yamaha sr400 cafe racer by gasoline custom motorcycles

Gasoline Motorcycles and scooters opened in the early 1990s in Darlinghurst, Australia. Their story of creativity & skilled workmanship starts with full Vespa restorations and has moved on to creating beautiful custom motorcycles.

‘Tomahawk II’ is Gasoline’s most recent custom cafe racer, commissioned by a French motorcycle enthusiast. The customization of the popular Japanese Yamaha SR400 Cafe Racer is no cakewalk. The SR is one of the most popular base models on cafe racer builds. Adding clip-on handle bars, extended rear suspension, trials tyres and wrapped side pipe is only the start of the custom build.

The bare metal look is in. Jason Gasoline, of Gasoline Custom Motorcycles, hand-fabricated all the metal fittings from recycled steel, which was cleaned up and stripped right down – a breathtakingly simple process, with each raw steel element creating a flow throughout the design of the bike and engaging the eyes and inner spirit of the rider. With each custom build, Gasoline attempts to capture the essence of the rider and create an original machine. Unlike many concept builds, and over-the-top motorcycle projects, designed to be user-friendly, ridden and enjoyed everyday. The daily experience goes hand in hand with the aesthetic design.

Aesthetics are matched with performance. The build process started with stripping the clutter which included chopping off the rear tail supports and removing brackets & unnecessary mounts to leave just the seat base structure. A rear tail hump was formed, recessing the vintage tail light followed by a custom fitted electrical box (formerly a stainless steel towel dispenser!) to house the mess of wires and the motorcycle battery. Piece by piece, Tomahawk II was constructed, observed by strict deadlines – the whole machine was ready to ride in just 3 (intense) weeks.

Gasoline’s Inspiration and passion for motorcycles comes from the early days of dominating Sydney streets with a GT 750cc Ducati 1973 Roundcase, which was an ankle breaking kick start vintage motorcycle fitted with clip on handle bars back in 1989.

Keep up to date with their builds and the on-going revolutions they create:
www.gasoline.com.au

Auto Electrician & Mechanic: Nono Gatti
Design & Implementation: Jason Gasoline
Photography Credits: Josh Clapp + My Media Sydney
Photo Editing: Nick Walsh

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