Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: johnr on January 21, 2012, 01:27:03 PM
-
this is my mate grobbos latest custom offering. it started life a year or 2 ago as a stock ish xr650 honda, i remember taking him to collect it. since then its been rebuiolt from the ground up, i did a bit on his enginer, he did the rest, wheels, home made frame which in itself is a work of genius, as all the oil for the dry sump motor, and all the cooling water for the rads travels inside the frame to reduce the use of hoses, as is all the wiring. he built it as a crossover between a radical chop and the stripped down drag bikes of the 70's and 80's before everything got swathed in plastic, but as it was a honda race product, he quite liked the idea of using the honda repsol colourscheme, he designed and built the sprung and damped saddle which uses a mountain bike shock absorber to work, when the sun is shining, i will try and grab a few better pics of it outdoors in all its glory!
this was the first mock up to get the 'look' of it something like,
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/100_5305.jpg)
and these are the first build shots when all the engineering stuff was pretty much done, prior to a summer of shakedowns to make sure everything worked,
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/823b9db2.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/bd3b2e86.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/ef1e9f00.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/bfdbe85b.jpg)
anyhow, then he decided he needed some luggage carrying capacity, but didnt want to build a rack, so he hit on the idea of a wheely bar as it was inspited by drag bikes, !!! and this could double up as a luggage carrier!!
-
incidentally, his last bike upset some purists when he decided that what he really wanted was a ducati monster chop!!!!
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20chop/100_5312.jpg)
-
soooo, bit more up to date, and this week it looked like this (it had just come back from being on display at a bike show in manchester )
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/dcb5caf5.jpg)
wheely bar/luggage rack!!!!
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/bc19bb83.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/da414c90.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/c1934231.jpg)
-
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/0cdacb9b.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/01dcd8e8.jpg)
the man himself and his creation,
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/c1c6cd9a.jpg)
-
did someone say,,,,,,,,,, lockwire????
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/a342e516.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/fffd51e9.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/b79b01fb.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/3c10018b.jpg)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e357/ukkatanapics/grobbos%20bikes/5aa109d8.jpg)
-
think i saw the monster chop at east leeds lions rally a couple of years ago ;D ;D ;D
-
You're right the looks aren't to my taste, but the workmanship is fantastic. Loving the Repsol paint.
GC
-
I think "not like it" is too simple. As a motorcycle it's an abomination, the original bike was way more capable. As a sculpture it's derivative. (Imagine if every oil painter stuck to carts crossing fords, dogs playing cards and constipated women sat in front of disjointed Italian cityscape back grounds). For what it is I'd say it's a fine example from someone with serious skill which has to be a good thing. It would be nice to see the chopper equivalent of a pickled sheep or unmade bed though.
Andy
-
Nice to see it done
-
I think "not like it" is too simple. As a motorcycle it's an abomination, the original bike was way more capable. As a sculpture it's derivative. (Imagine if every oil painter stuck to carts crossing fords, dogs playing cards and constipated women sat in front of disjointed Italian cityscape back grounds). For what it is I'd say it's a fine example from someone with serious skill which has to be a good thing. It would be nice to see the chopper equivalent of a pickled sheep or unmade bed though.
Andy
but isnt a radical swedish custom but not painted black or covered with skulls or naked women with snakes is the custom equivalent of the aforementioned pickled sheep, racebike paintjob on hardtailed chop? or off road superbike but sporting big wheels with road tyres rather than 17 inch sticky tyred wide rims. its a stunning machine in the flesh. and every single thing on it was designed or built by him.