Can you turn a small and modern sports bike into an interesting full-style cafe racer?
Combining reliability and shape, Flavio Vanna and Fabio Mattioli have succeeded in this
They together form Mr Ride's team and have their workshop in Brazil.
Let us know about them and their work.
Where are you coming from?
Brasil
Who else worked with you?
Fabio Matiolli. Togheter we are "Mr. Ride".
How can you describe yourself (or your team)?
Two crazy guys trying to make a difference at customization scene in a country where this activity is almost impossible (laws, import taxes etc).
What inspired you to start building the bike?
The internship I made at Cherry's Company, owned by Kaishiroh Kurosu, at Tokyo. When I came back to Brasil, after getting in touch with his boldness, talent and unique way of thinking, I decided to start with a bike that almost nobody use to build as donor for a cafe racers.
I chose the Kawasaki Ninja to build a cafe racer because I found very challenging to convert a speed bike into a cafe racer.
What's the donor bike, make, model, year?
Kawasaki Ninja 250 R 2011
What was your vision/plan?
The goal was to convert a modern speed bike into a vintage cafe racer trying to create the bike that gave birth to the modern Ninja in the past.
What did you do to the bike?
Since is very difficult to buy good parts in Brasil, people use to buy them from China. To built a unique bike we decided to fabricate as many parts from scratch, as possible. Like: fuel tank, fenders, tail, side plates, speedometer housing and turn lights.
If you've upgraded parts, what make did you choose and where from?
The main mistake we made was not making a research to find out how the frame was before starting. When we removed all the plastic we found a bunch of hooks that we needed to cut in order to clean the frame.
Building the bottom of the tank was very challenging because of the odd design of the frame on this section. This part took more time than any other.
Tell us about the finish/logos/design?
We designed the painting pattern specially to highlight the lines of the project: the box-shape tank (inspired by the old Kawasakis) and the tail, that goes from a square shape near the seat, to a round shape on the end.
The logo is a vintage Kawasaki reproduction that I bought in Tokyo.
Any unique features?
Except the speedometer, all the parts were custom made for this bike. As you told you before, nobody do this in Brasil.
Unfortunately it's hard to see, but we like a lot the radiator expansion chamber that is hidden below the right side plate: a whisky flask.
How would you describe your bike?
Cafe racer
How does the bike ride?
It's very light, fun to ride and maneuver.
What will you do next? New projects?
A Honda CBX 750 1989 like nobody ever saw.
Email: flaviohbvianna@gmail.com
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