Some bike producers have dipped their toes within the customized scene, however few have dived in head first like Royal Enfield. The Indian marque has made bike customization a core part of its advertising and marketing technique. That’s a bone-dry means of claiming they sponsor occasions, fund customized builds all around the world, after which inform folks about them.
I’ve been watching Royal Enfield’s Customized and Motorsport division develop for the previous few years and needed a bit of the motion. My journal, Sideburnhas an extended historical past with the model.
We constructed a customized Bullet again in 2012 when Royal Enfield was on the very starting of their explosion in recognition and promoting roughly a million fewer bikes per yr than they presently do. (No joke.) After I noticed the brand new Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 I assumed “There’s a motorbike we are able to do one thing with.”
Royal Enfield is not only into customized bikes, they’ve additionally invested closely in novice {and professional} flat observe racing. So the thought was to construct a avenue tracker that was nonetheless recognizable as a Guerrilla 450, however stylish sufficient to face alongside the customized Royal Enfields constructed by SureshotSticky’s Pace Store, Tough Craftsand others.
Making it recognizable concerned having Coba Valley Cycles fabricate an alloy tank with facet profiles and a raised backbone that echo the form of the usual tank, whereas making it narrower than the metal authentic. A brand new previous inventory Harris Efficiency flush filler cap was included into the highest.
Coba Valley additionally made an alloy tail unit, basing it on the Enfield-designed tail fitted to the Royal Enfield FT450 race bike that competes within the DTRA flat observe sequence. Holy Goat Bike Seats upholstered the pad in Alcantara.
The Guerrilla has an asymmetrical swingarm with a curve within the right-hand facet spar. This led Steelheart Engineering to design and make an industrially impolite aluminum billet and tube arm that exaggerated the form whereas retaining the usual wheelbase. A Nitron adjustable shock was bolted in, utilizing the OEM linkage.
Lowery Racing wheels are utilized by the Moto Anatomy x Royal Enfield American Flat Monitor race group, and on the DTRA FT450, so that they have been the plain selection for this avenue tracker. They’re made by a 20-something married couple, Jeffery and Gab Lowery, in rural Ohio, USA.
The entrance hub was designed and machined to simply accept the Royal Enfield disc, which is now chomped on by a HEL Efficiency four-piston superbike caliper. The caliper bolts to the Guerrilla forks by way of a DeftCAD one-off adapter. The forks have been shaved of extraneous protrusions and fitted with SUDO Cycles carbon fork protectors.
The rear brake makes use of a monster racing disc mounted on a Lowery Racing quick-detachable middle. A Vortex Racing sprocket is on the opposite facet, with road-legal Anlas flat observe tires ending off the job.
Co-Constructed made the stainless-steel exhaust, similar to they did for Bullet we inbuilt 2012 (and a bunch of my bikes in between). They got free rein, and created an avant-garde silencer that enhances the traces of the swingarm that it’s tucked beneath. The header has a couple of lobster-back sections as a result of it’s a customized bike, so why not, proper? (Geoff at Co-Constructed wanted slightly encouragement to make the pie cuts, as a result of ‘correct’ exhausts have bends and the minimal variety of welded joints.)
Different particulars embrace Renthal flat observe bars, a Motone tail gentle, Biltwell Inc. grips, and CP Racetec hoses. The grasp cylinders, brake lever, and clutch perch are HEL Efficiency elements, all of that are fantastically made in England.
The concept for the geometric paint job was part of the mission from day one and was laid on by Alex at AK Customized Paint, Essex, with the assistance of Matt from Picture Worx. It’s primarily based on the ‘physique swimsuit’ tattoo of pal and fellow novice dust observe racer, Steph Birtwistle.
I’ve recognized Steph since she appeared on the duvet of Sideburn in 2018. On the time she was a rider—however after that assembly, she began racing, and it was on the British dust tracks the place she met her future husband, Gary Birtwistle. Gary races for the Royal Enfield manufacturing unit group and runs the Royal Enfield Slide College within the UK, and the pair of them seem within the movies we fabricated from this bike—so the tie-in appeared supreme.
It’s an excellent sample, even with out that story. However one factor that may not be apparent from the images, is that the silver is definitely naked alloy, with a transparent lacquer over it.
The identify of the bike—Fashionable Primitive—comes from a cult guide about tattoos and physique modification I noticed as an impressionable youth within the late 80s. The identify touches upon the tattoo inspiration, but in addition Royal Enfield’s perspective of constructing uncomplicated bikes made for driving.
As followers of avenue trackers and flat observe racing at its most basic, that simplicity actually appeals to us at Sideburn.
Sideburn Journal | Instagram | Pictures by Craig Stuart
