Kickin’ it Slavic style. Note the great headlight adornments
The Cold War. A passive aggressive stand-off par excellence between the world’s then super powers that lasted almost 50 years. It was meant to be the ultimate separation of ideals with a bloody great wall through Germany as the ultimate “this is mine and that is yours” gesture; like two kids fighting in the back of the family car. But with nuclear weapons instead of a few pinching fingers. As high and mighty as their egotistical intentions might have been, all it really served to do was flood the East with an obsession with American Pop Culture and flood the west with some pretty lame espionage movies. Spies Like Us, anyone? Thought not. While we’re not sure much Eastern-influenced biking goodness came to the West, we know that at least one really great thing that came/is coming from the East. We’d like to submit as evidence exhibit A, Richard Gordon Faika’s “Charlotte” from his Metric Customs Shop. Na zdorovie!
Dnepr K750 Bobber
Tank emblems subtly match cylinder heads. That’s art, that is
“Richard here. My interest in two-wheelers apparently formed early. When I was 4 years old I gave my scooter a thicker rear wheel and removed the breaks. At 7 years old I swapped a home-made air rifle for a moped. I never really got it to run, but the direction was clear. After the escape of my parents to West Germany, we landed in West Berlin. During school time I built my first moped from a bicycle and a moped engine. At 16 I invented my first engine concept; the Rotary Stroke engine, but the marketing failed due to lack of experience. After finishing my vocational training as a motor mechanic and electrician I was more interested to program computer software and make music. In 1997 I founded my own small software company for web design and programming as a side job. With this money I got my dream car – a 7-series Beemer. Ten years later in 2007 I got a little nostalgic and bought two Russian military motorcycles as scrap. That’s the beginning of Metric Customs – now we make tuning packages and other things like electronic ignition for the fans of this great little flathead boxer.”
Dnepr K750 Bobber
Like two prison cells welded to the side of the bike
“After build I got my hands on a springer fork made by a good friend and great builder, located in Romania. To this time he was to start their own shop and we helped together (I made his website and spruked him whenever I could.) One of his first bikes (the rat) influenced me and his springers and the rare boxer-customs gave me the idea to build “Charlotte” in my complete own style with many nice touches; complete newframe, lots of different old bike parts and my own completely rebuilt and tuned flathead boxer engine while keeping in mind of German Road laws – mostly…”
Dnepr K750 Bobber
“I designed and made the electronic ignition
and it’s running my own programming language”
Dnepr K750 Bobber
B. For “Badass”. Or “Borscht”
“I like the combination of the style from the twenties, brass, black and a little bit of chrome in conjunction with modern techniques like my own indicator control unit or the (not visible) programmable digital ignition system. The ignition system was necessary to get maximum of power from the old modified engines. I designed and made it all and it’s running my own programming language.”
Richard tweaked the exhaust so that he’d never have a dusty rear wheel again
Richard’s also shot us some links which cover off the build and the sound of the bikes. He also pointed out that all his bikes are daily rides, with Charlotte just cracking the 10,000 km (6,200 m) mark. Impressive stuff. We look forward to seeing more of Richard’s culture clashes soon. Nice work, comrade Faika!
This is a sweet little bike. It started out as a 1975 Yamaha 650 sx. This bike has a clean title with matching numbers on the frame and motor. I did not build this bike so i dont know much about it. I have riden it and everything works as it should. It starts easily with just a few kicks. It is kick start only! It has twin makuni carbs. the carbs could use a little adjusting to idle smoother. It has a custom hardtail and awsome reptial skin spring seat. The paint is nice, i would call it a sunburnt orange. Tires on the front and Back are in great shape. The only thing i have found wrong with this motorcycle is it will not charge itself. It has a good battery and with a full charge you can ride it untill the battery goes dead. The bike is located in southern Indiana, just north of Evansville. Nick
Bikers can seem like a tough bunch of humans, even for those of us on the inside. It doesn’t seem to matter how long you’ve been riding or what kind of bike you ride, when you roll into that car park during your Sunday ride and the guy with the 1% patch on his leathers pulls up along side of you, chances are you won’t be making a joke about his gnarly beard any time soon. That’s not to say that the guy himself isn’t a stand-up bloke, but to the casual observer he might seem just a little challenging, conversation-wise. Now the owner of this Tiger is definitely no Hell’s Angel, but to the uninitiated his shaved head and no-nonsense ride may throw you a little. And yes, when I say “you,” I really mean “me”. But once you overcome the irrational preconception crap, you’ll find one Mr. Chris Atkinson – probably one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet and his sweet Triumph bobber that looks tough, but has been know to help old ladies across the road when not carrying its owner around. Honest.
Here’s Chris. “I’m 52 years old, I married my childhood sweetheart Karen, still in love and having a blast, 2 boys, Tom 22, Josh 19. I live on a small farm, have been here for 20 years. I am a retired panel beater/spray painter/truck driver and now Karen and I are in the childcare business. My dad (may he rest in peace) used to race bikes around Parramatta Park Raceway and then he got a few hot rods. He was a butcher by trade but loved working on cars, bikes and his old timber ski boat. We lived across the road from the Westmead Speedway, where the Westmead Hospital is now, and I used to sit up on the roof of our house and watch the speedway cars and bikes race the oval track. All the neighbourhood kids would get together and make billy carts and race down our hill out the front of our house. So this is where my love of bikes and cars began.”
“After harassing dad for months, he bought me a Honda XR 75 with a Bassani pipe when I was around 13. Dad and mum thought I would get bikes out of my system if they got me a bike early, but how wrong they were. Then got a Kwaka 90 trail, then the first of the Honda CR 125s, a Bultaco Pursang 250, a Suzuki RM 400, a Honda XR 500 trail, a 1979 Maico 250, then a Honda XR 400. I got into Vintage Motocross racing with the 79 Maico when I was 40, then got a 1982 Maico 250 and a 1981 Mega Maico 490 (commonly regarded as the best open class MX bike ever to be released), they only imported 11 into Australia, what a beast! Then I got a 1984 CR125 and raced 3 classes in VMX.”
“I raced for a few more years but my knees packed it in A few ops later I sold some of my bikes but I kept my first Maico 250 and the little CR 125. After not riding bikes for a few years I got the bug back and thought about a road bike. Then I went to Deus one day while we were at Sydney Uni watching my boys play Rugby and I saw the bobbers there and that was it… I had to get one. I met Filip Sawczuk at the Deus bike build off, he has a very neat Triumph 500 bobber. I picked his brain and he gave me some good tips.”
“I searched for around a year to find something and then I found a guy in the States, Dave Helrich from Helrich Custom Cycles; he builds beautiful bikes that I had never seen the likes of before. One in particular called “The Metal Street Fighter”. This is the bike I based mine on. Tried to get one, but Australian import regulations won’t let you import modified bikes or cars. So decided to have a go at building one myself, with the help of Dave via many emails and telephone calls; he’s a top bloke.
I found an original ’71 Tiger 650 on Ebay, went around to the guys house and see an old mate of mine I hadn’t spoke to for 10 years. See what happens when you take a different path in your life? Great to see him! I brought her home, got her registered, and went to work.”
Seat, or hobnail boot?
“I got a Factory Metal Works rigid frame along with some other parts to get me started. Stripped her down and the fun began. Fitted the engine, made up brackets to fit the oil tank, a battery box, modified the steering head, rebuilt the forks and after about 3 weeks I had a rolling frame and was really happy with the look.
Then I made up brackets to fit the hand-made aluminium guards from 7 Metal West in the States. I wanted to make the front brake a bit of a feature on the bike, I just love the art deco look of it so I had it and the rear brake ceramic coated. I wanted the tank to be a metal finish. Did some lead wiping repairs to the tank and had it flame coated in aluminium, an industrial process that sprays a 1 to 2mm coating of aluminium on to metal surfaces. The finished product is really rough, so 2 days of sanding starting with 60 grit paper slowly working my up to 2000 wet and dry and lots of polishing transformed the tank. Hand polished the engine with steel wool and purple polish made it look a treat. Got some nice stainless drag pipes to compliment the metal look I was after.”
Note the beautiful cloth-covered wiring beneath the seat
“Fuelled her up, primed up the new Amal carby,
ignition on, and she started first kick”
“I had the wheels, frame and other bits and pieces powder coated black. Then the new stainless spokes and bearings fitted to the wheels. Dave Helrich made a trick seat for me as well. I was like a kid at Christmas time getting all this stuff home. Fitted everything up and couldn’t believe my eyes, this was my bike! Another couple of weeks making bits and pieces and fitting all new stainless bolts and she was nearly done. I fitted a Tri-Spark electronic ignition, high voltage coils and rectifier. I wanted to make the wiring a feature as well, rather than hide it. I heard about some old school cloth covered wiring in Victoria and had it all rewired with as much of the wiring exposed as I could. Also wanted a bit of a hot rod look to her, so modified a Mooneyes Spinner Cap to hold the tank down and mounted Big Daddy’s Rat Fink on top of the battery box (my mascot) and modified a taillight and blinkers.
Fuelled her up, primed up the new Amal carby, ignition on, and she started first kick. Took her for a quick run down the road with the biggest bloody smile on my face. It was fantastic. Karen helped with some of my second guesses on how the bike should look, and holding those bits and pieces to get a tack weld onto. Also gave herself a good pipeburn (Yay team – Andrew) holding the bike up for me.”
Chris decided to splash out and get the combo brake and bug catcher option
“I reckon the only thing I would do different would be to get a 5 speed as the bike just lacks that top end and it would be so much nicer to ride with an extra gear. I have just ordered a 750 Big Bore kit, and I’m gonna rebuild the bottom end and balance the crank.
Totally gnarly chain tensioner, dude
This may sound corny and you have probably heard it all before, but the best thing about building this bike is that at the age of 52, I have discovered a whole new world out there, met so many people and made new friends, especially all the guys from Sydney Cafe Racers.”
Kickin’ it Slavic style. Note the great headlight adornments
The Cold War. A passive aggressive stand-off par excellence between the world’s then super powers that lasted almost 50 years. It was meant to be the ultimate separation of ideals with a bloody great wall through Germany as the ultimate “this is mine and that is yours” gesture; like two kids fighting in the back of the family car. But with nuclear weapons instead of a few pinching fingers. As high and mighty as their egotistical intentions might have been, all it really served to do was flood the East with an obsession with American Pop Culture and flood the west with some pretty lame espionage movies. Spies Like Us, anyone? Thought not. While we’re not sure much Eastern-influenced biking goodness came to the West, we know that at least one really great thing that came/is coming from the East. We’d like to submit as evidence exhibit A, Richard Gordon Faika’s “Charlotte” from his Metric Customs Shop. Na zdorovie!
Tank emblems subtly match cylinder heads. That’s art, that is
“Richard here. My interest in two-wheelers apparently formed early. When I was 4 years old I gave my scooter a thicker rear wheel and removed the breaks. At 7 years old I swapped a home-made air rifle for a moped. I never really got it to run, but the direction was clear. After the escape of my parents to West Germany, we landed in West Berlin. During school time I built my first moped from a bicycle and a moped engine. At 16 I invented my first engine concept; the Rotary Stroke engine, but the marketing failed due to lack of experience. After finishing my vocational training as a motor mechanic and electrician I was more interested to program computer software and make music. In 1997 I founded my own small software company for web design and programming as a side job. With this money I got my dream car – a 7-series Beemer. Ten years later in 2007 I got a little nostalgic and bought two Russian military motorcycles as scrap. That’s the beginning of Metric Customs – now we make tuning packages and other things like electronic ignition for the fans of this great little flathead boxer.”
Like two prison cells welded to the side of the bike
“After build I got my hands on a springer fork made by a good friend and great builder, located in Romania. To this time he was to start their own shop and we helped together (I made his website and spruked him whenever I could.) One of his first bikes (the rat) influenced me and his springers and the rare boxer-customs gave me the idea to build “Charlotte” in my complete own style with many nice touches; complete newframe, lots of different old bike parts and my own completely rebuilt and tuned flathead boxer engine while keeping in mind of German Road laws – mostly…”
“I designed and made the electronic ignition and it’s running my own programming language”
B. For “Badass”. Or “Borscht”
“I like the combination of the style from the twenties, brass, black and a little bit of chrome in conjunction with modern techniques like my own indicator control unit or the (not visible) programmable digital ignition system. The ignition system was necessary to get maximum of power from the old modified engines. I designed and made it all and it’s running my own programming language.”
Richard tweaked the exhaust so that he’d never have a dusty rear wheel again
Richard’s also shot us some links which cover off the build and the sound of the bikes. He also pointed out that all his bikes are daily rides, with Charlotte just cracking the 10,000 km (6,200 m) mark. Impressive stuff. We look forward to seeing more of Richard’s culture clashes soon. Nice work, comrade Faika!
Dnepr K750 Bobber
Seat, or hobnail boot?
Note the beautiful cloth-covered wiring beneath the seat
Chris decided to splash out and get the combo brake and bug catcher option
Totally gnarly chain tensioner, dude
Metric Custom’s Dnepr K750 Bobber – ‘Charlotte’ 
Kickin’ it Slavic style. Note the great headlight adornments
Tank emblems subtly match cylinder heads. That’s art, that is
Like two prison cells welded to the side of the bike
B. For “Badass”. Or “Borscht”
Richard tweaked the exhaust so that he’d never have a dusty rear wheel again