A very unique Brat styled custom based on a 1982 Kawasaki GPZ 750
Words: Sean Hendley, Warren Hart
Pics: Sean Hendley, Deon van der Linde, Jade Holing, Johan Combrink
It really does seem to be ‘Custom Kawasaki’ season here at Ridefast. We bumped into Warren Hart and Andrew Lotter from Black Sheep Customs at Redstar Raceway, they showed us a pic of a bike they recently finished building and asked if we would like to feature it on our site. As always, our answer was a resounding, “Hell Yeah!”
And so it was arranged! We took a little wander through Delta Park and eventually ended up in hip and vibey Parkhurst. “Ronin”, (that is the bike’s name), seems to have found its spiritual home with many onlookers going a little bit goo ga ga over it! (Thanks for the opening pic go to Robin and Rachel from The Birmingham on 4th street, Parkhurst, an awesome spot that you have to visit.)
This build is a collaboration between Black Sheep Customs and Max Inc. for one of the partners at Max Inc and the owner of the bike who had some very specific ideas about what he wanted and how he wanted it done.
This is not a long distance cruiser by any stretch of the imagination…. yes, the bike will take you to Cape Town, but you probably wouldn’t survive – she is not built for comfort. Like most supermodels, she is built for short bursts of fun and to look at and to brag about.
This bike started life as a 1982 Kawasaki GPZ750. Kawasaki’s of this vintage have become surprisingly valuable of late, we recently helped a mate sell his Z1-R for well north of the R100k mark and had enthusiastic mobs of buyers clamouring at our door because we advertised it so cheaply. Jade Holing, the current owner got the GPZ750 as a partly done project from his mates Kevin Shoulder and Marc Lewis
, so any of the possible ‘classic value’ was already a distant memory and thus there was no sacrilege in making it unique.
To get a bit more oomf out of the 42 year old mill, a gas flowed and ported head was done to get it to breathe a bit better. That was mated to the full custom exhaust built by Black Sheep. The electronics were upgraded with a Dyna ignition system and a custom oil catch tank was made. That is pretty much all that was done to the engine, retaining all of the reliability.
The biggest fabrication went into the design and look of the bike.
The first thing you notice is the tank and the Brat style seat. As you walk around the front the very unique headlight with built on indicators from Max Inc peers up at you. That’s strapped on via some Black Sheep custom brackets to a set of upside forks that have been lengthened to suit the stance they wanted for the bike. (See if you can tell where they have been lengthened, we couldn’t, even at close up inspection.)
The front wheels and Brembo brakes came with the forks and are attached to the bike by a very tidy set of custom triple clamps all built in house. Black Sheep also did the custom braided brake lines, the front mudguard as well as the very trick brackets that suspend it over the front wheel. The shorty levers are a Max Inc import, as are the grips, headlight, tail light, bar end mirrors with indicators so tiny as to be almost invisible. The top end of the triple tree is so neat, tidy and well designed that we didn’t even notice that there was no instrument cluster on the bike.
Moving backwards down the side of the Brat, the engine has been neatened up and stripped of any superfluous fluff for a very minimalistic look. The custom made belly scoop just adds to the menace of the bespoke exhaust system. The rearsets are also by Black Sheep and are the trickest set we’ve seen in a long time.
From there backwards is where a lot of very impressive engineering and fabrication has taken place… The sub-frame has been massaged and bent to its creators will under the Brat style seat and custom licence plate holder.
Under that is the really special bit: A Honda VFR 800 single sided swingarm that has been reimagined and vastly reengineered to fit into the GPZ chassis. It has been crafted to accept the custom linkage and rear shock and the very sexy rear hugger and brackets.
The VFR rear wheel doesn’t look out of place, by the way, a huge part of the custom fabrication work encompassed aligning the chain and sprockets correctly. These Black Sheep guys are quite a clever bunch. Other tasty custom bits include custom frame and axle plugs, a custom Ronin insignia tank badge as well as custom paint and graphics…. You guessed it – all by Black Sheep Customs.
It all gives this GPZ750 a sleek stealthy one of a kind look.
This is just one example of what their companies can do.
Black Sheep are the custom parts fabricators, engineering and design wing of the outfit.
Max Inc retails and imports some very delectable custom bits and bobs for Café Racers, Brats and most custom builds. They also sell a range of clothing and gear catering to the Brat and Café Racer custom market.
If you’re in the market for some bolt on custom bits, check out Max Inc.
If you want a complete custom build or bespoke engineered parts then chat to the guys from Black Sheep.
