL160 chopper from Ariez at K-Kustom. K-Kustom ...

1967 honda cb450 chopper

honda cb450 chopper | stones cycles

Jake Elstone’s a Canadian boy from beautiful Peterborough, Ontario. Jake started building mopeds at ...

Honda VLX Chopper - cover

honda vlx chopper | reader rides

bikerMetric: What’s your 411, brother? Alex Cruze: I’m just a guy that ...