Finished the home made filter hanger...

I decided today to go ahead and make a nicer home made filter hanger. It turned out nice.

Pretty simple.

K&N Filter Fitted

This was a lot easier than I thought it would be, the kit from Japan comes with instructions for fitting this filter to a TW200, and it came with a little vice that you use with a small metal cylinder to punch a hole in the stock airbox boot for the breather tube.   It also came with a metal ring that you shove over the stock boot so the new filter has something to clamp to.  However, the one problem with adding cone filters like this to the TW200 is they tend to sag over time.  So, I had an idea, and I mocked it up with part of an aluminum can from some tomatoes.

Can you see it?

Some major progress on the black skeleton...

I would say I have a weekend of good work left on it, but I should have the assembly 99% done by the end of 2012, with only minor tweaking to do into 2013.  The blacking out of the frame, the longer swing-arm, the road tires on black wheels, and the overall changes to the front end make the bike look basically nothing like a stock TW200.  Its pretty amazing to see it all come together.

Really cool stock color combo

I ran across these photos of a 1989 (iirc) TW200 in red and black.  I've never seen one with this color combo, and I think it looks pretty sweet.  Don't get me wrong, I think the TW200 is a nice looking bike in its stock configuration, but I don't really care for white and blue, etc.  So I think this is pretty cool.

TW Tires!

Got my tires mounted, they look great.

Bridgestone TW-204

David...Smell The Glove is here.

All my parts back from powder-coating (minus the exhaust tube) and my painted tank.

"How much more black could this be? And the answer is: none....none more black."

Wheels!

Got some parts back from the powder-coater today. Everything is done except the ceramic coating on my exhaust pipe, which might take several weeks to complete due to lack of parts that need this expensive coating (says the powder-coater).  Which is ok, since the bike will not be done for another 2 weeks at least. I am still waiting for my new seals and bearings, and my tires to come in. I also need to pick up some new folk oil, motor oil and a new oil filter from the local shop here to get everything back together.  But for now, here is a view of the wheels! They look phenominal.

Paint Success!!!

Got all my parts that needed painting done and ready for install.  The matte black came out perfect. Exactly the right color.  I am very happy with how everything turned out! The best part is, this is the first time I have ever painted anything with real automotive paint and I had very few issues. I will never use rattle can again!

Made some more good progress today...

Got the gas tank ready today. First thing, was to cut off those useless tabs for holding on ugly plastic crap. One thing I never understood is why most of the customized TW200s I see never had these tabs removed, they just leave them on there, and in my opinion, they need to go.  A quick zip of the cutoff wheel and you are free of the ugly tabs.  Then just clean up the edges a little with a grinder. Done.

I got the edge pretty straight. Straight enough that you will not notice.

It gets serious...

The tear down is complete. It took about 4 hours from start to finish, and was actually way easier than I anticipated. I still have a few things to sort out before I take parts in for powder-coating, but if things keep moving at this pace, I should have the bike done in a few weeks. I still need to order tires and a new battery, and I still need to sort out how I am going to hide the new battery and associated wiring.

Some more test fitting...

So, with nearly everything I need parts wise, it is almost time to tear the bike down for powder-coating and paint. First though, I decided to test fit the parts that are easy to throw on, just to see how things look and to begin to figure out which mounting tabs will get eliminated with the grinder.

First thing was to pull the headlight, turn signals and the mounting bracket off the front end and fit the headlight stay.

A few more parts came in yesterday...

After my first load of parts, I realized I was going to need a few more things. Here is what I got.

This is a Luke Headlight Stay. It is really nicely constructed out of light aluminum. It will get powder coated as well.

Back from Japan, Tdub round up...

So I spent three weeks in Japan, and while there, it was only natural for me to check every alley, every bike lot, every parking spot, for TWs. After all, it was going to Japan in 2010 that got me started with the whole TW200 custom business, so now it was time to go back and geek out.

I got lucky here, finding this blacked out TW in Shinjuku at night, in a position where I could actually photograph it.

Black & White TW200

With my old Nikon FE2, I snapped these pics while trying to use up the last few frames from a roll of 24 exposures.  That's right, a roll of film was used to shoot these. Black & white looks better on silver bromide.

Pipe

The NitroHeads drag pipe is murder on my ears.  So last night I installed the much needed baffle, which was actually quite simple.  You just slide it in the pipe, line it up with the predrilled hole (didn't see that at first) and bolt it in place.  It's still loud as hell, but much more tolerable.

Also, I ordered this wicked patch for my jacket today.

That's fuckin' right.

From: http://www.thevnm.com/

A little test fitting...

So my first load of parts showed up today. Everything looks good. I couldn't resist throwing a few of the pieces on just to see how they fit and look.....and sound. XD

Nitro Heads Drag Pipe Muffler

My parts shipped!!!

So after a month of waiting, my parts finally shipped from Japan.  Here is a breakdown of what is on the way so far.

Beams long swing arm. I'm not 100% sure I will use this one or not. It is the 200mm version, which might be too long for the look I am going for. We'll see.  I might need to take it back to the 150mm swing arm.

A few temporary enhancements...

Just because.

Branding...

So to go along with this project, I decided it needed a name and a logo. Obviously, I thought of this before the launch of this blog, and this is really how "Osaka Custom Style" was born.  Osaka is a great city, and if I could live in Japan, I would likely spend most of my time there.  The food, the subculture, the neon, Osaka has it all. I can't wait to go back!

So this is what I am going for...

After I discovered the identity of what I saw in Japan, naturally I began to scour the Internet for photos of customized TW200s and TW225s.  Here are some of my favorites.

This one is very nice, clean and simple.  I like how the custom seat seems to have a little more meat than some of the others. I also like the small headlight.  What I don't like is the long front fender and the can they have on this bike.

Finally, a TW200 is mine!

So after I got my driver's license stamped with the 'M' for motorcycle, it was time to get some cash together and find myself a nice, used TW.  After a few weeks, the right bike popped up on Craigslist.  Here are the pics from Craigslist.

I called the seller and struck a deal for this low-mileage, 2009 with both a front and rear rack. Once I got it home, I changed the oil, removed the racks, and started riding!! More pics soon.

Welcome to Osaka Custom Style!

In the fall of 2010, I took my first trip to the island country of Japan. It was there, that I fell unexpectedly in love with a motorcycle. I've always liked motorcycles, but never enough that I felt I wanted to get my rider's license and actually own a bike. But while in Japan, I saw several bikes that just had a look like no other, and I was immediately hooked. I guess it was the fat rear tire, the stripped-down naked body, and the stark simplicity of these bikes that intrigued me. After returning home, I was determined to find out more. All I knew about them was that they were Yamaha's, and they were all over Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. I thought for sure they must be some cool JDM market only motorcycle. But after a little searching, I discovered that these bikes were just modified Yamaha TW200s!  What's better, is that the TW200 was available here in the USA! So the concept of having one was real! 

Here is a photo of one of the coolest ones I spotted, parked on the street near the Tsukiji Fish Market.

And here's another one parked outside a "combini"

So I hope to make this blog entertaining. I plan to fully document the build process of my custom TW200, as well as write about motorcycle gear, culture and my own personal descent into motorcycle madness.