Andrews Garage

Post date: Mar 02, 2019 5:44:40 AM

Facebook is a wonderful thing. For some it is a way to stay in touch with family and friends, whilst for others it provides an opportunity to buy stuff..... Like old motorcycles. Andrew is part of the Facebook generation and whilst he loves his electronic technology, he loves his mechanical technology as well. As a Mechanical Design Engineer by day designing production lines for appliances, at night he likes to 'tinker' with old two stroke motorcycles. It was one fateful day Facebook provided Andrew with an old school two stroke motorcycle for the princely sum of $200 dollars. And so the mechanical tale begins with the garage now being graced with most of a 1981 Yamaha RX125.

For many of us our thoughts would be towards a restoration back to its glory days, but for Andrew it was something quite different. Just as we did back in the day the word 'customise' is probably describes what many of us did to some/all of our bikes. Customise means many things to different people, from a very minor change like a different key ring, through to most things on the bike either changed or modified. Andrew decided on the later and the task he has set himself is a rather daunting one with a lot of 'unknowns' along the way.

As can be seen by the photos a lot of parts have been changed, eliminated, shifted, modified or undecided. It has been an organic process like creative processes are. Creative is definitely the right word when you are building a custom bike like this as the complexities and compromises require a problem solving approach that also mixes in aesthetic demands.

The initial $200 seemed like a bargain at the time, but as we all know once you start tinkering with these treasures, it turns into a never ending 'stone soup' story. The first part of this was to answer that most vital question. Does it go? The answer was, as what happens with most $200 bargain two strokes; mostly. It was enough to get the dream machine into gear and a plan was hatched to turn the RX into an urban cafe racer. Andrews background in kart racing has certainly helped dealing with the vagaries of two stroke motors and it is certainly great to see that some of the younger generation are comfortable with two strokes. My daughter reported that it was at this point she became a Garage Widow with a steady procession of courier vans dropping off brown boxes, envelopes and strangely shaped large objects wrapped in tape and paper. The 3D printer has been busy as well producing small plastic parts to rehouse various electrical parts to help with the minimalist cafe racer look.

A trip to Bali to 'get away from it all' didn't include motorcycles. Andrew was delighted to see a Yamaha RS/X as a centrepiece in a Bali cafe. As time goes by the initial work to modify, replace and refine is starting to enter its final stages with the latest bunch of photos showing a nicely powder coated frame and other parts receiving there final aesthetic and mechanical touches. Can't wait to see the final bike shortly.