streetfighter

UPDATE:A nice 2 stroke Suzuki GT 750 Cafe/Fighter BEAST!

UPDATE:For more on this bike go HERE

In honor of the Kawasaki Triples 2 stroke gathering in Deals Gap this weekend (which unfortunately I can’t make this year) I’ll be a little heavy on the 2 stroke posting this week. So with that in mind here’s another fine bike from our roving correspondent Charles Lathe

Hey Steve,

I’m attaching a couple of shots of a Suzuki I saw at a European bike get together in Raleigh.

We nipped into Florida on 17 before turning north on 95 headed to St. Mary’s, Georgia for Easter and enjoyed the best weather we’d seen for a while. Spring is threatening to establish itself here, but it is dragging its feet this year.

Regards, Chuck
North Carolina

Suzuki 1

Suzuki 2

Seriously Radical GT550! Now that’s my kind of Suzuki!

I love these sorts of builds. “Radicalized” 2-strokes!

From: “Mark McCord”

Here’s my gt550 I got in high school brand new.2008 gsxr front end.2006 sv 650 swingarm.2006 kawasaki 636 rear shock.busa rearsets.RSD pro pipes.Bored .30 over.Carbon fiber headlight and fender.Everything is powder coated.This was a home garage build.5 months from start to finish.

gt550 014

gt550 015

gt550 016

gt550 017

I know I don’t post many Street Fighters but I’m posting this one. Bandit 1200.

There is such a huge universe of streetfighters out there that it’s hard to stay on top of it all and there are blogs that do a much better job of it than I can. But every once in a while someone sends me one that is built just really “correct”. To my eye this is one of those. It’s nicely updated with modernized suspension and exhaust and with those handlebars it’s actually rideable.  The overall look is nice an clean too. This one comes from Shane Morrisby (a different Shane than the last post) from down under.

Lets play “Name What That Bike Started Out As”!

I know I don’t post many Streetfighters but that’s not because I don’t love them. I do actually. Style performance and WOW factor suit me just fine. A well built fighter “can” be THE best way for a skilled builder to show off his talents. There are literally no boundaries. And when properly done you have a bike that you can actually use everyday if you like that really IS one of a kind.

My general problem is that the “Streetfighter universe” is so freaking huge. Even on the better dedicated sites and message boards there are way too many folks who just pull the fairing off stick on some dualsport headlights, add a few decals and call it a fighter. And that’s fine. You’ve got to start somewhere. But when it comes to finding good material for the blog it’s a little hard to sift through the haystack and find that shiny needle. Anyway, what caught my eye about these top two bikes isn’t JUST the build quality and styling (which are excellent) it’s what they started out as. I actually tripped across them in separate places before I made the connection that they all came from the same builder. A shop called “Full of Hate” Customs. If you like the genre head ove there and check out some of their work. Nice stuff.

Anyway, here’s our 2 mystery bikes. Can you guess what they started out as?
#1 For the Answer Click HERE
By the way Hat Tip to The Fuzzy Galor Blog on this. Cool site.

#2 This one floors me. See Here.

And here’s some of heir more straight up work. Sweet stuff.

A cool DR 650 that’s done some morphing.

I’m posting these in part to try and get Al Blair to send me some more shots of this bike.  As a DR650 owner I’d really like to see more of this.

He wrote in:

Hi Steve,

Just got your post on the DR 650. I wasn’t aware you had one.
Thought I would send you a couple of photos of what I did to
mine years ago. It ‘s an awesome transformation from the big 21″ front
wheel and onto sticky super-moto tyres, your gonna love it !

I was gonna sell it recently , too many bikes accumulating AGAIN , although
after loving it for the past 10 years and having had so much fun with it I
decided on a makeover. Goin’ with a kinda flat track style and made a final
choice on the Yamaha tank which took me ages to decide on.
I made the stainless steel muffler 5 years ago when I did the SM thing. It’s
2″ internal bore straight through. What a racket !!! Gonna quieten that right down
this time. Getting past all that mullarky these days.
Shortened the forks by 3 inches recently ( not done yet in the picture ). What a
change that’s made to the geometry.
Just a seat/cowl unit to make and then a scrub down and paint.
Not going too far at all with the finish. It’s just a wee bit of fun this project.

I realize the photos are crap and wouldn’t want them posted anyway. Just wanted
to let you see it. It has a really low mileage and the bike came to me in Scotland
from Italy. I really like the engine. Actually fought for a while about whether to
go flat track or cafe racer single………maybe that will be its next embodiment.

 

Sorry Al but I’m posting them anyway! lol..

An exquisite Yamaha 2-Stroke Fighter!

Folks who follow my other blog know how much I like these. This is built off of a Yamaha RZ350. I love the more upright “real world” stance of the bike. Really excellent!

from the builder:
Hallo Steve,
I am from Austria, and this is my Personal RZ
Best Wishes from the Alps Heiner

Thanks you sir!