Thunderbird Bobber J&D Custom Co.

When you build something, the first problem is raw materials, and as used in construction, you use what you have available for the bikes you use the same principle. So if you are in India, which bike is most easily found? The Royal Enfield.
As I have argued in the past, the East is full of artisans with great manual skills that serve to make up for the lack of specialist equipment.
This Royal Enfield Thundebird is the work of Jay Patel, Founder & Builder of J & D Custom Co.

Where are you coming from?

INDIA

Who else worked with you?

ONE MAN OPERATION

How can you describe yourself (or your team)?

I always try to involve old school craftsmanship process with combination of modern technologies & aesthetics. The process is more important for me than a final result because it gives you great experience of exploring development of old school techniques as well as inventing new advanced future techniques.

What inspired you to start building the bike?

As I said before it is the process of building the bike or anything from scratch into something unique & artful thing, which inspire, motivate & excite me everyday.

Where did it come from?

Customer bike

What's the donor bike, make, model, year?

2004 Royal Enfield Thunderbird

What was your vision/plan?

Vision was very simple. I wanted to create one of its kind Bobber with minimalist elements and great aesthetics as well as some one of its kind parts and design like perimeter disc & front suspension etc.

What did you do to the bike?

It was full custom build. Just used the engine block of the donor bike, apart from that everything was designed and built from scratch.

The front suspension is handmade by me which gives the bike very old school identity, at the same time one of its kind perimeter disc brakes reminds the development phase of motorcycle parts. The wiring loom of motorcycle is shortened and all the plastic switches converted with metal toggle switch or push button switch which is located under the seat. It have Jockey shifter & suicide clutch which is again reminds of old school motorcycles.

If you've upgraded parts, what make did you choose and where from?

Only Firestone tires are outsourced, other than that everything is design & developed in-house.

Any interesting challenges, unconfident, or mistakes?

The most challenging part was developing perimeter disc brakes, its mounting and functionality. It took almost around 4 months to design and develop the discs.

Tell us about the finish/logos/design?

I wanted to do very simple paintwork which can give bike a very firm identity. As this build have many well crafted parts which I wanted to highlight in chrome, I decided to go with Black paint with gold stripes as a best combination.

How would you describe your bike?

Bobber

How does the bike ride?

Bike is stable. As it is a Hardtail bike, on the rough roads it gives you some pain but as my client wanted a masterpiece rather than 100% functional or comfortable piece.

J&D Custom Co.